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"I would know more about gods than you, kind sir." Mizu responded quietly but heatedly. Her face was a frown as she watched the man leave her family's small inn.

"Best luck on your quest." Mizu called quietly out after him, feeling truley sympathetic for the poor man. He'd seen a harsh life.

She looked at him, then shook her head. "I disagree with that. If I cared to, I could make a nice profit off what I can do. The Temple likes volunteers to help out, but they've also offered to hire me before." She shrugged. "I don't care to be rich--what do I need wealth for, anyway? But I don't care to be so poor I'm at the mercy of anyone with a copper more than me." She had been there before, serving her old master. All his servants, really, had been in that same position... And she, while not a vain person, was vain enough to appreciate not getting anymore scars from a vexed man's whip, or riding crop, or bruised because she wasn't moving fast enough. Slaves were like that, and beggars. Not servants, or people of a higher class.
But she'd had bad experiences with the Rich, and they were enough to make her suspect that money made people different, and not necessarily in a good way. "I clean, mend, cook sometimes, general things that need doing that men can't be trusted to do right." She smiled. "Same at the other places. Except for when I'm watching the neighbors' children, then I tell them the old legends in exchange for good behavior."

"People don't do well without fun. They're like trees or roses. They work, and they grow, but when all's said and done, they still need the sun to survive." She shrugged. "But maybe it requires moderation. I suppose that means you've heard the rumors? That it's war with Drathel?" She inquired mildly. The war was a distant thing in the Capital. Unheard of, unthought of, except in rumor and cautious thought. Most people, who did not deal directly and often with the Priests, did not know the Guardians slept, and had since they took thier one night of respite from eternal vigilance.
But she had heard, and she knew the truth.
But she also knew there was little she could do with such knowledge, except breed panic and disorder.

She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and thought. She could tell what she had heard and invoke possible chaos, panic, or she could remain silent and leave him to what he had heard.
That was not fair. If he had hope based on falsehood, then what real hope would he ever have?
"I heard from a maid in the Palace employ, who heard from a footman, who heard his master speaking with the great lords, that the Guardians have not stirred to walk the border since they took their rest Midsummers eve. That Drathel's troops are probing the borderlands, and crossing towards the Capital. And I heard through another palace servant, that there are Priests who ride with the Drathellion army. Priests decked out for war with heavy maces and full, dark armor, as have not ridden since the Gods' stepped aside to let Mortals do as Mortals will. But I have only heard, from people who have heard from others. And those others base their knowledge on the news brought to them by still more people; and knowledge such as that is faulty. It may be untrue."
But Rumor rarely does not hold some grain of truth within it.

"For one, I happen to serve them, every day I go and make my offerings and take them my gifts. If I stay long enough and listen, the tell me things." Mizu shuddered, remembering how her deity had spoken so outrightly to her. She didn't let the man see this.

"If you ever need information, or yearn for knowlage on your quest, come visit me at the Water temple. I'll be there. If not there, I'll be here, at this inn." Mizu bowed to him. "You can count on an Asellion sorceress to keep her word." She told him while still in her bow. She rose with a sad smile on her face.

She looked at him, then shook her head. "You really mean that? Honestly? How long do you think an Asellion would last there? And an Asellion with no training in warfare?" She waited a moment, then answered her own question. "No more than a week. They'd point you out that fast. And if you're lucky, they'd kill you. If you aren't, they'll take you prisoner. They aren't nice to servants, what makes you think prison would be better?" She sat next to him. "But it's better than nothing, right? Better than sitting around filtering through rumors and getting fired?"

"If you are of Asellion, you do not serve all of them. And thus, you should be safe from my carnage. I have errands to run, but I would love to meet you again at the Water Temple this evening. Maybe you can help me find what I seek." He turned away and began to stride out the door. "A god's blood." He muttered under his breath, the goal of his quest, the blood of Drathel. "I shall see you again, Lady... ?"

"Go... Evil?" She inquired in a strange voice, distant, quiet, the empty of deep control and hidden emotion. "I think you know not what you say, with tose words. Could you... stand by, and watch as a Lord beat his servants, not his slaves, his servants, those who, here, are accorded rights an respect, could you watch him beat such a one until they couldn't stand? And again because they couldn't take their bleeding body from his sight?
"Could you smirk, and join in his laughter?" She looked at him, with eyes that reflected the tone of her voice, blank, but not the blank of nothing, the blank of emotions well hidden.