Colle rose to the occasion. "Preposterous!" he blustered. "The poor will certainly benefit, but once word came out that this was all Moonshadow Hall's idea, how would that make the rest of us look?"
Feena let out her breath. "As you yourself said in our last council, Colle, it's a great shame when temple competes with temple. If the announcement is phrased properly, all Yhauntans will see is the group of us working together for the common good. It will benefit all of us" she nodded to the representatives of the city's civil authorities" Temples, merchants, and guilds."
Colle blinked, his bluster countered, and Feena turned to Endress. Julith had suggested that the old priestess would be the most likely to support the idea. Feena was relieved to see interest sparkling in her eyes.
"High Mistress of Revels?" she asked. "What do you think?"
"You know I love any excuse for a party." Endress chuckled. "Especially one for a good cause." She tilted her head. "But there would be a tremendous amount of organization involved."
"With your help, I don't think it would be difficult." She looked to the high priest of Ilmater, the suffering god who was traditionally the patron of the impoverished. "Sir?" she asked humbly.
He nodded slowly and said, "A burden shared is a burden more easily borne. You have Ilmater's blessing."
"And Deneir's," added the High Scrivener of the Lord of All Glyphs. Feena held back a grin. Julith had said that the two priests, the most conservative members of the council of temples, would agree with each other. Another prediction fulfilled!
"And Waukeen's, as well, Moonmistress." The priest of the goddess of wealth bowed toward Feena. "Generosity is the root of success."
Feena heard Julith let out a little gasp beside her. Waukeen's priest had been among those the priestess had judged would be the most difficult to convince. That he had come around so quickly was almost a miracle! Feena bowed back to him, honoring him with a deeper bow than he had given her.
"Thank you," she replied.
The representatives of the Nessarch, the council of merchants, and the craft guilds were still communicating among themselves with whispers and skeptical glances. The merchants' representative finally looked up and cleared his throat.
"The idea seems to have merit," he said, caution plain in his tone, "but none of us can offer our full approval without consulting our members. And with the new moon only tomorrow night, we couldn't organize meetings in time to give you an answer."
"Of course," said Feena. She couldn't hold back her smile anymore and it spread across her face just as the warmth of triumph spread through her belly. "I didn't expect that you could. That's why I would like to invite you to attend"
"Feena!"
From the window of her sitting room, Dhauna Myri-tar's voice drifted down into the courtyard, piercing and demanding. It didn't sound like the High Moonmistress was frightened or in pain, however. Feena clenched her teeth behind her smile and carried on.
"I would like to invite all of you," she said, extending her arms to encompass the group, "to attend tomorrow's New Moon Beneficence as my guests. I think you will see-"
Dhauna's second call was more strident: "Feena!"
Feena winced and glanced at Julith. The other priestess gave her a sharp nod of encouragement. Feena drew a breath. "I think you'll see how much need there is for this type of cooperation and how much good we would be able to do if we were to work togeth"
Feena!
The call was magical, echoing inside her head as loudly as if Dhauna were standing right next to her and shouting in her ear. Feena gasped and actually staggered. Julith caught her.
"Feena, what is it?" the young priestess whispered.
"Mother Dhauna doesn't want to be ignored," Feena grunted. She stood and offered her guests a bow. "Please excuse me," she said. "It seems there's something I must see to." She laid a hand on Julith's shoulder. "Julith can tell you anything you need to know. Thank you very much for taking the time to come and speak with me."
She turnedand Mifano and Velsinore turned as well, moving to intercept her as the rest of the group converged on Julith. She shot the pair a hard glance.
"Not now," she snapped.
"Feena!" Velsinore began angrily.
Feena glared at her. "I said not now!"
She crossed the courtyard at a swift stride. As soon as she was beyond the cloisters and inside the temple, she broke into a furious run, hastening up to the High Moonmistress's quarters before Dhauna could try calling her again.
The high priestess stood at the door, waiting for her.
"Do you ever intend to come when I call you?" the old woman asked.
"I was busy, Mother Dhauna," Feena snarled. "Did you look out your window? I was in the courtyard meeting with people. Important people!" She stormed past Dhauna and into the sitting room. It was dark. The High Moonmistress had drawn the curtains against the sun. Magic lit the desk in a puddle of light. Dhauna closed the door and waddled over to the desk.
Feena looked at her and frowned. "Where are your canes?"
"I put them aside," said Dhauna. "Selune gives me strength."
She'd used magic to bolster herself, just as she had on the night of the Full Moon Blessing. Feena's eyes narrowed.
"What's going on, Dhauna? Why did you call me?" "I've unlocked the meaning of the dreams." Feena stared at her in surprise for a moment, then asked, "What?"
Dhauna scowled and said, "Are you deaf? Is that why you don't come when you're called?" She shoved her chair out of the way and bent over a series of books and scrolls laid out on the desk. "I said I've unlocked the meaning of the dreams. I know what Selune has been trying to guide me toward."
There was only the barest trace of triumph in her voice and no joy at all. Feena hesitated before asking, "You've uncovered the heresy?"
"Yes and no," Dhauna replied, gesturing. "Come look at this."
Feena stepped over to the desk and looked down at the collection of records laid out there. Dhauna pointed at the first of them, a book of dark, greasy parchment. The ink on the pages had bled badly over time, but the book was clearly written in the angular Dethek script used in the region of the Moonsea.
"This is a record of inquests held at the House of the Moon in the city of Thentia," said Dhauna. "It came to Moonshadow Hall about a hundred years ago, but parts of the record are as much as two centuries older. This was written in about 1194." She cleared her throat and read, "'Mirela, Fela, and Iwna Telsk, the three sisters who tended Selune's shrine at the trade moot of Glister until the Year of Sinking Sails, stand accused of the New Moon Heresy. As the sisters perished in that year, we declare that none may judge them save Selune herself and in memory of their long years of true faith, declare them acquitted of these false and heinous charges.'"
Feena frowned again. "I've never heard of the New Moon Heresy."
"Neither had I," admitted Dhauna. "I wonder if the Thentians had either. The Year of Sinking Sails was U. 80 Dalereckoning. It's almost as if it took them fourteen years just to assign a name to whatever those three priestesses did. And Glister is only a remote crossroads even father north than Thentia. To have crossed that distance and endured so many years of investigation, the rumor must have been something shocking." She put her finger on the eptry. "But as soon as I found this entry, I knew it was what I was looking for. Then I found this…"
She moved her finger to a scroll of cracked parchment that was being held flat by a shoe on one side and the moon's road tiara on the other. The scroll had been written in the bold curves of Thorass that Feena could read herself. "'And long be chanted the name of Marrigan, who heard the call of Selune and turned her back on the Gray Wolves to become a hero of the New Moon,'" she read out loud. She looked at Dhauna. "Wait. Here it sounds like the New Moon Heresy is something highly regarded."