Their conversation was interrupted when a commotion at the other end of the temple turned into an argument in Serpent.
Karl sighed and turned to see what was going on as Orthos hid his laughter behind his sleeve.
Remi had a small, furry acolyte, and she had raised her body to keep the child out of the reach of the guardian clerics that were trying to take her back to whatever passed for daycare here.
[What are you doing, Remi?]
[This creature is fascinating. She’s half dragon and half catgirl.]
[And why are you keeping her away from the clerics?]
[Because it’s funny. Plus, I’m a Queen now, Queens get to do what they want, right?]
[Your species is Queen, but you’re still a Princess. You should likely give them the child.]
Instead of handing the child over, Remi used her lower arms and her elongated body to climb one of the pillars and escape to the upper floor, with a group of clerics chasing after her.
“I will give her a time-out once she puts the child back in bed. Sorry, she had never seen whatever species that is before.”
“The father was a dragonkin from the western regions, and the mother is a Felian, one of the cat women. But a winged beastkin with fur is quite uncommon, especially when they’re not bats. The little one gets a lot of attention, and I do fear that we’re spoiling her without teaching her about stranger danger.
If Remi hadn’t been friendly, she could have been injured or abducted by a visiting beast.”
A few seconds later, the shouting turned to laughing, and Remi came racing back down the hallway and around the spiral staircase, this time holding a full-grown priestess.
It was awkward, but with four arms, Remi could hold her no problem, and the Naga Queen was surprisingly strong.
Karl was used to thinking of her as a small snake, but she wasn’t anymore.
Well, for another five seconds, before she put the cleric on the ground and turned back into a small Spirit Snake to escape up Karl’s side, seeking protection on his shoulders.
“Your Naga friend is insane.” The Priestess that Remi had been carrying insisted.
“In her defence, she literally got arms a day ago. If they’re not for cuddling small furry creatures, what is the point of having arms?” Karl replied.
Most of the clerics in the room laughed, and some sort of large beast outside rumbled in amusement.
The cleric gave him a skeptical look, and Karl gently stroked Remi’s head.
“Fine, point taken. Sometimes we forget how excited the youngsters are to see new things.” The Priestess sighed.
[Pat the head for good luck.]
Karl didn’t question the voice in his mind as he patted the beastkin woman’s soft furred head. Even if it didn’t bring good luck, it was totally worth it, the long bunny ears were so soft.
“Gah, he got me. I let my guard down because he was human, but he did it.” She complained.
“Is that some sort of running thing? I heard a suggestion that it was good luck.” Karl asked.
The clerics went silent and Karl turned to Orthos.
“Did I say something strange?”
The Dragon shook his head. “No, but you might have really heard the voice of the gods. They have a particular fondness for messing with rabbit related beasts and beastkin. Even in the time when you saw me last, there was a superstition that gently touching their ears brought good luck.
But you see, their ears are very sensitive, and depending on how you touch them, it can be an erogenous zone.”
Karl bowed to the Priestess. “Sorry, I didn’t know it was sexual harassment. Patting as a form of friendly encouragement is pretty common for me. Thor loves it.”
Some of the other clerics who had been in charge of his measurements smiled at the memory. Thor aggressively loved head pats and most other forms of affection.
He was currently outside having his scales polished and scrubbed with sand.
Rae returned to her space to let the children play, and the clerics began to relax. Nobody could view Thor as a threat, and the only other outsiders around now were Remi and Karl, and Remi had the favour of the beast gods, even if she was troublesome.
“Princess Remi, can you tell us what god favoured you when you evolved?” Orthos asked.
[Tell them lucky statue lady came to visit me.]
“She has a statue of a pregnant giant that, I believe, is one of the titan shaman gods. She says the statue lady was the one.”
Karl gently removed the statue from her space and took it out to show the dragon.
“Fascinating. So, a Shaman God helped her evolve, in a Beast God temple. That isn’t something that I had expected. But the primordial gods are supporters of both beasts and Titans, though they fell from favour when the new pantheons of Beast and Titan Gods were formed.
So, it’s not inconceivable that she would favour a shaman who wasn’t of the Giant Tribes, but it is unexpected. Where did Remi get that statue from? Did she make it herself?” Orthos asked.
Karl shook his head and put the statue away, while Remi laughed.
“No, it was attached to a spell to summon clones of Frost Giants, along with a large Frost Stone. We were aiming to break the spell, so we stole the focal object, which was that statue, and it caused the Frost Stone to shatter.” Karl explained.
“You didn’t stop the spell first?” One of the Clerics gasped in shock.
“Wait, there was an off switch?”
The Clerics looked at him as if he were crazy.
“All you had to do was tip over the Frost Stone. It’s the power source, so the spell would have naturally ended when you removed it. I’m surprised that removing the statue or destroying the circle didn’t cause a massive explosion.” The Priest on Karl’s right explained.
Remi was laughing so hard she almost slid off Karl’s shoulder.
“Oh, there was an explosion. A rather sizable one.” Karl explained.
One of the Priestesses in the back snapped her fingers. “I know where you got the statue. The spot along the border, just north of where the Magma Dragon appeared from. There was an explosion that sent a cloud of frost magic high into the sky. Our scouts saw it from Whiton Temple.”
Karl whistled in appreciation. “Now that’s a good range. We didn’t get a good view, being as close to the blast as we were.”
“You were still nearby when it exploded?” The Priest asked.
“We were still getting clear of the crater that the stone was in when it exploded. Even with Commander Rank barriers, there were injuries.”
The Priest and Orthos nodded in understanding. The explosion was huge, but not contained, so it was lower damage over a much larger area than if it had been indoors.
“Is it true that you challenged a Royal Rank Frost Giant at Commander Rank?” One of the Priestesses asked, sliding up beside Karl so he could pet her fluffy cat ears.
That was clearly a bribe to trick him into giving away secrets, but it wasn’t really a secret that he had taken out a Royal Rank Frost Giant. It had been on the news.
“Let me regale you with the tale of an investigation gone wrong, or successfully failed, as you might say.” Karl began.
A well told story was as important as the actual details, and the clerics were all eager to hear all about the war between the Golden Dragon Nation and the Giants.
