Free Phoenix Ascendant - eARC by Ryk E Spoor

aloft—a sword that was suspending two great balance-pans on its point, one pan on each side.
    Considering how they had to be doing this in little spurts of their spare time, probably dozens of them—they got her pretty well. The fall of the hair, the overall shape of the armor, and the stance—that was, beyond a doubt, Kyri Victoria Vantage, the Phoenix Justiciar.
    “Oh, great Balance… ” Kyri murmured, managing to combine joy, embarrassment, and shock into a single expression.
    “I see we succeeded in hiding it from you,” Hiriista said proudly.
    Poplock looked over to the mazakh magewright narrowly. “And you didn’t tell me ?”
    “Ahh, my friend, your first loyalty is to Tobimar and the Phoenix; I would not have strained your discretion so.”
    “Bah. It would clearly have been worth it.”
    “But you already have your own temples of the Light,” Kyri was saying. “You don’t need—”
    “We don’t need to,” interrupted Shae gently. “We want to. Within the first day after the disaster I had thirty-six requests for a temple to your god Myrionar, to honor Its emissary on our behalf.”
    “But you put me as part of the Balance ! That’s…that’s too much, it’s using me to symbolize Myrionar. Please…Please, if you must, keep the statue, but…but put up a plain Balanced Sword, all right?”
    Miri started to laugh, then saw the deadly seriousness of Kyri’s face. “You mean it.”
    “Yeah, she does,” Poplock said, bouncing to the Justiciar’s shoulder. “It’s a big thing in the religion—I’ve learned a lot about it, traveling with her. The fact that there isn’t a face for Myrionar is important. Makes it so there’s no arguing that Myrionar really favors humans, or mazakh , or Children of Odin, or Toads. It is purely for justice for all. Right, Kyri?”
    “Yes, that’s it. Thanks, Poplock. I…I don’t want to offend any of you, it’s…its so incredibly touching, I never expected this, but that statue , it’s just too much…”
    “Understood,” Shae said firmly. “We shall move the statue to a place of honor that is not at the altar, and place the simpler sword and balance symbol above. We have only begun to understand your ways—most of what we did here came from Miri and Hiriista, who were present when you prepared your more extensive teachings for those in Jenten’s Mill. We didn’t dare ask you for similar writings at the time, not if the surprise was to remain a surprise.”
    Kyri smiled more naturally—it was easier to relax, Poplock guessed, if you weren’t worried that your image was being used in a sacrilegious representation of your own religion. “I guess not. We were leaving now, but…”
    “Fear not; as you know, the Unity Guard are now preparing to return to their customary cities. I will have one of them—Danrall, I think—go to Jenten’s Mill and acquire a copy for use here in Valatar.”
    “No, leave that to me,” Kyri said. “It’s my job to spread Myrionar’s faith, and we did plan to stop at Jenten’s Mill so that Zogen would know that he had been right to worry…and does not have to worry any longer. Maybe he’ll even bring it himself, and rejoin the Unity Guard.”
    “If you would do that for us, we would be very grateful,” Shae said.
    “ I will be grateful,” Kyri said, face darkening with several shades of embarrassment anew as she looked back towards her statue, “for you give Myrionar new life, so don’t thank me anymore. Just…let us finish this quest. We’ll come back, I promise!”
    “ If we survive,” Poplock observed pointedly. “But yeah, all three of us will want to visit you again. Don’t think you’ve seen the last of us.”
    Miri and Shae laughed and then bowed low. With a whispering rustle, the entire crowd echoed the gesture, a bow that rippled outward through the city like a wave. “Then be on your way, Phoenix Kyri, Tobimar Silverun, Poplock Duckweed, and Rion Vantage. May the Light shine upon you