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"I'm not sure he would've done anything like work, regardless of Maela's interference," Talin countered, "but I see what you're trying to say."
I murmured at that. "Well, Priestess Haylea of Ambition is actually leading the push to alter the laws, and Kinen seems willing to work with her."
"Because he thinks he's using her," Jamik said. "If it's Haylea's idea, then Kinen can't be blamed for it. He'll still get the benefits if it works without the repercussions if it doesn't. And, if this fails, he can say that she was merely a foolish woman."
"Win-win," Shalsa grumbled, but she sounded as annoyed about it as I felt.
Amerlee rubbed Shalsa's leg soothingly, but asked me, "So the temples want the tax money under their control. How do they see that working?"
"It's less work for the barons," I explained. "Ambition, Temptation, and Inspiration seem to think that the temples should be the center of Calseth's government, not an addendum to it. Compassion, Perception, and Intuition disagree. Arion, the High Priest of Intuition, tried to convince Julyen, the High Priest of Inspiration, that it was tradition. I got the impression that Julyen was wavering, but he said that managing the reports was distracting from his art, then mentioned that his baron had never requested them anyway."
"Which sounds like what Thiemo told Maela," Talin pointed out.
"Wait," Nari begged. "As of right now, all six temples are split on this. Half are pushing for the High Priests to be the writers of Calseth's laws, completely removing the gods from leadership? The other half is blocking that. Kinen wants to remove Rebexa because she's a woman, and no one pushed back against that?"
"Julyen seemed to agree," I pointed out. "Haylea let it slide. Viyan was upset about it, making it clear that Compassion would vote against removing her. He, Rebexa, and Arion were also adamant that the gods exist, even if they aren't in our realm, and that the tears are working as intended. Kinen is just too selfish and lazy to believe what he's been seeing, and it might be a leadership issue in Temptation. Which, of course, resulted in almost an hour of screaming accusations at each other."
"So what are we supposed to do about this?" Nari asked.
Amerlee shook her head. "You? Nothing. This is what I'm working on, Nari." Then she looked over at Irila. "We also need to make contact with the priest in the Temple of All Gods who helped Anver. What was his name again?"
"Makis," I told her. "Handsome man, but not beautiful. Moderately tall, mid to late twenties."
"Should I be jealous?" Ela teased.
I gave him a look that said he should know better. "Promise I won't try to fuck him."
Which made Talin laugh as well, but Amerlee wasn't done yet. "The five of you need to know that Kinen is using Nari as an excuse to 'tighten the placements' in the temple. He's saying that because the tears have been proven to be unreliable, he will be reviewing the roles that all priests have been placed in. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that means."
"And," Shalsa added, "he's requiring a minimum number of sessions from women only. Because of this, we're being scheduled with sessions that are outside our usual range of sexual preferences." She glanced at Amerlee, then over to Nari. "Amerlee has been assigned three men, just this week."
"What?" Nari gasped.
"At least they're sensuality sessions," Amerlee told her. "It's ok."
From the look on Jamik's face, it wasn't. He didn't say anything, but I got the very clear impression that it was more so he didn't undermine his desire, not because he agreed. The man's jaw was clenched so hard the muscle at the side was jumping with tension.
"No," I said, speaking up because he couldn't. "That is not ok, Amerlee. It's well known that you only very rarely accept men. Have you considered replacing your scheduler?"
"It's not their fault," she insisted. "It's the minimums. There simply aren't enough women seeking sessions with other women. Shalsa has been serving nothing but men lately, trying to help. Not me, since we're on opposite sides of the control spectrum, but the other Control specialists who prefer only women."
"And," Irila added, "recovery time from injuries is no longer guaranteed. Farik has been writing prescriptions for bed rest for those who are too hurt to fuck. Without it, they're required to compensate the temple for the sessions they miss."
"To pay?" Wraythe asked. "Priestesses have to pay to not have a session? That's..."
"Just like in the factories," Jamik pointed out, and disgust tinted every word. "If a factory or labor worker wants time away from work, they have to hire someone to do the job for them or risk losing the job. Kinen says that if it works well enough in the rest of Calseth, then there's no reason the temple shouldn't adapt to the times."
"All of this is because of me," Nari mumbled.
"No," I told her, "it's not. It's because of Kinen. You might be the excuse, but the problem is that Kinen is losing power. The priests no longer believe in him. Too many of them believe in our god. It's a sign that Zeal is getting stronger."
"But," Ela said, "Temptation is a sword that cuts both ways. The stronger Zeal gets, the more tempted we will all be, and not always in the right ways. Greed is one of the strongest Temptations."
"Which means you need to worry about making sure Zeal stays in power," Amerlee told us, looking at all five of us, one after the other. "Zeal is a fair god. Maybe not an easy one, but he is fair. He is also loving, in his own way. I will worry about the politics of this. The five of you simply worry about the faith."
"Four," I countered. "It seems Zeal needs me for other things."
She looked at me and nodded. "Just be safe, Anver. All of us need to remember that. We can't help Zeal if we're thrown out of the temple - or dead."
