Paladin who isn't breaking their oaths, they're absolutely destroying them.
Kallixenia sits with her fellow paladins in the dining hall, the object of altogether too much attention since her encounter with the gods. Her mind is elsewhere, near two days afterwards.
"She should have sent a message by now." She says, moping over her dinner. "What if she's in trouble?"
"Gods, gaze upon your divine champion!" Nephele chuckles. "See her in all her might, laid low by one day without her widdle pwincess saying she wuvs her."
"You're such a dick, Nephele." Chides Athis, but she's also stifling a laugh.
"It's two days, now." Kallixenia states pitifully. "She didn't message me last evening either."
"Maybe it's the gods?" Offers Pherusa. "Maybe after they talked to you, they told her it was all taken care of, and now she's just waiting for you to get back?"
Nephele and Athis nod along, but Kallixenia shakes her head.
"No, they said it's hard for them to communicate. Besides, Lunaeris would want to check in even if she knew I was on the road." She says. "Something's wrong, I know it."
"Maybe..." Athis says, brainstorming. "Maybe magic doesn't work on you anymore? Maybe that's your new gift?"
"I don't feel like magic doesn't work on me." Says Kallie, looking at her hands.
"Do you feel any different at all?" Asks Nephele. "Maybe they haven't changed it yet."
"No, but that would still mean that magic should work on me."
"Oh. Right."
"Maybe you should keep meditating, and they'll keep you updated?" Suggests Athis.
"Athis. Nephele. Focus." Says Kallixenia. "What if Lunaeris is in trouble?"
"She's fine, Kallixenia." Achaia says. "She's a terrifying ball of fire, way I hear it. She can handle herself."
"Right. You're right." Kallixenia says, nodding. "She's probably fine. Everything's fine."
"SER KALLIXENIA!" Comes a howl from the doorway.
High Cleric Dione storms into the dining hall, flanked by inquisitors.
Inquisitors?
"There she is-" She says, as she beelines towards them as fast as her creaking joints will allow. "Child, what have you done?!"
Kallixenia falters as she finds herself quickly surrounded.
But-
She hasn't done anything wrong!
"I- Only what you advised, High Cleric!" She says, unsure of herself. "I meditated until the gods spoke with me-"
"And what did you ask of them, hm?"
"Just to change the gift they had given me-" She explains.
"Foolish child!" The High Cleric chastises her.
"Alright, all of you back up!" Achaia says, placing herself between Kallixenia and the slowly encroaching inquisitors. "So she asked the gods for something, that makes her a heretic? What's the problem?"
High Cleric Dione snorts derisively. "Do not insert yourself into matters you don't understand."
"I think we're inserting ourselves." Says Athis, as her, Nephele, and Pherusa all get to their feet.
"Fine." Dione says. "If you must know, to let us carry out our business unimpeded- What do you know of Prince Bertram of the Humans?"
Kallixenia shrugs, as do most of her friends. She's never even met any human royals, what does this have to do with her?
"He's the royal brat Kyra's watching, isn't he?" Asks Nephele, and Pherusa makes a soft 'ohh' of recognition.
"He was." Says Dione. "He's dead. Poisoned."
"Oh gods." Gasps Athis. "Oh gods, Kyra-"
"Kyra yet lives, despite her oath. So I ask you again, Kallixenia: What have you done?"
"I- I don't know!" Kallixenia cries.
She didn't ask them to do that! She didn't!
But Lunaeris-
Lunaeris doesn't think anyone should be that kind of paladin.
"We'll get the truth out of you soon enough." Says Dione bitterly. "Inquisitors! Seize her for heresy, on the grounds that she has perverted the Oath of the Bulwark."
Oh gods, this actually might be her doing. The gods didn't just look and sound like Lunaeris when they spoke with her; They were her, they felt how she feels.
When she asked them to change what power they blessed her with, they didn't change it for her, they changed the power granted by the Path of the Bulwark entirely.
"Like hells you will!" Nephele growls, drawing her blade.
"The gods agreed with her! She still has her wings!" Argues Athis as she follows suit.
Kallixenia can't fight Dione. Dione is the High Cleric. There must be some misunderstanding.
Mustn't there?
"The gods have been misled." Says Dione. "They will see that, once we explain the repercussions to them."
"Repercussions like... like you can't throw our lives away to the highest bidder anymore?" Asks Kallixenia.
Oh gods. She didn't say that out loud, did she?
There's a crowd gathered now, her other battle-sisters coming to see why she's being taken captive. Some have drawn their swords as well, and a wave of agreement carries through them. Nobody likes seeing their sisters die for some stuffy noble, but it was the will of the gods.
And if it isn't the will of the gods, if it's just the will of the church higher-ups...
"Kallixenia, you swore an oath!" Dione admonishes her.
"I swore an oath to protect! Not to- to line your pockets!" Kallixenia says, finding her courage. "The gods know that I intend to uphold it!"
"Yeah!"
"She still has her wings!"
"The gods are with her!"
She and her sisters number in the dozens, and there are only six inquisitors with the High Cleric. They can't take her by force.
"You turn your backs on your church, all of you!" Dione yowls, powerless. "You forsake your teachings! Your oaths!"
"I forsake no such things!" Kallixenia says. She-
Oh gods, she isn't good at rebellion. What would Lunaeris say here? A great many expletives, probably. Call someone an oaf. Go 'honestly!' in that way she does.
She's not sure that would work as well for her as it does Lunaeris.
"You- You forsake the very purpose of our order!" She says, and people are agreeing with her, so clearly she's doing an alright job winging it. "I became a paladin to help those in need! Everyone who took the Oath of the Bulwark did! And the church just... used us! Sold our souls to those who already sat safe in their castles! I've done more good on my own then I ever could have under your orders!"
"Kallixenia listen to yourself!" High Cleric Dione pleads. "What of your wife? You think your service to her was wrong? You would rather she have died?"
No, she most certainly would not! Never!
But Lunaeris would almost certainly want her to say-
"Yes!" Kallixenia lies unabashedly, right to the High Cleric's face, heart racing. "It was wrong! Her life holds no greater value than mine, and she scarcely needed my protection anyway!"
That part actually is true.
If Dione has more protestations, she doesn't get a chance to voice them. Her and the inquisitors are forced to retreat.
"We'll be back! You'll all regret this!" She screeches, before she's kicked out onto the cold path back down the mountain.
All those still in the monastery are fervent, alight with divine fury. "Let the inquisition come!" They cry. "Let us be branded heretics! We still have our wings!" Even the squires, years from even starting down the path to get their wings, have picked up the chant.
All except Kallixenia, who is lightheaded in the wake of overthrowing all she's ever known.
She's right, she knows she is. She's actually surprised at how secure she is in that knowledge. The gods are with her. Lunaeris is with her, in spirit.
But not physically. Lunaeris is off with her father, and she hasn't checked in twice now, and now Kallixenia has to-
Gods, what does she have to do? Spearhead a schism? Repel the inquisition? Reform the church? She didn't come here to do any of that! She doesn't even know what her oath does anymore!
All she wants is her wife, and she somehow seems even further from returning to her than she did when she started.
She feels very lonesome, as she silently prays that they can be safely reunited soon.
