Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance

“I’m the top of my class and I’m important and she’s a year younger than me so why does she know so many things I don’t!”

Mum and Dad were taking me to the Cascade Hotel. I was telling them how Breeze kept acting like she was so important.

We were walking from the Vineyard to the Hotel!

You know what it’s like!

This was white day so it looked cheerful. We went the long way although I already knew the short cut. Down the twisty road instead of going through the trees and vines.

You know this, why do I have to go over it?

For that matter, I’ve made lots of notes about the Vineyard and the Haprihagfen to help me work out what the secret was. Then we crossed the bridge. We were walking past the shops on the high street, which runs beside the Tarm, not far from the bridge. Several kids were standing in a group, I think I’d seen at least one of them before. They looked at me and whispered and sniggered to each other.

“You were bound to meet somebody smarter than you some time,” said Mum.

“She’s not smarter than me. I probably know more about Trulism than she does but I can’t tell her about that.”

“Now you know how you make the other kids in your class feel,” said Dad.

“I thought you wanted me to do well in school! Why do other kids like you if you’re good at sport but not if you’re good at everything else!”

“I don’t know,” said Mum, “but that’s just the way it is.”

Suddenly I knew the answer and wished I didn’t.

“Why are you taking me with you?”

“The hotel’s owner wanted to meet you,” said Dad.

We went into the hotel.

Come on, it’s the Cascade Hotel, you know what it’s like!

First impressions?

Well, it isn’t that unusual is it? It looks like a normal, small hotel from the plane with it’s roofs removed. Whitewashed walls which gleamed in the combined light of Aleph and the sapphires. A carpark at the front with a low wall, with fleshy leaved plants growing on it. It’s on the High Street so the only thing opposite is the river. It has various planters and baskets of fleshy plants, mostly not cacti, and a few other photoorganisms growing in them.

We went in the main entrance, big transparent doors, probably made of geodeserine. Inside there’s a foyer with a polished stone floor, doors to a bar and a restaurant, and a counter with a computer and a rack of keys behind it. There are also corredores going off to the rooms and the ballroom.

Criadria and Vritan was standing behind the counter.

You know them!

Criadria’s a very old idlan woman. Dark skin, white hair. Vritan’s a young faharni woman, black hair, grey eyes, seven fingers on her right hand. Criadria smiled at us and came out from behind the counter as we came in. Vritan just stood there, staring into space.

“What a pretty little girl,” said Criadria, with an obvious accent, crouching down to my level.

I looked up at Mum. The last time somebody said that, we’d got into this mess.

“This is Eleprin,” said Dad, “and my wife, Renisho. This is Criadria, the hotel’s owner.”

“Have you met my grandson?” asked Criadria.

I just stared back at her.

“Irvis,” said Criadria.

I’d already noted down the relationships between all the Haprihagfen who lived on the Vineyard. This was the first time I’d met anybody else related to one of them. There were others, mostly young men called slegim who didn’t stay long. There were a few young woman called slegmetot who seemed to be the female version of the slegim.

“I come from Uratan,” Criadria continued, “it’s a small country in the mountains to the south east of the Great Basin, about as far from Minris as you can get without going into the desert or leaving Midbar. Not many people go there. I had a son who was a bit strange, nothing really you could put your finger on. He wasn’t stupid and he didn’t kill small mammals or anything. I was always worried about him. As he got older he started disappearing, sometimes for days, really worried me. One day he came back with a faharni woman. Never found out what she was doing in Uratan. They said that they were going to get married and go to live in Minris. I couldn’t talk sense into them so I came with them, along with my husband and two other children. Turned out I couldn’t live in the Vineyard because I’m a Trulist, Faldren had converted to Winemakerism, which was legal as he isn’t Paxian. My husband died, my other children found jobs and spouses and moved away from Minris so I’m left here making sure Faldren’s all right but I’m not really sure I could do anything. Anyway, shall I show you round the hotel?”

She stood up and started leading us round the hotel.

You know what it’s like!

There are two floors. The lower floor has rooms with ceilings, which are a bit nicer. The upper floor has rooms which are open to the sky. Some of those are also fairly nice because some people like the novelty. Then there’s a big room that acts as a ballroom and conference room.

At last she led us down a flight of stairs and into a small living room with rather old looking furniture. It was dark as it was in the basement, with only small windows near the ceiling.

“This hasn’t been used for a while,” said Criadria. “We can’t rent it out because of some legal thing. It was built to house a live-in manager, I think. My daughter and her husband lived here for a while before they were offered jobs in Caradrath. There are two bedrooms but one’s fairly small. Not a lot of room but as it hardly ever rains here, people spend a lot of time outdoors anyway. I’ll throw this in as part of your pay. One other thing. I’m not the strictest Trulist but then it’s hard to be a Trulist heretic. However, I do think that prostitution should be something that stays in the temples. Some people think that doesn’t apply to Minris as the only Holy Site doesn’t have prostitutes. Therefore, Eleprin, isn’t it, if somebody bothers you, you come and tell me or your Mum or Dad. If somebody wants a prostitute, they can go to Traunbret to the east or the Mountain Goat at the west end of town. Stay away from the man who dresses in brightly coloured clothing, with long hair and a gold headscarf but he normally knows to leave my staff and customers alone. I suppose when she gets older, she’ll want a boyfriend and things will get more complicated but we’ll make that FTL jump when we come to it.”

“What’s a prostitute?” I asked.

“It’s somebody who does things for money that should only be done for love. I’m not sure why it’s part of our religion, but it is.”

“We’re Winemakers,” said Dad.

“Of course. Perhaps you have the right idea.”

The beginner school wasn’t far from the hotel, back and a bit uphill from the river. It wasn’t like any school I’d ever seen before. There were low stone walls enclosing areas with desks and things and just one small building with full height walls. It was blue day but there was a red tinge in the east to show that Aleph would soon rise. The children looked at us as I walked with Mum and Dad along a path that led to the building with full height walls.

“Eleprin!” shouted Breeze, who was sitting with Irvis. “You’re coming to learn here?”

I saw Cloud wave at me from another classroom.