Chai paused in front of the sundial. He was still wrapping his mind around the importance of the inevitable crawl of time in Zelelism. He had wanted to study it, initially, to see if it had any wisdom to offer. His parents had wanted to see him with a goal in life, but he hadn't had an answer for them. Surely, a little religious awakening could offer direction, right? Not quite.
Except, Zelelism seemed to offer an answering non-answer. He pondered the sundial as he thought about how he'd gotten here. He had only needed to answer his parents with a goal, but his mind had been blank. He hadn't realized it until the question was posed, but had he genuinely been so directionless? Was he always just wandering through his own lived experiences? What wisdom did a sundial hold?
He passed the sundial into the stone room. It was circular in nature, though there were stairs on the side of the room that led towards the ceiling that he couldn't quite examine before a woman approached him and he brought his gaze to her in order to be polite. "Chai Surin," he introduced with a brilliant smile. He held his hand out to shake. The tall woman accepted his hand with a similar smile, holding his hand with two of hers. "Kora. What can I do for you today?"
"Hey there. I was told I could come by any time in order to get a feel for Zelelism. It's something that interests me; I did try to set a specific appointment so as to avoid interrupting any ceremonies, but the prospect of an appointment was kind of waived off, so I guess you guys don't do that kind of thing?" She nodded in understanding, though there was an expression that seemed almost like she thought it was funny. He decided not to take offense if she was laughing at him.
She gestured to the room around them. It was plain in its functional stone design but there was a lot of ivy growing up the walls, and plenty of sconces that held candles. "Zelel dictates that we need not worry about the small things. Time is going to pass us by no matter what we do. As such, we should be humble in the face of it. We all succumb to time regardless. Time will erode our bones to dust which will be carried by the wind until there is nothing to carry it. Whatever concerned us in our lives before that is meaningless in the face of the ephemeral nature of time."
When she put it like that, Chai couldn't find it in himself to disagree. It made sense. He had no immediate argument. He wasn't sure if he was actually resistant to the religious thing before entering the temple, but he certainly wasn't now. "Huh. That's a pretty pragmatic way of looking at things, Kor."
She hummed thoughtfully at his concession. "It does make sense, doesn't it? The inevitable claiming of our bodies and spirits from time, from Zelel, doesn't mean that life is worthless, though. We spend our days working on self-improvement. I mean, we want to get better because we have so little time. Why wouldn't we spending it improving?
"Zelel is the oldest god; we appreciate this by considering all measurements of time to be gifts that honor his presence. In addition, we honor the time that we do have by working on ourselves so that when Zelel finally claims us, we are the best we can be. Still, our acknowledgement of time and Zelel's power helps us remain humble and our best selves. We can obtain wisdom that others cannot when we recognize our limitations. We abide by time because we abide by Zelel."
Chai liked the sound of that. He felt less trapped in having a designated goal in life, but also felt like making the most of his limited time was the right thing to do. It released the stress of the situation without removing the motivation to act. It was the perfect balance. He felt relieved after her words and found that he had been carrying a lot of tension in his body before she had finished her speech. He released a long breath before finally responding to her.
"Okay. I'm in. I want to study the teachings of Zelel. How can I start? Kora beamed at his ready acceptance of her god. "Why, you already have, and you're already done! Zelel does not require any special schooling. However, if you find yourself so dedicated, you may inquire upon a special path in your dedication to Zelel." He followed her gaze, which led to the stairs. Huh. He had plenty of time to find out exactly what that future held for him.
[ 20/20 Missions :: Devotee of Zelel ]
Chakra: 400/400
Stamina: 200/200
Status: D-Rank Genin
Stamina: 200/200
Status: D-Rank Genin