While Ed was off handling their license, Rennish and Ashra were taking a cart to the city's capital building. The hotel owner had told them all services were administered from that building. If they needed something done on the up and up that was the place to start.
So these two were treating the trip more as a chance to relax and escape the routine of driving from town to town. They wanted to eat lunch prepared by someone else, they wanted to look at stores, and they wanted to see about anyone with skills with divine powers.
And given that Rennish was such a creative spirit and loved the sounds and life of a good restaurant or bar, they naturally decided to get lunch first.
"Should we be doing this without Erust?" Ashra asked.
"Yes, you have had a long drive without the comfort of your husband and I can tell that your current situation… bothers you." Rennish said as they sat at a table on a porch. The breeze was blowing up the street from the river district and the sun was just hidden behind the peak of the neighborhood businesses. It was a nice change from the oppressive heat of everything else.
"Yes, I am bothered. How long have you two been friends," Ashra asked, sipping from the drink with both hands on her cup.
"Oh, what feels like many many years now. And I will be honest I wasn't always the best friend to Erust at first. I was looking out for myself so we got into trouble we shouldn't have. He still doesn't trust me as much as I would like but I will try to make myself useful from here on out." Rennish smiled and took a sip.
They weren't worried about anyone watching them because of the cloaks, and it was nice to just be people for a change.
"I assumed you were closer," she said. "You seem to have a deep bond."
"It's a really deep bond." He sighed. "We are fated to look out for each other for at least a while longer."
Ashra smiled and looked at Rennish. "You know I don't love him yet," she said with such bluntness that Rennish coughed a little on his drink. "I want too, but I don't. I love the things he does and stands for but my fondness of him has been affected by this and that I can't do my job to serve him when I can't even look at him."
Rennish put his drink down and looked at her. "You do realize that he cares because he is not giving up on you right?"
"I know, and for that, I do feel his warmth. I am past marriage age, my loins are probably barren now, and I wonder if the fact that I can't have a family is why I cry at the mere look of him."
"I don't think that's it. Erust is right, something else happened and he wouldn't be so worried about you if he didn't care for you. Do you think you will ever really love him?"
Ashra looked at her cup and swished the drink around inside. "I don't know. He is the first human I have ever known and the only man I have ever laid with. I have… feelings… what they are I don't know. I used to love teasing him as a way of testing him. I enjoyed his teasings back. I miss them. Does that mean I loved him or just the attention?
Mating is far more primal in my clan, the male is dominant and strong. He has excellent pelt and strong genes. Erust is none of that. The one-man I thought of as a mate when I was young has grown up to be important in the village and taken many wives. Erust will be important. But will he be an alpha male…" she trailed off in thought.
Rennish sighed on the inside. There it was, Ed's nature was going to haunt them both. Rennish looked at Ashra and tapped the table to bring her back to the here and now. "Here is my thought. You offered, and you wouldn't have accepted if you didn't want to in some little way. Erust would have never agreed if he didn't think he could be worthy of you. If he does manage to go through and get the humans and demi-humans working together again he will need your help. A human walking through the southern lands is rare and often attacked or killed. What would you do if he died."
She looked at his face and blinked for a few minutes while she thought. "I don't know. The thought of his death scares me for some reason."
"Then there you go. You want him in at least some way. Learn who he is when he's not just the prophet. Learn who he is when he has to be himself and fall in love with that. No, he's not the most alpha ever but he is creative and he faces everything head-on. Learn to love that maybe and then move on to the next thing. He will tell you very rarely, but I am sure he loves you too if he is this worried about you."
"If you think so. Thank you Rennish." She said and smiled.
------------
The rest of their trip went far smoother than Ed, who was thinking he was legitimately cursed. Rennish and Ashra walked the shops in the district that was said to lead to the artificers near the bay. They were craftsmen who sometimes had to deal with divine power to lock or unlock items. The information specialist at the guild did not realize that they weren't dealing with an actual lock but really more of a metaphysical one.
Any information at this point would be useful though.
The artificers agreed to look at Ashra. Intrigued by the challenge they had never thought that divine locks could be placed on people. Most of them agreed that a lock had been put on her body, it had secured something inside her but also could have been used to remove something also.
The lock that was placed in her brain was firmly attached to a memory, which they already knew. That memory was of Erust and everything she thought about him. Someone had locked fear, despair and loathing into that box and were trying to poison his image in her head.
A few men tried to tinker with the locks that were placed by the gods, and they succeeded in loosening the restraints a little bit. The lock inside her body was still tight and impenetrable but her opinion of Erust was slightly less strong. She felt that she might be able to be near him at night again without uncontrollable crying.
Rennish had procured another map and a new instrument to put with his other collection. Whenever Ashra went to be inspected Rennish would lay on the charms and start telling jokes to men and women alike. He was an easy enough person to like if you didn't know him. He seemed happy and jovial, and his sense of humor meant that everyone had a good time. It was too bad he wasn't 100% human. Some of the women would have been surprised if their lurid thoughts had played out for a night with this charming man.
--------------------
Ed had tucked the coin and his paperwork back into his satchel. The license was now official and all they needed was to head to the oracle. He wanted to get out of this town as quickly as possible. Ed was never really claustrophobic but he was tired of all the damn distractions and sneak attacks. He knew it came with the territory but he was still missing just being a plain old blacksmith. Juniper and Jorgens farm was the last time he had been really close to a normal human being.
When Ed got back to his room at the hotel he went upstairs and decided to lay down while the other two were out taking care of their chores. Ed hoped that Ashra would find something to distract her in the meantime. She deserved some sort of happiness and Ed was feeling guilty that his involvement in her life was causing her pain.
He laid on the bed and thought about their wedding night, he was sad that it was just the once but not surprised that it was. He was cursed after all apparently and that meant he had gotten one up on fate. Fate had to fight back.
"Fate had nothing to do with that." Said a voice from across the room.
"Damn this dream is vivid," Ed said out loud.
"Do you always talk to yourself. It's a bad habit. Shouldn't you be out propheting or pilgriming or just doing something besides sleep?"
"No, I have driven a cart for 2 weeks and slept in the dirt. I saved enough for one decent bed tonight and since I can't do anything else I want to at least sleep in it." Ed thought this dream was awful moody and needed to be put back in its place.
"Ouch Ed." The voice said.
The fact that it knew his real name sat him up in bed as fast as his body could move. No one but Rennish called him that anymore. Golliad sat in the room in a chair near the door.
"You called?" Golliad said with a smile and a wave.
"No I didn't but I will take it." Ed said and stood up out of bed and stormed towards Golliad. He was full of indignation and anger and he wanted answers.
"The taxmen were your doing, wasn't it? How much are you responsible for?"
"I was just trying to help you along as you head south. You are headed the right way." Golliad motioned for ed to sit down. "Please calm down I was going to come anyway, your thoughts just gave me an excuse. We have to talk."
Ed settled down on the bed after making sure the door was locked.
"Okay Ed, first take this rock and turn it into anything," Golliad said producing a rock from nothing.
Ed took it in his hands and with some thought, he had transformed the solid rock into a piece of wood.
"Okay good. You have mastered transformation. I know you have magic and mana also. You need to start thinking about how you use those. You are getting close to something Ed. So close that things are going to start happening that you need to protect yourself and others. You need to help your wife too."
"What do you know about Ashra!"
"Calm down, I didn't do anything! I only heard about it a few days ago and I was furious. I can't undo it either and I am not the one to tell you about it. You are headed to the oracle and she will fill you in but not yet. You need to understand that we gods can feel fate moving and bending but we have very little understanding of what is fate until it happens. It's like standing in a river. You feel the water moving but you don't know what caused each wave exactly."
Golliad got up and walked over to Ed. "Look, this is not what I wanted. I am on your side. I have very few contacts in this land but I will help how I can. I can tell you that you need to be prepared, Ed. You need to go to the village that Ashra comes from and cement this marriage if you really want to go that route. And be certain because you know you are going to be tested. I want you to be happy. Not every spirit has that in mind for you."
Ed looked at Golliad with fierce eyes. The confirmation that a divine had done this to her was enough to make him want to drop out completely but the knowledge that he needed to move forward motivated him. He was tied to Ashra now and must protect her. What kind of prophet couldn't protect a follower?
"Okay, so head to her home town and then head to the oracle. What else do I need to do." He said with a sigh, hoping that Golliad being here wasn't another form of interference.
"Her people live not far from the Oracle so this won't add to your trip very much. Sell as much as you can make and get as good as you can. I recommend reading Ed, learn about as much of the world as you can. And I wish to take the finder from you. It is a powerful holy relic, I will bring it back to you but only after I am sure you are safe with it on you."
Ed sighed. The fact that he asked about the Finder told him who Golliad was talking about. The fear that Ysennia, the head goddess was behind this, made his mind quake. Why would she interfere?
"I know Ed, you're wondering why you right? Think about the old stories. Ask Rennish to tell you some stories about sacrifices made for the gods. See if you can't piece it together. I can't tell you more right now without others knowing. The divine have the ability to know certain things about each other." Golliad looked at him and smiled.
"Okay fine, you promise me you're not out to screw me over too?"
"I promise. I know that the world needs to be united and that a threat is coming. We have the false god to the far south, there is a war brewing again maybe between the humans and Demi-humans and the lord has started to notice the world again. It is too out of balance. You help with that somehow Ed. We have to get you fixing things."
Ed sighed. "Fine, you have to help me fix Ashra whenever you can. Whatever happened to her is divine magic a mere human can't break."
Golliad looked at him and stood up. He crossed his arms and started to fade out of existence. "When the time comes Ed you will break it, you're not a mere human. You are more than you know. Just know that the prophet Erust has more power than you're giving it credit for." The voice of Golliad lingered on after his body had disappeared. Head to the oracle, meet Ashra's family, contemplate the meaning of the attack. If Ed had attended a normal school this would have felt like homework to him.