Temple Duties [Open.]

Ah, the life of a priest. Or a monk, in his case; he was still technically 'in-training', even if he did all the normal priestly duties, and showed the powers and abilities of priests three times his age. Or what they thought his age was. Much of his past was a mystery, and no spell or focus had revealed it. He'd come to terms with not knowing his past, mostly; so long as he had something to keep his mind occupied and a future to look forward to he was happy.

It was because of this, and his aforementioned training, that he was in the gardens that day; the Temple of Anubis was a 'dark' place; full of black obsidian glass and quartz and shadows; but it was still holy, and Anubis is a highly popular and powerful deity; so the temple had a place of honor both on the main boulevard of the city sector, as well as being on the banks of the Great River. It meant they had plenty of access to all the water they wanted or needed, and therefore they where easily able to maintain lush gardens full of rare and valuable plants and trees. It was part of the training of the priests to grown and maintain the various plants that they used in rituals and for potions; and it was a task he rather enjoyed. The gardens, at least some of them, where open to the public as well; and it was one of the rare times a priest of Anubis was allowed to interact with the public, and the living in general; outside of their brothers and sisters. Most that came to these gardens wished to be left alone to contemplate things; think upon life and death, to visit the memorials to the ancestors and things of that nature.

Some did want to talk, and visit; usually family that was joining the order, or friends they had known before they came to the temple. Others where curious, with questions about the afterlife and the nature of death. Those people he tended to greet and speak with; he studied far more than most of his rank, so he was well versed and able to answer questions when the higher ranked brothers and sisters where unavailable.

At the moment however, he was tending to a rose garden; an extremely rare sight in the desert lands; they didn't tend to do well in the hot and arid climate, but these where a special breed of desert rose that was cultivated for the royal family. Only the priests of certain deities where allowed to grow them, and he took special care of their plants,

Alabaster pale skin, a left eye that was brown and a right that was pink, long hair that was a mixture of brown and pink and white, there was simply no way the female would blend in with the populace no matter how hard she tried: therefore she wasn't. She was, as was usual for her, dressed in a white knee length dress with short sleeves with a blue ribbon tied around the waist: the whole thing being made out of silk. Given how hot the sand could get she had changed up her usual bare feet for white shoes which had ribbons that went up around her ankles. Of course, the odd stares and whispers did little to bother the fifteen year old looking female: she simply kept walking and twirling the umbrella she carried with her with its intricate pattern: the umbrella doing wonders to protect her pale skin from the sun.

She was humming softly as she followed her nose: there was no way she would miss the distinct scent of flowers. Naturally curious as always Lux couldn't stop herself from going to have a look. What sort of flowers and plants could grow in this kind of climate? Books and stories did little compared to seeing the real thing, so it was an opportunity she wasn't going to pass up.

It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for; and to find herself within the confines of a beautiful garden. A soft pleased gasp escaped her as she looked around. "This place is amazing.." she whispered beneath her breath; choosing to use her native language for the moment since she wasn't actually addressing anyone. She paused, inspecting a beautiful flower without touching it; her happiness causing her to radiate a feeling of peace.

That... holy color. Granted, this part of the temple complex was extremely colorful in a way that screamed life; but that was nuts. Pink was a rare color in this desert world; outside of the sunsets and pink of youth's flesh before the sun was able to darken it. This was obviously an outsider, and many of the locals that where wandering about where starting to cause a minor commotion by staring and whispering in little groups. It was beginning to disrupt the flow of energy around the garden, so the other priests and monks where starting to separate them and get them moving about as they had been. Not a one was moving toward the outsider, however; so Nasus took it upon himself to greet the youth.

He approached with his hands tucked into his sleeves much in the way the other lower ranked priests and monks did; their uniforms covered most of their bodies entirely, with only their heads and faces uncovered when outside. He preferred to stay as covered as possible, it caused less headaches for everyone, as fewer people where alarmed by his... odd appearance. Beyond that, he was dressed entirely normally for the temple people, so he wouldn't stick out that much. It was common practice for them to approach outsiders, so he wasn't nervous about his duties or anything. It was a chance to be social; and while he was normally extremely mute, he did enjoy company that wasn't awkward.

Clearing his throat to both get her attention, and get his vocal chords working after so long, he croaked out a friendly enough, but rusty sounding, "Hello, outsider. Maybe I be of assistance?"

Lux was far too interested in the beautiful flowers to notice the commotion that her appearance was causing, nor notice those dispersing of said problem. Even if she had she wouldn't have cared: she never was bothered by what the humans thought of her since she knew that most of them were so close minded they couldn't help themselves. However, she did notice when she was being approached by a figure who seemed mostly covered from head to toe: a monk or priest perhaps? She wasn't one hundred percent of the customs of the area so she was grasping at straws for the moment.

Lux smiled easily as she turned her mismatched gaze on to the one speaking to her. "Hello there. I uh..", she gestured towards the flowers. "… was walking and could smell the flowers. I'm here visiting, and was quite surprised to see such beauty so I figured I would take a look." Lux ignored, of course, the fact that a normal human wouldn't have likely been able to smell all of this by just walking down the street – not without a good strong wind anyway.

Then again, Lux had never truly bothered to hide her differences. If any humans noticed she was something 'other' to their world and attempted to make trouble over it she would simply just move on elsewhere. Traveling was something she enjoyed doing, so it was never truly an issue. If the problem got to be too much then she would simply return home: or defend herself if it became a last resort option.

Accent. Definitely an outsider. He was not the type to launch into speech, it was more than just his training and almost voluntary muteness, he just never spoke without thinking. There was no breeze today, yet this person could smell the flowers outside of the temple? Even with a stiff breeze, that was a bit of a feat; the special enchantments and such that protected it meant that it was almost impossible to smell or hear anything once you where outside of the walls. No matter, he wasn't the type to judge, given he was entirely not human himself.

"You are welcome to the gardens, so long as you stay in the public areas. Those are marked by the blue seals above the doors. Other places are off limits, for the safety of all involved." That was the absolute truth, and his tone conveyed that. There where things within the walls of the temple that could easily kill entire armies, so a single child wandering around with no experience of what was within the walls was asking for dangerous situation to arise.

"Do you require any assistance, or have any questions? I would be happy to accommodate you."

So, some of the areas were closed off for the safety of all involved? Lux was a naturally curious creature, but she knew where the line was drawn. She had no intentions of causing trouble – she wasn't a trouble maker to begin with and tended to avoid – so she would ensure she stayed only in the places she was actually allowed. There were more than enough flowers to see after all, and she figured she would enjoy her time here all the same. No point in being nosy and possibly causing trouble for herself and others: as whatever it was he was talking about sounded quite dangerous indeed.

"Alright, not a problem." When he asked if she had any question she tilted her head a bit, much like a curious child would and then gestured with her left hand towards the flowers in front of her. "Actually.. I was a bit curious as to how you get all of this to grow. I've... done some traveling, a lot of it recently. Most places are completely bare of such beauty. It's like a lovely, rare treat to see something like this." Okay, she was a flower child: she loved all sorts, all colors. The more colors the better, which would be obvious by her rather strange and yet colorful hair and eyes.

"Simple enough, we have a mix of good soil, plenty of water from the river, and a little bit of magic. It is part of our duties to tend to the garden; to understand death, we must understand life; to maintain the balance, we must live in both worlds. Outsiders don't understand this, often; they assume that the priests of death are nothing but warmongers and plague spreaders. We are anything but; sadly perception is difficult to change."

He noticed an aphid on a a stalk of the desert roses and made a face behind the sash that wrapped low across his head, keeping everything but his eyes from being exposed. He reached for the bug, pulling it away from the plant and releasing the tiniest bit of his natural magic; causing the little pest to wither and pass into the next life painlessly. There was no reason to be a sadist, the bug was a pest, yes; but the pests where food for other insects and bird and reptiles and mammals that kept the gardens healthy. Everything had it's place, and all places where sacred. It just happened that this little one was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It would not suffer being eaten, but it's time on this world was at an end.