Stolen faith

The moon was the only thing lighting up the path before the Temple. The Commander had spent the last two hours or so inside, talking to the room as if that would cause the Mother to hear her. It was the only place where she could truly let out her doubts. Of course, she could talk to Mort too. And it helped, but she knew that there would never be a time where he would truly understand. He was not one of her people and, while she would love to have it another way, she knew that he never truly would be, either. He was welcome and she was sure that, with time, at least a great amount of them would learn to accept him as if he were. But, his mind worked differently. He didn’t believe in the God they believed in, which caused a different line of thought. Things they thought were normal, or important, he simply did not understand. He tried to, she knew that. But sometimes, she just needed to let it all out, try to see if the Mother would burn her for speaking her thoughts out loud. Because as things were going now, more and more people would learn about her thoughts, which would perhaps cause chaos. It would be for the greater good, but would it be worth it all?

Astral Stasis, her beautiful mare, was still standing at the entrance when she got outside, a torch in hand so she could see in the dark. But, so was Saggitarius. The cat wagged his tail with enthusiasm as if he were a dog, while Lexa frowned. In his mouth was a dead chicken and she couldn’t help but sigh. Of course. “Saggy, you can’t go around killing chickens,” she told him, desperation in her voice as she came closer, in an effort to grab the chicken from his mouth. This all seemed to be nothing but a game to the cat, however, who took a jump back and started shaking his head, feathers flying in every direction. At least the poor creature was dead already.

Watching Saggitarius jump around like a kitten, was heartwarming in a way. If it wasn’t for the dead chicken in his mouth, at least. While the woman was no vulnerable greenpeace ‘leave the chickens alone’-kind of girl, she still did not think that killing was a good thing, unless you truly needed to. The hunters in Vanaheim made sure to use everything from their hunts, only hunting as much as necessary. That way, the populations were kept healthy and they were never lacking in food. Killing one extra chicken would do no harm, especially since it was done by a predator who would never be taught differently, but she still felt bad for the poor thing, who hadn’t stood a chance against the cat. “Fine,” she told the animal, sighing deeply, “keep it.”

‘You sure had a lot to say,’ were the words that caused her to notice someone joining them. Even Saggitarius hadn’t noticed, too busy with his chicken. With a low growl he took a few steps backwards, protecting his prey from the boy who was, surprisingly, not a stranger. It was the mountain man she had met once before, the least creepy one. His words caused her to frown lightly, however. “You heard all of that?” she carefully asked him, looking at the cat again as she thought this through. No one was supposed to know about her doubts, after all. “Don’t listen in to someone’s confessions,” she sighed. Not because of manners, but because her doubts could cost her her life.