Yuria waited for my reply. After an indiscernible amount of time, I took my hands from the vessel and sighed. “I’m sorry, Yuria. I didn’t see anything. I really tried. I followed your voice and found the vessel, but there was nothing in it.”
I looked up to see Yuria suddenly in front of me, sitting cross-legged. “It’s okay. We can keep trying another time. Maybe they’re all just on a business trip.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I chuckled. “Or maybe nothing wants anything to do with me. Not even Faith can get me to connect with her god. She’s tried just as many times as you have. It’s a lost cause.”
“In my experience, Faith’s guy is a bit picky. I never liked him anyways.”
“Speaking of that, doesn’t she believe in just him? It’s a monotheistic religion, so how does she reconcile the fact that you have your own matron?”
“Well, Faith would never say this, but…” Yuria looked around to see if Faith was listening. “Her god is just that, one of many. She may not believe in other gods, but I think it’s mostly a vocabulary issue. Her God-with-a-capital-G is the only higher being worthy enough of being referred to as such. Anything else, like my matron, is just something entirely different, inherently lesser.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Yuria gave me a curious look. “What? What did I say?”
“It’s just—the way you two talk about each other is funny. You’re so alike, but you act like the other person is worlds apart from you. You talk about each other more than you talk to each other.”
Yuria tilted her head. “Did she say something recently?”
“When I went to the church with her, she said the exact opposite of what you just said, but in the exact same way. Do you both avoid talking to each other about your different faiths?”
“Yeah,” Yuria admitted. “It’s mostly one-sided. By that I mean, I don’t want to offend her by insinuating there are other gods out there. That’s kind of antithetical to her entire religion. The other priests certainly wouldn’t like that talk.”
“Faith’s more open-minded than you think. She was Isaac’s assistant before being ordained, and you know how he is. Taking cues from him means she definitely isn’t combative or offended when it comes to people challenging her faith. You two should talk about it together.”
Yuria considered it for a moment before disagreeing. “Nah, not really a point. I don’t know if I want to get too close to her like that. The kind of stuff I do is technically heresy to the church. Only reason why I’m not being chased by a mob is because I’m useful to them at the moment. It wouldn’t be very wise to intimately involve Faith in what I do and believe.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Shouldn’t she be the one to make that kind of decision? Are you saying you know what’s best for her?”
“Yeah, I do know what’s best for her. I don’t think she understands how strict the church is. Isaac is the exception, not the rule, and she doesn’t have the same respect that he does. She’ll be scrutinized much more than him since she’s not only younger, but also a woman. You know how it is.”
That much was true. Faith was one of very few women who were ordained. It wasn’t against the rules, but the church did in fact keep a thicker lens on them. As an atheist, Galer had his own theories about why women were under more scrutiny. They have personified their god as a man, and that likely presents some unconscious belief that women couldn’t understand him as well as men could. Made sense to me.
“I still think you should talk to her. After all, Faith is used to being under the magnifying glass. She has to justify to her own clergy how her faith is good enough for them.”
Just when I thought I’d gotten through to her, Yuria shakes her head. “Sorry. If things were different, I think we’d have no trouble getting along. It’s just not in the cards. I don’t want things to come to a head and ruin the friendship that we share now.”
Her words didn’t match her expression. I could tell there was conflict she was dealing with inside. I wasn’t particularly good at reading people, but I knew my friends. Rather than continuing to pursue this, I let it go.
“Why do you care so much about it?” Yuria suddenly asked. It seemed her curiosity got the better of her, and she didn’t want to let it go completely just yet.
“Like I said, you both talk about each other a lot. It’s like you’re just waiting for someone to bring the other person up in conversation.”
Her mouth twitched. I couldn’t tell if she was stifling a smile, or something else. Finally, she relented, “What kind of things does she say about me?”
I couldn’t suppress my own smile. “She speaks quite highly about you. She’s impressed with your arcane talent, and she says the way you take your faith seriously is admirable. She talks about how resourceful you are, and how little upkeep you need relative to everyone else.”
Finally, her lips curled upwards. “I see. Wait, you don’t tell her about the things I say about her, right?”
“No, of course not. Faith is the kind of person who would want to hear those things herself, from the horse’s mouth. But I’m sure you knew that.”
“Yeah. Maybe I could tell her myself. Just no religion talk.”
“I think that’d be great,” I said. I wasn’t expecting to have broken through to her, but I was glad she decided to take my words to heart. Usually, I wouldn’t meddle in other people’s affairs like this, but I wanted my family to grow closer to each other. They were all I had, and all I cared about. I hoped they felt the same about me.