A Country Falls (Greatest Thief 3) - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Navire's temple stood on the highest point of the city, far from the water. The winding path through the forest meant it was nearly impossible to see until suddenly it was right in front of us. It was a tall, rectangular building, sitting up on a platform and surrounded by a row of stone columns. The roof was triangular, and the space that bridged the gap between the columns and roof was decorated with painted carvings. Statues that were likely life-size, but looked small from the ground, stood along the peak of the roof.
The road had brought us to the back of the temple. Our convoy of carriages followed the path around to the front, through beautiful gardens dotted with more statues. There were plenty of people around. Some were tending to the gardens, others were sitting on benches or strolling around, deep in discussion. Some of them I knew were priests and priestesses, but many of them were dressed in regular clothing as opposed to pale robes.
When we reached the front of the temple, I was immediately struck by the view. Though the forest blocked the temple from the city, it sat close enough to the edge of a cliff that it had a wonderful view of the Navi river. I wondered if any of the worshippers had watched our ship come in weeks earlier. Then I turned around, and my jaw dropped.
Instead of regular columns, the eight along the front of the temple were large statues. Unlike the other statues, they weren't painted—they were made of the same glittery white marble as the rest of the columns. Each woman wore meticulously carved robes, complete with folds and pleats, and hair that hung over their left shoulders. But there the similarities ended.
The first statue held her hands above her head, like she was helping the roof balance on her head. The next had her hands clasped together over her stomach. The third statue was reaching out with cupped hands, as if she was trying to catch rain. The fourth and fifth statues mirrored each other nearly perfectly. The fourth had her right hand propped on her hip, and held a spear in her left, while the fifth held the spear in her right hand. Almost as if they were guarding the doorway. The sixth matched the third, the seventh mirrored the second, and finally the last statue was helping the first hold up the roof.
Tannix voiced my thoughts for me. "They're incredible. The workmanship is astounding. Who are they?"
For the entire ride to the temple, I had felt a little uncomfortable about Queen Navire's insistence that I join her in the first carriage with Tannix and Mayah. Now, I turned to hear her answer, grateful to be there.
The Queen smiled. "You know Virie is our patron goddess. These statues represent the four sides to her." She pointed at the first statue on the right, the one with her hands up, holding the roof. "Virie, mother to the moon, Anava. She holds her daughter in the sky at night." Then the one with the spear. "Virie, of the fierce winds." Then the statue with her hands clasped together. "Virie, of the gentle winds. And—" Queen Navire gestured to the statue with her hands cupped in front of her. "Virie, creator of birds and air spirits."
"The temple in Zianna..." Tannix faltered when the Queen turned to him. "It isn't this large. My brother wants to restore it, but I don't think it can ever be a grand as this."
"Zianna is a tightly built city," Queen Navire said, with a nod. "But the temple that still exists today, the one converted into a Teltish church, is not Zianna's Great Temple, and there lies the difference."
"Where is—" Tannix caught himself with a wince. "Where was Zianna's Great Temple?"
"The legend says that there was once a thin bridge of rock between the Cliffs of Loth and Jandor Island, and the temple stood there. When Zianna fell to the Teltans, the rock crumbled and dropped the temple into the ocean. Navirian superstition says that is why the Straits of Loth are unpassable. Our ships always sail around Jandor to enter the bay through the Straits of Draulin."
"So do ours," Mayah said. "But I always believed it was because the Loth Straits were too shallow."
The Queen shrugged, a casual movement she somehow made look elegant. "Maybe they are shallow because of the ruins. I suppose there is no way to know." Her gaze landed on me, and she smiled again. "Finagale, shall we introduce your companions to our gods?"
I nodded. "Yes. Please. We have a temple in Zianna, sort of." I wasn't sure why I felt the need to tell her, but as I scrambled out of the carriage after her, I kept talking. "We have the statues of Zianesa, Roe and Kitsa that were rescued from the temple in Zianna. They're old and worn down, but it's nice to know that they're from the temple. For everyone else we have little, newer statuettes."
Queen Navire was still smiling. "I am glad your people kept your faith. The gods and goddesses must smile on those old statues, even if they are worn down. The fact that they still stand shows the love Zians feel for Ziani and her siblings."
"We do love them," I agreed. "The only other mainland city I've been in was East Dra—Talidor, I mean. Briefly. But I didn't see a temple there, either." I shrugged. My whole life, I had known that I was supposed to be angry at the Telts for converting our temple in Zianna. But we still had some of our statues and a place to speak with them. It had never occurred to me just what Zianna, the kingdom as a whole, had lost. Even if our temples had been half as spectacular as the one we were walking towards, losing them was tragic. The history, the stories of the people who had built them and cared for them, the priests, priestesses and worshippers, all gone.
As I followed Queen Navire and started up the staircase, I felt the loss of our culture and language more than I ever had before. I had always been angry, because we were taught to be. Looking up at the eight Kitsa columns, that anger changed into mourning. I went still.
The Queen kept climbing, and Mayah followed. Tannix paused beside me. "Finn?"
"Let me." Joen nudged his way to stand between us. "Respectfully, sir, I don't think you can help with this."
Tannix's gaze darted from me to the temple, and some sort of understanding dawned across his face. When he turned back to us, he actually seemed nervous. "I can't... I can't apologize enough."
Joen gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Just give us a moment. We'll catch up."
"Right. Of course." Tannix hurried to catch up with the Queen and Mayah.
Joen steered me to the edge of the staircase, where we could sit without being in the way. The Queen's people, our three Navirian soldier friends, and the knights all climbed past us as we sat quietly. Before long, we were more or less alone on the huge staircase.
Joen leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. He looked out at the gardens and the river far below us. "I wish Catia and my girls could see this."
I was surprised by the emotion in his voice, but also surprised by the feelings that were threatening to spill out of me. Being angry was so much easier than being upset. I tried to swallow away the lump in my throat. "Is there a temple in East Draulin?"
"No." Joen shook his head slowly. "Ours is completely gone. You were lucky to have original statues in Zianna. We had a little shrine in our house. Sunia, Catul and Eogan, of course. Then we also had the Triplets and Volava." He chuckled. "Catia made me keep Volava's statuette in the forge with me, to bless the fires. I think when we get East Draulin back, I'll go to the house and pack up some things to send to West Draulin. We left in such a rush."
I recognized that he was trying to change the topic, but I couldn't let it go that easily. "Our temple, I mean the one we had to make in the lower city, it never felt like this. It never felt..."
"Real?" Joen guessed.
It was a good guess, but it didn't really match what I was trying to describe. "We would always go to the temple for important things, but it never really felt like praying to the statues was any different than just praying at home. So our temple is never crowded, because most people don't bother. But this... Kitsa is here," I said. "Does that make sense?"
Joen nodded.
I balanced my elbows on my knees, and propped my chin on my hands. "The Telts took this from us."
There wasn't much Joen could say to make me feel better. We sat in silence, letting the feeling, the realness, of the temple wash over us. Finally, without either of us saying a word, we stood up nearly in sync and continued up the steps. The eight Kitsas towered over us as we walked between them.
We passed through intricately carved wooden doors, and found ourselves in the largest room I had ever seen. It had to be large, to accommodate the enormous Kitsa statue at the far end of the room. Unlike the statues outside, she was painted. Her dress was white, her skin and hair were dark like Queen Navire's. Her arms were held up, so she was gesturing at the ceiling, which was painted to look like the sky. Pale blue with puffy clouds closer to Kitsa, dark with stars at our end of the room. Just below the ceiling, large windows were covered by delicate blue cloth that fluttered in the wind.
Around the room, life-sized statues of the other gods and goddesses stood in niches. Zianesa and Roe flanked Kitsa with slightly larger niches. Each statue was finely carved and painted, and their niches were decorated accordingly. The temple's floor was a patterned mosaic of coloured stones and shimmery pieces that looked like the shell on my new bracelets.
There were plenty of people in the room. The Queen had brought Tannix, Mayah and the knights over to the Kitsa statue. In the quiet of the temple, I could pick out bits of pieces of what she was telling them. Around the room, other worshippers knelt or stood in front of the other statues. Priestesses and priests moved around, speaking in hushed whispered to visitors, or making sure candles and incense was lit, or picking up bowls of offerings to take back to the temple's treasure room.
As Joen and I crossed the patterned floor to join the others, I noticed a handful of doorways set between the gods' niches. Some of the doors probably led to the priests and priestesses' living quarters, or to offices or the treasure room. One doorway was open, and the room it led to didn't seem to have a back wall. It was open to the gardens. A group of children sat in the room, all facing a priestess. The sight intrigued me. Communal prayer wasn't something we did.
"—their patron in the place of honour, centered on the dais," Queen Navire said as we joined the group. "But the three Triplets always stand together. Navirian," her eyes landed on me, "and Zian, worship is done very personally. Now, I invite you to explore the temple, and if you choose to do so, you may speak to any of the deities. I will be happy to answer any questions, and of course you may speak to Valari, Angelys or Karian."
Karian spoke up. "Maybe some knights would like to visit the god of war, Toros?"
"Yes, we would," Acen answered for the group. He flashed Tannix a look, then began to herd the knights after Karian and the women soldiers. Joen smiled at me before following along.
Soon it was just me, standing near Kitsa's feet with the Queen, Tannix and Mayah. I moved closer. I wanted to take Tannix's hand and drag him around the temple, but first I had a question. "Your majesty? I noticed a room of children. What were they doing?"
"They were learning," the Queen said.
"To be priests?" Tannix asked.
"Possibly. In Navire, and in Deorun, temples offer schooling for children and adults alike," Queen Navire explained. "The simple learning is free to anyone who attends. Things such as reading, numbers and history. Many people attend classes as children, and then stop once they have a good working knowledge of those skills. Some people continue their education to study to become priestesses or priests themselves. Further, specialize education has to happen elsewhere."
I saw Tannix glance at me, but it was Mayah who spoke. "What a lovely system. When I have Talidor once again, I'll have to restart an education program." She said 'restart' so easily, acknowledging with that one word what the Queen hadn't directly said. "Would you mind telling me more?"
"Of course," the Queen said. "We can go visit the classroom. Finagale, I'm sure you would like to explore the temple with Lord West Draulin." Without waiting for an answer, they walked away. We could already hear Mayah asking questions.
"So." Tannix sounded cautious. Seeing the temple had made me think about what Zians had lost, and it had hit me hard even though I had always known. Tannix's wary caution made me realize suddenly that the truth of Zianna's history was probably hitting him just as hard. Differently, but still hard. I thought of all the simple truths I had taught him. All the things his privileged life had hidden from him. How determined he was to fix things.
I turned to him, smiling. Because what had happened four hundred years ago wasn't his fault, and because he was trying to learn and make up for those crimes anyway. "Can I introduce you to Zianesa?"
Tannix's expression softened with obvious relief. "Yes, please."
I wanted to take his hand, but there were too many people in the temple. Instead, I just led him to the statue on Kitsa's right. Zianesa's statue was life-sized. Her dress was painted green, and a crown of flowers sat on her dark hair. The walls of her niche were covered with light green tiles and stamped with various leaf shapes. Like all the niches, the floor around her feet was covered in offerings. But unlike the others, some of Zianesa's offerings included small potted plants.
"If we talk to the statues, they're more likely to hear us," I explained. "Well... she'll always hear us, but this helps. So..." I turned to the statue. "Zianesa, please help Zianna in the war. Please protect everyone I love. My brother, Castin. My new family—Joen, Acen, Kor, Ender, Jalor, Mandell, Evrik and King Tandrin. I know most of them don't believe in you, but please protect them anyway. And please protect my..." I didn't know what to call him. Nothing seemed right. "Protect Tannix, please. I love him." I stopped speaking in Teltish to recite one of the old Ziannan prayers. I had memorized the sounds as a child, but I didn't know what they meant. Nobody did anymore.
When I finished, Tannix let a moment of silence go by before speaking up quietly. "Do you think I could say something to her?"
It wasn't the first time he had respected my beliefs, but it was the first time he had asked to speak to them directly. I nodded, pleasantly surprised by the request. "Of course."
Tannix shuffled his feet, and scratched his left arm with his right hand. He was nervous.
"You don't have to speak out loud. She'll still hear you," I said.
"It's not that," Tannix said. "This building is beautiful. It's hard to imagine anyone deciding to tear it down. It's tragic, and it makes me angry. But it also makes me angry that nobody knows. I mean..." He looked at me. "I guess I knew. We all know, I guess, but it always felt so distant. Teltans aren't told about how beautiful Zian temples were. We're just told that Zian gods aren't real and so tearing down temples and destroying statues was the right thing to do. But there's nothing right about disrespecting what someone else believes in. Before I met you, I never thought about any of this. And I guess, I'm just... ashamed. Of who I was. I've always thought of myself as so understanding. With my Native blood, and my diverse guard, but... you. Finn, you could have gone to your temple and learned how to read and write. You could have become anything you wanted, but you didn't have the opportunity. You could have visited a real temple with huge statues. If the Teltans had never landed on New Teltar—"
I caught his hand and twisted our fingers together. "Tannix, I wouldn't have been born if the Telts had never landed on New Teltar."
His gaze dropped to our hands. "You don't know that your father was a Teltan."
"I don't know," I agreed. "But I'm pretty sure."
Tannix sighed heavily. He lifted our clasped hands and pressed a kiss to my skin. Then he took a deep breath. "Zianesa, I beg for your forgiveness. My people wronged you. If Zianna wins the war, and if I... if I survive it, I swear I will work to make amends for what my ancestors did to you, to your brother and sisters and the rest of your family, and to the Native Zians."
He whispered something else too quietly for me to hear. Then he turned to me. "I'd like to meet Lovi."
This time, when I led him across the room, I kept holding his hand. Our knights had split up into little groups. Joen and Acen were kneeling in front of Sunia, the goddess of families and mothers. It was easy to imagine Joen leading Acen through a prayer for their wives. Ender and Kor had made their way to Roe, which wasn't a surprise. Mandell and Jalor were still standing near Tros, the war god, with Karian. Evrik was with Valari and Angelys by the statue of Anniva, the goddess of healing. Her blessings would be very helpful during the war. Mayah and the Queen were visiting Jute, the god of language and history. Maybe Queen Navire was telling Mayah the story of Jute travelling the land to teach.
Nobody was visiting Lovi. Her dress was painted a soft red that wasn't quite pink, and her carefully carved hair was piled on top of her head. The offerings at her feet included jewellery and a handful of different stones. The walls of her niche were covered by a colourful, woven tapestry. The tapestry was just as intricate as everything in the temple, with rows of detailed little people. Lovi represented every kind of love that existed. Some of the people stood in pairs, but other stood in groups or looked like parents with children.
"Look." I pointed out a pair of men, who were holding hands. It wasn't unusual in Navire. Lovi knew who was meant to be together. She didn't care about the Telts' insistence that men could only be with women.
Tannix smiled, and his hand tightened in mine. "Lovi, thank you for making sure Finn and I met. You must have known that I needed someone to challenge how I see the world. Finn makes me constantly re-evaluate everything I've always believed, and in turn he's made me a much better person. I promise that I will spend the rest of my life working to deserve him. I can't be poetic enough to properly describe how much I love him, but I'm sure you already know."
There was a fluttering in my stomach. "That was pretty poetic."
"I mean every word of it."
I didn't think about where we were. I just stood up on the tips of my toes and kissed him.