A Priestly Talent for Rhetoric

"Gentlemen." Spoke a man from the ajar door half as a greeting and half as a mode of interruption. If he'd been in any way offended by the previous conversation, he showed no sign of it.

"Good master Brant!" Exclaimed Ichabod merrily as he stood to greet the man by cupping his fists in the traditional gesture of respect. "It is a pleasure, as it always is, to see you."

"Likewise." Responded Brant the priest. However, the scowl on his face betrayed no sign of pleasure or even a remote sentiment of content. He was a serious, elderly, man who donned a simple tunic without any decorations and his hair was seared in the characteristic manner of the humble servants of the Chrurch: a line of close-cut hair, no wider than three inches, which went from his forehead to the nape of his neck. Brant stood hunched over, the weight of his years pushing him down, no doubt.

Jack observed the man carefully, not out of curiosity, but respect. His expert eyes and carefully concealed spiritual sense revealed that Brant was blind in one eye, had a knee injury which looked to be anything but recent, which hadn't healed properly and probably caused him no small amount of pain; as well as a number of hidden scars all over his body which were, at the very least, many decades old.

Jack had seen similar scars back on Earth; usually on victims of abuse or torture. In fact, he'd had a few of them himself, from his time under the German's confinement.

In Groamburk, everyone knew and respected Brant; for had been a priest for a great number of years. He was nearing eighty years of age and had spent his entire adult life in the service of the Church. He was a true devout worshiper of the Divines and had never had any ambitions to scale up the ranks of the Church, only aspiring to be of help in his hometown of Groamburk.

In all the time he spent in service of Groamburk, he had helped countless numbers of people from officiating weddings free of cost to those who genuinely needed it, to providing refuge to orphaned children and making sure they received a quality education. He was a pious man, in every sense of the word.

His scowl was something everyone simply got used to. No one knew why he never smiled; some even went so far as to say he couldn't. But everyone trusted Brant and no one dared touch him. If anyone did, they would quickly bring upon themselves the fury of every citizen of Groamburk.

He was also the man in charge of the testing process.

"We can begin right away." Said Brant as he turned and left the chamber, silently indicating Ichabod's entourage to follow him.

Ichabod picked up Jack in his arms and walked up beside Brant, not overtaking him despite the old man's slow pace. Brant turned his head slightly to look at Jack and gave him a small smile; a gesture of his fondness for children.

"I assume this is the young Jack Hare?" Said Brant.

"You are correct."

"Very well." Nodded Brant. "Has he learned about the Divines?"

True to his role as a priest, he went straight to the topic of theological teachings. And he seemed genuinely interested in this particular aspect of Jack's education.

"Aye, good master Brant." Replied Ichabod without hesitation. "An excellent education for him is one of our main concerns."

"Is that so? I heard a rumour that the one in charge of his schooling is good mister Jadelere. A strange choice, considering the credentials and successes of good lady Lara, over here." Said Brant. At his comment, Lara herself raised her head in obvious victory whereas Ichabod flinched almost imperceptibly. Clearly, he wasn't pleased. Jadelere didn't care what anyone had to say about it and so he remained expressionless. "No matter; it is not my place to question the teachers a parent selects for their child."

But you already have. Thought both Ichabod and Jack simultaneously. And rather publicly, at that. Instantly, any positive feelings Jack held for the priest vanished at his slap at Ichabod's face. Furthermore, Jack was very happy at Jadelere's quality of teaching. He'd perused the textbooks Lara Gaff used when teaching and he knew that he would never be able to get anything worthwhile from her methods. Jadelere, on the other hand, although far from a traditional teacher, was both world-savvy and insightful. Precisely the combination he wanted for a teacher.

"Little Hare." Said Brant before anyone could add anything to the conversation. "What is your favourite Divine?"

"I don't have one."

"Oh? That's not quite right. Everyone has a favourite, especially children." Interrupted Lara. "Are you certain you've been teaching him about the Divines properly, Jadelere?"

"Quite right. Children usually like Darius or Tonius the best." Nodded Brant. Regarding Jadelere's inability to teach Jack about the Divines properly, he made no comment, but it was implied in his tone.

Jack wasn't about to let them question his teacher like that without suffering a little bit.

"Why?" Asked the little boy. At his seemingly innocent question, Jadelere had to stifle a cough because he could predict what was going to happen next. Jack never asked anything with that expression on his face unless he was about to entrap someone. "Why does everyone have a favourite?"

"Because, my child," Patiently commented Brant, completely unaware of what was about to happen. "each of the Divines represents a different concept. And everyone prefers one concept to another. Therefore, everyone is more inclined to one of the Divines. I myself am a devout worshipper of Stelios because of his mercy and piousness. Even the Church itself is divided into twelve divisions because of this, each division choosing to follow the teachings of one of the Divines, but never ignoring the others."

"But Uncle Jadelere said that the Divines are like our parents. Is he wrong?"

"Good mister Jadelere is right by saying that." Nodded Brant, an undisguised look of surprise on his face. "They created all of us, and allow us to live on this land."

"But if they're our parents, why do you have a favourite?"

"Pardon me?"

"I think that's enough of this conversation." Tried to interrupt Jadelere, not wanting Lara or Brant to shoot themselves on their own foot. Even though he disliked their devotion to their gods, they were good people at heart; and genuinely caring of others. "Matters of theology escape the grasp of child-like minds."

"Nonsense, Jadelere!" Rebutted Lara. "A good teacher can explain even the most obscure of matters to the thickest of minds. As Atreus' teachings say: you only truly know something when you can explain it to someone who knows nothing of it." To that, Jadelere shrugged nonchalantly. He respected the pair, but if they wanted to humiliate themselves despite his efforts to help them, that was their choice. "Good boy, it is true that they are, in a sense, our parents, but that doesn't mean we cannot have a favourite, just like good master Brant said."

"I don't understand!" Exclaimed Jack with an expression of fake befuddlement on his face. "If something is your favourite, it means you love it the most, just like my favourite colour is blue because I love it the most. But I love mama and papa the same, even though they give me different sweets. Auntie Lara, do you love your mama more than your papa? Or do you love cousin Lin more than cousin Ben?" Lin and Ben were Loren's children as well as Lara's nephews and she both loved and doted on them greatly because she had no children of her own.

"This…" Suddenly, Lara was at a loss for words. She tried to look towards Brant for guidance but he was awkwardly avoiding her eyes. Clearly, he also didn't have an adequate response to Jack's inquiry. "It's not really a question of… loving… one… more than… the other…." She said after much difficulty.

Even Adras couldn't help but shake her head at such a bad reply.

"But Auntie Lara, that's not true!" Innocently rebutted Jack. "If your mama is your favourite, your mama is more important to you than your papa; and if your mama is more important to you than your papa, then you care more about your mama; and if you care about your mama more, you love her more. You love her more than your papa!"

"Well, this… I don't…. It's not…"

"And also!" Added Jack, not giving Lara, or anyone else, the chance to stop him. "If one is your favourite, you're saying that one is better than the rest. If one is better, then the other is worse. But the Divines are all good and Jadelere says they're all important." A look of genuine confusion that would make even the greatest of actors feel ashamed at their inadequacy appeared on young Jack's face. "So I don't understand, auntie Lara, is Jadelere wrong and there's Divines better than others?"

"This…"

At this point, even Brant, who wanted to save Lara from her situation, completely blanked out. It was the Church's creed to divide everything into twelve divisions; one for each Divine. This much was undeniable; and it had gone unquestioned for an extremely long time. And yet, this child was explaining it in a way that t simply felt… wrong; as if to do so was to mock the pantheon itself. It made Brant more than uncomfortable.

"Is Uncle Jadelere wrong, auntie Lara?" Asked Jack again, bringing his point to home. In fact, he could have sworn that he saw her visibly flinch at that. "Is he?"

"That's enough, young Hare." Interrupted Brant, trying his best to extricate Lara from her awkward position. "It's a very complicated matter. Very complicated indeed. The matters of the Divines cannot be easily explained."

"Oh, I see." Mumbled Jack. "You don't understand, either."

"I beg your pardon?" Jumped Brant in indignance. No one had ever dared to question his lack of insight into the workings of the Divines, much less a three-year-old child.

Ichabod could see that this conversation could very well end poorly if he didn't put a stop to it immediately. That said, Jack was quick to add more oil to the fire before Ichabod had any chance to appease the priest.

"Atreus teaches us that we only really know something when we can explain it to someone who knows nothing of it. If you can't explain it to me, then you don't really understand it yourself." Smiled Jack as he repeated Lara's words back to them verbatim.

To the rest, it seemed like an innocent boy had managed to make sense of a complicated problem and was happy with himself. However, to Jadelere, this was the smile of a devilish mind having pushed two people into the Abyss. Even a fool could see that they had no way of coming back from this.

Lara and Brant, however, had a very different set of emotions to deal with. On the one hand was the sense of shame for having been caught out by a child. The fact remained that Jack hadn't actually said anything wrong or the slightest bit offensive; he could even be said to be upholding the righteousness of the Divines. On the other hand, their teacher's hearts couldn't help but genuinely be glad that Jack was so insightful; and they both felt a bit jealous that Jadelere had such a good pupil.

Unbeknownst to them, Jadelere would gladly gift them the opportunity to teach Jack if it meant being rid of him.

"Good young Hare." Said Brant humbly after a few moments of silence. "Maybe I don't understand the Divines as much as I thought I did. What I do know is you have a good teacher." Brant smiled warmly and nodded to Jadelere with respect.

Ichabod let out a sigh of relief but prepared to question Jadelere as to how much theology he had actually taught Jack over the last few weeks. This was definitely not part of the agreed-upon syllabus.