Avundar

"What are you doing out here this early?" Navarro heard a sleepy voice ask.

He looked up and pushed his hair from his eyes. He was careful to place a finger in his book to retain his page. With the morning shadows long and the birds singing their first melodies, he was surprised to see anyone up so soon. He especially did not expect to see this individual--one of the last to finally settle and go to bed last night. Rising from his seated position against the tree, he bowed courteously to the King's daughter, Saranisen.

"Well, good morning to you, too," he teased.

A grin lit her face at seeing Navarro's contagious smile, then she yawned profoundly and placed a hand over her mouth. She started to apologize, but the Paladin laughed and waved off the gesture.

"Please forgive me if my reclining here was too loud and woke you so early this morning," he joked.

"You have been out here with your book since sunrise. I saw you studying that same book last night before sunset. I am curious. What enthralls you about that literature that it keeps drawing your attention to it again and again? And why would you be out here this early in the day with it?"

"To the east, there is a break in the canopy, allowing some sunlight to warm me and to read by, so I sat down by the tree to fellowship with God for a while."

"Fellowship with God?" she asked skeptically, her face twisting in confusion. "How do you communicate with God by reading a book?"

"There is much more to communing with God than reading a religious tome. I gain strength, encouragement and joy from this book. I can get alone in a quiet and peaceful place to converse with God in prayer, but I listen to Him talk to me through His Word," Navarro explained, nodding to the book. "How about you? Do you take time time to communicate with the Lord God?"

"The Silver Elves worship Sistal, the nature goddess of Verdant Wood. We do not really talk to our goddess and neither does she talk to us. We guard and protect these woods which she entrusted to us, and we offer sacrifices of the fruits of the forest during the full moon. A moral life, stewardship of these woods and worthy sacrifices are all Sistal demands of us. That's the elves' way to commune with our goddess. But since you are a human, I am sure she is not your god."

"You are correct. She is not. But I am intrigued by your belief. I discern you assume there are a variety of different gods any individual can choose to follow."

Saranisen nodded her affirmation.

"Now I am curious. In your opinion, how many gods do you think there are," he asked.

Saranisen shrugged her shoulders, scratching her temple as she thought. "That is hard to say. I have never been asked that before. I guess it all depends upon how many different communities of people there are. From what I understand, each race worships a different god, and there are even different gods for various cities. I guess there has to be about five or six score gods out in the world somewhere," she answered confidently, thinking she had given the Paladin a fair estimate.

Navarro deferred to her answer with a nod and a smile.

"Which one of those gods do you think created the heavens and the earth," he asked.

Saranisen looked to him sheepishly. This time she had no answer. Guessing a roundabout figure for the amount of gods was one thing, but pinpointing one exact god for such a task was an entirely different challenge. "I really do not know," she finally answered after a long silence.

"Can I tell you which it was?"

Saranisen shook her head eagerly. All of this was new information to her, ideas she had never considered. She'd always been cognizant of the physical realm, never delving into the depths of her religion which centered around an impersonal goddess. Intrigued, she sat down across from Navarro and leaned in. What God could create an entire world and the sky above?

"What I hold in my hands is the most powerful tool in all of history. This is the Word of God, the Bible, a book the Lord has kept incorruptible and indestructible no matter how many different hands of different generations it has passed through.

"I worship the God of this Bible, not because He's my favorite of all the hundreds of other gods, but because He said He is the only God. He is the God who spoke the world into existence, the people, the animals, everything. But yet a God of such magnitude knows each individual personally. He knows you, Saranisen."

"He does. He would spend his time knowing about the fourth child of an elf?"

"He would. He knows how many hairs you have on your head. He knows all your needs. He knows your desire. He knows what is important to you, and the things important to you become important to Him.

Her mouth fell open. "Your Deity actually cares about me and is interested in me?

"He is."