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Shalsa pressed the book into Irila's hands, then looked at the door. "Take this to them. I'll fill in the kids."
"I'm not leaving you without protection today," Irila hissed.
Shalsa tipped her head at me. "I think he counts."
"They," Irila said, "but only if you stay with them until I'm back to get you."
"I'll make sure of it," Anver said. "If not, I'll follow her around."
Irila clasped his arm. "Thank you, Anver. Talin." Then she hurried through the door, clearly in a hurry.
"What's going on?" I asked.
Shalsa blew out a breath, turned for her kitchen, then thought better of it. "If you'll make me tea at your place, I'll tell you all everything I know. That doesn't meaneverything, because it's been a long and busy night. I'm sure I've missed a few steps in this insanity. I can tell you that Kinen is making a move - we just don't know what it is."
"Fuck," Anver said. "Yeah, I'll make you tea," he promised, offering his arm. "Priestess?"
So I hurried to get the door for them, holding it as they walked through, then closing it behind them. While Anver led Shalsa up the hall, I pulled out my keys and made sure their room was locked, then jogged to catch up just as they reached my place. The three of us made it back inside to soft voices coming from the living room. When we rounded the corner, it appeared that everyone was now dressed and working on waking up.
"Shalsa?" Nari asked.
"Move over." Then Shalsa took the spot beside Nari while Anver passed her his tea from before we left. Shalsa took it gladly as she began catching us up. "Ciella's lace is gone. While we were at dinner, Saval marched her to the High Priest, said she'd tried to push a student down the stairs, and now her lace was gone."
"But Kinen didn't care," I realized.
"Sounds like he did until Ciella said it was just Nari. That was when everything changed. Suddenly, he said that it was proof Nari had an adverse effect on lace, and Ciella would need to be reimmersed. He scheduled that for later today. Saval tried to insist that her lack of lace means that she should be removed from the temple, Kinen overruled her, and then threatened to strip Saval's lace if she complained about it."
"Fuck, he's escalating," Nari breathed.
Shalsa nodded. "So, Saval told Ciella to go back to her room. She did. Saval went to report this to the council of educators, seeking advice. Roek is having none of it, and he's demanding they lodge a complaint. When we got back, Amerlee was blindsided by three of the instructors, wanting to talk to her because she's your mentor. That ended up with a closed-door meeting. I know that Farik and a few other heads of their Paths were summoned late last night."
"And you?" I asked. "Because you clearly didn't sleep."
"Jamik's with Amerlee, so Irila and I have been looking for precedents in the temple records. Vernie and a few others were helping. Amerlee swore she had the right book at our place, which was what I'd just found when the boys showed up. In other words, this is still ongoing."
"Just ask to examine Kinen's lace," Wraythe grumbled. "We all know it's gone. Have him rinse his hands in the tears, like that basin in the nave. That's all Zeal needs to remove the marks."
"He clearly doesn't need that," Ela said. "Ciella's lace just vanished."
"I think it's a power thing," Nari told us. "The more power he has - and a lot more people believe in him now, which means he has to have some - the easier he can manipulate the marks."
"Regardless," Shalsa said, "it looks like Ciella is staying. Zeal is going to be pissed!"
"I'll deal with Zeal," Nari promised. "Take care of Amerlee and Jamik for me?"
"Always," Shalsa promised. "Although, I'm grounded here until Irila's back, and I have no idea what will come next."
"Why didn't you tell us last night?" Anver asked as he brought his new tea into the living area.
Shalsa just dragged her hand over her face, pausing to rub at her eyes. "Because we had nothing to tell you, and we kept thinking that if we could find the right thing, we'd be able to change this. We didn't want to stop, and you five should've been sleeping."
"Which makes sense," Nari said. "Shalsa, go lie down in my bed? Close your eyes for just a bit, because when your partners are done, they'll be exhausted and need someone to watch over them."
"I should really look up the criteria for automatic expulsion," she said.
"You know they already did that," I told her. "Go sleep, Shalsa. Just a nap. The bed isn't even made, so just crawl in it and we'll keep our voices down."
"And you'll all stay here?" she asked.
