Veronica got off the public carriage near the Dirt District, then ventured forth further inside, not caring for the weird and outright hostile looks people gave her.
While walking through the messy streets, she recalled her childhood. Her family's small, burnt down house was quite far from here, it was close to the Harbor District, but also far inside the Dirt District. It was at the middling part of the district, where the not too poor lived.
The further in you go, the worse the district gets. The middle of it is like a small criminal hideout. It is full of gambling dens and brothels, where the women and men don't actually get a choice if they want to work there or not.
Luckily the Church of Time was in the outskirts, so Veronica could stay as far away as she could from that place.
Living near there was very dangerous, since anybody can kidnap you and the police wouldn't lift a damn finger. If there is no murder, they don't care and even if there was it would still be a coin toss if they would venture in or not.
As an ascended though, Veronica didn't need to be too careful. When some thugs tried to approach her, she didn't even look at them. One reached and tried to grab her, but with a quick step and lean she moved past them.
They looked after her with confused expressions, then decided to move on, trying to find an easier prey.
When it was a bit past midday she arrived at the church and was surprised to find it packed with people. The courtyard was filled with a bunch of private carriages, their coachmen were in a circle talking to each other.
Veronica moved past them and went inside the Church of Time. Most of the seats were taken and there weren't only people from the Dirt District. In fact most were from other parts of the city, she even spotted a few wealthier individuals.
They all listened to the same ceremony, which was led by Father Martin. As Veronica stepped inside he instantly spotted her and gave her a small nod with a smile. She did the same and sat into one of the last aisles.
It was mostly empty except for a blond woman. Her clothes were pretty crappy, like every Dirt District resident's. What surprised Veronica though was her smell. Since she was born and raised in the trash heap that people call Dirt District, she knew very well how people from there supposed to smell like.
It was supposed to be a mix of sweat, rotten food and excrement. Instead this woman, who looked all dirty, smelled like fresh flowers and honey. She probably smelt better than Veronica.
As she sat into the seat next to her. The woman turned and smiled brightly.
Only now did Veronica managed to get a good look at her face. She was pretty, or more like insanely beautiful, if you ignored the dirt marks. Behind her right ear was some kind of orange flower, which somehow increased her charm even further.
She smiled straight at Veronica, her teeth immaculately clean and white, unlike any residents of the Dirt District. Her eyes were bright orange too, and Veronica instantly felt charmed by them.
In that moment Veronica recognized the woman. A deep sense of dread spread through her, but she expertly hid it. The woman hadn't notice her strange behavior.
Veronica smiled back, but it was more awkward than kind, just like a regular person would act in this scenario.
They stayed silent and listened to the ceremony...
"...This is why it's important in these tiring times to stick together. We have to fight this evil that the government forces on its workers, but not violently!"
Father Martin's eyes went to the first few aisles, which were filled with the surrounding area's citizens. His voice became a bit lower and warmer.
"I know its hard. As all you know I live in this church and I watch the people outside each day. I know your struggle, but this is wrong..."
"By meaninglessly destroying, abrupt change will cause much more damage than those useless people in the Courthouse ever could. We should try to get them to change their ways slowly instead. It will lead us to prosperity, and an overall better future..."
As he continued to speak the woman sitting next to Veronica leaned in and whispered into her ear.
"What do you think? Should change be fast or slow?" Her voice was a beautiful melody. It cut through all the noise and Father Martin's speech.
When it entered Veronica's ear, she felt the need to answer the woman's every question, and do whatever she wanted her to do. At that moment Veronica would've done anything to hear that voice again.
Suddenly her heart became painful, which caused her to snap out of the charm. The Dancer's Rose in her pocket was maniacally vibrating, trying its hardest to warn Veronica about the surrounding danger.
She gently and naturally placed her hand on the watch, which turned the vibration into a small buzz. After that, she leaned in as well and answered the woman's question the best she could.
"I think life isn't black and white, and one solution isn't the best for every scenario... Take a surgery for example, you wouldn't want it to be done fast, which could cause more trouble. But as another example, you wouldn't want commutes to be slow, you want to get done with the journey as fast as possible..."
Veronica took a deep breath and turned towards the woman. Her eyes bore into Veronica, with deep curiosity hidden in its orange depths.
"...I think that situation dictates solution. I think time will tell, which pace of change was better. One thing is sure though, history will only remember the end result and judge everything else based on that!"
The woman seemed a bit surprised by her answer, and slowly an approving smile took hold of her face.
"You are very smart Miss, could I ask for your name?" Hearing her voice caused the same charm to take effect, but Veronica fought it with all her power.
With a straight face and a deep struggle, she looked into the woman's eyes and lied...
"My name is Jane Smith, nice to meet you." She said and held out her hand, which the woman gently took and shook.
"Nice to meet you too Miss Smith. We have quite similar names, I'm called June!" She said with a smile as the ceremony ended.
People began to either leave or go and speak with Father Martin. A lot of them went to the donation box and placed money inside. The poorer ones only put a few coppen each, while the middle class placed a few eura. The wealthier people even put gelt notes inside, which was a very generous donation.
The money would be used to help people. Every week at least once, there was an organized hand out, where anybody could come and would receive free meals, blankets, clothes and other important items for survival.
Seeing that the ceremony came to an end, Veronica quickly stood up and went to the box as well. It was placed near the exit, so she didn't have to walk far.
Walking away she felt June's gaze on her back, but after entering the crowd it went away.
She dropped around 20 gelt inside the box, which caused a few bystanders to gasp. Then with excellent precision and deftness she slipped out of the crowd.
Veronica quickly walked away from the main room and entered the small library, where she sat down in an empty chair.
Her whole body was sweating and she felt nauseous. Taking deep breaths she slowly calmed down, but the meeting with June left a deep impression on her.
Talking to her felt like one of the hardest things she had to do in her life, just resisting her charm was utterly exhausting. What was worse that Veronica was nearly hundred percent certain that she didn't even use any power on her.
In that meeting it became clear what the difference is between order 8 and order 4. She had no chance fighting something like that. If it came down to it, she wouldn't even have time to do anything.
Slowly Veronica's mind went back to normal, causing her to remember the letter Tom left her. Especially the warning at the bottom.
'Also, you should leave Hammon as soon as possible. One of His closest followers is causing the protests to escalate. Her name is June and she is a 4th Order Harmony of the Vocalist path.'
Just remembering these lines caused a shiver to run down on Veronica's spine. She quickly jumped up and began pacing inside the room.
She went over every part of the conversation with June, trying to recall if she left any sort of clue about her real identity.
After a long time she determined that there wasn't anything related to her, but if she used Mind's Eye, there was a chance she saw Veronica's path and order. After that it wouldn't be hard to figure out who she actually was.
Veronica didn't even know if she should be afraid. Judging by what Tom said, she should be safe from that group until 'He' reached the 1st order of the Soundless path.
Thinking about all this was slowly degrading her mind, causing her anxiety to spike.
The only nice part was that she became so absorbed in these thoughts, that time went by quite fast.
The library door slowly opened and Father Martin stepped inside with a large tray full of pastries and tea.
Seeing him caused her fears to lessen, but only after she took a long drink from the tea, did she truly calm down.
After that they began talking about the book they have both read, which made Veronica almost forget about the secondary purpose of her visit.
"Father Martin, how much do you know about this world's history? And I mean supernatural history?" He just smiled and began walking around the library, piling books on and near the small table.
While watching Veronica's perturbed expression he chuckled to himself and only said... "A lot!"