Day Seventy-six: What does it all mean?

I am again overwhelmed with assignments. I am spending the night at Surane Leoriane's house in Caldera. She tells me word is out among the Blades; Caius wants to see me. I considered taking the guild guide to Balmora tonight, but opted to take the opportunity to catch up with Surane. The ring of smugglers and Cammona Tong thugs that I broke up near Hla Oad do seem to tie back to House Hlaalu and the Caldera Mining Company, but the connections are still not clear. I wish I could repay Surane's hospitality by doing some investigating. My amulet of shadows and relative anonymity in Caldera would allow me some latitude that Surane does not have. I have no time right now though. Even without knowing what Caius has in mind I can guess it will have me busy. Busier than I am already.

My newfound interest in the temple is not sitting well with everyone in the Mage's Guild. Ranis sent word to Ald-ruhn, saying that if I had time to take the pilgrimages I had time for more duties. I will need to check in with her in Balmora tomorrow also. Edwinna gave me that bit of news, and threw in a task of her own besides. An expedition doing research in a Dwemer ruin is supposed to send her regular reports, and they are overdue. She gave me brief directions to the ruin and went back to her research before I could swallow the bite of kwama egg I was chewing. I wouldn't refuse her anyway, but it would be nice to be allowed to accept. Whatever task Ranis has, I'm sure refusing her isn't an option either. Having delivered numerous 'or die' messages for her I'm sure turning down her assignments would be considered high treason punishable by death. I will have to balance my guild duties with the pilgrimages. I am learning valuable information about the temple, so I don't want to quit them.

Tuls Valen was very pleased with my report from Suran. While he is the ranking temple priest in Ald-ruhn, the remoteness of the posting indicates he is not a loud voice in the temple hierarchy. The virtues exemplified in the pilgrimages seem to operate very powerfully in his life. At the same time, he does follow orders. It was precisely the remoteness of Ald-ruhn that saddled him with the task of dealing with Elvil Vedron, the false incarnate, without attracting Imperial attention. He was glad to have that business handled, but did not seem to really understand why the temple is making such a big deal about the Nerevarine Prophecies. He was very glad no blood had been spilled, though I get the impression those above him would have cared less. The simple virtues of the local temples are certainly good, but I wonder how far they extend upwards into the leadership of the temple as a whole. My next pilgrimage is again to Vivec City, to the Shrine of Generosity, at the doors of the Palace of Vivec himself. I think that as part of this trip I will make a visit to the High Fane, the governing center for the temple throughout Vvardenfell.

I took my time on the road sorting all this through today. It was noon before I was ready to leave Ald-ruhn anyway, so I made it a leisurely march to Caldera rather than trying to rush the pilgrimage, or my other tasks. I will depart early in the morning and should reach Balmora by noon. I could take the guild guide, but I'm still not ready to hurry. My various task masters will just have to be patient. If I am the reincarnation of Nerevar, how could there be so many people in positions to tell me what to do?