Here’s a bit I inserted into a late draft of Talio’s Codex, but decided to remove. After their eventful evening in Aurania on the committee junket, Talio decides to seek spiritual counsel at the local Incarnite Temple. This played up the theme of religious difference and Talio’s lack of belief, and finally showed at least one mysterious cleric. I eventually felt that the scene was too harsh and a bit too obvious, so out it came again. (This scene would have gone right after the line, “With that, he left the room.” near the end of Chapter 19.)
That afternoon, Talio slipped away from the inn. He was unsure if there was an Incarnite temple in Aurania and he wanted to visit one before he left.
The absence of ritual waters at the temple no longer bothered him; Talio found the large sanctuary hall and sat down in an empty saffron pew. He had not known what to expect, but it was the same as any other place of worship he’d visited. He felt nothing but the stillness of the silence around him.
An Incarnite sat down beside him, a red fringe on their cloak. Some kind of religious identification. “I am the cleric of this temple,” the man said.
Talio thought of Pazli’s endless dispensations. “I need your help.” He shook his head. “I am seeking spiritual guidance.”
“Get out.”
The man’s directness shocked him. “You are a religious leader,” Talio said in protest.
“Do you believe in the Incarnite catechism?”
Talio did not reply. “Then get out.” The cleric pointed to the exit. “We are not some exhibit for you. We are not here to provide you with expiation, or absolution.”
Talio got to his feet but hesitated. “I have fallen in love with an Incarnite.”
“Then you have sinned, in the eyes of Peyor and the eyes of Sif. Now go.”
He took a few halting steps, then turned back. “Please.”
There was pity in the cleric’s voice. “Do you believe, then? If not in the Incarnite ways, in anything?”
His throat had closed up. He could not reply, but only shake his head.
The cleric’s last words rang in his ears. “Then who are you, that someone should love you?”
Talio tried to put the matter out of his mind on the way back to the inn. He believed in the law…as long as he could twist it to his needs. He believed in Pazli…but not enough to let the man make his own decisions, clearly.
He believed in himself, certainly. Didn’t he?
The soft wine wasn’t enough this time.