Maiz stood in front of three Masters, and he wasn’t even shaking. He did sweat a little, and his throat was a little drier than usual, but he counted it an improvement.

Hugan stood beside him, with Ziya on the Warden’s other side. Lila hadn’t been allowed to be there, which was the chief cause of Maiz’s concern--he wondered what it was her mother didn’t want her to see.

“We have met with all of the travellers present in the Temple.” The Jin’Sa’s voice was still strong as ever, but the old woman’s face had a definite tired cast. “The Jin’Tira was slain, peace to his Name, defending the Hidden Oasis.”

Maiz thought about nodding, but a quick glance at the others showed that they hadn’t moved an inch, so he didn’t either.

The Jin’Teslin picked up where the first Master left off. “Armies have marched the Waste before. Enemies have occasionally sought the Temple. Neither have survived this long, or done so much damage. The death of a Jin is the final straw. The Temple of the Sands is at war.”

Maiz almost frowned. Hadn’t they already been at war? They’d been fighting and killing this invading army for a week--had the leaders thought that didn’t qualify as a real conflict? But he thought back to what he’d seen that morning, what felt like days ago--the Temple was so well-protected by enchantment that Maiz could understand not really appreciating the danger of an army marching towards them.

The final person in the room, a man nearly as short as Ziya who looked to be only as old as the Jin’Teslin, picked up the explanation. “We have determined to eject all travellers in preparation. The Oasis represented one of the major water sources of the Temple, and we cannot guarantee supplies for those outside of our order. Moreover, we suspect…”

The man stopped speaking at a sharp look from the Jin’Sa, who turned back to the three impassively. “Please display your Names.”

Maiz was glad that he never changed his displayed title. He let it appear above his head and glanced at the others. Hugan’s Name shone proudly: Hugan-Apprentice Warden. Maiz craned his neck to see Ziya over his big friend, and his eyebrows shot up: Ziya-Apprentice Cleric. When did she become an Apprentice? Well, Clerics weren’t combatants, so she didn’t need to kill things to gain experience, just perform the duties aligned with her title. He supposed that she’d gotten higher ranked in the Waste.

“You three are the lowest ranked and youngest of our current visitors by a wide margin. This is not a fact that directly concerns us, however…” The Jin’Sa stopped talking, looking pointedly at the Jin’Teslin next to her. There was a moment of stony silence, before the Lila's mother finally spoke.

“There have been personal interventions on your behalfs. Given previous… service, the Jin have chosen to listen. If you wish to stay at the Temple, you may.”

Maiz let out a slight breath. So Lila had spoken on their behalf? It was lucky that--

“However, there are conditions. If you become a part of the Temple, you must participate in its defense. The two of you,” she looked first at Hugan, then Maiz, “have been given highly positive recommendations as Journeyman level combatants, despite your ages. In preparation for larger conflict, Clerics,” she looked pointedly at Ziya, “will replace a combatant in each current squad for mobile support. All three of you will be expected to fight. If you cannot accept these terms, you will leave.”

Maiz didn’t really like those terms. Wars were messy things, from everything he’d read. From what he knew, he’d mostly be fighting Journeymen, but Adepts and even Masters could conceivably go unchecked on the battlefield, and Maiz had little chance of surviving long against one of those. It wasn't very likely--the Temple had a plethor of Masters and Adepts of their own to defend their forces--but joining this conflict would undoubtedly reduce his odds of living to his next birthday. Still there were other considerations.

“Will Lila be staying here?” Hugan’s voice was quieter than usual, more respectful.

“Yes.”

Hugan looked at Maiz, and he gave him an affirmative look. After a moment, Maiz nodded. He couldn't leave Lila. And staying here will let you get stronger faster than anything else, so you can kill your enemies. And joining with the Temple now will let you position yourself better to fulfill Viselys' task. Not to mention the Library, and any other resources your predecessor left you that could let--

--Maiz cast his eyes downwards. Why couldn't this be simple for him? Hugan's eyes had held nothing but determination to stay for their friend. But if Maiz didn't have his own, selfish reasons fror wanting to take the opportunity, would he have made the same decision? As Maiz looked up and around Hugan, he saw Ziya nodding, her face blank, but her motion gving a sense of complete assurance. Maiz almost opened his mouth, but kept silent. Ziya had as much of a right to make her decision as he did, and her motivations were probably far more honorable. Hugan can protect her. And who knew, perhaps as an Apprentice she would be able to hold her own on the battlefield. Hugan's voice rang out, stronger than before.

“We’ll stay.”

There was a moment of silence, then, “Very well. You may go.”

All three of them bowed very, very low, and walked out.

***************

Maiz had somehow expected something to change after that exchange, but little did. The next day, Adrian found them in the mess hall as they sat, and told them that they would be on duty at midnight starting that night. Apparently the army was on the move from just before dusk till a little after dawn, and they’d gotten a less fortunate assignment as the Temple reorganized. After he’d left, Lila, who was surprisingly unblemished, turned to Ziya.

“Are you going to be alright?”

Ziya nodded silently, still eating her food as she looked around. Maiz frowned. He hadn't been able to say much to any of his friends after meting the Jin, both because it had been late and because of his own guilt, but he had to make sure Ziya would face as little risk as possible in the coming fights. He turned to Hugan, who was eating with his usual gusto.

“Hugan.”

“Hmpf?” Rice and meat spilled out of Hugan’s mouth and onto the table, making Maiz wince slightly.

“Tonight, you should use that skill of yours on Ziya, okay? I’ll be fine without it.”

Hugan nodded vigorously, spilling a little more food, before swallowing. “Yeah I’ll do that, and don’t worry--I know you don’t really need it, but I’ll keep an eye out for you too!”

Maiz nodded his thanks. Speaking of which... “Lila, uh, thanks for talking to your mother about letting us stay.” Talking to her was even worse, but he did mean it.

Lila looked sharply at him, gray eyes piercing, before relaxing. “I didn’t really think it would help. She always says she listens to what I say but…” She shook her head. Her hair had gotten a bit longer than she’d kept it in the training grounds, and it swayed a little with the motion. “Anyways, I didn’t do much convincing. I didn’t even have time to go to the other Jin, or any of the Adepts to back me. I think you two did really well in your first fight, so it wasn’t much of a burden to keep you around.”

She went back to eating, and Hugan gave her a wide grin at the implied praise, but Maiz was more interested in the first part of what she’d said. It seemed strange, how she’d casually mentioned involving the other Jin and Adepts. But then, she was a lifelong resident of the Temple, and the Jin’Teslin’s daughter. It made sense that she knew many of the more powerful Warrior Monks.

Once they were finished, they decided to run the Path together with Ziya, a task made challenging by her relatively pitiful attributes and combat abilities. Maiz had boosted Hugan through the Path when he’d first come to the Temple, providing aid through the Novice section, but Hugan was still a combatant with plenty of physical attributes and combat abilities. Ziya, well, wasn’t. With Hugan, Lila, and Maiz to help her, getting through the Path was still possible, but it was more than a little embarrassing for the poor Cleric. Especially when Hugan had to carry her on his back through a climbing challenge and she was forced to stand in a far corner during the golem fights. Eventually, they made it through the various challenges, and past the Novice Dungeon. The Apprentice section was more difficult to help Ziya through, but they managed it with some less-than-dignified scrambling on Ziya’s part.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry Lila, we’ve got this!”

They were standing in a relatively wide open cave, one that Maiz recognized. Lila seemed to recognize it too, because she was eyeing the walls warily. Maiz had Windblade a moment from completing, and was keeping his eyes fixed on the walls as well. Then he saw the flicker of movement, and shouted.

“There!”

He stepped forward, Windblade conjuring up around his staff as he swung at what seemed like plain rock. That was, until the rock jumped out of the way and tried to bite him. The giant flat lizard had the uncanny speed of its smaller, mundane cousins, and when it had the element of surprise, it could even be dangerous. Against Maiz, it didn’t stand a chance. Even without Fast Feet active, he skipped out of the way, snapping the other side of his staff up to catch the monster as it leapt down from the wall. There was a short tear of flesh, a spray of black, and Maiz was immediately looking around for more threats.

Lila was directing a series of careful but quick forward kicks at the wall opposite Maiz, where another of the camouflaged beasts was scampering around, electing to avoid her attacks rather than engage. It was very annoying how easily the things could walk on walls--Maiz sincerely wished he had that particular power.

The final monster had apparently been spooked by either Maiz or Lila, because it had jumped down from hiding and was trying to get at Ziya. Hugan was defending with ease, taking care not to put Ziya at risk and only taking the safest swipes with his sword at the monster. Then there was a strangled hiss as Lila’s opponent was finally pinned and she began to systematically disable it, and a screech as Hugan finally got a good blow in, crippling his enemy. Before Maiz could move to help, both monsters were dead.

“Ugh,” Hugan gave a shudder which rattled his armor, “those things are just weird, the way they blend in like that…” He shuddered again.

Maiz frowned. He didn’t think they were that strange--the Reaven Ant colony, which had taken the form of a little girl until he’d started cutting it, had been far more disconcerting. Even that hadn’t been much of an issue for him, but then perhaps Hugan just didn’t have enough experience to get used to seeing the grotesque monsters that populated these Dungeons.

“Does anyone need healing?” Ziya was calm, ignoring Hugan’s exclamation. They all shook their heads, though Hugan looked a touch queasy to Maiz, and continued forward.

The next two sections were much the same--they fought lizards that had actual stone armor instead of scales, and Maiz got to practice his Flaming Strike. Then they faced a trio of monsters with no discernable difference from ordinary horned lizards, until their bodies caught on fire and they hurled themselves at the three-Ziya was further back. Lila caught an unlucky burn in that room, her punch landing just as the flames of the monster’s aura flared up. Ziya healed it with ease, and they moved to the boss room.

“Everyone, please let me do something before we start.” Ziya's soft voice cut through Hugan's chatter.

They paused, though Lila seemed slightly impatient. “What is it?”

“Blessing of Protection.”

A strange feeling came over Maiz, like the air around him pressed slightly harder against him than it did before. The other two started, indicating they’d felt it as well.

“Nice! Uh, what’s that do, exactly?”

Ziya answered Hugan’s question with slightly unfocused eyes. Maiz suspected she was using her version of Mana Sense to inspect her work. While she spoke, Maiz did the same. There was a veil of white Cleric mana, hanging over all three of them with no discernible pattern guiding its movement. It just… was. Strange, but then Cleric spells were always incomprehensible to Maiz.

“It will provide weak armor to you all.”

Lila was looking strangely at Ziya. “Isn’t that--”

“--it is time to go.”

They defeated the boss, a misshapen, partly-humanoid lizard creature that used earth magic at range and fire magic up close, with ease. They were all well equipped to both defend against the monster’s attacks and kill it up close--Maiz was the one who finished it with a Flaming Strike from behind. He purposely let himself be hit once by a piece of rock shrapnel as he fought, and was surprised to see that the little stone stopped an inch from his body. That could be potentially useful, though he had no intentions of being hit in combat if he could avoid it.

Once they were through the Dungeon, Hugan offering his enthusiastic congratulations for the successful run, they were deposited into the Journeyman section, and they all decided to restart there. The second run took less time and effort, but when they finally reached the Library, Ziya raised a hand.

“I would like to stop here, if that’s alright.”

Maiz nodded eagerly. “I could use a reading break.” He had several abilities to look up for his... project.

Hugan made a strangled noise, and Maiz’s eyes widened. In all of the excitement of the past few days, he’d completely forgotten. “Hugan, why don’t you stay with me? I think there’s a few books of old stories here, I was wondering if you knew them.”

Maiz tried his best to convey his real meaning with his eyes, and to his relief, his friend seemed to understand.

“Sure!”

Lila made a face. “Have fun, if that’s possible. I’m going to try for the Journeyman section a bit.

She moved on, and Ziya quickly wandered off into the shelves of the library. Maiz lowered his voice. “Okay, let’s find a good spot, and I can start to show you all the letters and things.”

Hugan frowned. “I thought you were going to--oh.” The large young man flush, his brown skin going bright red, but he gave a sheepish smile. “Thanks, Maiz.”

“No problem.”