New To The Fold|Mentis

[Kender Bard]

The priest looked at Kalliope with a small smile and nodded. "I'll take care of her then," he remarked. "Thank you brother."

Kalliope stepped closer to the priest she'd just been handed over to but looked at Michael again. "Will I see you again?" she asked, biting her lower lip softly. It wouldn't have surprised her if priests rarely saw anyone outside of their areas.

[Darastrix]

"You might," Michael told her. It occurred to him that he didn't know what her area of study was or where she might end up in the temple. "Um. Well, if you ever need help finding your way around or something, just ask for Michael." He smiled. "I'm fairly certain that I'm the only dual Force priest here with that name."

[Kender Bard]

"I'm Kalliope," she replied with a small smile, then turned and hastened after the senior priest as he strode off to take one of the study rooms as a temporary office.

---

A few days later, it seemed that Kalliope had taken him up on his offer. One of the nearby priests of Michael's section poked around until finding him and announced, "There's a sister seeking you. Her name is Kalliope?"

[Darastrix]

"Oh, yes," Michael said, getting up from his seat. "She just came to us this week; I told her to find me if she needed any help. Where is she?"

[Kender Bard]

"This way," the priest remarked and led her a few bookshelves down. Kalliope stood with her hands clasped and her gaze diverting to everywhere but other people until she noticed Michael's approach. She settled, somewhat, and smiled. "Greetings, Brother Michael. I hope I'm not interrupting you."

[Darastrix]

"Not at all," Michael hastened to assure her. He turned to thank the priest that had fetched him, and then looked back at Kalliope. "What can I help you with?"

[Kender Bard]

"This isn't so much about needing help as a desire in my part," she remarked, reaching up to twist some hair between her fingers. "I recalled what you said your specialty was, and I was hoping you would speak with me at length about your subject. You see, topics of morality interest me greatly. I heard there was a debate hall here that is used frequently for such discourse."

[Darastrix]

Michael smiled and regarded Kalliope with renewed interest. "You heard correctly," he replied. "And I'm more than happy to engage in a debate or discussion on my area of study."

[Kender Bard]

"Then by all means, let us go," Kalliope urged. She didn't know the way but the debate hall was hard to miss; it was one of the only places inside the temple that wasn't designated for living space yet held no books. Once they were inside, she brushed some of her hair back over an ear and decided to get the discussion rolling. "What are your thoughts on virtue?"

[Darastrix]

"Are you speaking of any specific virtue or do you mean anything that's generally considered virtuous?" Michael asked. "Or 'virtue' as a synonym for 'chastity?'"

[Kender Bard]

"I suppose we should start with definitions," Kalliope amended. "Virtue as being the opposite of vice. Qualities which are considered to be exceptionally good or better than the norm, such as kindness, empathy, and the like. So, more generally I suppose."

[Darastrix]

Michael nodded and closed his eyes partway in thought. "I don't really spend much time on the concept of vice and virtue nowadays, but my first thought on anything like that is usually 'why?' Why aspire to virtue? What makes it so much better than vice? For example, if you ask most people which is 'better' or more virtuous--greed or generosity--the answer will usually be 'generosity.'"

He paused to take a seat, and then continued, gesturing for Kalliope to take the seat beside him. "Giving to others is lauded as opposed to keeping for yourself. But if you give too much, if your generosity exceeds your means, you do harm to yourself. If you donate all of your copper and keep none to buy food with, you hurt yourself just as surely as if your greed led you to gamble away your money. How is that virtuous?"

[Kender Bard]

Kalliope smiled a little as she listened to Michael talking. "Your example is slightly flawed, I would say," she remarked. "The Soahcians have already recognized this and thus coined generosity as one of the failings of mankind. But what is worse, I ask - that you do yourself harm or that you do others harm? Isn't it better to destroy oneself than to harm others over whom your actions should not intrude upon the personal freedoms of?"

[Darastrix]

"What makes another more important than oneself?" Michael asked. "Harm is harm, no matter who it's inflicted upon. And how can you be sure that in destroying yourself, you prevent harm to others? Your own destruction could instead be the instrument of their harm. People are not solitary, as a rule. We don't live in total isolation. We form communities, families, friendships, and other associations to which the destruction of a member can be a detriment, regardless of who it is."

"And to say that one's actions should not intrude on the personal freedoms on another is an impossible ideal to uphold. Unless you are secluded from all others, your actions will, at some point or another, intrude on personal freedom."

"But," he continued, "if my previous example is flawed, take chastity instead. Soahc's priests don't laud it that I'm aware. How is denying oneself the pleasures of the flesh inherently virtuous?"

[Kender Bard]

"The loose behavior of the promiscuous is more harmful than chastity," Kalliope argued. "Disease spreads through such behavior, and that misery spreads as well if the unfortunate recipients of such diseases should do nothing to stop the vicious chain. Meanwhile, chastity denies only the self and does no lasting harm to others."

"And what of self-sacrifice?" she pressed. "To die, say, saving the life of your own children or other loved ones."