Chapter 1: Anyone In Need Should Come and Partake
Notes:
Jester snoops, Caleb is multilingual, Yasha has knowledge that no one expects, the stage begins to get set.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It started with some snooping, naturally. That’s how most things began with the Nein. In this case, it was Jester. Caleb had given her his books for safekeeping before another underwater delve and she’d cracked one open to doodle in the margins before finding him to give them back. But it wasn’t his spellbook, this time. It was his mysterious second book. As she flipped through the pages, she noticed the Common alphabet configured into words she couldn’t read alongside another script. Jester didn’t speak many languages, but her forgery attempts had taught her to recognize some on sight, and this didn’t look like any she had seen before. Maybe it was a cipher? She considered the options as she scribbled a Tusktooth mark at the bottom of a middling page before slipping the book back into her haversack and skipping off to find Caleb.
“Hey Caleb! I brought your books back! Here you go.”
“Thank you, Jester.”
“So uhm, one of them got a little damp on one page so I opened it up so it could dry out and not get that page ruined, you know? So if one page is a little crinkled, that’s why.”
“Ja, okay. Thank you."
“What language is it in?”
"Oh.”
“Caleb?”
“It’s in Zemnian.”
“Okay, but what about the other one? I don’t recognize the script. And I know a lot of languages, you know.”
“It’s called Hebrew. It, ah, is my parent’s language. They taught it to me when I was very young. Most people do not speak it in the Empire anymore.”
“Why not?”
“It is very connected to a religion, one that is not allowed anymore.”
“Oh! So like, your parents worshipped the Traveler? Or someone like him? That’s pretty cool, Caleb.”
“Something like that, ja. Not quite as fun-loving as your Traveler. But special. And powerful.”
“Do you still worship your parent’s god? What is he called?”
“Oh no, not for a long time. I just like the language. It’s been a very long time since I did anything with the religion itself.”
“What’s the god called, though?”
“My parents called him Elohim. I do not know what the Empire called him.”
“I haven’t heard of him."
“Most people haven’t.”
“If you ever want to talk about him, I’m around, Caleb. I’m really good at listening to people. And your god sounds cool.”
“I know you are, Jester. Thank you. I would like to finish my work now, though.”
“Okay, be back later.”
Jester stepped through the doorway, glancing back at Caleb as he snapped Frumpkin into his lap and bent over his spellbook, the mysterious second book tucked safely into his holster from the moment she had given it back.
That night, Jester asked the Traveler about Caleb’s god, drawing some of the letters as she remembered them floating around Caleb’s face in her journal. But the Traveler hadn’t known anything. Or at least hadn’t told her anything. She considered asking Caduceus to ask the Wildmother, but he knew even less about the empire than she did, so probably his god also wouldn’t know. So that was that. For now, at least. Maybe she’d bother Caleb again when he wasn’t busy.
It ended up being Yasha who told her more. They had a date two weeks after Jester had read through the book, and she hadn’t had time to ask anyone about it. So while the two of them sat at a diner, hands draped over each other after their traditional breakfast-for-dinner, she wondered out loud, “I wonder what Caleb writes about in his book.”
Yasha frowned. “I don’t think that’s your business to know, Jester.”
“I know, I know. But the thing is, I looked in his books, and the one that’s not his spellbook? It’s not a language I know. And I want to know.”
“You do like knowing things. But reading people’s diaries isn’t usually polite.”
“But here’s the thing. I asked him about it, anyways. I didn’t tell him I was sneaking a look, don’t worry. He thinks it was totally legit.”
“And what did he say?”
“He said it was in Zemnian, and in a language called Hebrew? That’s connected to a god? But he pretty much kicked me out after that, so that’s all I know.” Jester shrugged as she continued. “I wonder what it’s all about, that’s all.”
Something sparked in Yasha’s eyes and she nodded. “You know, I’ve heard that name before. It’s something I have not heard about since Xhorhas, but I recognize it.”
Jester leaned forward across the table and squeezed Yasha’s hand. Finally, a breakthrough. “Really? That’s so cool. What can you tell me about it?”
“I don’t know much. Not many people worshipped that god, and none in my tribe. But they call him Elohim and-”
“Caleb said that too! And that it’s illegal in the Empire. I already know that.”
“I know a little more. He is a very ritualistic god, and he has a lot of practices. Holidays and such. People who worship him tend to stick together. But there are probably others who know more.”
“That’s more than I knew. You’re the best, Yasha!” She leaned over and kissed the other on the cheek. Jester’s mind was swimming with ideas. Maybe she could do something from the religion as a gift. Maybe throw a holiday party? Parties were always fun. And if there were lots of holidays to choose from, she could definitely find a fun one to recreate. “I love you so much, you know that?"
“I love you too.” Yasha looked confused, but plenty of conversations with Jester ended on a non-sequitur that only the tiefling understood. It was part of the excitement of spending time with her, as far as Jester was concerned. She was glad her girlfriend agreed.
And now she had work to do.
Notes:
A multi-chapter fic! With short chapters because writing long-form is not my strong suit.
The Passover-specific planning will start in the next chapter, this is more setting things up. Jester has a lot of research to do and she's going to do all of it.
Feedback always appreciated!
Chapter 2: The Simple Son, What Does He Say?
Summary:
Beau/Yasha/Jester moments, lots of research, a glimpse of a god
Notes:
All Hebrew terms willl translated in end notes, if I miss any, let me know!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The Empire censors were at their weakest on the Internet, and between that and the Traveler’s help, Jester easily made her way around to all the sites that she wasn’t supposed to be able to access. In general, that is. But Caleb’s god was harder to track down than the other illegal topics she’d tried to research. Several hours of searching only gave her vague history, mostly around the eradication of the religion within the Empire. Even Vasselheim’s online archive didn’t offer much more. Jester didn’t want to prod Caleb, not just yet, but she was running out of options. She clicked through her accumulated links and skimmed the information again before jumping slightly at Beau’s hands suddenly coming to rest on her shoulders.
“What’cha looking at, Jes?”
“Oh, you know, god stuff.” Jester tilted her head up towards her girlfriend standing behind her and smiled. “You’re home early.”
“What kind of god stuff? You and Nott planning on defacing any other temples, are you?” Beau leaned forward and kissed Jester. “Yeah, my trainer couldn’t make it today, so I decided to skip the gym workout and just stretch here. Besides, I missed you.”
“Well, nothing planned like that. That could happen anytime, though, you know? Sometimes that’s just what needs to be done. But that’s not today’s stuff.”
“Oh? So what’s on today’s agenda?”
“I’m trying to do some research on an illegal god. But there isn’t a lot to go on.”
“Wow, Jester, there isn’t much on an illegal religion in a highly censored country. Who’d have thunk it?”
“Beau.... You know I know how to work around that.”
“I know. Sorry.” She kissed her again. “You know, I do have access to a pretty big library. Maybe I can help you out?”
“Ooh, sure! Pull up a chair!” Jester chattered on as Beau grabbed a chair from their kitchen filling her on what she knew already. “And this Elohim guy seems pretty scary based on the Empire’s stuff, but if he’s important to Caleb then I want to know more. And Yasha says there are holidays! So he can’t be that bad or anything.”
“Well, the Empire is pretty good with propaganda, so their information is probably pretty colored by that. Here, pass me the laptop. I’ll see what the Cobalt Soul has.”
The Cobalt Soul’s database was different than what Jester had been able to find through backdoor access, especially considering how the institution wasn’t an inherently religious one in the same way that Vasselheim’s was. But either way, it had a lot of information, and Beau was able to work through the various parts of the search engine to find information on Elohim. Which there was plenty.
“Yasha wasn’t exaggerating. All of this seems super ritualistic. Weekly holidays, daily prayers, tons of other steps aside? No wonder people don’t do this anymore. Well, that and it being illegal. I don’t get why the Empire would outlaw this god, though. As far as deities go, he seems to line up with the other god’s M.O.”
“I dunno. It’s pretty shitty that they outlaw gods in general. It sucks that you and Caleb had to deal with that when there are so many cool gods out there.”
“Oh, I didn’t mind it. Not really my thing. And I think we both know that the Empire did shittier things to him than just limit his worship.”
“Yeah. Life here sucks, you know? Other than you and Yasha.” Jester kissed Beau on the cheek before turning back to the screen. “Let’s look at the holidays, though. You said there’s one about dressing up?”
“Yeah, and getting drunk. But I think we just missed it.”
“Oh, fuck.”
“But!” Beau scrolled further down the page and pointed at another paragraph. “There’s another holiday coming up in a month. It’s called Passover? And I’m sure it’s just as elaborate as everything else we’ve read so far.”
“I can do party prep in a month! That’s more than enough time. Would you want to help me, Beau?”
“I’d love to, you know that. Yasha and I have a date tonight though. You get started with the research and I’ll help you on another day.”
“Okay! Enjoy your date. Send Yasha kisses from me. And remind her that she should move in. I miss her.”
“You saw her yesterday.”
“What’s your point?” Beau rolled her eyes and kissed Jester on the forehead before getting up. “Love you, Jes.” She collected her things and headed back out, leaving Jester alone to continue her research.
The hours of research were boring to Jester, but even with many breaks, she managed to accumulate a start of information. The soonest holiday, Passover, had a lot of rules, most of them restrictions. The amount of ‘do nots’ wasn’t quite Jester’s speed, but the ceremony and ritual of it all definitely appealed to her. If she decided to go with this one.
Which she did. Though it was only because Yasha and Beau came home to find her half asleep at the desk. She was scrawling in her journal, the computer screen split between a page translating Hebrew terms into Common and another detailing the steps of a Seder.
“You need to come to bed, Jester.”
“But this is so cool!” She squeezed Yasha’s hand as it rested on her shoulder. “There’s so many parts of it, and there’s a whole elaborate feast, and I bet everyone would have a really good time!”
“I’m sure. But it’s the middle of the night. You need to sleep.”
“But listen!” She flipped to an earlier page. “There are fifteen parts, and most of them are before the food! And so much of it is stories. And we’re supposed to tell our stories that go with the themes. It would be super nice, guys.”
“It sounds nice.” Beau nodded in agreement while leaning over and shutting off the screen. “Let’s go sleep and then talk about it in the morning. We can invite everyone else over and see if they’re down.”
“Only because you brought Yasha home.” Jester grinned and stood, giving the others a peck on the cheek before skipping towards the apartment bedroom. “Shower before you come to bed, you guys. Enjoy yourselves.” She wiggled her hips and closed the door.
“She makes no fucking sense.”
"Yeah, but we love her for it.”
“Do you think everyone else will be into this holiday thing?”
“If she’s the one who brings it up, they will. She’s very enthusiastic about it. And it’s hard to say no to her, you know?”
“I know. Gods, I hope she’s out by the time we get in there.”
“You know she won’t be.”
“True.” Beau kissed Yasha gently before grabbing her hand and leading her towards the bathroom.
Unseen to them all, between the pair in the shower and Jester drifting off in bed, no one saw a green hand lift the notebook off the table and begin to inscribe notes accompanying those already there, with a small smiley face next to the words ‘invite everyone!’. It floated in midair for a moment, the pages flipping, before being placed gently back on the table with a barely audible thud.
Notes:
Seder: the ritual meal held on the first two nights of Passover, translates literally to 'order'
The WLW jumped out much harder than I anticipated this chapter, but the group focus will be more of the focal point from this point out. As well as the Jew stuff!
Any feedback is appreciated! Hope y'all are enjoying!
rachel (Guest) on Chapter 1 Wed 30 Jan 2019 08:16AM UTC
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Neon (Guest) on Chapter 1 Fri 08 Feb 2019 04:12AM UTC
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Theatre_Gay on Chapter 2 Sat 09 Feb 2019 04:54PM UTC
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Erdan on Chapter 2 Sat 15 Jun 2019 05:53PM UTC
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