Issue 18, Page 14
Uh so what’s the deal with this “religion” thing y’all keep going on about?
Transcript
1: Sam leads Melissa down the aisle.
Sam: I was told you were here with a request from the King family?
Melissa: That’s right, they want their… family key? I’m… not sure what that means.
Sam: It’s an old heirloom, very important to the family. I know just where it is.
So, er, Melissa, you’re friends with Julia from her college?
Melissa: Yeah, you could say that.
2: As they talk, the priest ascends a short series of steps, the doyen’s stylish shoes showing under his robes. An altar is in the middle, covered in small objects and candles of every size. To the right is a metal, leafless tree from which many keys hang from strings or chains: a practice seen in Julia’s home alter and Rhoda’s house.
Sam: Her mother told me she was in an accident… Do let her know that we miss her here, won’t you?
Melissa: I will. Um… does she come here a lot?
Sam: Mmm, well, not a lot, but she’s part our modest family here.
Of course, Air’ashans aren’t really the family types. There’s is more a quest of personal fire and achievement.
Melissa: Sounds like Julia…
3: Sam reaches up, surrounded by a few keys and trinkets on chains. Melissa watches him.
Sam: Still, she and her mother are usually here for holidays, and she’s always eager to help around the temple when she’s here.
Melissa: I saw her little shrine in the house, she’s just never really mentioned any of this.
Sam: I’ve never seen you here, not from the area?
4: Melissa fidgets, looking away.
Melissa: Oh, we… My dad and I don’t really, uh…
That was more my mother’s thing, she had a shrine to, was it, Zalef-‘abev? But… she was a writer so, of course…
Um… so the King family has a… key?
I’m finding this FASCINATING, just so you know. Love me some world building!
Anht zagatir nas.