Is my religion a lie?

Gerald sighed and gave in to his fate as the four girls lead him out into the inner temple plaza. What had once been a beautiful and tranquil place of prayer and communion was now, to Gerald's eyes, in utter ruin. Lines of vendors selling overpriced trinkets and baubles lined the steps to the inner sanctum.

The eternal flame had been completely removed and paved over, making room for a landing pad so the buses could park directly inside the temple grounds. Crowds of tourists mobbed the walkways, laughing and shouting. The place was packed to overflowing. Wrappers and spilled food littered the ground everywhere.

All of the donation urns had been removed; in their place was a wet bar selling overpriced spirits from all corners of the Alliance. Groups of buzzed college students challenged each other to drinking contests while the part-time shrine maidens cheered them on and offered to make out with the winners. Cadbury squawked in terror as she dodged about, feathers flying as she tried to keep from being stepped on by thoughtless pedestrians.

"What... what is this?" Gerald asked looking around.

"Hey, this is a lot different than you said it was going to be on the way here," Ilrica said, slapping him on the shoulder. "If I knew religion was this much fun I'd have converted years ago."

Gerald was appalled.

"There's a gambling tent over there. Can we smoke here too?" Ilrica wondered.

"It would seem so," Trahzi said, picking up a blue cigar from a nearby kiosk. "These even have the official seal of Soeck on them."

Ilrica snagged it from her. "Nice, this is pure spice! These monks sure know how to live!" She flipped it over. "For fifteen credits? Greedy strognars!"

"No outside food or drink is allowed inside the temple during the festival," the shrine maiden at the kiosk said sweetly.

Gerald staggered, trying to keep his balance. "But... but... where are the priests teaching in the courtyard?"

Ilrica tapped a neon sign pointing to the inner sanctum. "Right here. Private tutoring on the scrolls of Soeck, two-hundred credits a session."

"No! The word must be preached for free or not at all... where are the musicians, the choir?"

Trahzi picked up an ornate DVC from a rack. "The complete hymn collection, downloadable for one-half off, today only, twenty nine-credits."

Gerald was dumbfounded. "No, no, this is wrong, this is all wrong. What is this?" He ran over to a kiosk. "Blessed scented candles, twenty credits each? We don't even believe in blessed candles!"

"At least they're scented. Everybody likes jasmine."

"Ooh look, this little statue of Soeck has a secret compartment in it to hide your spice in," Zurra said excitedly as she held it aloft.

Gerald turned to Cha'Rolette in panic. "I... don't understand."

Cha'Rolette took out her handkerchief and daintily blew her nose to head off a sneeze. "It's like any other business. You build up and brand name, create brand loyalty, then you use that loyalty to drive sales. The smaller Soeckian missions that do charity work, like the one you grew up in, are basically like the advertising and P.R. wing of a corporation. Then the big missions like this one cash in on all of that goodwill."

"A portion of all purchases made during the festival will go towards helping the poor children on Rujali Grun," a shrine maiden shared cheerfully as she helped Tomar with his purchases.

"Uh huh, and how big is that portion? The legal minimum of two percent I'd wager." Cha'Rolette grabbed a nearby amulet and held it up. "I got to hand it to them, forty-five credits for this good luck charm, probably costs them less than a credit to make a thousand of them. You have to admire that kind of markup."

Gerald balled his fists. "No, this is wrong and I'm going to fix this. I'm going to have a word with the head priest."

"You're going to get us kicked out" chastised Cha'Rolette.

Gerald ran off, full of purpose. Cadbury wobbled off loyally after him. He was so passionate that none of the girls had the heart to stop him.

"He'll be back," Cha'Rolette said, setting the amulet back on the rack.

"What are these?" Trahzi asked, picking up a long strip of parchment with ancient writing up and down both sides. The paper burst into flames in her grip, and she quickly set it down and stamped it out.

"We are sorry," she said, somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh, these are prayer scrolls," the shrine maiden said, showing off a display full of them. The priests have already blessed them. You write your name at the bottom and your wish will come true."

"Such superstitious nonsense," Ilrica spat.

"Is this your only product?" Cha'Rolette critiqued, looking the booth over. "You really might want to diversify your inventory, or at least charge an entry fee that can be divided amongst the vendors."

"Oh, we do just fine as it is," the shrine maiden said knowingly.

"This is really really dumb," Zurra complained, looking around in boredom.

"...and on this line you write the name of the person you love," the shrine maiden continued with a wise and wicked grin.

The four girls snapped to attention. "What now?"

The maiden nodded purposely. "These are love sutras. Any couple who have their romance blessed by Soeck during Eldireer are sure to fall deeply in love with each other."

There was a moment of complete silence.

"Well, it's just harmless fun," Ilrica justified, taking out her wallet.

"What could it hurt?" Zurra speculated, reaching into her own thigh and rooting around for some credits.

"They're always telling us to be tolerant of other people's beliefs," Trahzi reasoned, grabbing another sutra.

"I'll take two," Ilrica bid, glancing over at Zurra.

"Ooh, give me three," Zurra outbid, glancing back competitively.

Cha'Rolette slammed her ID card down on the table. "I'll take the lot, your entire stock."

The other girls all looked at her in amazement.

"What? Charity donations are tax-deductible."

The shrine maiden clapped her hands happily. "Like I said, we do just fine."

"That's not the point, you can't hog them all," Ilrica griped.

"Why not? It's not like they can't make more."

"If you buy them all then we can't have any," Zurra complained.

Cha'Rolette's eyes twinkled impishly. "Exactly."

"Oh, that is unfair!"

"You cannot do that to us. We wish to participate as well," Trahzi protested.

"Ha!" Ilrica said, snatching up a sutra and slamming some credit chips down. "You're too late, I already got one."

"Hey! Put that back, you sack of teeth!" snapped Cha'Rolette.

Ilrica leapt high into the air, landing atop the gambling tent at the far end of the plaza. "First come, first serve, green bean!" She stuck out her tongue, tugged on her eyelid, and disappeared.

Cha'Rolette pointed at the shrine maiden. "I insist that you stop her. If you don't get that back for me, the deal is off and I won't buy any."

"Uh..." the shrine maiden stammered, unsure of what to do.

Zurra threw down some chips and grabbed one as well. "I got one too," she squeaked, turning into a ball and rolling away as fast as she could, knocking over several people as she went.

"So have we," Trahzi said, placing down some chips.

"Hey! Stop that!" Cha'Rolette tried to snatch it back, but Trahzi disappeared in a blast of fire, frightening the nearby patrons.

"Come baaaaa...." Cha'Rolette's eyes twitched in irritation. A sneeze was coming. She reached for her handkerchief, but didn't get it out in time. She gave off a massive sneeze into her own hands, and the amber statue next to her exploded.

The whole crowd turned to look at her in surprise. The shrine maiden sat in shock, bits of rock in her hair and on her shoulders.

Cha'Rolette stood there in shame, her hands still covering her mouth from the boorish sneeze.

"Ahem. Pardon me, I'm going to just go... freshen up."

She flew away, nearly dying of embarrassment.

* * *

Zurra stood before the jewel-encrusted well of souls, and looked down into the cool clean water far below. She touched the talisman to her forehead and wished as hard as she could, so hard that when she pulled it away it left an impression on her brow.

"Please let that dummy notice how I feel," came a voice from next to her. Zurra looked over and saw Trajey from class 2-B standing there, holding a talisman of her own.

"Don't tell me you're after Dyson too," Zurra asked cautiously.

"The human? No, yuck. I'm here for Tomar."

"Followed him all the way out on his class, trip, eh?"

Trajey nodded bashfully.

"I respect that level of stalking. Well, you're not a rival, so we might as well chant together. It might increase our chances."

Trajey brightened up. "You think so?"

Zurra nodded optimistically, and they both put the talismans back against their foreheads.

"Please bless that dummy so he will notice how I feel," they said in unison, then dropped them down into the waters below.

They looked at each other hopefully, then turned to the priestess who was overseeing the ceremony.

"So, is that everything?"

The bored priestess held out a tray full of dead bugs. "Now, you take a bite out the kussatte."

The two girls looked at each other, unsure. But fortifying their resolve, they each grabbed a black bug, closed their eyes, and took a bite.

"...but only if you want to," the priestess clarified.

Trajey spit out the bite and jumped around, shaking her hands in girlish fright. Zurra spit out the mouthful and stretched out her tongue long and wide, wiping it back and forth against the rocks, trying to scrape off every particle of residue.

"You..." Trajey gagged, "... you mean that wasn't actually part of the ceremony?"

The priestess burped. "I was just trying to be polite. I had a bunch of extras."