The bodies of witch Tregereth’s victims were found and Sir Ivan was hailed a hero. Queen Chalyela apologized for not acting sooner. With crime down and the witch gone, the Kingdom fell into a calm.
With the calm came a feeling of extreme comfort and security. Without the threats of illness and crime, the people of the kingdom began to rely less on the church and the Watcher’s protection. Less conversions to the Peteran faith took place and tithes to the church dropped tremendously.
With faith at an all time low, Queen Chalyela and Peteran Priest Ermine began to worry about the cultural state of the kingdom. If the people were no longer worshipping and revering the Watcher, who or what were they worshipping?
With church attendance down, Sister Ermine could do nothing but worry. If Archolia did not depend on her for spiritual growth, what would her purpose be? To make matters worse, she has heard rumors of a cultural faire in town that has been drawing great crowds. Is that where her potential parishioners are spending their time?
In her state of anxiety, Sister Ermine busies herself with scrubbing the church floor. She always seems to think clearer while doing manual labor.
She pulls out her soapy scrub brush and ponders the state of the church. How can she bring people back to the feet of the Watcher?
The floors are looking clean enough to eat off, but Ermine still knows not what to do.
She moves to another area of the floor, scrubs and ponders.
While Sister Ermine is busy scrubbing floors, Queen Chalyela is waiting for lunch, ready to fulfill her duties for the day.
She spends a few moments listening to the castle jester. Chalyela longs for a period of time where she can relax and just listen to music, but problems seem to keep popping up that makes moments of pleasure far and few between.
She sits down to enjoy a steaming hot bowl of venison stew before she begins listening to petitions and solving whatever problems crop up for the day.
During her scrubbing, Sister Ermine decides that she herself will visit this cultural faire. She is curious to see what has attracted so many people’s attention. What is making them less loyal to the Watcher and the Peteran Church?
On her way to the town square, Ermine passes the stocks. She is happy to see that no one is being held prisoner there, but a chill passes through her spine when she reflects on the time she spent there. She never wants to experience such humiliation again.
Queen Chalyela reluctantly takes her place at her throne. She hates to begin her day listening to the complaints and problems of the villagers. Many of them come to her with such petty problems. She would much rather spend a few moments at the cultural faire that has the whole castle abuzz.
Instead, she performs her duty and listens to complaints of failed crops, vile neighbors and lost sheep.
The only thing that gives her joy, is that her subjects find her to be fair and dedicated to serving her kingdom well. In this way, her self sacrificing is worth it.
Ermine arrives at the cultural faire.
As she looks around, she notices that there is nothing there representing religion.
“What can possibly attract so many people to this faire?” She asks herself out loud, realizing that she knows nothing about the interests of the younger generation.
She looks around for anything she could alter in order to add even a small segment of religion.
Sister Ermine can see that she is going to have to come up with something special in order to make religion attractive once again to the citizens of Archolia.
Desperate to find a way to include the Watcher, Ermine spots a bathtub partially hidden by a screen. She decides to take action.
“If I add blessed water to the bathtub, at least those who bathe in it would benefit,” she says before adding a large bucket of blessed water to the bathtub.
