Fabino sat cross legged and shirtless on the eastern wall of the temple, his eyes closed, and his breathing even. The dawn’s light warmed his muscles, and he could hear the distant sounds of others starting their days. He had completed his exercises in the first lights of early dawn, pushing himself as he did most days. He found in that state of semi-exhaustion, peace and prayer came easier for him. Plus, the cool morning breeze felt wonderful. A small smile crept onto his lips.
“Lathander, Morninglord, Bringer of the Dawn, thank you for this blessed sunrise,” he thought. ”Thank you for granting me this strength in my body, so that I can enjoy the feeling of exercise. Thank you for granting light to the plants of the land, that they might grow into food for my belly. Thank you for the thousand mercies you show me every day, that may pass me unnoticed. Please grant me the wisdom in this coming day to serve you in a way that pleases you...”
He paused, and his smile faded, the next bit of his prayer coming to him unbidden. His thoughts wandered to his old home in the temple in Athkatla...a home that was now destroyed. He took a deep breath, trying not to imagine the fates of those who had raised him, those he had loved. It was hard these days, with new refugees still showing up in the city, each one with terrible stories of hardships they had endured. He took a deep breath before continuing his prayer.
“Please, I pray to you, grant me strength to help those from my old home. I know it is a lot to ask, but one day I would like to find out what happened to the Temple there, and the people from it. I would like to help them, if any survived, or at the very least be able to put them to rest. Of course...”
He didn’t quite finish his thought. He got the feeling there were eyes on him, distracting him from his morose thoughts, and opened one eye a crack. He saw a trio of women he’d seen about the temple before, likely come to pray, but apparently, he’d caught their attention. They didn’t seem to notice they were caught, so he just said, “Ladies” in a cordial tone, and they tittered and scuttled off. He shook his head with a chuckle, and stood, stretching his arms up high. “Praise the dawn”, he said under his breath, to finish his prayer, before tumbling back off of the wall to the temple floor.
Not long after he was on his way into the market, wearing his loose yellow and red robes, carrying his walking stick with him as he went among the crowds. He was looking over a particularly tasty looking melon when he heard the sounds of shouting heading his direction. “Stop! Thief!” a guard was shouting, a trio of them chasing after a small figure in a cloak that was obviously way too large for them. He acted quickly, sticking his staff out to trip the figure up and stepping around gracefully to catch it before it tumbled hard to the ground of the market.
As the figure fell, its hood fell back revealing the face of a young human girl. She was filthy, and stank, and he could tell just from her weight that she was malnourished. Her dark hair was matted with so much filth it would likely have to be fixed with scissors rather than a comb. Plums fell to the stones of the market, rolling out from her cloak as the morning shopping crowd made way for them. Fabino got a look into the child’s eyes and saw the fear and desperation in them before the guards approached.
“Thanks Lathanderite. We’ve got it from here,” the guard who was shouting before said. The two with him were panting, and shooting angry glances towards the child, obviously none too happy about having to give chase so early in the morning. Fabino kept a hand on the child’s shoulder as he helped her to her feet, and she struggled like she wanted to bolt, but he kept his grip strong to prevent it. He smiled at the guards.
“Gentlemen, I think I can guess what happened here,” Fabino began. ”This child grabbed that fruit off a stand without paying. That about right?”
“Yeah, so she’s a thief, and we’ve gotta punish her,” the guard grumbled, obviously annoyed that Fabino hadn’t complied immediately.
“And what sort of punishment do you have in mind?” Fabino asked, knowing all too well but wanting the guard to say it all the same.
“Well they can’t pay any fine I’m sure, so we’ll lock em up. Given they’ve apparently made a habit of this, probably for a while”
“Well, from what I hear the jails are pretty full these days. Desperate times and all that. How about you let the Temple take this one off your hands? We’ll make sure she learns her lesson,” Fabino said to the guard with a smile.
The guards looked at each other in annoyance, then looked around at the crowd at the market. They were watching and seeing the Lathanderite protecting a child...even if that child was a thief...seemed to if nothing else be some morning entertainment. The guard Fabino had been speaking to puffed out his chest and finally sighed.
“Fine, but she does this again it’s on you,” he said in a no-nonsense tone.
“Oh thank you! Thank you, sirs! You ever need treatment, come to temple and we’ll take care of you,” Fabino bowed his head, and pressed the girl down to kneeling. He began picking up the plums, and looked into her eyes, trying to make himself look reassuring. She picked up a couple, handing them to him, and he poured the lot of them over into the guard’s arms. “There, all returned. No harm done,” he added with a smile, before looking down at the girl. “Come along,” he said in a tone that suggested he wasn’t joking about the discipline thing, and dragged her off by the wrist.
Once they were away from the guards, he sighed and loosened his grip a bit. “Please don’t run,” he said with a little chuckle. “You won’t outrun me, and you look like you don’t have much energy left anyways.”
The girl made a sound that sounded like a weak protest, but she didn’t make an effort to bolt. “What’s your name?” Fabino asked.
“Maya” the girl responded, and Fabino handed her an apple from his pack. She began to tear into it voraciously, and Fabino stopped so she could eat. The apple was gone in what seemed like an instant, the girl eating even the core, leaving behind nothing but a tiny bit of stem.
“Gods, you must really have been starving,” Fabino remarked with a touch of surprise.
“Yeah. Thanks,” the girl remarked, letting out a tiny belch.
“You got any parents?” Fabino asked, a touch of sadness on his face as he guessed the answer.
“Had. They’re gone,” the girl said sadly, as he had guessed.
“Do you know who Lathander is?” he asked gently, and she nodded. “Well, the Temple is going to take care of you for a while, until we find something better. You’ll be expected to earn your keep by working. Cleaning, helping in the kitchens, that sort of thing. Is that going to be a problem?”
The girl shook her head, and Fabino let out a relieved sigh. “Good,” he said with a warm smile, and headed to take her back to the temple. He knew he was likely going to get scolded when he returned. The Temple couldn’t take in every lost child on the streets of Murann, and he knew it, but Lathander had put this one in his path for a reason. Who was he to question the will of the Morninglord? Who was anybody in the temple to do so? He hoped the clerics over him at the temple saw it the same way.
