Paid Leave [Ninsianna, Arjana]

Even after only the briefest times in Inanna's company, Ninsianna was in a rather severe degree of spiritual agony. Of course, it still paled in comparison to the constant pain of civilization's near-collapse, and the emotional impact of seeing her goddess' image defiled. Frankly, no matter how painful it was to be dragged around seemingly without a plan, the simple fact that it brought her daughter joy was all Ninsianna needed to find it perfectly pleasant.

It proved a bit difficult not to work in the slightest while with Inanna, as it turned out. After all, there was potentially all manner of intelligence she could gather when in Vastime personally, but she had promised that she would not work. Any of that information, as far as she was concerned, was completely irrelevant.

So, instead, she simply traveled alongside her daughter, even when it led her to far off villages such as this. Perfectly pleasant, she admitted.

The simple life was always what she felt most comfortable in, Arjana was a little surprised though to hear of a peculiar duo that had appeared. Besides the fact that they were white which wasn't the most common visitor but they also had animal ears, they weren't even Vastimian officials like that visit from Atlas a couple years ago. So naturally Arjana felt as both the spiritual leader and the elected one for guiding the village that she ought to investigate and what did she see but the little girl so comfortably trying to make friends with the other village children and who Arjana could only discern as her mother overlooking from the background.

As much as she adored the children, she decided that her mother must surely be the more informative of the two.

"Salutations to you and your daughter, or would it be little sister? Ah, I'm sorry, I'm skipped introductions again. Apologies for such an intrusion, my name's Arjana. I suppose I'm in charge in both the spiritual sense and of the village. We don't see many visitors who aren't here on official business so please forgive any queer looks you receive."

It was something she'd never adjust to, welcoming strangers and trying to make that first contact. No less when even the choice of fashion was so jarring with Ninsianna's more modern clothes and she preferred to stick to the brown pieces of fabric which modestly covered her but remained nice and breezy so she didn't feel as hot or feel like the apparal restricted her range of movement. A more practical even if primitive look.

Another quick glance to Inanna and she saw that the little girl was already encouraging children to play with her ears like it was a means to break ice. How cute.

This village did certainly remind Ninsianna of her youth, in a few ways. The attire, the heat of the land. It was pleasant, in a few ways, and she greeted the woman who had approached with a smile.

"My daughter, yes. A pleasure to meet you, miss. My name is Ninsianna, and my daughter is Inanna. I apologize if our visit comes as something of a discomfort to you, but Inanna wished to show me something of Vastime other than the bustling cities."

She found Inanna's socializing quite precious herself, and smiled at the earnest friendliness on display. But, even as she did, she would be lying if she did not sense something a bit more noteworthy than the typical spiritual presences. Part of her wished to simply ignore it, but it was difficult to, she would be the first to admit.

"You mentioned that you were both the spiritual and mundane leader of this place, yes? That is quite admirable. I have served in much the same capacity, when I was a bit younger."

"Ah, I see. Well Vastime is a myriad of different cultures and people, much attributed to the fact this place was formed by banding together against struggle. Before it, a chaotic wasteland of nothing but death and tragedy and now I find its order and chance to flourish as quite pleasant but please, don't worry. I always enjoy when people want to explore the more remote regions of the country."

Just because they were strange and appeared out of place, it did not mean that she was going to suspect the worst of them or alienate them. Arjana appreciated when people came out here to this neck of the country. It warmed her heart.

"Oh? Ninsianna and Inanna, middle-eastern? Mesopotamia if I recall correctly and Inanna would mean pre-Akkadian?"

Contrary to her tribal lifestyle look, she did make an effort to learn. Antiques, cultures and history were prominent interests of her's which is what she filled her idle time when she goes to the capital. She never thought she'd actually be engaging in conversation about this though.

"Apologies, it was just a surprise. I didn't mean to ramble or pry. Though I am quite fascinated as to what your experiences hold. I cannot say my own culture is particularly long, a lot of our faith and norms are traditions which are altered over time by oral transmission through generations and interpretation of events. I was born with the a blessing of Death, I like to think of myself as more of a priestess rather than any kind of goddess incarnate as some do but my birth certainly revived worship of an old diety by the name of Nzambi."

It seemed to go by so quick but Arjana would admit that she was very eager to talk to a woman such as this, it seemed to good to be true to be able to display her interests and talk about them when it was something only she felt like she cared about. Not many of her kin were as familiar as her, whether that was disinterest or a lack of particular information not being readily available which is why she recited the tales and information she read in story format.

It certainly surprised Ninsianna to hear Arjana correctly guess her place of origin simply by their names, but she nodded with a smile at the woman's guess.

"I hardly mind at all. Few are able to place my homeland so quickly. I have quite many experiences, though I must also reluctantly admit that my culture is all but gone now, simply a part of the historical record. I am the last priestess of my goddess, though I would certainly tell you whatever you might wish to know. About my culture or my faith."

It seemed that everything was pushing Ninsianna to remember the home that she had not thought of in quite a long while now. Then again, perhaps that had all started with Inanna herself. What had compelled her to have a daughter, to name her in such a way?

You are as radiant as Inanna on this Earth, embodying all the good of her character.

"But I would, of course, be quite glad to hear whatever you would wish to tell me about your own faith as well."

The blessing of Death was something not lost on her. And, despite knowing how important it was to the cause of the Vandenreich, she might not have even cared, so devoted was she to this being a vacation with her daughter. However, she knew too that such a thing might have been crucial beyond measure to the purpose she had found for herself. To remove the blight that had dared to make impure the image of her goddess, she would do anything.

"Oh my, I feel suddenly so young and naive in your presence, Ninsianna. You mean to say you... have lived since such a time?"

She paused when she almost asked if Inanna had come from such an era as well as her but it felt evident that it was not the case. She could not imagine a childish innocence surviving through such turmoil with how gruesome history could be to the people in it. In the pure nature of her faith, she counted death as a blessing and the idea of immortality was truly terrifying.

"It would be my pleasure to share our faith with you and I would be given an honour to learn of a point in history like that from first-hand experience. Any question you might have I would be happy to answer, or to share our rituals and traditions with you."

Arjana gazed back at Inanna who was pleasantly occupied, letting Ninsianna decide. It was no exactly subservience but most assuredly a vested interest in learning all that she could from the woman.

"Oh, do not feel naive. I have lived since then, yes, but even the shortest lives have great meaning to them. Human lives are the stars of the Earth."

Such a statement was made a little bit more forcefully than the typical businesslike pattern Ninsianna typically had. It did, of course, have far more meaning than most that she said, but she did not wish to make this entirely about herself, either. Ninsianna was not nearly so self-absorbed, nor was she so unilaterally obsessive with her object of worship. It would run counter to her own ideals, and the ideals the two of them had shared, if she were so.

"As I am the visitor in this place, it is naturally only right that I share first with you. If I may, I would be pleased to share with you my recollection of the writing of the Code of Ur-Nammu."

A memory dear to her, and of course, one that she was quite certain would be of interest to this woman.

"Hmm, that's very wise."

She almost wanted to discuss the comparison to stars a bit more, she was by no means a woman of science and found it all go over her head but Arjana was a scholar and the basic idea of stars being compared to humans wasn't something she'd ever heard before but with the focus on death that her faith had, stars did burn out. Death wasn't pointless nor something to live in fear of as far as she was concerned.

"Most certainly. What might the Code of Ur-Nammu be? Is it a set of commandments or a mystic script to be deciphered for religious purposes?"

Wild guesses based on the name, she could only make due with what she had available to her and to her dismay there was just so little available on them, all of the wars did not help.

"It was the code of laws written down by the King Ur-Nammu. The first, in fact, to be committed to the written word. I am able to recite the tale for you orally, if you so wish it, but I am capable of sharing it in far more complete means."

Her clipboard manifesting in her hand, Ninsianna allowed a few photographs to form upon it, before pulling them off and holding them out to Arjana. Each of them was a snapshot of her own memories of that event, seen through her own eyes. By no means perfect, of course, but as the head priestess at the time, she had been given the task of blessing those first tablets written down. Her view of them, as such, had been quite complete.

"Video, audio, even a full text record of everything spoken at the time. I am quite happy to share with you whatever of that moment you would care to see or hear."

Complete means? Arjana had to wonder what that could be. Did she have them physically on her? Through the trial of time and deterioration. Apparently yes but in a way that she would never have fathomed. It made her feel a little bad.

"This is incredible, it is quite breathtaking but I have to confess that it makes me feel a little lacking. I have only orations and whatever ceremonies that I can share with you though the latter do require such a set-up."

The more recent one that happened to test her sure happened to be the repair of Atlas' arm and what a trial that was for her. She was quite limited in her scope compared to other individuals of the world.

"These are all so fascinating though. To have witnessed such an event in person must've been incredible in hindsight."