Ailith snorted when Ozcow mentioned that she was the boss: she was after all still at an age were any adult would consider himself her boss no matter what the situation was. Still, she appreciated the gesture. As for his question, she didn't answer straight away.

“I think I will tell you at some point.” She rubbed her chin pensively, “I'll probably need some help, and if you know it might be for the best. I just want to take some time to think about it and do it right you know. As for Master Matah…” She shifted on her butt uncomfortably, grimacing a bit here and there. Finally, she shook her head, “No, I don't think so. Not right now anyway. It's not that I don't trust him of course, I'd love to know his opinion.” Though she was afraid it'd mean he'd take everything away from her. “But he is too exposed.” Who knew what the Interlopers could do after all?

“I might talk to Master Yovo about it though.” Even then she wasn't completely sure about it, but given Master Yovo's reputation, she might be the safest choice. “Before that I'll need to go to the Temple. I saw some script in that language and I want to check a few things. By the way, do you know someone who could teach me all of it? I know a few words here or there of course like everyone I suppose but…”

“Oh and we'll need to find a good excuse for why we're late, one that doesn't draw attention. And doesn't make either of us look bad if possible… Maybe the Kels got spooked by a predator and it took us a while to get them back to the cart?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 104):

Ozcow listens and then laughs at your question about 'excuse'.  "No need to come up with an excuse!  We'll get home on time."

He points at the cart.  "I'll wake you up a couple hours before dawn.  You can climb into the back and get some more rest.  I can handle the cart myself.  If we leave early we should be able to make it back only an hour or so late.  That's not enough to cause any worry."

He stops laughing.  "I'm always for hire.  And I don't wanna mix up in your Master's business.  So I won't talk.  But if someone like Master Matah asks me...I won't say anything other than what I know."

He smiles again.  "But that's only if they ask real specific questions.  I won't volunteer anything.  And I won't talk out of turn.  All I ask is you keep me in mind for any more work. Fair enough?"

“Oh. Alright then.” Ailith nodded about how they were going to handle being "late". “That works.” Not that she was overly happy of being woken up before dawn, especially for what was likely to be a long day, but that wasn't anything new.

“I'll make sure no one has any reason to ask you anything for the time being then.” She smiled then, a bit amused, and nodded “And if I have need to hire someone, I'll be sure to let you know first.” That wasn't a big concession though: she had been pretty satisfied with him so had pretty much already decided to do so anyway.

As soon as she finished her meal, she yawned, obviously quite tired. “Well... See you tomorrow then...”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 106):

Ozcow makes a decent tuuzu.  But no matter how good the herbal tea, it is not worth waking up in the dark for.  Still you sip on it, feeling warm and toasty, as the cart lurches forward.  It turns out to be a good thing Ozcow is driving because you drift off to sleep...

Someone is screaming at you about the fire.  You bolt upright, blinking in confusion, the blood hammering in your veins like a blacksmith's hammer.  Ozcow looks back at you from the driver's seat.

"You up?  How about giving me a break for a bit..."

You were having a dream.  Or a nightmare.  The details are gone.  Something or someone was  on fire.  That's all you can recall.  Looking around, you get a sense of place.  You are maybe a quarter day away from the village.  From the position of the sun, you could be back home just after dinner.

Ozcow made good time.

He stops the cart.  You water the mount and wipe him down.  It hisses in appreciation.  Ozcow has been working the poor thing.

You start off again.  Ozcow settles into the spot you had been laying in back.  Soon you can hear his snores.  He wakes up after about an hour and joins you on the bench.  The two of you slow the speed...the mount is about at the end of it's endurance...and manage to enter the hills around the village just as the sun sets.  Within the hour you will be home.

Suddenly the sky is filled with sound.  A loud hmmming and then the sound of many thousands of pots smashing on the ground at once.

Above, a long cylinder of greys and silvers rushes past overhead.

One of the Interlopers flying villages.  It speds past and slowly starts to descend.

It seems you've come home just in time for the Interlopers to arrive.

Ailith froze at the noise, then forgot to breathe for a while when she noticed the Interlopers. She watched in silence for a while, then grunted “Well, I guess no one's going to care if we're bit late now…”

Unless… She started to be really concerned about something: why had they chosen now to come? Could it be that they somehow knew about what she had found? She certainly hoped not, but for it to be a coincidence…

Well, she could only hope it was, because there was nothing she could do otherwise… Maybe being finally able to see them would tell her more about what she had found too… Maybe it was for the best… “Well, we'd best get going…”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 108):

The Interlopers Village is parked behind a hill on the other side of Cool Shade than the gate you and Ozcow guide your wagon through.

The village is still in the midst of hubbub.  People are dressing in their finery or lugging around baskets of goods.  It's like they are trying to hurriedly put together a festival.

"Ailith!"

You hear your name and see Helza marching across the square towards you.  She looks flustered.

"Where have you been?  Look at the state of you?  Did you not know we have to present ourselves tonight?  Hurry and bathe! You will make us all look like yokels!"

She storms off, you guess on whatever errand she had been running when she saw a chance to talk down to you.

Ozcow chuckles.  "I'll handle unloading your goods to the workshop and turning in the cart.  You need to hurry.  Sounds like you're gonna meet the Interlopers."

Ailith watched the activity in the village, obviously dumbfounded, and Helza's announcement didn't help that at all. “Uh, sure thanks.” She smiled with a grateful nod when Ozcow said he'd take care of unloading everything.

That didn't help much for another problem however: granted, the clothes she wore were practical and not exactly in the best of states considering the last few days but... She didn't own many sets of clothes, and none were particularly nice either both because she had no use for them and because she simply couldn't afford them. Or maybe more precisely, before arriving to Cool Shade, she had spent her money on other things, like her tools. And since then hadn't had the time to spend anything at all.

Well, it was what it was, she definitely couldn't do anything about it at that point, so she could only try to make do with what she did have. So she ran to her place to grab her best clothes - or at least the less worn out, briefly wondering how the Interlopers would even be able to tell - but much more importantly, before she went to the baths she stripped out of the clothes she had found under the water, hiding them as well as the blanket as best she could.

Then, she went to take a quick bath, put her clothes on and went to join everyone, well decided to stay as far back as she could. Thankfully, no one was going to care about the latest - and youngest - apprentice, right?

In reply to Ailith (msg # 110):

Right...

Zez shows up as you finish tucking in your shirt and shoos you out into the courtyard.  Everyone is swarming around, all talking at the same time.

Matah suddenly strides out of the main house.  He glances around at everyone and starts out of the gate.  You all follow behind.

Matah leads you through the village to a square on the other side you have not yet been to.  It looks like the whole village is trying to squeeze itself into that small space.  People start to move aside as Matah pushes forward.  Soon the villagers have moved aside so that Matah and all of you have space near the front of the square.

Zez corals all of you apprentices into one line stuck at the back of the group.  Helza looks you over and frowns.  Iriz glowers when she realizes you are standing closer to Master Olk than she is.  Zez makes a shushing gesture and mutters, "Let's all be very, very quiet. Okay?"

The village elders begin to gather before the gate.  It swings open and the Interlopers walk through.

It's like you are seeing warm snow or cold fire.  The Interlopers are something just outside of your experience.

They stand upright, like people, but they have no tails.  They have two arms and two legs, but their skin colors are less varied and more...muted.  The paler ones are around the color of ko kolo eggshells while the darker skinned are only as dark as summer dusk.  They have hair...or maybe fur...of varied colors.  But only a few have colorations that fall into 'normal' ranges.  All of the Interlopers look like wall paintings whose colors have faded over the years.

They all wear bulky clothing.  You have heard that some villagers have guards who wear 'armor'.  The Interlopers all seem to be wearing 'armor'.  It's a bulky kind of tannish material that seems more rigid than leather but much more supple than say tin.  There are odd runes running down the left sides of their armors.  They don't look like anything you've seen before.

Perched on the shoulders of each Interloper is an odd metal statue.  They each look like small birds sitting in a small tight nest.  The birds beak seems aimed at the Interloper's ear.

The Elders step forward and make the gesture of greeting.  The Interlopers stop and the one in their front returns the gesture, though it seems awkward and off.  The Elders give the greeting.  The lead Interloper responds.

The voice comes out loud and booming, much too loud for the size of the man's (or is it a woman?) head.  The voice is buzzy.  Like a shout coming out from a hive of uko.  The voice sounds unreal.  Like something out of a dream.

We greet Cool Shades Village.  We have come to trade.  Will you trade with us?

At this point, the villagers begin to talk all at once.  The word trade seems to have broken the dam.

I am going to break here.  If you want to do a reaction post, feel free.  If not, I will post a second round Thursday.  Need to work out something I forgot to work out before we move on.

Thanks

Ailtih followed silently behind the masters and other apprentices, not saying a word on the way but looking around her quite curiously: a lot of those she saw were new to her. Quickly though she had to forget about looking around if she wanted to avoid being stuck at the end of the crowd and drawing attention to herself.

Under Helza's frown and Iriz's glower, Ailtih rolled her eyes but didn't say anything: both because there was nothing she could say to make anything better, but also because doing so would undoubtedly go against Zez's instructions which she had no intention at all of disobeying, something she made perfectly clear by nodding emphatically.

When the Interlopers arrived, she considered them attentively, curiously studying everything about them both in themselves, but also in comparison to what she had seen in that underwater-thing she had found. Though of course she didn't go very far with that particularly since she couldn't get close.

The thing that grabbed her attention the most was certainly the things the Interlopers had on their shoulders: she had no idea what it did, but surely it did something. Though of course, even if she was curious, she wasn't going to be asking about it but maybe someone would find out and would tell her. As far as she was concerned, the only thing she could hope for was to avoid the Interlopers for a while - at least long enough to get an idea of what their reactions would be if they learned about what she had found. Thankfully, no one was going to ask the youngest apprentice to do anything in relation to the Interlopers and risk her from messing things up. Even if they for some reason needed some grounds to be swept, surely someone else would be chosen for it.

Though it could be interesting to learn what she could doing so... No, no, too risky for now. not that her opinion mattered all that much anyway: she would be the last one asked about her opinion...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 112):

The elders manage to keep the crowd from surging forward, but just barely.  Everyone wants to stick some bit of pottery or lyuqu carving under their nose and babble on about the craftsmanship.  The Interlopers say nothing, or at least nothing you can hear.  Their leader seems to be talking to the elders.

Master Hannu comes up to Zez and bends close to him, saying something you can't overhear due to the noise.  After a while, Zez nods and leans close to the three of you.

"Alright.  Seems like we're giving up on doing a formal presentation here.  Instead, Master Matah is going to invite some of the Interlopers to come to the compound.  We need to get ready for them."

He starts giving instructions.  He tells Iriz to start preparing tea and snacks.  Well.  Whatever other faults Iriz has, she is a good cook.  That makes sense.

He tells Helza to prepare the meeting chamber.  She doesn't balk or snap back how such work is beneath her.  Instead she nods, looking eager.  She does like to impress.

Zez turns to you.  "You and I are going to make sure the workshops are nice and tidy.  I'll handle Master Matah's, Master Hannu, and Master Olk.  You go to the other workshops.  Make sure they are swept and clean as possible. If there are any projects laid out, do not move them.  Just try to make it workshop as presentable as possible.

"Alright everyone?  Let's move."

The four of you fight against the crowd and scurry back to the compound as quickly as you can.  You follow Zez to the supply closet and grab the broom and brush he hands you.

You have to tidy Master Nazin, Yovo, and Korim's workshops.

Nazin tends to be fairly tidy for a potter.  She is also Helza's master and Helza does keep a tidy workspace.

Master Korim never tidies up during the work day. She just does it in one fell swoop at the end.  You would normally say her workshop is likely to be the messiest.

But you have to factor Master Yovo into the equation.  She is as unpredictable in her tidiness as she is in her creatvity.  Some days you've seen her shop neater than the kitchens.  Other days, it is like a refuse heap.  You have no idea what is in store for you.

You need to work fast here.

I will need to know the order you hit each workshop.  Thanks

“Alright.” Ailith nodded, agreeing to Zez's instructions. Or more likely, Matah's I structions that he relayed. She would have hoped not having to deal with the interlopers for the moment, worried that she was that they'd somehow notice something, but she wasn't about to draw attention to herself by refusing her tasks.

After taking a second to think about it, she headed to Master Yovo's workshop: she knew what to expect of the other two, how much time she'd need to deal with either of them - she had dealt with Master Korim's workshop enough times already to know pretty well how long it would take her - so she could plan for it. Master Yovo's however... She was hoping it'd be one of those days were it was as tidy as could be, but was expecting to find a complete mess.

She could only hope she'd have enough time to deal with Master Korim's workshop well enough before she was called away. She'd go take a look at Master Nazin's workshop in the end, just to be sure of course, thankfully she wasn't overly worried about it.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:18, Fri 18 Dec 2020.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 114):

Yovo's workshop has stacks of reeds piled up in front of it.  Of course it would.  Ozcow delivered them not an hour ago.  It seems like the door was locked and he could only pile them up outside.

You have to move them inside and stack them neatly into a corner before you can do anything else.  It wouldn't be back breaking work if you weren't already exhausted.  And it chews into your time.

Thankfully, there's not a lot else to do.  Seems Master Yovo wasn't up to much while you were away.

Master Korim...well.  You knew what to expect, didn't you?  There's clay all over the place.  All. Over.  The place.  It's almost soul crushing.

You dive into it, throwing clay back into the clay bin and then rushing to draw a bucket of water so you can wipe up the worst of the spills on the floor.

As you bring your bucket up from the well, you can see the compound gate swing open.  Master Matah is striding through, the leader of the Interlopers walking at his side.  Three other Interlopers are walking with the other masters.

You feel a hand on your shoulder.  Zez has snuck up behind you. "How goes it?"

He glances at the bucket and sighs.  "Right.  You had Master Korim's shop didn't you?

"I'll go check out Master Nazin and then come help you.  Don't try to do too much. If you can cover something up with a reed mat, do it.  I'll explain to Master Matah if it comes up."

As you think about it, there are three spots you could use his 'reed mat strategy' to hide.  You'd have to fetch the mats from storage if you go that route.  Or you could just try to scrub with the speed of a quolk. And as we all know, nothing is faster than a quolk.

While relieved that this had been one of the times that Master Yovo's shop had been tidy, Ailith had managed to forget about the stacks and underestimated Master Korim's disaster.

For a moment she considered Zez's suggestion, but quickly dismissed it with a shake of her head. “We can't, maybe they'll see through it.” She paused for a second, “Figuratively, but who's to say if it can't be litterally too... Just... Tell Master Matah to keep Master Korim's shop toward the end...”

Aftet that, without waiting for an answer, she went to scrub everything as fast as she could, hoping a quolk had nothing in her...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 116):

Zez chuckles but doesn't argue.  He nods and moves away.

A couple of the stained areas seem to want to put up a fight.  Of course they do.  Why wouldn't they.  You end up on your hands and knees, scrubbing like a lightning bolt, and manage to get the mess up.  Reaching for a towel, you sop up the muddy water and wring it into the bucket.

You have heard the sound of voices floating around from outside.  They seemed distant, from the direction of the meeting hall.  Master Matah must be providing the Interlopers with tea and breads.

At one point, you think you hear voices from outside, one of them being that shrill, tinny voice the Interloper leader made.  The other sounds like Master D'Osk.  They seem to pass by the workshop door but do not stop in front of it.  You push forward on your cleaning.

At last, you step back, leaning on the mop in your hands.  The floor is...well.  It may not sparkle. But it is clean.

As you turn to gather up the bucket and towels, you freeze.

The workshop window is open.  Leaning on the sill is one of the Interlopers.  Not the leader.  This one seems shorter.  Maybe just a few fingers under your own height.  It (he? she? it?) has skin the color of the pale side of the moon, but without any mars from craters.  It has two eyes, but they are whitish, with dots of green floating in their center and a smaller dot of black set in the middle of that.  It has...fur?  Hair?  Hair you think.  It is the same color as river silt from when the monsoons come later in the low years.

This one too has the odd bird sculpture sitting on its shoulder.

It has been watching you it seems.  It cocks its head to one side, leanign towards the strange bird.  It then opens it's mouth.  The bird seems to vibrate.  You hear two voices.  The one from the Interloper's mouth is a whisper.  You can't make out what sounds it makes.  A second voice comes from the bird.  It is the tinny, thin voice.

Greetings.  You work quickly do you not?

Completely frozen, Ailith watched the Interloper for a while. When she started moving again, it was only to open and close her mouth, obviously knowing she had to say something but not quite what. Finally shaking herself, she grumbled. “Still not fast enough apparently...” Glancing around, Ailith placed a hand on her mouth before relaxing a bit. She could at least be satisfied that while she had been seen, it had only happened when she had been done with her task but still...

Standing up, she nodded politely, “Greetings.” Her eyes went to the bird-thing, as she was obviously considering what it meant. It would have been really useful if she had had something like that the previous day. Too bad there was no way she could get one. Though even if she somehow managed to, she wouldn't be able to trust it to keep her secrets, so it was kind of a moot point anyway.

“Do you need anything?” She was about to ask something else when she heard a new noise. She briefly froze, then quickly gathered her things to leave: she had already been seen so it was a bit useless now, but she'd really prefer not standing there with a mop and a bucket when everyone entered Master Korim's workshop. Especially not the latter. Or Master Matah. “Uh, sorry I, uh, have to go.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 118):

The Interloper makes a sound when you say you weren't fast enough.  It sounds like a Ha he ha sound.  But what it means, who knows?

They hold up a hand...well.  It looks like a hand.  Though the fingers are much stubbier than yours.  It's mouth moves and the bird says You can relax.  My SUPERIOR is meeting with your SUPERIOR.  All the others are with them.  I doubt they will be coming by soon.  If they do, I will tell them I bumped over something and you were cleaning it up.

The Interloper leans further inside, resting it's arms on the window sill and pushing it's head into the room.

You are one of the UNPROCESSED PRODUCTS correct?  For some reason, the bird's voice seems to hesitate and crackle during certain words.  The ones that make no sense on first hearing.

Superior?  Master?

Unprocessed Product?  That would be an odd way to refer to an apprentice.  Rude even.  But then the Interloper may not know better.

Or is the bird that doesn't know better?

I am Llewelyn.  What is your TERM OF REFERENCE?

Ailith blinked as she processed all of that, her eyes going from the Interloper to the bird on its shoulder, relaxing definitely not one of the things she wanted to do. Still, she didn't leave just yet. A bit uncertain, she answered. “Master Matah is not my superior...” She frowned... “He is...” She paused for a second, then shrugged, “Well, he is Master Matah. And even if I say I'm cleaning because of you, that won't help much...” Especially since the last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself.

“And I'm not an 'Unprocessed Product'.” She frowned as she considered the bird-thing suspiciously. After a couple of seconds, she added, “I am an apprentice.” No one's at the moment, but that was not something she was going to volunteer. “And my name,” she paused once again, squinting, “Is Ailtih.”

“Look, I don't mind if you want to talk,” Though she could imagine a bunch of things she'd rather do than have an Interloper interested in her, “even if I'm not sure I have anything interesting to say, but... Can we do so somewhere else please?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 120):

The Interloper's mouth seems to curve upwards at both ends.  Is that a good sign or a bad one?

"Sure," says the bird, which must be talking on the Interloper's behalf.  "You can show me around the compound if you do not have LABOR ASSIGNMENTS."

This Llewelyn waits outside the studio door.  "My apologies for my..."  The Interloper points at the bird.  "This is a device we use to talk to you.  We cannot speak your language easily.  So we have to use these to do so.  But we are still lacking some of your words.  You said your OFFICE was-"

The Interloper brings a hand up and rests it on the bird.  The Interloper opens their mouth and says, "Ahp-prin-tez?"

It takes it's hand off the bird.  "Did I say that correctly?"

“I don't have any other tasks no.” Not that Ailith was supposed to be talking to an Interloper, but she supposed that no one was going to complain if she did what the Interloper asked her to. As long as she didn't show things she wasn't supposed to show anyway. And if it allowed her to avoid the others it might be for the best.

When it repeated the term, she nodded, “Almost.” Slower she repeated “Apprentice. It's like... A pupil? A student? I'm learning...” She paused, then waved at the various workshops, “Well, a bit of everything for now.” And she was going to ace the "sweeping the grounds" and "drawing water from the well" parts of it, that was for sure. But that was probably not something to say either... “I'm not sure 'office' is the right term either though. Occupation or job should be better.”

As she emptied the bucket and stored it and the mop where they were supposed to go - having no intention to carry them everywhere - Ailith asked, “What about you? What's your position among... Among your people?” While having the Interloper talk about itself was definitely a safer bet than her doing the talking, Ailith had to admit that she was curious.

And Merry Christmas!

In reply to Ailith (msg # 122):

Llewelyn's head makes a nodding motion when you repeat the term.  He pulls out an odd kind of tablet, one no bigger than his palm, and puts his finger on it.  The tablet has a glass window like the ones you saw in that place.  This screen is lit with a number of small lights, some blue but most green.  Llewelyn taps on a few.

"Thank you," says the bird. "We still do not have an entire vocabulary for your people.  So sometimes the ORACLE uses the best word it can."

It follows you to the supply closet and listens to your explanation.  There is a pause at your last question.  Then the bird says for Llewelyn, "I am not one of the traders.  I am a APPRENTICE of sorts as well.  I am studying..."

Llewelyn points at you.  "Your people.  I follow the traders and try to learn more about your people.  So we can talk better."

Llewelyn waves a hand towards the compound.  "Do you like it here?  May I ask what you do? What you study?"

Ailith watched the tablet thing attentively. It didn't seem all that similar to the things she had seen under the river but maybe there were still a few things she could learn from it. “I see.” was all she commented about the Oracle. She was pretty sure Oracle wasn't the right word for it either, but she supposed it was as good a name as any so she didn't say anything about it.

“I'm studying...” She started to answer the question, paused briefly as she considered how best to answer that question, “Well, I'm the youngest apprentice so I'm helping a bit everywhere with everything that needs to be done really. It allows me to learn a bit of everything, decide what I want to do, that sort of things. And allow the Masters to decide which of them wants me as their apprentice. Not sure how long that'll last though. It's not the most fun things to do,” She shrugged, “but it'll get better at some point. Soon I hope.”

After a couple of seconds, she asked curiously. “Where do you come from? And how did you get here?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 124):

Llewelyn seems to listen attentively.  Though, as it's body language isn't what you are used to, maybe you have that wrong.

"I came on the GREAT CITY."  It points a finger upwards towards the sky.  "We all came on a GREAT CITY that flys through the darkplacesbetweenpointsoflight."

That last bit is said so fast, it's like listening to a kojoji addict talk as fast as they can.

Llewelyn points to the distance now, towards the area their village landed beyond the hill.

"We rode down from it in a VILLAGE.  You must have seen it as we came near the village."

It glances around the courtyard.  "Do you do scrimshaw?  I know the Traders are interested in scrimshaw works.  Don't tell anyone I told you.  Consider it a gift for talking to me."

It nods.  "It was a pleasure to meet you.  I hope we can talk more tomorrow."

It gives you a short bow of it's head and then turns around, walking towards the hall.

You hear a noise behind you and Zez is walking up slowly.  He sighs. "I didn't hear much.  What did the Interloper say to you?"

Ailith turned her head this way and that way as she listened to Llewelyn's explanations, then blinked in surprise when the Interloper suddenly left.

She looked at Zez for a moment, blinking a bit stupidly, before she shook her head to clear her mind. “Uh, it wanted to know who I was and what I was doing. Studying. Working on? Apparently it's an apprentice too, learning how to talk to us and things like that.” She frowned. “I'm not sure how that works though since it's the Oracle - that bird thing on their shoulder - who does the talking...”

She frowned pensively for a second, then added “Anyway. I,” and she looked pointedly at Zez slightly pausing to be sure he had noted the emphasis, “believe that they might be interested in scrimshaw works.” If he hadn't appeared like that she'd have found another way to say it, but now, no matter how or when she did so, it'd be obvious to him where it had really come from so... At least he didn't know Llewelyn's name. “I don't know why though. Maybe it means something special in their culture?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 126):

"Scrimshaw, huh?"  Zez glances after the Interloper and shakes his head.  "Anyway.  That's fine.  Good job.  Sorry you had to do all this right after getting back. If you want to sneak a plate of food out of the kitchen and go rest up, I'll take care of everything else."

He seems to think a moment and says, "So they call that thing on their shoulders an oracle?  Huh.  I didn't think they were religious."

Will let you decide if Ailith wants to do anything else tonight, and then I'll move us along. Thanks

Ailith nodded, then thanked Zez. “Thanks, I will.” As she began to head to the kitchen, she stopped to listen to Zez, then shook her head. “I don't think they are.”

She paused for a second, pensive, then shrugged, “Or at least, I don't think them calling it an Oracle has anything to do with religion. It's just... They don't know all of our worlds - like apprentice for example - so that bird-thing sort of...guesses - I suppose you could say - the right word. Oracle is sort of related to that concept and since they probably don't know a better word for it...”

“Or at least that how I think it went. I'll just, uh, go eat something and lie down.” She waved, “Take care.”

After that, Ailith went to the kitchen to get a plate of food, then went back to rest: she was tired and more importantly, while she was definitely curious, she didn't want to draw attention to herself. At least no more than she already had. And maybe, if she woke up early, she'd be able to run to the temple first thing in the morning. It'd probably be useless, but at least it would be done.