Just a little curious|Sensatiamens, Sensatia

[Northen Light36]

Flame frowned thoughtfully as she stepped into the temple and glanced around. She'd been to the Efilian wing with her mother and the Thuothian wing with her father and brother... and both had bored her to tears.

She wasn't even sure why she'd come, really. It wasn't like she'd had a vision that the Etafian priests might help her with - not that they'd been any help in the past really. The mystic temple was more use, really.

Flame glanced towards the Soahcian wing, feeling curiousity stirring within her. Now there was somewhere she'd never gotten to see. But it wasn't forbidden either, just... not recomended. Let's find out why, Flame decided, glancing at Secret. There's no harm in it right?

~I can't see any. It is just a room of people,~ Secret replied, sounding bored.

Flame grinned and, picking up Secret, headed into the Soahcian wing to explore.

[Kender Bard]

Immediately, she was beset upon by the horde of the Curious.

"Hi!" "Hello!" "Hi!" "Hey there!" "Salutations!" "Hi!"

"What's your name?" "You look familiar, who are you again?" "Aren't you Thelon's daughter?" "Thelon's daughter!" "So you're Flame? You're a Fire and a Mind, right?" "Ooh do you know any neat tricks with both signs?" "What are you doing here?" "Do you want to know something?" "Do you want to tell us something?" "Do you have secrets?" "Everyone has secrets, idiot." "Ignore him, he's an acolyte. Tell us your secrets." "Tell us anything!"

[Northen Light36]

Flame blinked, then giggled at the rush of questions. This was okay, she liked being the centre of attention and this time she wasn't even in trouble. "Hi! Yes, I'm Flame and yes I'm Thelon's daughter. Yep, I'm a fire and a mind, but I know more tricks with my fire sign then my mind sign. I'm still working on using them together. I came here cause I've never been in here before and I was really curious." She giggled more and paused for breath before asking, "Did I answer everything? I tried."

[Kender Bard]

"Secrets!" One of the priests exclaimed, bouncing up and down slightly. "You didn't tell us any secrets!"

"They don't have to be yours though," another put in. "You can tell us anyone's secrets."

[Northen Light36]

Flame thought for a minute, considering what to say. She didn't want to tell about her cat's secret. "Um... Does the fact I was the one who really found Honoured Leader Ann when she and Aly were missing count? Daddy helped, of course. But no one knew where to start looking until I had my visions."

[Kender Bard]

"Ooh!"

Two priests reached out and took her by the hand, pulling her with them gently as the whole group migrated to the center of their wing where most of the seating was. There was one seat that was really just a very large pillow in the middle of it all and everything else seemed to be arranged in a vague crescent shape around it. They deposited Flame here and settled themselves in front of her.

"Now you have to tell us the whole story," one of the priests laughed.

[Northen Light36]

Flame grinned, wondering why her parents didn't come here. She was certainly enjoying herself. "All right, if you really want to hear it," she agreed. Soaking up every bit of attention she was being given, Flame started telling how she'd gotten the vision of Aly sitting on the grass and how she'd known that it was wrong and how she'd gone to the mystics and they'd confirmed what she'd guessed - that it was a clan-child she was seeing. "And there aren't many clan children with only one parent from Naurorod, and most of them are in Fira. So I knew if we asked all the clan elders we'd be able to find out who was missing quickly."

Then she'd told how the visions kept coming and how she'd gone blind for a little while, then how they'd discovered it was Ann and Aly who were missing and that Thelon had tracked them to Maelstrom. "Then I spoke to Aly, mentally, and got her to tell me where she was and I took Daddy there. Ann didn't remember any of us, but Aly remembered me and she told Ann I was her friend and so Ann trusted me and we brought her home so she could get better," Flame finished at last. "And now Ann remembers everything and I'm her best friend again too."

[Kender Bard]

"Wow, Flame, you're like a hero!" one of the acolytes squealed.

"That was a great story," another priest agreed and soon all of them were set to babbling about what they liked or how it conflicted or agreed with what they'd heard from other sources.

Another priest from another part of the room picked his way over to Flame. "Well, that was interesting," he remarked in a half-sneer. "A little girl sweeps into the temple with a fantastic tale and everyone falls over themselves to praise her. Don't you get enough attention as the Master's daughter?"

[Northen Light36]

Flame looked up at the priest, frowning but otherwise keeping her temper under control. It helped that everyone else was being nice. "I only told them the story cause they asked me to. I wasn't looking for attention," she said calmly. "You don't have to believe it, if that's what you want. I know I never lie. And Mummy or Daddy or Honoured Leader Ann will tell you the same thing."

[Kender Bard]

"Of course you don't, and if you did, who would doubt you?" the priest growled. "Charmed girl, leading a charmed life..."

"That's Scowl," one of the Curious told Flame, noticing the interaction. "Don't mind him, he's one of the Envious."

[Northen Light36]

Flame turned her attention away from the grumpy priest and back to the Curious. "The Envious? What's that?" she asked, feeling curious herself.

[Kender Bard]

"Oh Soahc's balls, you don't know about the envious?" the Curious laughed. "Then I'd be willing to bet-"

"I'll take that bet!" a priest remarked, moving closer to the curious and laying two copper down. The Curious obliged.

"I'll bet you don't know about any of the paths, do you?" she finished.

[Northen Light36]

Flame shook her head. "The paths? No, what are they? Will you tell me about them?" she asked. "Please?" Her eyes were bright with curiousity and interest in what the Curious was saying.

[Kender Bard]

The gambler sighed as the curious took his money.

"There are dozens and dozens of paths in Soahc's religion," the priest explained. "The priests pick one or two paths to follow and exmplify. These paths are all weaknesses in human nature, our flaws, the gift of Soahc to humanity. We revel in them as our way of giving thanks and praise to our lord. The followers don't need to follow a path, but sometimes they do anyway."

"Despite there being oodles of paths, there's some main ones. These are followed by the bulk of the clergy. They're the paths of Pride, Lust, Wrath, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Curiosity, Generosity, Cowardness, Addiction, Gambling, and Indecision."

[Northen Light36]

Flame thought about that for a moment. "What do the priests do when they choose a path?" she asked, then added, "Let me guess... You're on the curious path? Why don't followers pick a path too?"