Chapter 10 - Temple Guard
He scowled, "I want to know what it was the guard was commenting on. Your name, your title."
Her next sigh was even heavier than the first, "The title I could take a guess at, but have no idea how to find out, as I've already told you. As a Starfall Paladin, you might be entitled to my name but frankly I have little desire to give it to you," she watched his scowl deepen at that and continued, her voice flat and annoyed, "Nonetheless, it is Ashterra."
Ashterra knew her name to be strange, even by the standards of the Starborn. Sidus had named her instead of letting the Starlight Elves do so. The ash part of her name came from the ash tree, a symbol of healing and life. Terra, quite directly, came from the earth itself. It was a gentle name she enjoyed very much. The one that heals the earth was, more or less, what her name meant.
"Ashterra," he repeated, his expression changing to one of confusion, "As in Ashterra, the daughter of Sidus?"
Ash frowned slightly, unsure of how to answer that when she saw a priestess approach slowly from the corner of her vision. The robes were the ones Luna wore when in the temple, marking her as a Starlight Priestess. The slight edge of gold around the hems pointed to her being rather high ranked in the temple, likely the one in charge.
Ash turned her attention away from Yarrow to the woman. She wanted nothing more than to shift to her proper form and take off into the woods, to find her home grove and hide. She'd been stabbed twice, hauled about by a stranger that only got away with it by the grace of being a paladin of her god and was currently being looked at by far too many people that knew the value unicorn parts had. Their worship of Sidus was the only reason she trusted any of them not to step out of line but even that was a very thin sliver of trust.
"My name is Nia, short for Gardenia," she introduced, "Might I have permission to use appraisal on you?"
"Only if the result doesn't leave the temple," Ash grumbled, a foot absently stomping with her discomfort.
Ro growled at her that stomping her foot and throwing a tantrum was no way to act towards the head priestess of the temple even as Nia appraised her. The priestess completely froze at the information she read for several moments. Ash spent those moments tapping a hand against her leg and ignoring the paladin completely. Her elven ears tilted at an odd angle, lower than was usual. She was frustrated and the signs to any that knew about unicorns were relatively clear.
"Ro," the priestess' voice cut through his scolding, "Please treat this guest with the utmost respect," with him silenced, she lowered her head slightly, "My greatest apologies for Ro's behavior. He is protective of Redwood Stars and doubly so of this temple. I will make certain he understands that he is not to behave in such a way going forward."
Ash spared the confused paladin a slight glance before wordlessly turning towards the exit to the pond once more. She understood his anger, his protectiveness, she just wasn't used to having it directed at her. She was used to every single follower of Sidus knowing her on sight with many of them kneeling in reverence.
Reminded of a behavior she found frustrating bordering on rage-inducing, she paused slightly, "I do not mind if you tell those within the temple that can be trusted what you saw. I do not want to be treated any differently than you would one of your own."
"The Godsborn high priestess that came here some time ago, Lunarilia, said the same thing. I will see to it that your request is honored. Please, feel free to rest here as long as you would like," the priestess said gently.
She slid through the door and out into the courtyard that would house the stargazing pond. Considering it belonged to Sidus in one of his temples and not a single unicorn, the pond was a massive thing that would likely reflect a good chunk of the night sky without regard for the building that should've blocked the view.
The dark stone of the temple created a pathway to a piece of land in the center of the pond, small rivulets of water flowing between each irregularly cut platform that would seem to fill with stars at night.
She was shaken and confused. She'd tried desperately to find any of the screens Luri had showed her earlier when the Lizarlings had been attacking her. She'd had access to nothing but the notifications that appeared in her vision to welcome her and warn her of the poisons. Other than that, it was just the bars that appeared whenever she was curious about her health and mana.
The introduction of strangers immediately, strangers that didn't know who she was and didn't keep a healthy distance from her because of it, had rattled her further. She'd not tried to access any of her status since the fight. She heard the door open behind her, familiar armored footsteps waking anger in her.
She whirled to face Yarrow, her horns summoning themselves with her frustration levels, ready to tell him off herself. Instead the world blurred and she fell into the paladin's arms. She heard him cry out but the words were suddenly impossible to understand. With Sidus nearby earlier, she'd been able to put away the extreme exhaustion changing to even part of her unicorn form came with, she couldn't do so while alone. She was tired and suddenly dizzy once more.
Yarrow had followed her out to remind her that she still needed a healer, waving off Gardenia's request for conversation. If she was welcome in the temple it was his job to look after her and he trusted Nia's judgement.
To his shock, she'd had not just a single unicorn horn when she rounded on him, but what looked like thirteen of them, though twelve were just new growth barely poking their way through her hair. The opalescent shine of her hair highlighted, though, that all of the new horns were already dyed with emotion. He'd been about to apologize when she collapsed, the antidote had likely failed while she was still in the building. It could cure the paralysis and bleeding easily enough but she needed a special remedy for the mana-drain as it could only stave off its effects for a while.
Holding a collapsed Starborn Unicorn, he did the only sensible thing and called for help.