Hadya (prime)/The Archivist

Oearis hurried through the dome, pausing briefly to offer a shy bow to a group of priests who walked past her, once they had disappeared behind a door, she did the same, only opposite them, into the temple’s archival library.  She removed a wax-sealed envelope from a small pocket in her robe and nervously surveyed the great space.

Shelves stretched far into the gloomy darkness while at their bases a few priests worked busily to maintain the order of the knowledge stored there. Off to the side of the portal in which she had made her entrance was a desk, behind it a tall gaunt-looking man was bent over a pile of scrolls, and behind him another priest.  The two quietly conversed as she came up to the desk, so engrossed in their conversation, that they ignored her for more than a few minutes.

Oearis, being ever patient, stood there quietly waiting for their acknowledgment.  Finally, the gaunt man and the priest ended their conversation and his shrewd gaze fell on the girl.

“What is it you want?” he offered with a small sigh.

Oearis offered her most respectful bow and offered him the envelope.

He quickly snatched it from her, broke the seven-headed sidewinder seal on it, and produced its contents.

He mumbled as he read the letter, “Esteemed Archivist…ah, she looks to flatter….” He glanced up at Oearis before continuing.

Reading it quietly to himself in a whisper before his eyes went wide and his tone became increasingly frustrated “She wants this information within a fortnight?!”

“I have other requests! Hers is not the only one! Why doesn’t she come herself, why does she send you?” His eyes flashed with annoyance as he searched the young girl for answers.

Oearis dipped her head and as if in apology she offered in reply “She is in the North, she has matters to attend to there.”

“Yes, well we all have matters to attend to!” He said as his frustration grew. “That information will take some time to gather, it is over twenty years old. I have requests from Tamzyrr—”

The girl cut him off, “I’m sorry m’lord, I don’t mean to be impertinent, but she said if you made a fuss, I was to remind you that there is ‘None for ourselves, all for the Great Serpent.’ …she told me to tell you that.” She dipped her head again, abashedly.

The man’s grey face began to flush red.

“Does she think I need reminding?!” He said, as his tone bordered on anger.

“And, and, and she wants it sent to…” He tossed the letter down onto the desk, his words mixed in frustration and ever-building anger.

“Yes.” Oearis answered, “She does, and she said…”

He put his hands on the desk and leaned his towering height over it to look down on the girl. He was all but seething now, “Yes?” he said in quiet anger “What else does she say?”

The girl chewed on her lower lip for a moment as she twisted her fists in the emerald cotton of her robe… she meekly offered “That she is Archpriestess and her request is not made without purpose.”

The Archivist gave a dry laugh and raked a hand over his face.

He let out a sigh and picked up the letter again, before snapping his fingers at a nearby monk who rushed over quickly.

He quietly spoke with the monk, pointing to passages in the letter, and after a few minutes, the monk nodded to the Archivist and hurried down one of the shadowy corridors of shelves.

He tossed the letter back onto the desk and offered a put-upon sigh, before regarding Oearis again.

“It will be collected and sent, within a fortnight.” The Archivist relayed to the girl.

She almost smiled but figured it would only make matters worse, so instead she bowed low before the scroll-laden desk and its master.

“I will let her know, thank you.” She offered again meekly.

“Yes, yes…” He said as he brushed her off, directing his attention back to the work before him.