Raising a Hero

Chapter 18

Nehcor and I needed to talk.

"Don't you guys have, like, a temple or a church around here?"

Hal, who was elbow deep in sanitizing one of the five rooms of the inn (four little with single beds and one a bunk, the fifth a 'suite'), didn't even stop to answer the question.

"Of course. I'm surprised you missed it. The temple is at the center of the city. The market you go to is half-way there."

"So, no churches? You don't have services every seven days or so?" Their weeks here were weird. I hadn't realized until a month in that I'd been counting my weeks by sevens while theirs were by eights. For that matter, their months were weird too. At least I didn't have to worry about multiple moons, though this world's moon was about three times bigger than my Earth's.

"There is a service once a month for the pious in the community centers, organized by whatever priest is set over the area. If I had known you were interested I would have pointed you there."

"Of course I'm interested," I said with a huff. "I have to teach my boy how to avoid an existential crisis, don't I?"

"Existential..." Most of the time when I whipped out weird words that had no translation in their language, Milly, Hal, and even Gus, more than likely tended to gloss over it, assuming the definition by the context. But Hal actually stopped his spraying to give me an odd look.

I sighed and waved my hand in a circling, so-so gesture. "Nothing really matters, no point to living, any way the wind blows I'll go even if that includes murder and rape because there's no proof to care, etc etc." Basically, Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen, but good old rock classics weren't included in this world.

Hal gave a 'ah,' nodded sagely, and turned back to his spraying.

"Milly and I usually go during slow seasons. Late spring and summer are usually a no go for us, since that's when most choose to travel. But we should be able to hold down the fort enough for you and Gus to check it out. Church services are in five days, I'll start marking it on the calendar in the kitchen. I can probably clear out a time for you to visit the temple tomorrow morning, as long as you're back by the third hour."

And thus, Gus's religious nutrients were set up.

He gave me a look like he had sat on a cactus the entire time I fussed over his nicer pair of clothes the next day.

"Why would god care if I look nice?" he grumbled as I messed with the weird cravat/tie thing they had in this world. I was thinking I'd settle for a nice poofy bow. "He made me naked, didn't he?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted to visit the temple naked. I better start stripping—"

His hands flashed up to the half-made bow before I'd even twitched. "Not funny," he growled.

I laughed. "You—you thought I'd seriously make you go naked, ha ha!"

"I wouldn't be surprised!" He was turning red. "You get crazy enough ideas of modesty as it is!"

I rolled my eyes. "Honestly, the only ones there were Milly and I, and it's not like anyone can see our yard from the world."

"But in your underwear?" he wrinkled his nose.

"Hey, wet skirts are heavy. And the soap would be irritating my skin all day." We were talking about another one of my attempts to do laundry with Milly, agitating the dirty clothes in the tub by stomping around in it. "It's still a far stretch from naked, now stop complaining."

He 'tched. "This is a waste of time."

"How is saying hi to the person who made you a waste of time?" I gave the bow a finishing tug. Cute. It was the perfect red to match his eyes. Yeah, they might scare off some, but we weren't on a trip to attract friends now, were we? I could indulge myself.