Marble.

Plinths and pillars and pews.

The College of Prayer looked like a temple on the outside, and the inside matched. The ceiling was high, blocks of white stone interlaced with fractal pieces of stained glass. In them, all the gods were depicted.

Here, Gilth revels in the striking of their thunder, dancing with it as it smites their enemies. There, Saya floating between her moon and her ocean. Even The Woods and smaller Gods like Jerrah had their own shards staring down.

Even as the light faded with the end of the day, each stained glass picture was illuminated and became a rainbow kaleidoscope, casting the College as an alien seafloor. It was a canvas painted by shadow and light.

Theo found it profoundly moving, almost transcendent. Holy.

(Almost like it was a place for the followers of Gods).

He’d been frozen in the doorway for a good couple of minutes before Francis coughed and politely started to pressure his back to get him going.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Theo stepped into the College of Prayer proper.

“Welcome.” A voice echoed through the space, detached as it bounced and reverberated around the space before arriving at Theo.

He looked around, confused as to where exactly the voice came from. It was in this moment that Theo realised he’d been so fixated on the ceiling that he hadn’t looked down at anything resembling eye level. The entrance was empty. The only person in the entire space was a white-haired man in a central, circular raised platform.

The man was old. With his enhanced vision, Theo could see the way skin hung from his gaunt face, the frayed ends of his long hair, the bleached clothes he wore.

And the blindfold covering his vision.

As Theo continued puzzling out what was exactly happening, Francis bowed in the general direction of the old man, and started walking forwards. Theo took a moment to follow, eyes still darting around to take in the space around him.

Below the ceiling, there was more marble, and marble, and a slightly different shade of marble. There were no torches or magical lights in any ensconces, just the milieu of a cross-hatched rainbow. It was a very sparse room, with nothing lavish (besides the stained glass).

“Ah, Francis. I see you have brought a…friend here.” The blindfolded man nodded in their direction. Theo cocked his head, contemplating how he could have seen them, and been able to locate them so clearly without his vision.

“Good evening, John. Theo, this is Contemplation of Moonlit Silence.” Theo waved, and even though he knew by now that John was able to see them, he was still surprised when he nodded in acknowledgement. “We are here to help him find something.”

It was odd. Theo felt pressure and scrutiny coming from John…even though he was still clearly blindfolded (and not even looking in his direction, head angled at some papers before him). “What is it that you seek?”

Theo tried to figure out how best to explain the fact he was essentially looking to dig through the College and take something from a chest hidden by their founder. “Well, we-“

“He is here without malice, and only aims to find what he is entitled to.” Francis interrupted, looking pointedly at John. John sighed.

He turned to directly face Theo, and a crushing pressure fell on his shoulders. For a moment, he found it difficult to breathe, as the room seemed to lose focus. “Theo, is this true?” Francis looked at Theo, subtly nodding his head.

Theo tried to nod in response, and found his muscles not functioning correctly.

“Yes,” he managed to wheeze, more a mumbled whisper than anything audible. Still, even over a distance, in a room full of echoes, John nodded his head, and the pressure abated.

Theo gasped as he sucked in a massive breath of air, somehow almost choking in the process. The room returned to normal as well (well, as normal as a large marble temple with stained-glass windows could ever be).

John returned his attention to his paperwork. “Whatever occurs will be your responsibility, Francis.” Francis nodded as they walked past John’s central desk. Theo walked as fast as he could – something about John made him feel like he was exposed and vulnerable, all secrets on display for any who wished to peruse his brain.

He let go of the breath he had been unconsciously holding once they left the threshold of the reception area, and entered the brightly-lit corridors. These were once again lit in shades of green and red and blue, with stained glass lights in the ceiling.

Francis looked over his shoulder. “Sorry about that.”

“What was that about?” Theo asked a simple question in response to Francis’ apology.

“Verification. He was examining your intentions and if you lied.” Francis paused as they reached an intersection, looking at Theo to see what the Coins indicated was the right direction. “Standard procedure for any new guests.”

Theo was surprised at how secure the College of Prayers was, given how relaxed the College of Spells was. It must have shown on his face, as Francis reassured him. “Yes, I know it’s a bit…extreme, but I promise it is there for good reason. This is not only a place of learning, but of worship. Privacy and respect are very important.”

Francis looked as uncomfortable as Theo felt. “Which direction do the Coins point?” He asked, only partially trying to change the topic. Theo checked the Coins, the map displaying the two dots for himself and Francis, as well as a new blinking dot on their right.

“Right, we’re going on the right.” Theo was checking the location and distance, which is why he bumped into Francis, who stood frozen.

“No chance it’s somewhere else?” Francis seemed to plead with the coins before sighing, resigned. “Okay, follow me. Please keep this confidential.” Theo nodded, bracing himself for something unsavoury.

Suddenly, as if crossing an invisible threshold, the empty halls gradually became anything but, filled with priests walking around with hampers full of produce in their arms.

Theo blinked.

He looked at Francis, who was visibly uncomfortable. He saw nothing out of the ordinary that would result in that.

He even recognised a few of the priests as the ones who gave food out in the Outskirts. “Wait, so this is-“

“The core of our operations. Service is important.” Francis sounded tired, defeated. He closed his eyes for a moment, took in a deep breath, and put on what Theo clearly recognised as the smile of someone who wasn’t in a mood to socialise but was obligated to. Theo was starting to understand.

Francis started greeting everyone who walked past, most of whom took a moment to return the gesture. Some even came over to chat.

“Good evening, dear Francis. Who is this guest here?” A small crowd had formed, the sea of kind faces growing more unnerving as time went on.

Francis’s fake smile stretched wider. “Good evening, all. This is Theo. Apologies, but we are in a rush.”

Francis used Theo as a shield, steering a path through the throng of priests holding baskets and past fields of plants.

There was a silence as they processed what had just occurred. “They’re lovely, it’s just-“

“Too much socialising?” Knowing Francis’ conversational habits, Theo had a good guess at what the problem was.

Francis’ face answered that question.