Chapter 11: Meditation

The Chapel was hushed when Greta and Marzia returned. The two women exchanged nods, and Greta headed to her small room.

Prophecy was not something she had any talent at, in fact, very few Sisters truly had the gift. What all sisters had is "an open mind", which meant that dreams and visions could come to them under the right circumstances. So while some sisters actively pursued prophecy with the help of certain mushrooms, incenses, and chemicals, others simply waited it to come to them. Greta was one of the latter. Often she would partner with one of her more talented Sisters and record their prophecies, but since no one had asked for her help, she decided to simply meditate in her room until the bell rang for dinner.

Greta lit a small brazier, prompting sweet-smelling smoke to issue from its perfumed coals. Next she unfurled a rag-knot rug and knelt upon it, her hands resting atop her thighs. Taking measured breaths, Greta slipped into calm nothingness. For ten minutes, or perhaps longer, she meditated, eyes closed, her mind open to visions. As usual, none came.

Feeling somewhat melancholy, she opened her eyes, only to yelp in surprise when she saw that Elanor was sitting across from her, cross-legged and smiling.

"Elanor!" Greta exclaimed with surprise and relief, placing a hand over her racing heart. "You scared me."

Elanor rubbed the back of her neck, her smile turning sheepish. "Sorry about that Greta. I just wanted to check in with you and see how you are, as well as ask a few questions."

"Oh, alright," Greta replied, somewhat bemused. "I am doing fine. Nothing strange has really happened to me or my Sisters since Delilah was defeated."

"Good, good!" Elanor nodded, folding her hands. "You have not had to deal with the Void attempting to contact you in any way?"

"What, no," that truly confused Greta. "Why would the Void be contacting me?"

"Because you took its representative away of course," Elanor also sounded confused. "I have talked with other Stars about previous representatives of the Void, and they have actually removed one from its position in the past. That apparently caused no end of complaining from the Void until we helped procure its replacement."

Greta began to fiddle with her belt, trying to think. "But the Outsider is not completely severed from the Void. He still has those creepy black eyes and all sorts of strange powers. The only difference is that he has a tangible form I guess? I should ask Emily, she would know what he was like pre-Incident."

Elanor suddenly smacked her head. "Oh gosh you are right, I can't believe I forgot. Speaking of tangible, I got a few things about the shackles wrong. They did not tie him to a particular void, but to his physical body. They made a copy of that physical body in Void then merged it with his spirit that was trapped in the world mortal. On top of that, they linked the copy to his original body that was stuck in the Void."

Greta watched the Star gesture with her hands as she talked about the shackles. At the last comment Greta held up her hand, prompting Elanor to pause.

"Wait, so why is this important?" she asked.

Elanor blushed a bit. "Oh, it is not really. Except perhaps that if we did not remove those shackles the Outsider likely would be no more, and then we would have to deal with the Void complaining about yet another lost representative. That will require at least a dozen extra decades of paperwork."

"Paperwork?" Greta said with an amused snort.

"Metaphorically speaking," Elanor replied loftily. "But I digress, we do not have to worry about replacing the Void's representative, and if he becomes a problem we can put him under control."

Greta nodded, relaxing as she breathed in the smoky incense. "I truly doubt that we will have a problem with him."

Elanor chuckled, raising a blonde eyebrow. "Look at you; you've gone from 'Fuck the Outsider' to speaking positively about him. Actually, I do wonder why you felt compelled to help him. You could have told Emily that you did not know of any way to help him, or you could have summoned your Sisters to end him. It is a bit like seeing ice help out fire."

Greta chewed her lip as she tried to get words in order. "When I look back on it, I do wonder why I chose to help Emily help him. Maybe it was the fact I was introduced to him when he was stark naked, or the fact that the person asking for my help was the Empress. In any case, he did not feel evil or look malevolent. He just looked like a normal human man that was sick. And Emily, I could feel her good intentions. In her presence I could practically see her goals for the future of the nation. How could someone who wishes such good want to protect someone like the Outsider, unless perhaps he was not so bad after all?"

"How do you know the Outsider is not manipulating Emily?" Elanor questioned, thumb underneath her chin as she leaned onto her elbow.

"Let us assume that the Outsider is what we, the Abbey, preach he is. A tempter that wishes to sow discord into the hearts of humankind," Greta proposed. "Emily already has his Mark, she told me such. We can presume that makes her sympathetic to his words and to the use of magic. But to be frank, I truly do not care if our Empress is sympathetic to the use of magic. From what I know from talking to her, she is a trusty ally to the Abbey. And as for being sympathetic to his words, that does mean she would be easy to manipulate. However," she raised a finger. "I do not believe Emily is one to take the words of the Outsider without consulting with the Royal Protector, and his job is to help her not be manipulated."

"And this is all under the presumption that the Outsider wishes to sow discord?" Elanor looked somewhat uncertain.

"Yes, and assuming Emily will blindly follow every word he says. I must admit that I have not yet discerned if that is his character," Greta admitted. "After all, not counting the first time we met, I have only talked to him two other times. The first was shortly after you left and he appeared in kitchen, and the second was earlier today when Emily was compiling candidates for her cabinet. But I have this gut feeling that he is not the sort that interferes, but merely watches. Some of the heretical treatises from before the Abbey was founded do argue that he is something of an almighty bystander, and will sometimes nudge things in certain directions to simply see what happens."

Elanor nodded in understanding, a pensive look on her face. "He sounds very similar in temperament to many Stars. In any case, I'm going to keep an eye on the Void and try to figure out what exactly tampered with that rune of yours."

"Thank you," Greta murmured, not entirely sure what to say.

"But enough about the Void and the Empress and the Outsider," Elanor declared with a wave. "Can you tell me what is the function of this?"

Out of nowhere she pulled a stuffed bear. Not the small cute toys made out of wool, cotton, and thread, but an actual taxidermied Tyvian Ice-bear. Greta just let her jaw drop.

"Where did you get that?

"Oh don't worry, it's only a projection of light," Elanor assured. "I will warn you that I do have a very large collection of things that bewilder me, and I know that you have the time to humor me."

"Alright," Greta said faintly, accepting her fate willingly. It certainly promised to be entertaining.