She tried not to smile. “Just another Sergeant,” he said. As a rule, Knight-Adamants had to serve for twenty years to obtain the rank of Sergeant and few lived long enough. She was certain she not only was the youngest Sergeant in the Order, but perhaps in the history of the Order.

“I will do my best not to disappoint you, Father-Bishop.”

“If I thought there was even a remote possibility of that, I would have given someone else the job,” said Creegan. “Now, go make your call on the High Priestess, get something to eat, and rest. I think you’ll discover this post is nothing close to as easy as you think.” He motioned with his hands at the pile of papers and said, “More men have been defeated by reports than all the steel of all the swords in history.” Then with his right hand he made a dismissive gesture and she rose, bowed slightly, and left his quarters.

Under any normal circumstance, she would have been elated at the promotion, for it would have been a signal that the Goddess had found her service noteworthy. This circumstance felt like it was not a gift, or reward, but a heavier burden. Still, she chided herself, if the Goddess wished to place an even bigger burden on her, it would only mean greater service, and that the Goddess deemed her able to meet the demands of office.

Still, she thought as her stomach growled, she wished she could get something to eat before calling on the High Priestess.

Sandreena made her call on the High Priestess, who was as Creegan predicted: distracted by the need to leave the next day for the arduous ride to the port of Salador, where she and Creegan would take ship to Rillanon for the convocation to elect the new Grand Master of the Order of the Shield of the Weak. The High Priestess had no official duties regarding the Order, but as every prelate of rank would be in attendance while the Order conducted their ceremonies and went through the motions of putting Creegan in charge, everyone else would be playing temple politics. Sandreena was glad that she remained behind, even if she had responsibility for the Order in Krondor, which meant supervising the Order in the entire Western Realm of the Kingdom of the Isles.

After she had finally eaten, Sandreena had returned to the common barracks of the Order and had given her dirty tabard and clothing to a servant to be cleaned. She preferred to care for her own arms and armor. She went to the communal bath, enjoying the fact of it being empty, and gave herself over to a completely thorough cleaning.

While she scrubbed her filthy hair, she considered her feelings about Creegan’s departure; it was as good as ordained since she had first met him, yet there was always this feeling…She sighed.