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hwango1,533 words - the prompt refers to a workplace safety initiative to reduce accidents.
The great bell at the temple of Isham rang each day as the sun sank below the horizon. Traditionally, this marked the end of business for the day for most merchants, and the start of business for others. For Aveya, it meant that it was time to wake up and see to her duties, and since her windowless room was located just below the bell tower it was inconcievable that she could oversleep.
When Aveya was first warned about the location of her room, she had worried about what the bell would do to her ears. After her first day, she instead became concerned what the bell would do to her skeleton, since there seemed a real possibility that it would eventually be vibrated to pieces.
Several weeks had done nothing to inure her to the unpleasantness of waking up in a darkened room to a metallic echo that she could feel in her bones, and she flailed her arms wildly as she half fell out of her bed. In the process she managed to knock over her lantern, and she could hear it clang to the floor in a pale imitation of the bell up above. Aveya cursed quietly to herself as she slid the rest of the way out of bed and trod on a sharp piece of rock. That was a sufficient reminder about the hazards on the floor, and so she shuffled her feet the rest of the way over to the door in the dark, kicking aside rocks and marbles and for once not slipping on a slick of lamp oil. She was getting better at this.
The hallway outside was far easier to navigate in relative safety, since she had shadowy illumination to guide her around loose floor tiles, low-hanging parts of the ceiling, and other such obstacles. While getting cleaned up she managed to avoid scalding herself with overheated water or slipping on wet stone tiles. Her quick light meal was hardly perilous at all, though the tea was also very hot, and a less cautious diner might easily choke on one of the hard, dry biscuits.
Lulled into a false sense of security, she nearly fell down the short staircase of crooked, loose steps that led to the main hall. They were fairly hazardous, but nothing compared to the stairs out front that led to the main entrance to the temple. Those were considered some of the most dangerous stairs in the world, and were considered especially holy during winter when they were covered in ice.
Outsiders found Aveya's homeland a curious place, filled with odd customs and beliefs that Aveya had grown up with and therefor found mostly ordinary. Many cultures around the world had gods or spirits that looked after the dead, but Aveya's land had three, which many outsiders seemed to think was excessive. Asterso looked after those who died of disease or old age, Treysa collected those were murdered or killed in battle, and Isham watched over the souls of those who died accidental deaths.
Asterso and her sister Treysa were both seen as benevolent and kindly spirits who were simply looking after souls that had suffered misfortune that the spirits themselves did not control. Asterso did not bring plagues, and Treysa did not start wars. Asterso's temples tended to the sick, and Treysa's followers preached nonviolence and forgiveness.
Isham, however, was seen as having a mischievous and possibly even cruel sense of humor. As such, Isham's temples were set up as distractions for the spirit, and were filled with all manner of ridiculous yet mundane peril just to keep him occupied and to turn his attention away from the outside world. The faithful still visited, of course, but they kept their devotions as brief as possible. His temples tended to be prosperous but small, because there was no need for large groups to assemble for lengthy services. No one wanted to spend a long time under Isham's roof, for fear that it would fall on them.
As the newest and lowest-ranking initiate, it was Aveya's job to maintain and reset some of the less complicated hazards so that they would be in place during the next day. She had to replace and sufficiently loosen loose stones in the floor, partially re-attach railings, position fragile objects on free-standing, easily toppled pedestals near doorways, and so on.
Aveya had to admit that it had all seemed totally reasonable when it was only a small part of her country's overall religion, but now that it was the focus of her day to day life it all seemed slightly insane. She had not spoken of this to anyone else at the temple out of fear that it would get her thrown out. It was better than living on the street, after all. It might not be safer than living on the street, but it had three meals a day and hot running water, and that was worth a few stubbed toes, burns, and minor abrasions. Plus, she figured if there were any spirit likely to take revenge upon someone thrown out of its service, it would be Isham.
Aveya was often alone while she was at work, since the other keepers of the temple were either asleep or tending to other matters while the temple was closed for regular services. So Aveya was surprised to step into the main hall and find someone already there. She was even more surprised to see them rummaging around in a small alcove where visitors were not allowed.
"Oh!" she said, and the realized where the interloper was and what he was doing and amended her outburst to "Hey!"
The intruder whirled around, saw her, and then put a finger to his lips and made a shushing noise. With his other hand he held up a rather large knife in a vaguely threatening manner.
"Are you...are you robbing the temple?!" Aveya said in disbelief.
"Quiet!" the man said. "I'm trying to successfully rob your temple, and that means not getting caught," he said.
"Well, I've already caught you," pointed out Aveya.
"Technically," he conceded, "but I was thinking more in terms of being caught by someone...I don't know, more...imposing?" The intruder was probably twice Aveya's size, but even so Aveya found this rather insulting, and it must have shown on her face. "I mean, someone with more authority. Unless I miss my guess, based on the blandness of your outfit and the shift you're working, you're not very far up the chain of command here."
"Oh, that's much less insulting," Aveya said. She took a closer look at his features, and they confirmed her suspicions. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"Well no," he said. "I doubt you have many locals that steal from their own temples. I mean, what would be the point? Make offerings by day, steal them back by night. What does that even accomplish?"
"But you're fine with stealing someone else's offerings to the spirits?" Aveya said.
"Well, seeing as they aren't my spirits, yes. In fact, I think it's the most ethically permissible thing to steal. Surely the person who delivered the offering has already gotten credit for doing so, so it's no loss to them. The only victim here is an entity I don't even believe in."
"But that money goes to maintaining the temple!" objected Aveya.
"I find that hard to believe. I mean, look at this place - it's practically falling apart! When I climbed in through the window, the sill broke off and I nearly fell flat on my face. And the state of that floor is just shameful," said the thief.
"That's not - wait, do you even know whose temple you're stealing from?" Aveya asked.
"No, but since I don't believe if any of your spirits equally that hardly seems relevant," he said.
"Right," said Aveya. "Well, as you've already pointed out, I can hardly stop you. I guess you should just take your ill-gotten gains and make a break for it before someone else shows up and catches you for real. That window does sound dangerous though. Maybe just go out the front door?" she suggested innocently.
"That's suspiciously accommodating of you," said the thief. "Why so helpful all of a sudden? Where's that outrage you had a few seconds ago?"
"Well, as one of the faithful, I'm taking refuge in the idea that the spirits will make things right. But since you're a nonbeliever that shouldn't concern you, yes?"
"Yes. Well," he said uncertainly as he made his way towards the front door, giving her a wide berth as he did so, and not lowering the knife. "A pleasant evening to you, then. And really, do something about that floor. Otherwise someone's bound to take a nasty fall one of these days."
"You're probably right," Aveya said.
The thief darted through the door, and before it had even closed behind him Aveya heard a cry of alarm and then a prolonged series of thuds and crashes. It was a very tall staircase. With a lot of stairs.
"Oh, and mind those stairs our front," Aveya said quietly. "They can be tricky."
The great bell at the temple of Isham rang each day as the sun sank below the horizon. Traditionally, this marked the end of business for the day for most merchants, and the start of business for others. For Aveya, it meant that it was time to wake up and see to her duties, and since her windowless room was located just below the bell tower it was inconcievable that she could oversleep.
When Aveya was first warned about the location of her room, she had worried about what the bell would do to her ears. After her first day, she instead became concerned what the bell would do to her skeleton, since there seemed a real possibility that it would eventually be vibrated to pieces.
Several weeks had done nothing to inure her to the unpleasantness of waking up in a darkened room to a metallic echo that she could feel in her bones, and she flailed her arms wildly as she half fell out of her bed. In the process she managed to knock over her lantern, and she could hear it clang to the floor in a pale imitation of the bell up above. Aveya cursed quietly to herself as she slid the rest of the way out of bed and trod on a sharp piece of rock. That was a sufficient reminder about the hazards on the floor, and so she shuffled her feet the rest of the way over to the door in the dark, kicking aside rocks and marbles and for once not slipping on a slick of lamp oil. She was getting better at this.
The hallway outside was far easier to navigate in relative safety, since she had shadowy illumination to guide her around loose floor tiles, low-hanging parts of the ceiling, and other such obstacles. While getting cleaned up she managed to avoid scalding herself with overheated water or slipping on wet stone tiles. Her quick light meal was hardly perilous at all, though the tea was also very hot, and a less cautious diner might easily choke on one of the hard, dry biscuits.
Lulled into a false sense of security, she nearly fell down the short staircase of crooked, loose steps that led to the main hall. They were fairly hazardous, but nothing compared to the stairs out front that led to the main entrance to the temple. Those were considered some of the most dangerous stairs in the world, and were considered especially holy during winter when they were covered in ice.
Outsiders found Aveya's homeland a curious place, filled with odd customs and beliefs that Aveya had grown up with and therefor found mostly ordinary. Many cultures around the world had gods or spirits that looked after the dead, but Aveya's land had three, which many outsiders seemed to think was excessive. Asterso looked after those who died of disease or old age, Treysa collected those were murdered or killed in battle, and Isham watched over the souls of those who died accidental deaths.
Asterso and her sister Treysa were both seen as benevolent and kindly spirits who were simply looking after souls that had suffered misfortune that the spirits themselves did not control. Asterso did not bring plagues, and Treysa did not start wars. Asterso's temples tended to the sick, and Treysa's followers preached nonviolence and forgiveness.
Isham, however, was seen as having a mischievous and possibly even cruel sense of humor. As such, Isham's temples were set up as distractions for the spirit, and were filled with all manner of ridiculous yet mundane peril just to keep him occupied and to turn his attention away from the outside world. The faithful still visited, of course, but they kept their devotions as brief as possible. His temples tended to be prosperous but small, because there was no need for large groups to assemble for lengthy services. No one wanted to spend a long time under Isham's roof, for fear that it would fall on them.
As the newest and lowest-ranking initiate, it was Aveya's job to maintain and reset some of the less complicated hazards so that they would be in place during the next day. She had to replace and sufficiently loosen loose stones in the floor, partially re-attach railings, position fragile objects on free-standing, easily toppled pedestals near doorways, and so on.
Aveya had to admit that it had all seemed totally reasonable when it was only a small part of her country's overall religion, but now that it was the focus of her day to day life it all seemed slightly insane. She had not spoken of this to anyone else at the temple out of fear that it would get her thrown out. It was better than living on the street, after all. It might not be safer than living on the street, but it had three meals a day and hot running water, and that was worth a few stubbed toes, burns, and minor abrasions. Plus, she figured if there were any spirit likely to take revenge upon someone thrown out of its service, it would be Isham.
Aveya was often alone while she was at work, since the other keepers of the temple were either asleep or tending to other matters while the temple was closed for regular services. So Aveya was surprised to step into the main hall and find someone already there. She was even more surprised to see them rummaging around in a small alcove where visitors were not allowed.
"Oh!" she said, and the realized where the interloper was and what he was doing and amended her outburst to "Hey!"
The intruder whirled around, saw her, and then put a finger to his lips and made a shushing noise. With his other hand he held up a rather large knife in a vaguely threatening manner.
"Are you...are you robbing the temple?!" Aveya said in disbelief.
"Quiet!" the man said. "I'm trying to successfully rob your temple, and that means not getting caught," he said.
"Well, I've already caught you," pointed out Aveya.
"Technically," he conceded, "but I was thinking more in terms of being caught by someone...I don't know, more...imposing?" The intruder was probably twice Aveya's size, but even so Aveya found this rather insulting, and it must have shown on her face. "I mean, someone with more authority. Unless I miss my guess, based on the blandness of your outfit and the shift you're working, you're not very far up the chain of command here."
"Oh, that's much less insulting," Aveya said. She took a closer look at his features, and they confirmed her suspicions. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"Well no," he said. "I doubt you have many locals that steal from their own temples. I mean, what would be the point? Make offerings by day, steal them back by night. What does that even accomplish?"
"But you're fine with stealing someone else's offerings to the spirits?" Aveya said.
"Well, seeing as they aren't my spirits, yes. In fact, I think it's the most ethically permissible thing to steal. Surely the person who delivered the offering has already gotten credit for doing so, so it's no loss to them. The only victim here is an entity I don't even believe in."
"But that money goes to maintaining the temple!" objected Aveya.
"I find that hard to believe. I mean, look at this place - it's practically falling apart! When I climbed in through the window, the sill broke off and I nearly fell flat on my face. And the state of that floor is just shameful," said the thief.
"That's not - wait, do you even know whose temple you're stealing from?" Aveya asked.
"No, but since I don't believe if any of your spirits equally that hardly seems relevant," he said.
"Right," said Aveya. "Well, as you've already pointed out, I can hardly stop you. I guess you should just take your ill-gotten gains and make a break for it before someone else shows up and catches you for real. That window does sound dangerous though. Maybe just go out the front door?" she suggested innocently.
"That's suspiciously accommodating of you," said the thief. "Why so helpful all of a sudden? Where's that outrage you had a few seconds ago?"
"Well, as one of the faithful, I'm taking refuge in the idea that the spirits will make things right. But since you're a nonbeliever that shouldn't concern you, yes?"
"Yes. Well," he said uncertainly as he made his way towards the front door, giving her a wide berth as he did so, and not lowering the knife. "A pleasant evening to you, then. And really, do something about that floor. Otherwise someone's bound to take a nasty fall one of these days."
"You're probably right," Aveya said.
The thief darted through the door, and before it had even closed behind him Aveya heard a cry of alarm and then a prolonged series of thuds and crashes. It was a very tall staircase. With a lot of stairs.
"Oh, and mind those stairs our front," Aveya said quietly. "They can be tricky."
