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Post by Storyteller on Feb 28, 2021 23:37:08 GMT
Magister Judal adds, "Then let our final rinsing be done in one of the specialty pools, if it pleases you. For why else come here rather than to Quinlan's?"
"Of course, Dominus," says the bath attendant.
The four of you are whisked away to an oil and scraping courtyard. You are all stripped, your clothing taken away by a young boy, who carefully places each set in a basket.
You are placed facing one another across a small distance, so that conversation is possible, while you are oiled down, then scraped with a curved metal scraper across your oiled flesh.
And you all notice that Magister Judal has rayed sun carved into the flesh of his breast, over his heart. It is large and white and pale red, as though produced by scarification, and some of it recent.
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Post by Diocles on Feb 28, 2021 23:38:54 GMT
"If you don't mind my asking--since you are not hiding it--may I inquire about the rayed sun carved into your flesh, Magister Judal?"
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Post by Storyteller on Feb 28, 2021 23:46:24 GMT
The Magister glances down briefly. "This is the symbol of my consecration to Nistaran. It begins for every Akar on the fourteenth day after his birth. Then the center of the sun is carved. It is scarred properly and added to as we grow. It will be complete in two years' time, when I reach my majority. It is done this way, rather than a tattoo, that the pain of it might remind us of what we owe to Nistaran, what we ought to be willing to do for his glory."
Young Magister Judal speaks these word evenly, almost placidly, as though he were not describing something excruciatingly painful, and by the look of the scars, the most recent portion is recent.
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Post by Diocles on Feb 28, 2021 23:52:55 GMT
"You are truly a man of faith, magister." I bow my head out of respect for him. "Nirrion is blessed to house the Akar clan."
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Nobody
Alexios Group
Posts: 1,409
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Post by Nobody on Feb 28, 2021 23:52:57 GMT
"That sounds lovely. Lead on!"
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Post by Storyteller on Feb 28, 2021 23:59:12 GMT
"The Akar are blessed by Nistaran," says the young Magister gravely. "It is only just that they distribute his graces to Nirrion, which he loves."
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Post by Diocles on Mar 1, 2021 0:02:54 GMT
"Not 'only'," I say. "The graces that flow through you are as clear as the summer sun. Give yourself some credit, young Judal."
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Post by Storyteller on Mar 1, 2021 0:07:26 GMT
The Magister gives you a piercing glance, but then he gives the faintest hint of a smile. "You are generous in your praise, Caoimhghin of Elunia."
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Post by Diocles on Mar 1, 2021 0:09:37 GMT
I shake my head. "Where there is a superfluity of embodied excellences, there is no generosity. Only appropriate recognition."
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Post by Storyteller on Mar 1, 2021 0:17:43 GMT
"Is it true," asks Magister Judal, "that the Elunian love poetry is the greatest in the world? Of all I have read, it is the most beautifully expressed." He glances at Anak-Sa'ir. "Until the last performance of 'Visions of Tarisceana', I would have said that Zenji plays were the greatest I had read. But that performance has put my judgement in some doubt. What would be your view on that?"
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Post by Diocles on Mar 1, 2021 0:20:45 GMT
"Zenji plays are excellent, of course, and the Zenji acting tradition is peerless, as our beloved leading man has demonstrated. But, I flatter myself, when that tradition can be combined with Elunian verse, we get what is now the smash hit at the Bosan and the talk of the city. Yes, the only poetry that exceeds our lines extolling battle is that which immortalizes love."
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Post by Storyteller on Mar 1, 2021 0:27:37 GMT
"I cannot dispute that," says Magister Judal. "That play has done what little else in my life ever has."
He does not elaborate, but Danal, you remember the tears on his face at the performance.
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Post by Sir Roland Desprez on Mar 1, 2021 0:34:51 GMT
"Magister Judal, can you enlighten me on why the Akar removed themselves from politics years ago? I can understand that the worship of Nistaran was seen as most important but was there not room for both pursuits? Indeed politics seem to be important for the maintenance of Nirrion which Nistaran loves."
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Nobody
Alexios Group
Posts: 1,409
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Post by Nobody on Mar 1, 2021 0:59:01 GMT
I look at Magister Judal during this interchange, saying nothing. If ever his eye should happen to glance at me in the wrong (or perhaps right) moment, he will see pure respect in my eyes, and wonder, knowing the weight of his words. And I will not hide that expression from him.
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Post by Storyteller on Mar 1, 2021 0:59:42 GMT
"Nistaran told my forefathers that he required their uttermost devotion," answers Magister Judal seriously. "They obeyed. Not all the favor of the city could matter more to them than the Sunlord's slightest wish. If Nirrion wishes the direction of the Akar, they have only to turn to Nistaran. But to be a member of the Senate might mean that the Akar name would be put to some legislation that is not aligned with Nistaran's will. For it is possible that a vote might carry, despite the Akar voting against it. Then it would be ratified by the Senate as a whole--and the Akar name would be on it. So the Akar will not do so. The Republican Senate has no place for us."
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