Tales of Midbar: Secret Priest

Dad ushered Miandri and myself into his office, closed the door and leaned against it. “Now can one of you tell me why your mothers freak out when they meet powerful psychics, what most people would call anavim, or is it just anavot?”

“Korbarism?” I suggested.

“Mum is totally not korbarist,” said Miandri. “She totally insisted that Zlendis equip me although I’m a katcheyah.”

“Perhaps they’re just korbarist against anavim,” I said.

“You’re an anav,” said Miandri.

“Well your Mum hates me,” I said, “and mine’s not a lot better. They must realize I need to get to know other anavim and can probably only have sex with an anavah but whenever anavot turn up near me, they have core meltdowns and drive them away.”

“This family doesn’t believe in korbarim,” said Dad. “Why do we feel explosions of power when they approach and leave?”

“Nobody ever tells me anything,” I said. “How am I supposed to solve my own problems when they won’t let me do anything because I don’t know what I’m doing and they won’t tell me anything not to mention not letting Haprihagfen help me.”

“That’s very unfair,” said Dad. “I will definitely talk to them about it.”

“What was that about Rendamar Temple and priestly lines?” I asked.

Perhaps I should mention that the Trulist priesthood isn’t hereditary. I think priests mostly start out as Temple Prostitutes.

“I was hoping you would know,” said Dad, telling the truth so he really didn’t know about this. “I’m told you can’t get near Rendamar Temple unless you’re a Nuhara and you get beaten up, possibly raped or killed or both if you try and being a quippa and dressing like a Nuhara doesn’t help. That girl doesn’t look like a Nuhara, she’s the most glildac looking person I’ve ever seen! I suppose we’ll have to stay up now in case anything happens. Well Clindar and Attan can go to bed.”

We stayed up for about an hour, playing Fetmish but Miandri only liked playing by the simple rules while the rest of us were using the official rules. Then Mum and Yoldasia returned and said we could go to bed and Yoldasia and Miandri would keep watch for the strange girl.

“No!” said Dad, sternly. “Attan, go to bed! I want a word with the rest of you!”

“Why not me?” asked Attan.

“Because you seem to be the only one who isn’t involved in this mess!” said Dad.

Attan sulked out the room with his head down.

“Now,” said Dad with the sides of his mouth drawn back, “I’m disgusted by the way you three,” he indicated Mum, Yoldasia and Miandri, “have been treating Clindar. You tell him he needs to solve his own problems, stop him when he tries, keep him away from other similar psychics ...”

“That’s your word for ‘anavim’?” asked Yoldasia.

“... tell him he doesn’t know what he’s doing and refuse to explain things to him, not to mention making him think he was going to have sex with Miandri and then having her fornicate his school counselor! And he still needs to have sex! Does this sound like vaguely acceptable behavior?”

“If he can’t stand the heat he should get out the engine room,” said Yoldasia, with her hands on her wide hips.

“What’s the engine room analogous for?” asked Dad. “Midbar? His life?”

“He should know!” said Yoldasia.

“I tried to leave,” I said, “but you dragged me back and I don’t know what the ‘engine room’ is because you won’t explain it to me!”

“It should be fornicating obvious!” screamed Yoldasia at the top of her voice with her arms raised.

“Assuming things are obvious to people is a recipe for disaster,” said Dad. “Using profanities and claiming people should know things is no way to argue a case! Clindar thinks you and Benai Nibeyim are conspiring against him ...”

“That’s utterly ridiculous,” spat Yoldasia, lying.

“... and you keep giving him more evidence to support that!” said Dad.

“Well he shouldn’t be so fornicating paranoid!” said Yoldasia.

“Well prove I’m wrong then?” I asked.

“You should fornicating know Benai Nibeyim isn’t going to conspire to stop you fornicating girls,” said Yoldasia. “We tried to give you Miandri for fornication’s sake!”

“She’s still here.”

“But we can’t do it now,” said Miandri, “it’s not predestined.”

“And it was before?” I asked.

“Possibly,” said Miandri. “You’ve got to find your own truth.”

“Can’t you see how you keep contradiction yourselves?” said Dad. “You told him not to have sex with Miandri, you say you tried to give her to him and now you say he can’t have sex with her.”

“She’s not a virgin now,” said Mum.

“Why does that matter?” asked Dad.

“Predestination,” said Miandri.

“He really wants a virgin,” said Mum.

“Not necessarily!” I said.

“Medical confidentiality,” said Yoldasia, lying.

“That really weird predestination line was totally pointing at that girl who came earlier,” said Miandri.

“You’re not fornicating her!” Yoldasia snapped at me, showing her large teeth.

“Who’s confidentiality?” asked Dad. “Clindar’s? Miandri’s? Are you hurting Clindar to help a mental patient, or maybe a fertility patient?”

“You know I can’t answer those questions,” said Yoldasia, “but I know what I’m doing. I’m a healer, I’ve worked in a mental hospital for decades ...”

“You’ve also been a patient in that mental hospital,” said Dad, “and I’m starting to think you should be re-admitted!”

“That’s exactly the sort of bigotry that holds back the mentally ill,” said Yoldasia.

“You think you can lie to me?” said Dad. “Either you tell Clindar the rules of the game and let him play it or you give him a gift-wrapped girl to have sex with!”

“Or you’ll what?” asked Yoldasia.

“Clindar will do something you won’t like, very possibly get himself or some other people killed, I don’t know what the dangers are so I may even help him do it. I may also be unable to keep you out of Clindar’s legal cases.”

“Clindar doesn’t have the testicles to do something serious,” said Yoldasia.

“I was willing to talk to that anavah at the door,” I said. “I’ll talk to her if I ever meet her again. I’m willing to go to the Minris Vineyard and talk to the Haprihagfen including the Vineyard Magis. I’m probably willing and able to do lots of other things that will annoy you, which I can’t think of at the moment and perhaps don’t know about yet.”

Yoldasia looked at me with her eyes wide and mouth open. “This is precisely why we don’t trust you with information!”

“If I had the information, I may be able to have sex without doing something that upsets you, or is that impossible?”

“Of course it’s possible,” said Yoldasia.

“How?”

“You fornicating work it out!” Yoldasia screamed, waving her arms.

“If that’s the best you can offer,” said Dad, “any unpleasant consequences from Clindar trying to have sex is on your head not his.”

“You’ll never prove that in court!” said Yoldasia.

“Come on,” said Dad, “it’s a school day tomorrow and you need some sleep.”

I didn’t sleep well, partly because Attan kept wanting to talk about what sexual things we could do to the strange girl.

I’d only briefly visited Hecrin when I’d toured the sephirot. There’s a small garden Holy Site in Ascrin, which is officially Trulist so it isn’t really used except as a park (because Hecrin is very aggressively Winemaker - this isn’t really the same situation as with Rendamar Temple because I don’t think anybody attacks Trulists who try to use the temple and there are very few Trulists in Hecrin). It has a nice little cafe beside it. This is where I’d arranged to meet Dwendra during the school lunch break. She was already there, sitting at a table outside the cafe. I bought a plate of curry and noodles and a drink and went and sat with her.