• Closed • [Order of the Adunih] Rising Star

[Whisper]

3rd Day of Saun
717th Arc

Rising the ranks of the Order of the Adunih was not something to be scorned. Across all of Idalos, the Order was famed for its selfless help and support of those in need. Many cities had private medical healing facilities which were the habitual choice of the wealthy, and some may silently judge those who chose the wider services of the Order. But the open-door policy of the Order, compared to others, did not make it any less worthy of honour.

The training, experience and expertise of all Cloaked members of this healing faction were renowned across the known land. Even Green Cloaks, the lowest rank, were to be admired and respected for their efforts, even for joining. Some wanted to see the world, and this was an easy way to do so. But most were selfless, most wanted to make a difference.

Faith, a young woman who had gone through more hardship in her trials on Idalos than most could hope to imagine, was once such member of the Order. After arcs of enslavement, she had been given an opportunity. She had been given the world, and she had used her new-found freedom to give back. Such unwavering empathy to the plights of men she did not even know was rare, and many quietly praised her for it.

But not only was she selfless, but she was also gifted. Favoured by two, Adored by another, Faith would have been the envy of many, had she done what any prideful mortal would and shouted about it. Intelligent too, even as a slave, she had never wasted away in blind obedience. True to her training, she had been a catch for her young Master, with a mind to learn and a personality to know when to stop.

It was all these things that made her what she was today. All these terrible and wonderful things, they were not to be regretted, for today Faith was to be honoured.

The Blue Cloak would be shed in a ceremony dedicated to Faith. In cities where the faction was larger, multiple people would be honoured, but Faith was singular in being ready for elevation, and a White Cloak had travelled to Scalvoris especially for this ceremony. Faith would have been told, and given ample time to prepare. It was not an open ceremony for the public, but any members of the Order were invited, as well as officials from the island of Scalvoris. Keen not to insult the Order, many officials had accepted.

The dais was empty, save for a large, engraved wooden box, when the invitees trailed into the room and sat around the circular platform. When all were seated, the Hoodless White Cloak in question, a woman by the name of Keeya Rosen, entered and moved to stand on the dais, waiting to greet the guest of honour, who would be accompanied by the highest ranking member of her outpost.

[Faith Augustin]

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Oh, she hated this sort of thing. This sort of showy, lots of people, lots of important people who might judge her or, worse still, look at her. Faith had come such a long way that even she realised that she had travelled a distance but still, she was happier not in groups, not being the center of attention. She just did what she did and did her best doing it. As she fastened her blue cloak around her neck for what she supposed would be the last time, the young woman prayed.

"Blessed Famula, I thank you for the chance to serve. To serve all people, to use those skills I have been fortunate enough to learn for good. Holy Vri, I thank you for the love which I feel, which is given to me and I return. It gives me strength to serve, gives me courage to do. All reverence to you Moseke, I thank you for the life which you gift us all. All the souls from birth to death, all that is in between and beyond life and death, I serve. Unto my final breath and beyond." Then with a slight smile, she added, "but a cloak of invisibility wouldn't go amiss, if it was your will. I hate this." More than that, Padraig wasn't there. He could have been, she supposed, but he had to work and they had some visiting professor that he couldn't get out of. He'd said he would, of course, but she would have hated that. Truly.

So, here she was. Faith stood in the small room they'd given her to get ready in and she put her hand on to her still flat stomach. It was the fourth trial since she had discovered that she was pregnant and the young woman was still reeling. In an entirely good way, but still, nonetheless, reeling.

She looked up as Galena came in and Faith smiled. "Are there lots of people?" The earnest young woman asked and Galena chuckled, then shook her head.

"No. There's me, and there's you and there's Keeya Rosen, a white cloak. Anyone else that you see is a figment of your deranged imagination. Come on," the kindly woman smiled at her mentee and Faith smiled back. "We're proud to share your achievements, that's all it is. So you, and your deranged imagination, come on now."

Faith nodded and walked with Galena and then, when they got there, she murmured quietly to her mentor. "My imagination is very, very deranged you know." It was too late to back down or back out now, though, so instead she stepped forward, accompanied by the woman who had been so very kind to her from the first time she met her, so many seasons ago.

[Whisper]

When Faith walked in, next to the Gold-Cloacked Galena, she looked every bit as calm as Galena had instructed. She was a good woman, Keeya knew, and was pleased to see that, whatever pep talk she had just given, it had had the right effect. Faith stood proud, chin raised, though not so proud as to be arrogant of her station. If she did, Keeya would have understood why - from the most humble of beginnings, Faith had been a shining light, the pinnacle of mortal resilience, somehow rising above all of the hardships placed in her path.

She was not without her scars, and reports had shown that Faith was not entirely infallible, but what mortal was? Everyone had the right to crumble, though Faith had not. She truly was a remarkable young woman. Keeya smiled reassuringly at the guest of honour - this was not an overly formal event, and it was not in her nature to make the member of the Order fear promotions. “Today, we have gathered to honour a member of the Order of Adunih.”

The preamble was obvious, but necessary. “A young, and new, but important addition to the Order. She had shown remarkable intelligence and courage, but also unprecedented selflessness, going above and beyond that which is expected of a member of this fine Order to support those in need.”

There were rumours, and Keeya would not make public Faith’s additional, Immortal-given gifts, beyond Moske’s favour. She would not verify them and make the already nervous girl the mark of further shippers and speculation, but her acts would not be left ignored. The woman smiled down at the slight woman, now stood on the dais with her. “Faith, you joined the Order of Adunih four seasons ago. In that time, you have accomplished more than expected. Please, share with us what you perceive to be the most important lesson in your time with the Order?”

[Faith Augustin]

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Intelligence and courage? Faith really didn't think that she had, more that she just had this dogged determination to do her best, to be the best she could. If the ground could just open up and swallow her whole, though, that would be great and when Keeya used the term selflessness, Faith thought that perhaps she was talking about someone else. She lived in a large house, with a man who loved her unconditionally. They had so many things, they owned more than she would have thought possible in truth and, although no one except Galena here knew it, she had found out just a few trials before that she was pregnant.

In every sense of it, Faith had everything that she had ever dreamed of and a lot more on top; that was far from selfless to the young woman. Far indeed. However, Keeya asked her a question. What had she learned from her time at the order?

Last time she had graduated, to a blue cloak, she had been in Rharne and was pregnant. Her very good friend, Nir'wei, was dying of something incurable and she and Padraig were wrestling with not knowing who the father of her baby was. They had decided, by then, that it was much more likely that Aelig had just sped up time rather than her and Tristan creating a super-baby which had withstood all ills and which had been covered by an illusion which went unnoticed in a room full of Immortals.

They had come so far since those trials and yet, they both of them grieved still. What had she learned since then? She looked at Keeya and she smile, her nerves evident in her expression.

"The most important lesson?" Faith asked and considered it for just a moment. "I think the most important lesson was that nothing is impossible." Nothing was impossible, nothing was incurable. Nothing, effectively, was unachievable. "If you work together and adopt an attitude of 'not possible yet, not curable yet, let's work out how to change that,' then change happens." She looked at Keeya and raised an eyebrow. Then, she bit her lip to stop herself from asking if that had been an acceptable answer.

[Squirrel]

If Keeya approved of Faith's answer or not, she did not show it; only a small nod of acknowledgement before moving on. Even if the words of their assembly were rather simplistic, there was plenty to get through. "May you spread this lesson to all others behind you, so that we may all learn as you have done, for as one rises, so too do we all." There was a resounding message of unity running through the assembly, but that was hardly uncommon; every added cloak to their ranks was another pillar to hold up the good of the world. That was a lesson many could benefit from - to remember that one's service was not only to the injured of the world, but to the Order itself, so that others may come and continue their work for generations afterwards, and hopefully beyond.

"Now," she continued, "you have spent such a time with us, we are eager; tell us, what you hope to accomplish in the seasons to come?" Noticing the nerves, she offered a reassuring smile. For all the pseudo-formalities laced through such a minute ceremony, she hardly wished to frighten the girl into never returning again. From the looks of things, she could soon end up under her own wing.

While Faith answered, Keega made a discrete hand motion, pulling Galena from Faith's side to tug a folded bit of cloth from a nearby wooden case. It seemed only fitting that the tutor should be the one to fit the robe over the students shoulder, bestowing this honour unto them, though there was still a few more words of ceremony to be completed, no matter how flowery they seemed at this point.

[Faith Augustin]

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What did she hope to achieve in the time to come? Faith considered that for a moment and she considered what this meant. Faith was inordinately proud of the Order of the Adunih, the work they did here. The work, come to that, they did across all of Idalos. To Faith's way of thinking what they did was enormous, multi faceted and vital to people's well being. What did she hope to do in the seasons to come? It took all of her self control to not start talking about the baby she had learned was growing inside her just a few trials before. That was, undoubtedly, the thing in her life which would change it, change her. How, she had no idea as yet, but Faith did not speak of that.

Instead, she looked around and she bit her lip with a slight nervousness. Her answer - she knew what it was - seemed too simple, too silly. What would Jamal say if he could see her, Faith wondered? Anew, she contemplated what might have happened to him; he had acted in what he had genuinely believed to be her best interests. As she thought it, she could only begin to imagine what Padraig would say. But what she had done then, she would do now. In many ways, it was what she would always do.

So, she breathed in to answer. "I just want to do my best for the Order, for the patients who come to us and their families," she said with a quiet and contemplative tone. What she did here, in her job as a professor of Medicine, they were not her accomplishments ~ they were her duty and her privilege. "Each and every situation, just absolutely give my best service." Scraped knees to terminal illnesses were the same thing to Faith - they were people in pain and she had a chance to serve by easing their pain the best way she could. By being the best doctor she could be.

Galena moved away then and brought out Faith's new cloak. The young woman had to admit, there was a feeling of excitement in her stomach at the thought of it. She had become so very vain, she considered. To be concerned with ranks, it seemed to be such an anathema to what she considered important. But still, it was a tool to be used, too. As a gold cloak, Faith could raise more awareness, more funds for the Order. She did not, not for one moment, doubt that it would be useful and she would use it every way she could.

[Squirrel]

Keeya's eyebrow rose subtly. "I should hope so," she muttered in a tone obviously meant for only the two of them, though Galena's expression became something close to affronted. Of course she wasn't entirely serious, though really everyone expected the best - in some cases they demanded nothing but! Nobody would dare accuse Faith of not performing to the best of her powers, though it was surprising, given how far she'd come in such a short time, to find her aspirations wanting. Especially to the degree that they were. Hard work was its own reward, as many said, and having a goal was never any good without the dedication and patience to put in all the effort needed to achieve it, but it was growing quite obvious that perhaps Faith needed a good sitting down in a less formal sitting and a good tongue-lashing until she decided what she was going to do with herself besides treating every commoner with a cough that walked over her threshold.

Then again, she thought musingly, she'd stood in that very same spot and heard from a dozen other young aspirants of the grand wonderful things they'd be doing soon, some of which would make Moseke herself raise an eyebrow or two, and in all her arcs since they'd never happened. Too right they hadn't! It was always good to have goals, but promising just short of immortality was just short of utter stupidity!

Galena unrolled the gold cloak and Keeya straightened a little. "May you go forth and do your best to all your future patients," she intoned in a grand voice that had obviously seen its fair share of raisings, "as we raise you to the next step in your path." She gestured to the cloak held up by Galena and chuckled softly. "I know I probably shouldn't even have to ask, but if you would be so kind as to take your new cloak?" The moment Faith took it and wrapped it around herself, Keeya nodded in approval. "It's done. Faith is risen to the Gold. I'll leave you to confer with your mentor." She turned smartly and stepped down from the dias, talking quietly with the highest ranking member of the outpost as she departed about the possibility of a spot of tea.

With just a few sentences it was done. Galena led her back from the room, holding her old cloak while Faith was free to wear her new hoodless gold. Strange to think how it could all happen so quickly, so simply, but for all the grandeur of the Order of the Adunih, Faith likely knew most of all the simplicity that stood at its core. If many had their way, they'd likely just hand over the next cloak at the right moment and be done with all the ceremony and pompousity of it.

Review time, my pretties!

Points: 15
Knowledges: Acting: Pretending like you're not in a room full of people staring at you.
Order of the Adunih Raising Ceremonies are terrifying.
Keeya Rosen: Hoodless White Cloak who raised you to Gold.
Remember what you've learned; look to what you will learn.
Fame: +100 Fame
Loot: 1 Order of the Adunih Gold Cloak.

Other notes: Sorry this took so long! Hope you enjoyed, and if you have any comments or queries regarding this review, be sure to let me know through PM, Discord or other means. Thank you very much!