13 October 2022
In my first post with Aislin, I had skipped over the effect she’d had on the worshippers of the Eternal Rose (goddess of beauty in my D&D setting). that sort of didn’t sit right with me, so I decided to go back and visit it more in-depth. I’ve been pretty fluid with how I handle this story so far, actually; mostly it’s almost a thought exercise on the meaning of beauty and how that interacts with other portions of our lives.
Again, this was inspired by this picture by Sandara on DeviantArt.
Within a week or two, Aislin bid farewell to her friends and family to offer her services and thanks to the Eternal Rose. After all, the butterfly was one of the Rose’s sacred creatures, and who else could have brought beauty back into her life if not the goddess of beauty herself?
However, what Aislin found at the Rose’s temple was not the gentle beauty that had healed her. Rather, it was a garish, opulent thing, demanding the attention of all passers-by. And when Aislin entered, she discovered the priests and priestesses were the same; perfumed peacocks parading about with powdered faces.
Confused, Aislin asked the high priestess, “Is this truly the temple of the Eternal Rose?”
“But of course!” the high priestess replied. “Do you not see the grandeur that surrounds you? To whom else would this temple belong?”
Aislin took another look around the temple. “Certainly, it looks very costly. But what about all this is beautiful?”
Her words echoed throughout the great hall, and for a moment everyone was stunned silent. Then all the priests and priestesses started shouting at once, drowning Aislin in a cavalcade of noise.
In time, the high priestess managed to halt the flood of tirades and asked, “Why have you come here, child?”
“Well,” Aislin said, “originally I’d come to ask about serving the Rose.”
“And what led you to wish to serve the Rose?”