Thear Advent Story: Trey (parts 1 - 5)
A candle provided the only light in the room. It was the morning of the winter solstice and Trey was awake well before sunrise. Most days he was awake well before sunrise, but for once he had a reason. He knew it wouldn’t be long before the new High Priestess of Persephone arrived at the Residence and he wanted to be the first person to meet her. Sighing, he put his quill down on the desk. Aisling was meant to be the right person, a true priestess who would do what needed to be done, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. Every time he thought of the change that was coming he knew that they needed strong people in the position of High Priest and High Priestess, but they didn’t seem to exist.
Of course, she couldn’t know about Trey, about who he really was, just in case she turned out to be the wrong person. It was unlikely, but he knew that if someone who knew his father found out about any of the things he’d done since he because the High Priest of Herne something bad would happen. He shook his head. There was no chance of his father ever understanding why he had made the choices he had, especially if it was ever made public knowledge that he wasn’t actually the High Priest of Herne, so everything was a secret.
There were days, more than Trey would like, when he wished he could tell someone about everything, but he didn’t know who could be trusted and who couldn’t. When he thought about it he knew there was only one person he really wanted to talk to. Bree, unfortunately, was still in the village they had both grown up in, and he didn’t want to drag her into her problems. Sighing again, he looked down at the piece of paper in front of him, which held another letter he would never send her, and tried not to worry that something would happen to her before he could get her somewhere safe.
Bree was mixed blood, and didn’t know it, which automatically put her in danger. The Dorma supremacist movement, which was led by Trey’s father, talked of mixing blood being the same as diluting the Dorma blood from the veins of pure blood Dorma’s. It never crossed their minds that mixing blood might be a good thing, but then no one had ever taken the time to work out why the number of children being born each year to Dorma families, as well as Uisdro and Tein-Igni, might have something to do with pure blood not being a good thing.
Trey had spent a lot of his time researching family trees. It wasn’t as though he really had anything else to do, even though he was a High Priest, and to him it was proof that he was right while his father was wrong. Like everyone else he couldn’t get further back than the day all the records had been burnt, but it was easy to see where the main problem lay. Most of the families that were pure Dorma, or Uisdro, or Tein-Igni, seemed to have trouble having children. Some didn’t have any problem and he wondered if that was because they had mixed blood somewhere in their heritage, but it was impossible to find out.
A book had been left, by the High Priest of Herne who destroyed the entire history of Thear, about the reasons behind his choice. Trey had read it several times, and he still couldn’t understand why any priest, especially a High Priest, would do something like that. It didn’t help that no one knew what had happened before, and it was Trey’s belief that something a High Priest had done, probably something a High Priest should never do, was the reason for the fire and for the Dorma supremacist movement being the way it was. However it was something he would never know about and that had originally filled him with rage, but slowly he was getting used to the fact he would never understand Thear in the way that people before him had.
Slowly, Trey stood up. For one long year he had spent most of his time alone, because he didn’t want to get close to anyone in the Residence, and acting like he should do as the son of the leader of the Dorma supremacist movement. With every day that passed he felt as though he was losing some of himself and becoming someone he had always believed he would be, up until the full moon just after his tenths birthday. He picked up his cloak, trying not to think too hard about the child he had been before he found out that the truth was not what his father told him it was, and wrapped it around himself.
Carefully, Trey left his study. He knew that the servants would be preparing for the winter solstice ceremony, and the celebrations that followed after, so he didn’t want to walk into one of them. The Residence felt the way it always did, like a stone building full of secrets. Due to his father’s beliefs that there should only be one High Priest or Priestess, preferably a priest, the High Priest of Herne, two of the other Highs had gone missing. The High Priestess of Bast had been gone since just after Logan’s, the High Priest of Anubis, arrival, while the High Priest of Loki had disappeared during the celebrations for the autumn equinox. Trey was just thankful that his father didn’t know that neither of them had been the true High Priests, but pretenders, just like the High Priest and Priestess who had come before them, because so few people really connected with the deities of Thear. Only two other true Highs were known to him. Logan, who disliked Trey because he had to keep up the pretence that he was his father’s son around the other Highs, and Aisling, who would probably end up disliking him for the same reason Logan did.
At that moment Trey would have given anything to visit Bree rather than spend the day having to pretend he was the High Priest of Herne. Biting hard on his lip, he stepped out of the door of the Residence, and told himself, again, to stop thinking about her. It had been years since they had last seen each other, they’d both still been children, so it was silly to still feel the way he did the day he left her. They were both adults, he knew he was very different to the person he had been back then, and he knew, without any doubt, that she would never fall in love with someone like him. Circumstances meant that he had spend most of his life being dishonest with the people around him, which was something that she hated.
Trey knew that he needed to focus on the present and the future, because the day was fast approaching when everything would change, and he would need to make sure that the people he cared about were safe. Especially Bree, who meant more to him than any woman every had and probably ever would. His worry was that nowhere would be safe, even though his deity, because he was a true High Priest, had promised him a sanctuary was going to be available to all those who needed it. Bast, with her fellow deities, was working on making sure that people would be safe, the same way they had been since the first person had set foot on Thear.
Once Trey had asked Bast about the history of Thear, which was just after he’d moved into the Residence, and she told him that the time was coming when he would find out everything he wanted to know. Bast liked dropping hints, but he thought that might be a cat thing. Smiling, he thought back to the first time he met her, and tried not to think about what it had meant, because he knew that Bast’s existence meant that his father had been lying to him. Herne was not the only deity of Thear.
“What are you doing out here?” a male voice asked, making him jump, and Trey turned to look at Logan, even though he couldn’t really see him that well.
“I don’t really know,” Trey answered honestly, before remembering that he was meant to hate Logan.
“What have you heard about Aisling?”
Trey thought for a moment, trying to sort what he had been told by Bast from what he had been told by others. Eventually he shrugged. “Only what Father has told me, and none of that has been good.”
Logan nodded. “I’ve only heard from Tein-Igni sources, and none of that was good either.” Their eyes met for a moment and Trey knew that something was going on. “Has Herne told you anything?”
“Herne doesn’t bother himself with simple things like a new High Priestess. He’s busy with other things.”
“Like helping the Dorma supremacist movement?”
“Yes.” Trey shook his head. “What is it that you want, Logan?”
“Anubis told me something very interesting about you last night and I want to know if it’s true or not.”
“What was this very interesting thing you were told?”
“That you’re the High Priest of Bast.”
Glancing down at the ground, Trey tried to give himself enough time to work out what he should say in reply. Bast had warned him that, at some point, the other deities would begin telling those who needed to know who all the true High Priests and Priestesses were. He knew that, because of his father, and the way he had to pretend that he was the High Priest of Herne, he would be the last to be told who they were.
“Did Anubis give you a reason as to why he told you that?” Trey asked finally, looking at Logan again.
“It’s because Aisling is arriving today. He seems to think that the three of us will need to work together in order to get everything completed by this time next year.”
Bast had told Trey the exact same thing. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?”
“He’s never lied to me before.”
Breathing deeply, Trey looked around to make sure that no one would be able to hear them talking, because the last thing he needed was for the information to get back to his father that he was the High Priest of Bast. Bast was seen as a Tein-Igni deity, even though she was simply a deity of Thear, and even having a Dorma man as a priest was weird, let alone him being the High Priest and pretending to be the High Priest of Herne.
“What do you want the answer to be?” Trey asked, stalling for time.
Logan looked at him. “I don’t know.” There was a short silence. “I’ve never liked you, Trey, and I’m not going to magically start liking you just because you’re the High Priest of Bast. Really, I think I’d prefer it if Anubis was lying. Working with Aisling is one thing, but working with you and your torn loyalties, if you really are the High Priest of Bast, seems dangerous.”
Nodding, Trey turned his back on Logan and walked away. It seemed like the only thing Trey could do, because he knew that if he stayed there much longer he would do one of two things. Hitting Logan for having an opinion was unfair, as his position was understandable, and the last thing Trey wanted to do was cry in front of a fellow High. Seeming weak wasn’t something he needed on top of everything else.
“I can’t do it,” Trey whispered, half to himself and half to Bast. “Telling Logan feels like a mistake and I just can’t do it. I’m sorry.”
With one arm wrapped around himself, Trey walked to around the Residence so he was on the opposite side of the building to Logan. Trey’s favourite tree, one of the large oaks, seemed like a good place to stop and think, so he sat with his back to it and thought about what had just happened. Logan didn’t trust Trey, which wasn’t exactly a surprise, but at the same time it hurt more than he ever thought it would to find that out for sure. All Trey had ever wanted was to be a priest and his dream had been to be the High Priest of Herne, so he could make things better for everyone, but instead he was alone, the High Priest of Bast, and felt like he had just been hit around the head with a deak.
Being the High Priest of Bast wasn’t a bad thing. It did give Trey a chance to really make a difference in Thear, which had always been important to him, even though it wasn’t how he was planning on doing it. He hoped that he would be able to keep Bree, and everyone else he cared about, safe because he was in the right place at the right time, but he had always believed that he would have to work alone. Logan had just made Trey more sure that he would, because he was always going to be his father’s son. Sighing, he rested his head on his knees.
“There you are,” a female voice said, making him jump for the second time that morning. “Persephone said I’d probably find you here.”
“Aisling,” he replied, “I want to be by myself right now.”
“You know that’s not going to happen.” Trey felt someone sit next to him, and then Aisling continued, “Logan has only ever seen the Trey you pretend to be and not the Trey you are. It was always going to be hard for him to accept that you are the High Priest of Bast.”
“He doesn’t trust me.”
“We do have another choice.”
“Really?”
“There are always other choices.” A hand rested on Trey’s shoulder. “I know you’re hurting right now and think that no one will ever trust you, but I do.”
For the first time Trey looked at Aisling. “You don’t even know me.”
She smiled. “That doesn’t matter. Persephone told me that you are someone that I should work with and I know she’s right, because you’re hurt by someone not trusting you. It means you are Trey, the High Priest of Bast, rather that Trey, the High Priest of Herne.”
“If you say so.”
“We all need to have someone we can trust, Trey, and I promise you that I’m that person. I will help you keep Bree safe.”
“How do you know about Bree?”
“I first heard of her at the training temple. She was being talked about by my mentor, because of her translating skills. After that I asked Persephone about her and we found out everything we could, because we think she’s going to be important during the change.”
“Great,” Trey muttered.
“That’s exactly how I felt when I found out that my older sister was going to be important, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“When you say important what do you mean?”
“Her skills are going to be needed.”
“What for?”
Aisling looked at him, and he raised an eyebrow. “Has Bast told you about North Square?”
“No, she hasn’t.”
“North Square was created a long time ago by the Sect of Hecate. They were the first people to live here and they knew, because of Hecate’s ability to see into the future, that the day would come when people needed somewhere safe to live. It’s behind two thick walls, so people hid some books in the town that should tell us about our history, and the current High Priestess of Hecate should be there to let me in when I visit.”
“The books will, of course, be written in older versions of Thearan, which is why we need Bree.”
Nodding, Aisling smiled. “We could probably do it, but I think having a professional translator will make things much easier, especially as we’ll have other things to do.”
“I’m not sure you want me helping you.”
“Of course I want you helping me, Trey.” Aisling squeezed this shoulder. “Persephone has told me about your belief that the Dorma supremacist movement is wrong, and I agree with you. The Uisdro and the Tein-Igni also have their versions, so I think Thear is going to change a lot when one of those groups makes a move, and I think it’s going to be the Dorma’s who make the first move.”
Trey nodded. “Father thinks it’s past time we made a move.”
“We have a year, at the most, and what I need you to do is get as many people you know to be in mixed marriages or have some form of mixed blood into North Square. Preferably before anyone realises what’s going on.”
“Aisling…”
“Look, I know that you need to keep your father thinking that you’re on his side and that you’re the High Priest of Herne, but you also want to keep the people you care about safe. I have thought all of this through.”Aisling looked into Trey’s eyes. “If we work together than everything will be fine. I won’t tell Logan you’re involved, even though I think he will trust you in time, because I understand why you’re feeling hurt.”
“Does Persephone know everything about everyone?”
“No, she just focuses of the people who are going to be important in the future. You’re one of those people, so we took the time to learn as much about you as we could, and I am so glad you made the decisions you did. One of the Treys you could have become was not a nice person.”
“Thank you?” Trey raised an eyebrow. “I’m really not sure I like you knowing everything about me.”
“You have to trust me.” Aisling sighed. “I know it’s hard for you to trust anyone.” She smiled sadly. “I think I would be exactly the same if I’d been in your position, but I am the person Persephone and the other deities chose to be in charge of this, so I hope that, in time, you’ll come to agree with them.”
“I don’t know you.”
“I was sent to the training temple before my third birthday because I was born on the day of Persephone and Mother was terrified that someone might harm me due to that. In our village there is a priest of Poseidon who is one of the leaders of the Uisdro supremacist movement and he thinks that anyone born on the day of any other deity that Poseidon is born evil. From then on I was raised by priestesses and everyone believed that I was destined to be a priestess of Persephone.” Aisling shrugged. “A few of the girls I shared my life were also born on days and they were also sent to the temple early. They’re people I trust, so they’re also going to be helping. Everyone else was at the training temple because it was what their family did. I’m sure it was the same for you.”
“I only went to the training temple because Father was the High Priest of Herne, and my grandfather was too. There were those who wanted to be trained but couldn’t go because the priesthood wasn’t in their blood.” Trey shook his head. “Most of the boys I was trainined with never connected with a deity and I feel sure that some of those who never made it to the training temple became priests or priestesses, because it’s not about blood.”
Aisling nodded. “I am what I am, and I am grateful that I was given a chance to be a part of what’s to come because I know I would hate to be watching the world change around me. Being the High Priestess of Persephone automatically puts me in danger, but I know that there are other people who are in more danger than me, like you if your father ever finds out what you’ve been doing.”
“Father and I believe two opposite things. He thinks that mixing blood with the other races will stop us from being true Dormas, which I think probably happened a very long time ago, and his belief will eventually lead to the end of the Dorma race.”
“Trey…” Aisling looked at him, tilting her head to one side. “What is happening to the Dormas? I’ve heard rumours but not many people have any real information.”
“Watch during your first week here. There will be Dorma women arriving from all over the country because they can’t have children. Some can’t carry to term, others find that they give birth to live children and others never get pregnant. Most will pray to Herne, and ask me to bless them because I am the High Priest of Herne, but that won’t help them.”
“What do you think the problem is?”
Trey shrugged. “Dorma pure blood marriages are the problem.” He bit his lip. “Whenever I find a Dorma woman married to a Dorma man, especially if I know that their family tree is also Dorma as far back as I can go, I know that it’s going to be hard for them to have a child. Then there are those who have other bloods in their heritage, but don’t know about it, and often they have healthy children who go on to live long lives like their parents.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s possible I’m wrong and something else is causing this, but I don’t think I am and it terrifies me because I know Father isn’t going to back down.”
“When I went home just before I travelled here I found that they’re having the same problems, although it’s not as bad as the Dorma.” Aisling sighed. “There are a growing group of people, including the priest I told you about, who think that the Uisdro need to become pure again. A lot of the people I grew up with aren’t pure Uisdro, because we’ve always had a close relationship with the Tein-Igni, and it’s beginning to get to the point where they’re scared that something might happen to them.”
Trey nodded. “The Dorma once had a close relationship with the Uisdro too, and I think that might have caused some problems in the past.”
“I hate not knowing our history.” She looked out at the sky. “Right now I need to go, because I’m meant to arrive at the Residence soon, but we need to talk some more. The first chance I get I’m going to visit North Square and when I have we need to start getting people moving.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Aisling looked at him and he could see the worry in her eyes. “I’m not sure about anything.”
Trey smiled, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “We can only do our best, Aisling, and I think that if we’re going to get everyone safe then we need to make the first move.” He squeezed her shoulder the same way she’d squeezed his. “If we wait then things are going to be much more difficult.”
“I’ll see you later.”
Nodding, Trey watched as she stood and walked away. It was slowly getting lighter, so he knew that he should be getting back to the front of the Residence in order to meet Aisling properly, but he didn’t really want to move. Knowing that someone trusted him was a great weight lifted off his shoulders, even though he didn’t know if her plan would work. He did want to get his friends to safety before anything could happen to them, so making the first move did seem like the best idea, but at the same time he didn’t want to draw attention to what was happening. Sighing, he stood, still thinking. People travelling at different times would draw less attention than everyone leaving at one, so having more time would be a good thing.
Trey pulled his cloak tighter around him. It was a cold morning, but he hadn’t really noticed how cold until he moved. He was tempted to just sit back down again, so he could just be Trey rather than the High Priest of Herne. Finally he forced himself to walk back around the Residence, just as the sun was rising, in order to fulfil his duty as a High Priest. Being Bast’s High Priest meant that he should be doing the job, no matter what, and he didn’t want to let his deity down any more than he already had. Aisling’s coach bumped down the road less than a minute later.
Closing his eyes, Trey focused on being who he was supposed to be in that situation, even though he wished he didn’t have to. There would be people watching, in the same way there always was, and they would be reporting back to his father. If his father found out he was acting in a less than normal way it was always possible that a visit would happen, and Trey didn’t want his father anywhere near the Residence.
When Trey opened his eyes Aisling was sliding out of the coach and dropping to the ground, and the sight made it hard for him not to smile. He hadn’t noticed before but she was short for an Uisdro, almost more Dorma height, so he knew that the next thing on his list of things to do was her family tree. Somehow he managed to bow to the new High Priestess without smiling or acting out of character in any way.
Their eyes met. “Welcome, High Priestess of Persephone,” Trey said, grateful that he sounded entirely normal and slightly dismissive of her.
A twinkle of mirth lit her eyes for a second and then faded. “Greetings, High Priest of Herne.”
“You are welcome at the Residence.” It was the first time Trey had meant the ritual words he was saying. “If you are in need of anything then do not hesitate to ask.”
“I am grateful for your hospitality.”
Once she had stepped to the next person in line, the High Priest of Poseidon, Trey had to stop himself from breathing a sigh of relief. All he could do was hope that they wouldn’t spend too much time together, because he had a horrible feeling that having her around was going to make it very difficult to keep pretending to be his father’s son. Shaking his head, he looked at her, needing to do something to take his mind off what was happening, what could happen, and the worries that were filling his mind.
“Welcome, High Priestess of Persephone,” Logan said, sweeping a low bow and then taking her hand, which he slowly lifted to his mouth to kiss.
“Greetings, High Priest of Anubis,” Aisling replied, sounding slightly confused.
“You are very welcome at the Residence. On behalf of Anubis I must say it is a pleasure to meet you.”
Trey shook his head. Logan never stuck to the ritual words, but then as a true High Priest it made sense that he didn’t, even though it did draw attention to him. Thankfully Trey knew that Logan was just seen as flamboyant and different, which wasn’t something the Dorma particularly like, rather than as though he felt he was the only true priest in the Residence, because if someone found out that there were true priests then it was likely that they would be hunted.
At the end of the line stood the High Priestess of Epona. It was easy to see the dislike in her eyes when she looked at Aisling and it was something that was expected. Maybe, long ago, the Dorma and the Uisdro had been friends, but that friendship had turned into hatred of the differences between the two races. Once again the ritual words were said, even though it was obvious the words weren’t met, before the short line of Highs broke up. Wrapping an arm tighter around himself, Trey followed the High Priest of Poseidon into the Residence. He knew that Logan and Aisling were behind him because he could hear them talking.
“Do you think the deities might lie to us?” Logan asked.
“I’ve never known Persephone to,” Aisling replied, and it was possible for Trey to hear a slight hint of dislike in her voice, but he knew it could also have just been his imagination.
“It’s just Anubis told me that Trey, of all people, is the High Priest of Bast and I really don’t think that’s possible.”
“Why?”
There was a short silence before Logan answered. “Trey isn’t a nice person, Aisling. He is the son of the Dorma supremacist movement and I just don’t like or trust him.”
“Being someone’s son doesn’t make anyone a bad person. Are you like your father?”
“No, not really.”
“Don’t judge someone by what their family do. One of my relations, Conall, has a father who really isn’t a nice person, but Conall is a healer and does everything he can to look after other people. They’re not alike in any way.” She sighed. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe Trey acts the way he does in order to keep himself safe, because he’s nothing like his father?”
“I suppose it’s possible.”
“Logan, if Anubis has told you that Trey is the High Priest of Bast, then he’s done it for a reason. What you need to think about is the reason. We’re coming up to a time of change, everyone knows that something has to happen soon even if they have no connection to the deities, and Trey may very well be a part of that change in some way.”
“Anubis told me that Trey is a good person…” A long silence followed. “I don’t know if I believe him.”
Originally posted at dreamwidth.org as kajones_writing.
Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.