They were sitting astride their fine Suskani ponies just outside the great square. That square was formed by the Tabernacle (formerly the Emperor's Palace) the Priest's Parish, two buildings forming two corners of the square (formerly the HC Headquarters and the Minister's administrative building) and the so called Merchant's Palace on the left of the Tabernacle (formerly a diverse lot of seperate merchant buildings now combined into one large building) and nothing extraordinary was going on near any of those buildings nor in the square itself.   Herrapki looked around in growing bewilderment. "Why is there no crowd?" he asked?   "Surely Jevstan's reappearence hasn't been forgotten this quick already?"

   Sankalara froze for just a second, almost forgetting the line they were to tell Herrapki.   Javastad, behind Herrapki's back, mimicked prison bars.   Quickly, before Herrapki noticed anything, she frowned at him in concern, "The Priests have him secreted away!   They want to study him, I'm afraid."

   "What?!" Herrapki shouted.   How dare they!   Let's just go get him back right now!"   He noticed the grim way Sankalara was looking at him.   "What's the matter?"

   Sankalara thought furiously for a moment.   She had it!   "Um, well, there's the little matter of my running away, you see.   I'll have to mend some fences first before anyone will take me seriously.   "I mean, I can't just go barging in there and start throwing orders around.   Not like this.   We'll have to go to the tabernacle and talk to my mother and the High Priest first.   After all, Jevstan's been gone this long, surely you can wait another day or two?"

   Herrapki looked at her steadily for several moments.   Sankalara didn't flinch.   She HAD told the truth.   Well, MOSTLY.

   Herrapki didn't like it.   He grumbled a bit.   But in the end he saw the inevitability of it.   "OK.   But at the first opportunity I want to see him!"

   Breathing a sigh of relief and nodding at Herrapki, but dreading the coming meeting with her mother and the High Priest, Sankalara led the way to her private entrance at the side of the tabernacle.   They dismounted and left the ponies there. Her knees a little shaky, hoping against hope that the High Priest hadn't posted someone there on the off chance that she would re-appear sometime soon, she climbed the steps and walked to the door followed by Javastad and Herrapki, opened it and peered in.   Good!   No one was in sight!   She stepped in, again followed by Javastad and Herrapki.   They hadn't gone much more than a few feet, though, when Sankalara heard footsteps coming towards them from around the nearest corner.   Sankalara wanted to stop, but she didn't dare.   Herrapki would wonder what was up.   So she kept going.   Then the person coming towards them rounded the corner and Sankalara shouted with relief and joy, not caring who else might hear her.   "Pashli!   I'm back!"   She went running towards her friend.

   Pashli saw her.   She stopped in stunned disbelief for a moment.   Then she came running towards Sankalara.   They met in a joyful embrace.   Pashli broke the embrace first.   Wiping tears of joy from her eyes, she asked, "Are you back for good?"

   "I most certainly am," Sankalara said, thinking, as she too wiped tears from her eyes that at least she hadn't started right out by lying to Pashli.   Whatever happened, she was here for the duration.   Turning to gesture at Javastad and Herrapki, she introduced them, "Pashli meet my cousins, Javastad the Elder and Herrapki, the sub-elder of the Suskani tribe.   Guys, this is Pashli, my very best friend in the whole world!" She beamed at Pashli, her eyes almost brimming over again.   And just think, she told herself, here you thought you'd never see Pashli ever again!   But then she shuddered a bit inside.   Please let it work out OK! she silently implored the universe.

   Pashli looked at them like they were visitors from another planet.   "Pashli!   Where are your manners?   I taught you better than that!"   Sankalara chided her.   Pashli blushed furiously as Javastad and Herrapki chuckled.   But when they both stepped forward to shake her hand she managed to be completely gracious about it.

   At that point, Molotark, presumably having heard the commotion, appeared from somewhere.   "What is the meaning --"   He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Sankalara, dressed very much like she had been when she'd left the Tabernacle several days before.   With a stern look on his face he managed to get moving again.   He stopped right in front of Sankalara and, propping his hands on his hips, he demanded, "Where have you been, young lady?   And what is and was the meaning of this masquerade?"   He couldn't maintain the charade.   With a huge smile of relief and pleasure on his face he grabbed Sankalara and hugged her.   "Thank Perki, you came back!   Thank Charianna and all the saints that your mother still lives!"

   Inwardly, Sankalara winced.   She wished that Molotark hadn't brought that subject up quite so soon.   But she managed to return his hug of affection just as enthusiastically as he had offered it.   Steeling herself, as she broke the embrace, she asked, "How soon will it be now, do you think?"

   Grimly, Molotark said, "She is a fighter, your mother is, but even with the PQ I can't see how it can be much longer.   A day?   Perhaps two?"   He looked at Sankalara solicitously, "Do you want to see her now?"

   "I don't think so.   My friends and I are tired from our journey.   We'd like to rest and refresh first.   May we then count on you to have a meal ready for us?"   Molotark nodded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and he was wondering why she'd even asked.   She braced herself and asked the hardest question next, the one that had to be asked, nevertheless.   "Has the High Priest been asking where I am?   I mean, I've been gone over a week --"

   "He has." Molotark replied, cutting her off, but his face nor voice giving nothing away.

   "And what did you tell him?" Sankalara fearfully asked, not liking the way Molotark was acting.

   About to burst from holding it in, Pashli interjected, "He told him that you were very close to getting The Father Light back and were not to be disturbed."

   With a supreme effort, Sankalara managed to keep from giving anything away.   At least she hoped she hadn't given anything away. Molotark and Pashli hadn't seemed to notice anything, anyway.   Instead she gasped, "Molotark, you old Rascal!"   But while Molotark and Pashli laughed, enjoying her reaction, Sankalara couldn't help being very bewildered.   What the heck is going on here? she wondered.   That was a bit too close for comfort!   Does everybody know something except me?

   Once she had went to her old room, took the bath that Pashli had drawn for her and dressed in the clothes that Pashli had laid out, she sent Pashli to see if Herrapki was being administered to sufficiently.   She'd seen the look that Herrapki had given Pashli when she'd introduced them and figured that would keep Herrapki and Pashli occupied.   Satisfied that Pashli was truly gone, she stepped out into the hall, hoping that she wouldn't meet anyone.   Luckily, she saw no one.   Quickly, she went to the room Molotark had assigned Javastad.   She knocked on the door and entered at the sound of his voice granting permission.

   Sankalara saw that Javastad looked odd, but nice, dressed as he was in a short light blue robe and darker blue lounging pants, instead of his usual rough trousers and vest and tan tribe shirt.   Obviously the man servant assigned to him had found these clothes for him to wear while his old clothes were being cleaned.   She also saw that he was looking at her with a new appreciation.   Sankalara was dressed in a pink, nearly transparent robe.   It was what she usually wore around the tabernacle, but seeing the way Javastad was looking at her, she wished for a moment that had put on something a little less revealing.   But then she decided that she wasn't going to let it get to her.   There was nothing wrong with almost showing her body.   He'd just have to learn to deal with it.   But then she saw something else.   He was frowning at her in concentration.   Without preamble she asked, "What's wrong?"

   "I noticed that Pashli and Moltark didn't notice the way you almost burst with surprise when Molotark mentioned The Father Light.   I guessed that they were just so glad to see you that they weren't thinking of anything else.   And it didn't seem to faze Herrapki since I'm sure that he was thinking that it was some obscure piece of dogma that he wasn't interested in.   And anyway, I'm sure he was too focused on his concern for Jevstan to be thinking about anything else.   But I noticed.   Why'd you almost jump out of your skin when that was mentioned?"

   Sankalara thought for a moment about lying to him.   But then she decided that it wouldn't work.   On the one hand, someone else was bound to mention it again, she wouldn't get out of answering again that easily and he'd find out that she HAD lied to him.   And on the other hand she needed to confront him with it to see what his reaction would be -- if any.   Her face impassive, giving nothing away she said, "Jevstan has become a sort of Messiah."

   "What?" Javastad shouted.

   "Keep your voice down, please!" Sankalara, said in a loud whisper.   Javastad nodded acceptance, but gave her a pointed look.   Fair enough.   She'd play along for now -- as if he didn't already know all this.   It might even be possible that he didn't! "In the sort of process that turns a myth into "The Truth" it has been decided that if Jevstan ever comes back then the world will enter a new phase of enlightment.   There are three ways this might happen.   Either Perki will bring him back.   He'll come back on his own or else the latest Grand Matron will be able to bring him back.   Thus he has become to be known as The Father Light.   You see, we've been trying for a long time to get him back, but Perki hid him too well.   And that has become both an affront to our abilities and a source of doubt. Are we truly on the right path?   And then there's this -- can you imagine my surprise and suspicion when you mentioned Jevstan coming back?   I couldn't help wondering if you had something up your sleeve and were just baiting me."

   He gave her a blank look that seemed genuine enough. "What difference would it make if I knew or had found out that Jevstan had become a messiah?"

   She gave him a very hard look.   "Well that wasn't exactly the question I had in mind!   What I was wondering was if you knew about this and was using it to bait me, rather than Herrapki!   See, if Herrapki knew nothing then he would be the perfect cover.   And I don't believe Herrapki knew anything.   His reaction both at the village and here seemed way too genuine!   So.   Were you?   I mean, am I supposed to believe that you DIDN'T use the PQ to find this out?" She continued to stare at him with her face hard and set.   She was going to get the truth here -- one way or the other!

   "But I still don't understand.   What possible reason would I have for using that as bait?" He appeared to be genuinely bewildered.

   Beginning to hope that it had all been paranoia on her part afterall, since this wasn't the response from him she'd been expecting, but afraid to give in just that easily, Sankalara went relentlessly on.   "Well, you see, I WAS a runaway and you did spring this possession of the PQ on me almost in the same breath as seeming to know all about the Jevstan Dogma!   What was I supposed to think?   It sure seemed like it was something you'd only find out by using the PQ!   I mean, how else would you find it out, not being involved closely in our religion at all?   And, having found it out that way, did you decide that giving me just enough to shake me up would be a very clever ploy to get ME back here -- instead of Herrapki -- where you would then turn on me?   In fact, how do I still know you won't when we go to see the High Priest?   You could very easily discredit me by telling him I ran away -- and then work your way up towards taking over.   Without me!"

   He started laughing.   And the longer he laughed, the harder and louder he laughed.   Sankalara just stood there and looked at him, completely at a loss to explain why he was laughing.   Finally Javastad regained a measure of control and said, in a voice as hard as her's had been, "Do you seriously believe that I don't want what I said I did?   Sure, I could get it without you!   But why wait so long to get it without you when I can get it sooner with you?   And why would I care that Jevstan has become a messiah?   For that matter, why would you care?   I mean, if you really believe as you say you do.   Messiahs are usually dead and can neither hurt nor help anyone.   Surely you don't believe that Jevstan is coming back.   Or do you?   I mean, do you want to play games with me or do you really want to do this?"

   Sankalara sagged in defeat and relief.   Unless he was the world's best liar, then he was telling the truth.     She couldn't begin to imagine why she'd thought he'd care about Jevstan or why he would try to lure her here for some heinous reason! And what he'd said about doing it together made perfect sense.   Sure, he could build on his importance for turning her in and ingratiate himself with the powers that be, but, like he'd said, he could get there sooner WITH her.   Despite herself and despite the masty little scene they'd just had, she found herself becoming even more attracted to him.   Thinking back for a moment, she thought that attraction had started when he'd talked so eloquently about his sorrow over the lost past.   That made them kindred souls.   But it was more than that.   He was a very attractive man in her eyes -- despite the fact that they were blood relatives -- and she wanted to believe in him if for no other reason than to be near him.   Besides, there were things that could be done about the gene pool thing using the PQ.   But for now they had an empire to rebuild.   Or -- at least! -- try to!   She gave him an apologetic smile.   "Of course I don't care about Jevstan or what he has become!   Shall we go get a bite to eat?"

   He smiled very gently at her, making her heart flutter.   "Sure.   "Let's go collect Herrapki and then we'll go see the High Priest, right?   I mean we might as well get started."

   After collecting Herrapki, who was also dressed in court finery rather than his rough, homespun clothing they went into the dining area and sat down to the sumptuous meal Molotark had prepared. As soon as Molotark had left them alone and after they had eaten in silence for a few moments, Sankalara, at a silent signal from Javastad, went into her act, doing the only thing she could do: give Herrapki just enough of the truth that he'd believe the lie.   "Herrapki, I am afraid I have lied to you!   Jevstan has not returned!   But --" she held up a forestalling hand to cut off the angry comment he was about to make.   "But," she went on as he sat there and stared at her in angry puzzlement, "I only lied to you to get you here because I didn't know how else to do it.   Do you truly want to see Jevstan again? Would you be willing to participate in an experiment with me and Javastad?"

   He struggled with his anger for a moment trying to find a reasonable voice.   Finally he managed it.   "You know I want to see Jevstan again -- if it's really possible.   But I have a couple of very important questions.   Why did you have to lie to me then?   And why did you come to our village in the first place?   I mean, you claimed you were seeking sanctuary!"

   Sankalara gave him a look of apolgy mixed with challenge.   "I'll answer your last question first.   I was on a special PQ quest and it had to be done somewhere away from all the interruptions of the Capital.   And of course I didn't want to tell you the real reason in case it didn't work and I ended up looking foolish!   But it did!   Now that leads me directly to the other reasons why I lied to you.   There are three of those reasons.   It is going to be very dangerous what we're going to try, I figured you'd never even leave the village if you knew the danger and I figured you'd also not leave if you knew that Jevstan wasn't already back.   But this way since you already are here then why not participate?"

   First Herrapki looked disgusted for a few moments.   But it was obvious that he'd had second thoughts, because after a few more moments he then looked intrigued. "What do I have to do?"

   It's simple really.   First of all, when we go see the High Priest you have to back up anything I say if he asks you.   Next you have to wait until the time is right.   Then you have to put your life in my hands with no reservations.   I am talking complete trust.   I wish I could tell you more, but it would take far too long to explain to you satisfactorily. Can you do that?   Can you trust me completely?" Sankalara said, very solemnly.

   Sankalara could see Herrapki trying to find a reason to doubt her while at the same time he was trying to fight away his curiosity.   Obviously losing his battle with his curiosity and finding no compelling reason that could overcome his curiosity, he said, "Well, if I must, I must -- even if means lying to the High Priest!   Then he said, a bit wistfully, "I just wish that Jevstan had managed to make it back on his own or that Perki was here. But -- I will give you one shot, at least!   Who knows?   Maybe you can do it!"

   Now here she was lying to him by omission!   But it was the only thing she could do!   "You can be sure that I will do everything for success!" After that they finished the meal in silence.   When they were done they immediately left the Tabernacle to go see the High Priest.

   The High Priest's office was at the top floor of the tall building and located in a position where it's large windows faced the tabernacle.   The High Priest, Hammabelpar, a stocky man of medium stature with blonde hair, blonde beard, green eyes and a face that seemed to be constantly serious, was waiting for them seated at his large blackwood desk.   He looked up from some papers he was studying as his acolyte, Dashilin, showed Sankalara, Javastad and Herrapki in. "Ah!   Sankalara!   I see that you have not only had time to implore Jevstan for HIS return, but you've also managed to find the time to go out into the countryside and bring some relatives to see the big city!"   Hammabelpar said, without a hint of humor.

   Sankalara wasn't going to apologize or kowtow.   A firm hand was needed right from the start.   "It was a neccessary semi- fiction invented by Molotark.   I had a mission I needed to complete in secrecy at the village of my kinsman.   But now I have returned and as soon as my mother is no longer with us I need your help in organizing something!   Will you at least hear me out?"

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