"Hello!" The tall woman from Burian spoke first, waving her hand high above her head in greeting as though they weren't only a hallway away. Her voice was extremely pleasant and lightly pitched. The 'o' in her greeting was longer than necessary ending in an up-lilt that only exists amongst people with more than enough positive energy to spare. Sarah wasn't sure from this distance, but it looked to her as though she even stood on her tip-toes trying to make herself more visible. Both of the acolytes were still in shock and were left unsure how to respond to such a person.
Feylin took the lead, waving back awkwardly as they closed the distance.
The other woman walked shoulder to shoulder with the first. Well, not quite shoulder to shoulder. She was significantly shorter than the first woman, but otherwise an average height. Once they were all face to face, it looked that Sarah and the taller woman were within an inch of each other. Sarah was an even six foot, so she assumed it was the other woman's thin frame that made her look taller.
The other woman was a few inches shorter than Feylin who was 5'8''. She was bald; however, her features were soft and pale, and her smile made it the look suit her. Sarah assumed she used to be a monk before finding a reason to join the Order of the Life. Sarah noticed that her eyes had small smile wrinkles around them. It seemed she did a lot of smiling. The acolytes assumed she was probably the less energetic type than her taller counterpart.
The two women wore very similar outfits, adorned with unique trinkets of worship. Holy symbols, prayer beads, prayer slips, and woven belts with blessings engraved on them. Feylin and Sarah looked over their garments in admiration. They could only imagine what half of the items did... Or how expensive it all must have been.
"Hello," the shorter woman smiled and the wrinkles around her eyes deepened. "I'm Sally, Cleric and Student at Burian. It's nice to meet you both" She stretched out her hand, her palm facing down.
Both Feylin and Sarah responded in kind, putting their palm underneath hers - facing up.
In the common world, it was a symbol of greeting used in and out of every circle. To place your hand out and facing palm down was extending greeting to someone younger than you or under you on a hierarchy.
Facing up would be extending greeting to someone your senior.
And extending horizontally - side by side - was to extend greeting to an equal or someone you respect who you see as at your level.
"I'm Feylin, this is Sarah. We are both humble acolytes in your service and to the service of our gods." He restrained his usual excitable nature, to make a good impression. Sarah gave him a sarcastic glance.
Sally smiled at this, suddenly though, a whisper loud enough to be heard by everybody echoed out of the little girls mouth who was still sitting on the large man's shoulders. "He's not very humble, to be honest." Yisanet giggled and kicked her feet enjoying her height over the adults. The paladin stood behind Sally and the tall woman, next to Jacobson. She was leaned over as though she was attempting to speak right into the man's ear, however one look at the smile on her face would let everyone know her voice was meant to be heard.
Feylin's eyes went wide and Sarah looked the other way attempting to restrain a chuckle. Everyone else smiled wryly at the child's antics. Jakobson, feeling especially responsible, cleared his throat.
After the moment of wry smiles had passed, the tall woman extended her hand to Sarah. "It is a pleasure to meet you Sarah. I'm Raelith Ringflower, but everyone just calls me Rae. I hope you can forgive us for stealing you away from the temple for a small while. Oh, I am a cleric student as well." She spoke bluntly, but her demeanor was so cheery it hardly mattered. Sarah and Feylin both returned the greeting, palms upturned.
Finally, the paladin stepped forward. Standing opposed to his massive height, Sarah and Feylin found it hard to believe humans could get so big. Sarah being in front, extended her hand upwards in greeting. Now that she could see the man up close face to face, it felt like an overwhelming ocean-wave was rushing towards her. He stood tall and strong like a mountain, and his eyes were sharp, but wrinkled with age and exhaustion.
His hair and beard were finely groomed, a feat considering their constant traveling until now. Gray and aged, but equally intimidating.
He stretched out his massive hand, easily double the size of hers, however instead of placing it over hers, he put it horizontally. Sarah looked down in confusion and back up at the man.
His other hand grasped hers and forced it horizontally against his palm. He smiled down towards her, and she felt an odd feeling of satisfaction from the action.
"My name is Tobias Brighton, I am not a student but a grand-paladin with Burian. It is a pleasure to meet you both, I am sorry for the last-minute nature of our arrival. I hope you can forgive us." He met Sarah's hesitant gaze sincerely as he spoke.
Suddenly the pressure that Sarah had been feeling disappeared. Instead of an unstoppable wave, it felt like she was standing in front of a being of endless grace and kindness. She took a deep breath. It was similar to how she would feel after studying or praying.
Despite his warrior nature, it was clear he was indeed a paladin of the faith.
Feylin too extended greetings with Tobias, he was unsure how he felt about being greeted as an equal in comparison to such a high-level senior. However, he couldn't refuse, and it did make him happy to be respected like that.
Such a greeting said a lot about Tobias' character.
Sarah and Feylin were both immensely impressed, the two clerics with him were extremely nonchalant about the whole exchange. To them, meeting acolytes was a daily discourse. The only thing special about these two was that they existed only in the outskirts of society. Especially at the last bastion towards the western edge of the world.
"Alright. Now that everyone has met, I must ask that you all join me back in the office in an hour." Jakobson spoke and all eyes fell on him. Suddenly Feylin and Sarah both realized that, compared to everyone here, he was extremely short.
Jakobson stood at 5 foot, halfling blood ran through his veins. They had become used to his size over the years and didn't even think about it anymore. But now seeing him stand beside Tobias, it left him looking out of his depth.
Feylin attempted to hold back a snicker at this, but he was greeted with a glare as Jakobson seemed to know what he was thinking.
"Sarah, please show Rae and Sally where to find the armory, they put their weapons up on their way in. While there, have them talk to you about the weapons within. I know you are used to taking the maces on your missions, however this is a bit more serious, so it is important you will pick a weapon that you will be comfortable with for a… while." Sarah and Feylin both looked at each other.
"When you are done there, bring your weapons with you and come back to my office." Jakobson paused for a second and scrunched his eyes in thought. "Actually, make it two hours. Also, I am afraid that you both will be leaving today at nightfall. In two hours when you come back, we will fill you in on the details."
Sarah felt her anxiety flare to life; however, she gripped the holy symbol attached to her bracelet discretely and said a small prayer to try and suppress it.
"Yes Bishop, we will be back soon then." Sarah had a moment of pride at being able to keep her voice from wavering, however against everyone present with their combined life experience, they could easily read how nervous she was. When talking with Jakobson earlier, they all received a bit of information about Sarah and Feylin, just so they knew what kind of people these acolytes were.
The four walked off down the hall, leaving Jakobson and Tobias alone to talk.
"They're so young…" Tobias's voice entered Jakobson's ears. He merely nodded, small dark wrinkles could be seen forming under his eyes.
"So… tell me Jakobson. How does the Burian know about them, and what is the deal with using two acolytes when we have perfectly fine clerics and paladins for you?" Jakobson asked, extremely nonchalant. However, it was clear. He was very serious.
Tahmel looked at Jakobson before nodding. They walked back to the office for privacy.