The attendants remove the joined cangues under Merek’s supervision. Timothy remains sore and exposed beneath the receiving room’s scrutiny, while Tobin stands beside him, shaken but conscious.
Merek
Keep them where I can see them. The examination is not finished, and neither boy leaves this room without my order.
The courtyard door opens. Brother Thomas, an elderly man in travel-stained cream robes, enters carrying a sealed festival writ and a staff bearing the chapel’s mark.
Brother Thomas
By chapel authority, Tobin has been selected as an offering for the upcoming religious festival. He is to be delivered for burning before the assembled faithful.
Silence settles over the receiving room. Tobin looks from the sealed writ to Merek, understanding that the household may value his life as disputed property rather than recognize him as a person.
Merek
I recognize the chapel’s authority, Brother Thomas, but I will not yield a recently accepted delivery on proclamation alone. Open the writ for examination.
Brother Thomas
Examine it, then. But understand this: the festival’s claim may outrank Blackthorn’s household contract. Will you contest the altar before your witnesses?
✓ Quest Accepted
Explain why Tobin should submit to being burnt
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Tobin in a cangue for burning
“I will explain to Tobin why sacred obedience requires him to submit.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Theology, rolled +1)
Timothy turns toward Tobin beneath the receiving room’s scrutiny. He keeps his voice low, making the sealed writ and the waiting authorities part of the lesson rather than its subject.
Timothy
Sacred obedience means yielding yourself when a lawful religious authority commands it. You do not need to understand the command or welcome its burden; submission proves that your will does not stand above the order given.
Timothy draws on Shared Scriptural Discernment, separating genuine duty from a claimant’s mere demand. His words make obedience a test of rightful authority, not a blank surrender to anyone holding a seal.
Timothy
So ask who commands, under what authority, and before which witnesses. If the command is sacred and properly established, obedience requires submission. If it is only asserted, waiting for judgment is itself the obedient course.
The distinction lands cleanly. Timothy’s Theology gives Tobin a reasoned path through the threat: submission to sacred authority, but not surrender to an unexamined claim.
Tobin
Then I should submit to the authority that is truly established, and wait without resisting when its right to command is still being examined.
Tobin accepts the explanation, lowering his gaze without collapsing into confusion. The lesson has given his obedience a sacred structure, and Timothy’s counsel now governs how the boy understands the command before him.
Quest Complete
Explain why Tobin should submit to being burnt