10th of Niva, Year 1023

Renee spent the next few weeks doing exactly what Anise told her, although instead of only translating books, she mostly had to translate documents. Luckily, translation was a group effort. Instead of translating something alone, there was a small group of translators that helped out one another whenever they became stuck on a word. Although, it did backfire a little when they had a not-so-small argument over the best translation for the word ‘sufficient’.

“Enough.” Renee snapped, slamming her hands down on the table.

“Yes! That’s the best word!” Another translator nodded their head eagerly, mistaking her ire for enthusiasm. 

“No, I meant that’s enough! I’m getting a headache from all this debate. First, it was ‘critical’, then it was ‘timely’, then it was ‘sufficient’! Why are we arguing so much over a tea recipe?”

The document they were translating was a lesser-known but popular tea recipe from Lianru. Oftentimes, between bouts of translating books and important documents, they were assigned smaller tasks. Those tasks were usually paid commissions from other people because the temple’s public translators were much cheaper than hiring a freelance translator. 

The tea recipe they were translating at the moment was for a citizen of Elysia who wanted to start a tea house inspired by his Lianese heritage. When Renee reminded them of that fact, the other translators became a bit embarrassed. 

“Do you need a break, Renee?” One of them asked her. 

That was exactly what she wanted to hear. Renee rubbed her forehead, pretending to be in pain. “Yes, I’ll be back in a bit.” She then pushed back her chair and left the room.

Pretending to have a headache was only an excuse to leave the room. After a few days of observing the movements of everyone and listening to them explain the work schedule, she realized that all the magicians were heavily watched by higher level workers at all times. This made it hard for her to talk to them in private. 

However, she also found out that all the higher level workers, including priests, have a meeting today in the late afternoon. Realizing that it was the perfect window of opportunity for her to see a magician alone, she faked her headache to get a break, so she could slip away. She then used magic to bypass any locks and deftly avoided any temple knights standing guard. Soon, she reached the magician’s wing of the temple.

She rethought her action again for a moment and wondered if she was overreaching her authority. Without giving herself a chance to develop more doubts, she picked a random door and knocked on it.

“Anise?” A timid voice responded as the door swung open eagerly to reveal a small boy about twelve years of age. He then froze in terror when he realized it wasn’t the person he was expecting. “Sorry, wrong person.” He hastily added as he attempted to shut the door on her.

“Wait! I’m a friend of Anise!” Renee tried to stop the child from slamming the door in her face.

He frowned suspiciously at her. “Anise never mentioned any friends.”

“How do you know Anise?” Renee asked.

“I don’t.” He tried to close the door again.

“Wait, look at this!” Renee summoned a flurry of glowing butterflies from her hands. “I have magic too!”

That’s when the boy’s face changed completely. It went from distrust, to amazement, then worry. He grabbed Renee by her hand and yanked her into his room.

“Don’t ever show that to anyone.” He warned her. 

His room was mostly dark due to the heavy curtains covering his windows. Renee had expected some luxurious furniture and high-quality items, but the room looked even more bare and poor than the one she was currently living in.

Renee was bewildered to hear that statement. “Anise did warn me to never tell them I have magic, but why is that?”

“Look at me.” The boy scoffed. He then yanked up his sleeves, revealing some small scars along his arms. “This is what they do to people with magic.”

Renee’s eyes widened with horror. “What did they do to you?” She asked, her voice as cold as ice.

“They want to take my magic and use it for themselves.” The boy explained, his face still twisted with scorn. “They think the magic lies in the blood, so they drain us and experiment on us, and when we don’t comply, they lock us up and starve us.”

Renee’s eyes grew cold as anger built up in her heart. “How dare they? Is there no one trying to stop this?”

“They have the backing of the saints, so no one dares to go against them. I was taken from my family, you know? Most of us are. They told them that we need to enter the temple so they can help us control my power. They said that we might become a danger to everyone if we lose control. But that’s a lie. They just want to exploit us.”

“No, I don’t think they have the backing of the saints. I think the saints know absolutely nothing about this.”

“Why not? Wouldn’t Eislyn have told them to step in already? The priests are forcing us to use our power for the good of others, so what’s a few unhappy lives to the saints?”

Renee stumbled back, her head reeling. So her intuition was right. The temple had some very dirty business behind their charitable facade. No wonder the magicians were isolated from others and given their own rooms. It was to prevent them from seeking help from others or plan a revolt against their abusers.

“What does Anise have to do with this?” Renee asked, turning the conversation back to another important topic.

The boy pressed his lips together, almost uncertain whether he should tell her or not.

“Trust me, I want to help you and the other magicians. I really am a friend of Anise.”

The boy finally seemed convinced enough to tell her. “Anise is helping us in secret. After every experimentation session, she heals us. Whenever we are locked up for defiance, she sneaks us food. But you mustn’t ever expose her.”

“So she’s one of the few people to know the truth?”

“Yes. She is trying to get in contact with other higher people, but it’s so hard. Some of the high priests are also involved, and she is trying not to expose herself.”

Renee covered her face with her hands in a mix of anger and frustration. Finally, she raised her head again and asked him, “What can I do for you?”

He rolled his eyes. “At this point, just protect yourself. Now, if that’s all, please leave before the priests come to check on us.”

And just like that, Renee was kicked out of his room. Still stunned and in disbelief from learning the truth, she somehow managed to make her way out of the magician’s wing without getting caught. She wandered over to a bench in one of the common areas and sat down in a daze, just staring off into space. 

She then decided that she needed to contact the other saints right away to tell them of what she learned. There was no way any of them knew about this. They would never let it stand.

“Renee!” Marisol’s voice cut through her spiraling thoughts.

Renee jumped nearly a foot into the air, thinking she had gotten caught, but Marisol’s face looked more annoyed than furious.

“What are you doing out here, idling like that?” Marisol demanded.

Renee schooled her face into one of perfect composure. “I’m on break, Marisol.”

Marisol rolled her eyes. “Well, consider it over because we need your service. Since your linguistic test showed that you score better in the Hyperian language than the other translators, we need you to translate for a Hyperian family here.”

Renee obediently followed Marisol to an empty chapel hall, where a Hyperian couple was arguing with someone in broken common tongue. There was a small child with them, crying.

“High Priest Terrence, I’ve brought a translator.” Marisol introduced Renee without even bothering to give him her name. So, the man they were arguing with was a high priest.

“Child,” the high priest said. “Please translate for me. Tell them that their child has a great gift from Eislyn and needs proper nurturing for them to reach their full potential.”

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Renee realized that the high priest was essentially telling her to help him kidnap another child with magic.

“Are you going to take the child away from his parents against their will?” Renee demanded in disbelief.

The high priest scowled at her. “It is for their own sake! The child might pose a risk to their parents if they were to lose control of their power! Not to mention, it is selfish for them to hoard Eislyn’s gift all to themselves.”

“S- Selfish?” Renee sputtered. “That’s rich, coming from the man who is trying to kidnap a child from their parents because of their magic!”

High Priest Terrence’s face turned beet red. Turning to Marisol, he demanded in the ancient language, “What kind of fool did you bring me? What were you thinking?”

Floundering, Marisol replied back in sloppily in the ancient language. “She is… the best at Hyperian words. I didn’t know…she make fight.”

Renee didn’t bother to tell them that she understands the ancient language too. She purposely failed that section of the linguistic test because she knew that they might converse in the ancient language in front of her, thinking she wouldn’t be able to understand them, just like the saints.

The high priest turned to the couple again and tried explaining to them in the common tongue again. “It is Eislyn’s will that your son is to be raised in the temple. All magicians are to be sent to the temple so they can find their purpose in the journey that Eislyn set them on.”

Renee couldn’t help herself. She bursted out into hysterical laughter, drawing confused looks from the couple and furious looks from the high priest and Marisol. “Are you f*cking serious? Tell me, High Priest Terrence, what is the real reason you’re taking their child? Could it be that the temple wants to monopolize magic in the world? Going as far as to kidnap a child from another kingdom, you’ve gone mad with greed!” Her eyes blazed with anger and defiance as she shouted at the high priest, whose face turned almost purple from anger.

“That’s enough!” High Priest Terrence bursted out. “Marisol! Lock that girl in the isolation chamber and bring out Letha. We don’t need a translator for this after all.”

Before Renee could question what Letha does, Marisol grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her away, hard. Renee didn’t even try to struggle because she was more curious on what they would try to do to her. She couldn’t risk exposing her identity until she contacted the other saints. So, she allowed herself to be dragged away by the older woman and some temple knights and thrown into an isolation chamber, which clearly looked like a jail cell.

“I told you to behave yourself in front of the high priest!” Marisol angrily scolded her through the barred window on the door. “Now you’ve not only made a fool of yourself, but you’ve made me look bad too!”

Renee tilted her head at the woman. “How can you live with yourself, selling out other people? And most of them are children! You said the temple doesn’t pursue power or wealth, but that’s just a lie, isn’t it? What happens to the tithes given to the temple? Why are the temple workers' salaries so low?”

Marisol’s lips twitched in anger, but she did not answer.

“Oh, you’re right.” Renee laughed at her. “The temple doesn’t pursue power or wealth. It’s just corrupt priests like you.”

“You will not be given any food for the next three days.” Marisol sneered, then aggressively marched away from the isolation room. Renee’s words had clearly struck a chord in her. 

How annoying. While Renee wasn’t the least bit distressed by her imprisonment, she was now bored and frustrated that she wasn’t able to continue investigating the temple now, unless…

Suddenly, a new idea came to Renee. She was a little disappointed in herself for not thinking of this idea earlier, and for even realizing it was possible until now. 

Renee created more butterfly nythrals, and with a flick of her hands, she sent them out into the temple. The first batch of butterfly nythrals she ever made already had a strong connection to her, but now she expanded the connection even deeper so that each one carried a bit of her consciousness, allowing her to sense the world through them. 

They were her new eyes, her new ears. They allowed her to continue observing everything in the temple through them. This way, she can still keep an eye on the high priests, especially Marisol and High Priest Terrence, all at once. She wanted to find out how deep their conspiracy went.

Now, all she has to do is to sit back and watch.