Deep in the temple basement, Seth felt like he was having a religious experience, trying to focus his awareness on his soul. When he had been taught to use Virtue essence for the first time as a little kid, he hadn’t really understood what he was doing when he began pulling Virtue out of his soul and circulating it through his body. After learning to use plant essence a month or two ago, he had become more aware of his soul, but hadn’t dwelt on it.

Now, Seth had four different connections to essence in his soul, two of which were strong enough that the outer edge of his soul radiated the essence throughout his body and the world around him. Plant and Sin weren’t as strong, requiring some conscious effort to pull them from his soul directly. Seth found he could directly pull Virtue and the unknown essence as well, but didn’t need more of either at the moment.

He had tried to look into his soul after working with Judge Caleb. Drawing the Sin essence into a shell between his body and soul made him feel like he was holding in the same breath he had finally let out about an hour before, when his dad showed Seth how to circulate Virtue essence properly. Now Seth was lost inside himself, watching Virtue flow through his body like uncountable rivers, watching Sin slowly settle into a membrane around where his soul and body met, watching the unknown essence spiral through his soul itself in oddly familiar, twisting patterns, and watching Plant dwell deep within, ready to be called upon.

Suddenly, Virtue essence began to surge in from outside his body, but his Sin essence doggedly prevented it from approaching his soul. Startled, Seth snapped back to reality to see his dad standing next to his chair.

“Are you alright?” Levi asked, concerned.

“Distinctly!” Seth said, now very aware of his surroundings. “What’s going on? I was just, eh, sleeping!”

He had no idea how much time had passed while he was introspecting. There were no windows down here, and they used precious oil lamps instead of candles to avoid smoke. His dad had a slight frown on his face, so Seth was worried that it had been days.

Levi gave Seth a hand up from the chair he had been slumped in. Seth was relieved to find that he didn’t have pins and needles, so it couldn’t have been that long. Or maybe his new Priest’s healing just counteracted that? Before he could figure it out, his dad pulled him into a firm hug. Seth gave him a quick squeeze and tried to let go, but Levi didn’t let him.

“Not done yet.” His dad said into his shoulder, as Seth put his arms back around him awkwardly for another minute.

Finally Levi stepped back, put his hands on Seth’s shoulders, and looked him up and down. Seth had finished growing last year, and now the two had the same height and slight build.

“Guess what?” He said with a smile.

“Uh?” Seth started, unsure what to say. “I’m going to take over helping Mom now?”

“You can in time, yes.” Levi said, then looked Seth in the eye. “But no matter what you do or where you go now that you’re a Priest, I want you to know that I’m proud of you.”

Seth relaxed and smiled. “I know, Dad. I love you.”

“I love you too, son.” Levi said, accepting as Seth went in for the hug this time. “When you’re ready to head back up, Priest Joe needs to talk to you.”

Seth let go. “Why?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s his responsibility to talk with you about your future.” Levi said. “You’re a Priest now, Seth. A lot is going to change, if you want, and your mother and I want you to follow whatever calls to you.”

“I hadn’t really thought about it too specifically.” Seth said with mild consternation. “I just want to…”

His dad cut him off with a shake of the head. “You need to really think about it, Seth. Don’t say anything definitive right now. You have a lot more options than you know about as a Priest, and you’re not just a regular Virtue Priest either. You can easily get a position almost anywhere you want.”

Seth drew back, aghast. “And leave you and Mom?!”

“Lith isn’t a good place to live.” Levi said. “Your mother and I knew that when we came, but accepted the risks with the benefits for you at the time. In most other Temples you would have been an acolyte your whole life because of your birthright. Now that you’re a Priest however, you don’t have to stay here. You should go somewhere with real culture and nice people, and where the Ain aren’t a constant threat.”

“Oh.” Seth said, flummoxed. “Why don’t the two of you move to another Temple with me? If I have special privileges now, maybe I can help you.”

“In the Church, Lith is a lifetime post, Seth.” Levi said simply. “We’re paid well and have a very nice temple, but we can’t go anywhere else for longer than a month or two. That’s why the post is always voluntary. Only acolytes can leave, and only if they become Priests. If you choose to stay here past your training period, you won’t be able to leave.”

“But why not?” Seth pressed.

“It’s complicated, son.” Levi replied tiredly. “There are some practical reasons related to the town’s defenses, but there’s politics too. As a Priest, you will start to encounter that kind of thing.”

Seth didn’t say anything as feelings swirled around inside him, hidden from his father’s senses now but plain to see on his face. It wasn’t fair, they had a choice, but they didn’t have a choice. How could the Church be like that? That cruel? And they’d done it for him. If he stayed here, then wasn’t he wasting everything they’d given up for him? But if he couldn’t figure out how to heal Mom before he finished his training, would he have to leave her behind? That would almost be like killing her.

“Just listen to Joe.” Levi said gently. “Whatever you want is what we want.”

He put an arm around his son’s shoulders and led him out of the basement.

Seth still didn’t know how to feel when they reached the Head Priest’s office, but Levi knocked for him and left Seth with an encouraging nod.

“Enter.” Priest Joe said from within, and Seth slowly opened the door.

Joe had come out from behind his desk and was holding his hand out to Seth.

“Hello, I am Healer Joe, Head Priest of the Temple of Virtue in Lith. And you are?” He said, shaking a bewildered Seth’s hand.

“Seth?” Seth said, then realized that wasn’t what Priest Joe was asking. “Greetings, I am Healer Seth, Priest of the Temple of Virtue in…uh…”

Seth trailed off as Priest Joe raised an eyebrow.

“Is that the title you want to claim?” He asked. “It is certainly your right, but you should consider your options.”

“My options?!” Seth replied angrily. “Like choosing whether I should abandon my mother or be stuck here for the rest of my life? Like the options my parents had when they could choose to live safely or have a future for their son? Those ‘options?’”

He was shouting by the end, but Priest Joe showed no reaction at all. He just stood there, infuriatingly calm.

“That isn’t what I meant.” Joe said blandly. “But you are unfortunately correct about certain unpleasant necessities.”

Seth was about to give voice to his mounting fury when he realized something disturbing; his control over Virtue essence and the unknown essence had begun to slip, allowing them to radiate outward more. Alarmed, he focused on bringing them back under control.

“I understand your anger.” The Head Priest said. “But you need to keep yourself under better control now. The power that we wield as Priests is far greater than what you had as an acolyte. With that comes the responsibility to regulate yourself.”

“What is this?” Seth said through clenched teeth. “Dad said once I learned to control Virtue it wouldn’t cause problems anymore.”

“I will answer that once you are calmer.” Joe replied. “Now, about your title. Do you want to claim the Church of Virtue alone? You also have a connection to the Church of Sin now.”

Seth just glared at him.

Priest Joe went over to a cabinet in the corner of his office and pulled out two garments. One was a solid yellow robe like the one that Seth’s dad wore, a step up from the white robe with yellow trim that Seth wore as an acolyte. The other was a yellow robe with a red trim that was the same shade of blood red that Judge Caleb wore. Seth’s glare softened.

“Judge Caleb left this for you.” The Head Priest explained. “It comes with a special title.”

Priest Joe laid the two robes side by side on his desk and turned to Seth.

Gesturing to each in turn, he said. “You can be Healer Seth, Journeyman Priest of the Temple of Virtue. Or, you can be Healer Seth, Joint Journeyman Priest of the Temples of Sin and Virtue.”

Seth kept staring at the red trim robe. “Joint Journeyman Priest. Is that better than a regular Journeyman?”

“In many ways, yes.” Joe said. “Technically it would restrict what positions you can be offered or take. You would only get important roles in larger cities. You might even be asked to travel to another island. And for the first few years at least, you would be expected to travel around frequently, hence Journeyman.”

“And if I want to stay long enough to help Mom?” Seth asked, still harboring mild hostility.

“You would be permitted to stay for training.” The Head Priest said with a smile. “But even if you stuck around for a while, Lith is not a permanent option for a Joint Priest. You would be asked to travel elsewhere after a year or two at most.”

“So I could stay long enough to heal Mom?” Seth clarified, anger ebbing away.

“If recovery is still possible for her, then most likely.” Joe replied.

Seth grabbed the yellow robe with red trim, turned away, and quickly swapped outer robes. Disappointingly, the new garment didn’t feel any different than his acolyte robe had. It didn’t even have the stiff feeling of a new robe. Noticing how many small wrinkles were still visible even though it had clearly been washed recently, Seth reasoned that the robe had been stuffed into Judge Caleb’s bags unceremoniously.

Head Priest Joe gestured for Seth to sit across from him as he returned to his desk. “Good. Now, about your previous question. Do you understand what your Virtue projection as a Priest actually does?”

“Not really?” Seth admitted, still glancing at the red trim in the corner of his vision.

“What about alignment?” Joe asked. “Do you understand the function of aligning an area with an essence?”

“No.” Seth said, feeling like he’d failed to study for a test.

“They’re related, as you might have guessed.” Priest Joe explained. “Alignment makes an area take on some amount of an essence and some of its properties, to quite variable effect. Temples of Virtue tend to uplift people and make healing easier and faster even without a Healer, for example. Essence projection is stronger and more directed, but only temporarily in an area around you. The effect is still informed by the essence used, but is akin to attempting to impress the essence as you understand it onto the world around you.”

“I’ve heard most of that before.” Seth said. “What does that have to do with my Virtue projection increasing when I get angry? I don’t ‘lose control’ when I’m asleep or anything.”

“It isn’t about anger or strong emotion.” The Head Priest continued. “This is a matter of you wanting something, and your essence trying to force the world around you to give you what you want. If you had been in the room with your mother just now, she would likely have felt a sense of giddiness and begun healing rapidly.”

“But that’s not what I want, that would just make her sick faster!” Seth exclaimed.

“Indeed.” Joe replied. “The effect you have is limited to what your essence can do to try to fulfill your desires. Usually, Virtue essence is one of the least dangerous in this respect, as it functions to uplift and restore. For your mother however, this would be a problem as you said. Essences are almost intelligent in a way; they will draw from even the slightest details of your desires, but can’t understand any nuance of when their effect might be unhelpful. Sin essence for example, which functions to oppress and transgress, is notoriously dangerous when it attempts to ‘help’ for obvious reasons.”

Seth just nodded.

“I’m glad you understand.” Priest Joe said. “Now, let us return to the subject of your title and your path going forward. Your father tells me that you would like me to teach you?”

“Right, that, yeah.” Seth said, feeling the shift to be a bit abrupt.

“Well, I am willing to walk you through some of my techniques, but I have one condition.” Joe said, leaning forward.

“What?” Seth asked.

“You need to help your father and I clean up the bodies.” Seeing Seth’s look of concern, Priest Joe clarified. “We’re still working on cleansing the Chaos from the dozens of cultist’s bodies. It takes a while to finish a single one, as each has to be cleansed in one go, and we have other responsibilities. If you learn to cleanse them as well and help with the work, I’ll give you some instruction.”

“I suppose that, uh, seems fair.” Seth said, wrinkling his nose.

“Good.” The Head Priest said. “And I assume you want to stay here for training, and for a period of time after?”

“Yes!” Seth replied emphatically. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Joe said as he leaned back in his chair looking tired. “I do my best to help the people who come into my Temple, you know. And while I understand why Lith is a permanent position, I’m not unsympathetic.”

Joe turned his chair to look out the window wistfully.

“I don’t have any family of my own. I haven’t since my younger sister died twenty years ago, the same year I accepted the post here. Better someone like me that no one is attached to than a family man.”

Seth was starting to regret yelling at Priest Joe earlier.

Joe glanced back at him. “Just remember that there’s often more to a situation than you realize. You’re a Priest now. People will come to you for a voice of calm and reason. You won’t feel like you deserve it, but all you need to do is listen. People don’t just want solutions, often they only want someone to give them a few soothing words.”

“To be honest sir,” Seth said, a bit nervous. “That calm demeanor just made me angrier a few minutes ago.”

Head Priest Joe started laughing, but managed to get out, “I suppose if I’m the one that they have a problem with, that’s probably true!”