5. Temple of Lathander

Beneath her closed eyes Aiwë revisits the stories of Torm and the blessings he gave her mother and uncle, and many others in her tribe. A paladin's godly smite is something she has seen many times, and described in celebrated detail many more. These moments come to her mind sharp, clear, and unbidden. Then she knows the blessing she has received.

"Thank you," she whispers. Aiwë sits up with a smile.

"He hears," she tells Koveras. "I wish my parents and Auntie Halla and Uncle Zen were here, but Torm hears and sees us. It will be alright."

Koveras actually looks astonished. "First you receive a sort of memory about someone reviving a dead god, and now you're confident everything will be alright. All that change, from a single prayer?"

Aiwë laughs. "Koveras, Torm killed a god for us." She leans in. "For you. He'll help us with this. More likely, we're only helping him with it." She leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees, staring up at the likeness of Torm in the stained glass of the temple.

"It... will still be hard. But it will be okay."

Koveras looks up at the artwork with new appreciation.

After a few minutes, he nudges Aiwe with his shoulder. "Hungry? I know a sausage vendor who sets up just outside the District. She knows well the hunger pangs that strike the pious."

"Starved!" Aiwë stands. "Breakfast feels like last week." She pauses with a baffled expression. "I don't actually think I ate any, in the end..."

True to his word, Koveras leads Aiwe out of the Temple District and to a food stall set up just across the street. There's a moderate line, but Koveras assures her it's worth the wait. And judging by the smell, he's right.

"So!" The half-orc turns to her with a tusked smile. "What was like life in your home? Did your mother cook? Your father? A servant?"

Aiwë looks up at him with a bemused smile in return. His face keeps doing that. "My father usually cooks and does a lot of the household things. He needs the least rest, and he says being able to do that while we all sleep makes him feel useful and happy. My siblings and I help out, but my mother is usually too busy. If Ada's tribal responsibilities get heavy too, then someone in the tribe will feed us or show up to take the washing and things to help us out."

She runs one of her braids through her fingers. "I want to ask you questions like that too, but I don't want to turn your mind to things that are upsetting. You'll have to let me know what's too much."

"Your community really helps take care of your family. Do all members of the tribe receive such help, or just yours?"

He shuffles along as the line grows shorter. "Things are better, talking with you. What questions do you have?"

"The tribe is especially attentive to us," Aiwë admits. "They revere my mother more than she feels they should. But the tribe takes care of each other. A lot of things like hunting, firewood, and childcare are communal. It was like that under Gruumsh, but now instead of fighting for our portion, it's shared freely and equally."

Aiwë stands on tiptoes to see where the front of the line is. "I'm glad you're feeling more comfortable. Did you spend much time with Rieltar, day to day?"

"Not until I was older. Most of my time was spent with various tutors, or with Winski. Rieltar never seemed to care much about me beyond... Well. Punishments, when he was frustrated with various business dealings. He'd racked up quite a bit of debt before we moved to here some five years past, and I have the scars to prove it."

The line soon shortens, and the smells grow even stronger. The pair soon reaches the vendor herself, a tabaxi of grey fur and golden eyes. She's a blur, cooking the sausages, handing them out on skewers or in buns, taking money, giving back change. When she sees Koveras she gives a friendly smile, somehow keeping her eyes on him while attending to every other task.

"Good day, Big K! What can Ote get for you and this lovely lady?" She grins with some very impressive feline teeth.

"Ote, this is Aiwe. She's from out of town, and I told her she must try your exquisite food while here." He doesn't need to look at the menu board set up over the stall. "One regular, one rare. With bread, please."

"Right away, Big K! On the way, Aiwe!"

While she gets the food ready, she cranes her neck to fix those golden eyes on Aiwe. "You come visit more often, neh? I like it when Big K smiles."

Aiwë is pulled from her anger at Koveras' story by Ote's lovely smile. She grins widely at the tabaxi woman. "Do you see him smile often? I think today's my first time."

Ote puts on a mock frown, which looks doubly odd on her cat-like face. "Muh-muh-muh. Big K no smile." In a flash her grin is back and she winks one of her golden eyes. "It's a good change, neh? Handsome."

She holds out her furred hands, each one holding a sausage wrapped in a bun. "Regular is regular for Big K! So, rare is for the rare lady!"

Indeed, Koveras takes the less-cooked one and hands it to Aiwe, then leaves a generous amount of coin on the counter. "Keep the change, Ote. Thank you."

He glances at Aiwe's sausage. "I hope you don't mind I ordered for you... It just occurred to me you probably wanted to pick something yourself. Ordering food on a date is not something Keggruk or Winski covered."

"It is a nice change. Thank you, Ote!" Aiwë takes the sausage gratefully and sinks her teeth into it as they walk away from the stand.

"It's good!" she exclaims when she swallows. "And you did good. You wanted to share with me what you liked so ordering for me made sense, and you remembered how I like my meat." She takes another bite before raising her eyebrows at him.

"I'll take that to mean you've never courted before either, Big K?"

Ote gives a quick wave goodbye while tending to the next customers.

Koveras, halfway through his own, nearly bites his tongue. "Courted Ote? No, she gives all her special customers nicknames. Unless you meant... Oh." He shrugs. "I've never courted anyone I chose. Twice Rieltar arranged for me to have dinner with a woman, but... I made a mess of it. For her safety, as much as anything else. I was certain Rieltar just wanted me to care about... anything really, so he could use it against me. Or maybe he was simply trying to sweeten a business deal." He sighs. "I never played along."

He takes another bite and swallows, then offers Aiwe the last of his sausage. "You should try the regular, too. I think they're both good, in their different ways."

Aiwë takes the sausage from him and offers her own. "Mm! It is good. You lose a lot of the subtleties of the meat but the seasonings are much more developed." She wipes her hands on a handkerchief retrieved from her pocket.

"Are arranged marriages common here? Or in Sembia? I would expect so among the nobility, but what about merchant princes?"