My thanks to Todger65 for helping edit and Nthusiastic for beta reading and asking good questions!
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Isonei attended the prayers with Hodrim at her side offering instruction in his incomprehensible language. The Sisters seemed both amused and pleased as she let him give her direction. The Sellac, however, noticed the frown on her face as she looked at the bare altar and inquired about it through Brother Odgar.
"You disapprove of their altar?"
"It's just that the altars I've seen are always so bare. In Ara they're covered in gifts for the Gods. I feel like a rude guest by not bringing anything and it makes me a little sad, as if he isn't loved."
Odgar sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he translated, and it sounded as if he were apologizing. Hodrim interrupted him. He sounded very solemn and as he looked to the Sellac with his large dark eyes she smiled. The Sellac's reply was warm and approving and Brother Odgar bowed to her before he spoke to Isonei again.
"Master Hodrim has reminded me that we do give gifts to Ganas. The gifts of time, charity, even gifts of song and recitations from the holy texts. You are welcome to give a gift if you wish, anyone is."
"I don't have the most beautiful voice but Brother Jannun was teaching me a song. Maybe the children could help me sing it?" Her words were relayed and there was an approving murmur from the children and the Sellac gave a gracious nod. "We should probably sing loudly, Ganas has so many people that pray to him he might not hear it otherwise." Isonei put on a very serious look and nodded to the children.
Brother Odgar sounded resigned as he translated and the children began to giggle. Hodrim very insistently said something to her and she glanced to the Sellac who was looking very pleased. The priest was smiling as well, "He says Ganas always hears you no matter how loud or how quiet you are."
"What a very wonderful God!" Isonei beamed at Hodrim before half turning to ask the other children, "Should we sing loudly or quietly?"
The priest translated and the children shouted. The clearest word was, "Kixtu!" Odgar barely had to translate it for her, "Loudly, they wish to sing loudly."
She began to sing the incomprehensible Torgan lyrics that went to the tune of The Merciful Men of Mun and the children joined her immediately, drowning out her mistakes. Sellac Gesosin had her eyes closed and a serene smile on her face as the song finished. After the sound died away she spoke to them at length before gesturing to Isonei and receiving a loud chorus of aings.
Tugged up from her feet, Isonei let the children take her back to the dining hall.
"You may tell your tale any time you wish, your Grace." Brother Odgar looked amused and found himself a seat at the end of one of the closer tables. "I will translate for you."
Smiling warmly, she moved to stand in front of the fireplace, looking over the curious and expectant faces in front of her, not all of them children. "Thank you! Tell me if you need me to stop or go more slowly, Brother Odgar.
"Once, a very long time ago when the world was still young and people had fewer stories to tell, there was a woman who ached to see more kindness in the world. So she made the choice to wander Ara, and maybe places beyond it, looking for kind people. Now, my loves, every fool knows the best way to find out if a man is kind or cruel is to show up at his door in need. This woman disguised herself as a wretched traveller, an old beggar woman, with tattered clothes and dirt on her face.
"She limped from place to place with her small ragged sack knocking on doors and doing what beggars do, asking for kindness with no way to repay it." Isonei mimed limping along before the fireplace.
"One of the first places she came to was a fine inn on the road from Eshho. The rains were sweeping in from the Sea of Glass, and you know how the wind drives the rains off of the Sea, my loves. It howls and thrashes as if it's trying to flee the gnashing teeth of Udnerath.
"In the biting wind and driving rain she knocked upon the door of the very full, very fine inn. The door was opened by one of the servants who felt tremendous pity for the woman and let her come stand in the kitchen by the blazing cooking fires for a moment, giving her a half full bowl one of the patrons had not finished and a crust of bread.
"It was perhaps not the warmest welcome but she was very glad to be out of the rain. Unfortunately the innkeeper bustled into his kitchens and saw her dripping by the fires and began to yell and curse. 'Who allowed a filthy beggar into my inn? Feeding beggars will only get you more beggars! Throw the hag out!'
"Now, the wretched traveler frowned at him. There were obviously kind people here but the innkeeper was not one of them. She tried to remind him, 'Charity is its own reward.'
"'You'll find no charity here, hag. Pay for that food you're stealing and get out of my inn.' He sneered at her and rolled up his sleeves as if he intended to throw her out into the rain himself.
"She reached into her tiny bag and pulled out a copper coin, tossing it to him and scurrying out while trying to slurp down as much of the stew as she could.
"The innkeeper pocketed the coin but when he looked at it later that night he realized it was worthless. A fake coin that was curiously inscribed across both sides, 'You must give to receive.' "This innkeeper was a very wealthy man but he found suddenly that his coffers were emptying and not refilling. No matter how much food he sold or how full his inn was, somehow he was spending more than he made. Nothing seemed to go right for him anymore. Nowhere he turned would anyone cut him a deal or do him a kindness. He was a beggar himself before the year's end.
"With an empty belly, begging pitifully in front of the temple in Eshho, a woman tossed a coin to him and he was grateful. He immediately bought a small bun of what we call beggar's bread and took a bite but a pitifully thin child came to stand next to him gazing up at the bread hungrily. It moved him and he broke the bread in half giving the larger piece to the child. When he went back to begging he received two coins. The words and lesson of the wretched traveller rushed back to his thoughts. Charity is its own reward. You must give kindness if you wish to receive it.
"The lesson once learned served him well. He began to provide for others before himself. As a beggar he began to try to feed others like himself and suddenly wealth seemed to fall into his hands from every direction. He opened another inn and this one never turned anyone away. If it yet stands it's still a merry place." Isonei smiled at the Sellac's mildly annoyed expression.
"But we aren't here to hear about innkeepers!" She put her hands on her hips and the children giggled.
"The poor wretched traveler was sent out into the lashing rain and howling wind," rubbing her arms she did her best to look cold and dejected. "A voice called to her from the trees where she was thinking of seeking shelter. 'Mother, what are you doing in the rain?'
"A young soldier had set up a small tent nestled in the trees and he beckoned her over. Seeing how drenched she was, he cleared a space and did his best to build a fire with the wood he could find. It took some time but with a large, mostly dry log placed on top he built a roaring fire for her to warm herself by and let her sleep under the shelter of his little tent.
