Bibles and Bribes 2

It was with great confusion in her heart that Delight found herself heading to the Church of Sulfur.

She had been enjoying the chance to get to know a much younger bun, Madeira, whose food she greatly enjoyed, and she enjoyed her company too, both in and out of the bedroom.  She’d finally gotten the other to open up more about her life and now, she found herself utterly baffled by not only what she had learned, but also Madeira’s feelings on subjects dear to her heart.  It was due to this that Delight entered the Church, seeking one of the clergy.

Oleander seemed to be quite busy, judging by the moans she heard from the confessional booth.  It did make her smile a little bit, at least - sometimes the cure to problems was to fuck about them, after all.  The world seemed better and brighter after a good orgasm or two.  It wasn’t the solution for her right now, but maybe once she’d had a chance to chat with someone…

Mercy was at the tithe box as Dee approached, just setting it back into place.  It was a little unusual, since it was the middle of the day, but she assumed someone must have left a large donation that wouldn’t be wise to leave sitting out in the open.

“Oh, Dee, you startled me!”  Mercy pressed a hand to their chest as they spotted her.  “...you look upset, is something wrong?”

“Could we… talk privately?”

“Of course, let’s go to my office,” Mercy said, leading the way.  Once in the room, they shut the door behind Dee, and gestured to her to sit in one of the chairs.  “What’s wrong?”

“I…”  Dee sighed softly, and untied her ears to let them flop down.  Her head hurt.  “Do you know a bun named Madeira?”  Madeira had mentioned them briefly, but that didn’t mean Mercy would remember her among the thousands of buns they had dealt with in their career as the head nun.

“Oh, Murmur, Madeira…  Yes, of course, she’s one of the most challenging buns I’ve dealt with, besides the Envies, of course,” Mercy said, folding their hands on their lap.  “Did she… do something?” they asked, hesitant.

“No, no, I frequent her restaurant and well, we’ve gotten close,” Dee said, knowing Mercy would intuit the right kind of ‘close’ that she meant.  “I was curious about why she is some of the ways she is, and finally got her to open up, and…”

“Ohhh.”  Mercy leaned forward to pat Dee’s knee.  “And now you have questions, I take it?”

Delight nodded quietly.  “I never knew any demons besides Lord Murmur,” she said, eyes downcast.  “I assumed, when I heard that other demons were beginning to participate in raising our young, that they would be like him…”

Mercy nodded sympathetically.  “I did too, at one point,” they said.  “Of course, I have now interacted with more.  Some of them fetch their wards directly, now, rather than waiting for Lord Murmur to return to them.”  They sighed quietly.  “They are all different from one another, and yet all beyond our comprehension.”

Delight sighed softly.  “I do know they are beyond our comprehension, but after what Madeira told me, I cannot help but wonder…  Might there not be some sort of way to avoid over burdening Lord Murmur, so that individuals like Lady Gremory or Lord Azgad do not need to raise our children?”

Mercy sighed quietly.  “I’m afraid you are not the first to ask me that,” they said.  “I wish I could say yes, but I can’t.”

Delight sighed.  “I assumed that would be the case,” she said.  “I thought that if there was a better way… surely we would have already done it.  After the Envies…”

“I have wondered myself on occasion, what we could do,” Mercy said.  “But ultimately, I do my best to trust in the wisdom of Lord Murmur and the demons who created our kind.  They had a reason to make us, and though they keep their hand light in guiding our society.  I do not know the reasons, of course, but I hold faith that one day, we will see them fulfilled, and if we do not understand then, we will perhaps at least be on our way to understanding more.”

“Do you have thoughts on the reasons?”

Mercy hummed softly, and stood, going to their bookshelf.  They took down a book of scripture, and brought it back to Delight.  “I had to copy down my notes into a document of their own, as I ran out of space in the margins,” they said, handing it to Delight.  “I’ll still want this back, but I know you’ll return it, and I think maybe you’ll understand my thoughts better if you can read my notes of the past few years in context with the words of our faith.  I don’t have simple thoughts about the reasoning of Lord Murmur - I think about what makes a society, about how our vices shape our behavior, and what each sin adds to the whole.”  They tucked their veil behind their shoulder.  “I don’t believe we can seek easy answers in wrestling with the questions posed by Lady Gremory, Lord Azgad, and the things we might one day see in our future.  Rather, we must look beyond our natural responses to consider larger purposes.”

Delight considered that, her hand resting on the cover of the scripture.  “I suppose that makes sense,” she said, after a moment.  “We’re all so much younger than them, aren’t we?  Even if they and their reasons are beyond our comprehension, there’s wisdom in considering these things, especially as our society moves towards its second century.  Thank you, Mercy, and I will be certain to return it quickly.”

“Exactly,” Mercy said, looking pleased.  “I don’t personally believe we can ever truly understand demons, but I think we learn and become better by the effort of trying to understand those who made us, and we don’t have to understand them to trust them.”

It wasn’t quite the answers Delight had hoped for, precisely, but she still felt lighter when she did head home.  Even if she didn’t have any concrete answers, she was glad to have spoken with Mercy.  More in-depth study of scripture probably was the best way to think further on the matter.