“I can’t climb it anymore, so I can’t reach,” she told me.
“Right...”
I took it, and she returned to the candlesticks. I opened up the damp cloth and looked up at the statue, then at the stepladder that was about my height. I’d never thought I’d end up cleaning in a temple in an entirely separate world. I laughed, stepping up onto the ladder.
The statue was polished stone, shockingly smooth to the touch. Even the wrinkles in the saint’s clothes were carved with exquisite detail, though, so a simple once-over with my wet cloth wasn’t enough to get it clean. It was probably my personality that had me working carefully at it despite how much effort it seemed it would take. I’d always been a bit of a fastidious one.
Once I’d spent the time to wipe all the dust off, the statue seemed even shinier than it had before. I descended the ladder, satisfied at my accomplishment. When I turned around, I could see the woman was wiping down the pews. I thought for a few moments, the cloth still in hand, before washing it out in the bucket and starting on the opposite set of pews. She must have come here regularly, as there wasn’t a very thick layer of dust on them. A quick wipe with the damp cloth was enough to get them clean.
By the time I finished the last of them and headed back, the woman was sitting on the front pew. She patted the seat next to her when she noticed me, and I hesitantly sat as she’d asked.
“You were a real help, thanks. The saint is happy too.”
“Really?” I asked. “She looks pretty expressionless to me.”
“I’m just looking at her and thinking that to myself. She’s a statue, so she’s never going to look any different.”
I nodded in understanding, looking up at her statue. I couldn’t say that it didn’t feel somewhat like she was smiling.
“You’re not from this world, are you?” the woman asked suddenly.
I practically leaped up in shock; my expression must have been pretty dumbstruck as I looked at her. She didn’t laugh, though, instead looking at me with an expression that was just as unreadable as the saint’s.
“How can you tell?” I asked eventually. “Is there a sign on my back?”
She gave a soft snort at my joke and just pointed at my shoes.
“Those aren’t from this world. The materials and manufacturing are both obviously different from the ones here.”
I looked down. The shoes were indeed from my world. They were light and sturdy, suitable for mountain climbing, so they’d been pretty expensive.
“You know your shoes, huh?”
“Of course. It’s my job. I don’t know exactly what kind of place your world was, but your shoes tell me it was affluent.”
I nodded vaguely. Compared to this world, it certainly was. More advanced too. Also, it wasn’t in ruins.
“Do you come here often, ma’am?”
“Every day. There’s nowhere else I have to go, and I would feel bad leaving the saint to languish.”
I didn’t know whether it was piety or just her wanting to continue a familiar routine. The woman bent forward and the sun lit her face up in profile as she looked up at the statue. Eventually, she brought her hands together in front of her chest and softly cast her eyes down.
I wasn’t really familiar with religion or prayer. I knew that it wasn’t something I should interfere with, though, and I could assume that this time was important to the woman, so I left her to it.
“Are you staying the night?” she asked bluntly once she’d finished her prayers.
I checked my watch. It would be evening in no time. I was still tired from driving and didn’t feel like heading off anywhere else.
“I think so, yes.”
“You can sleep here then,” she replied calmly.
It almost seemed like a joke to me, but she wasn’t laughing, and she didn’t seem like the type to joke around either.
“In the temple?” I asked after a minute.
“Did you see some other hut out there?”
“Well, I didn’t see an inn at least.”
“The only people that come here are coming for the temple. There are rooms inside for them.”
“Oh, I see. Then I’ll accept your...”
As I spoke, I looked up at the statue and trailed off. The whole place felt mysterious. The entirety of the high-ceilinged temple had an air to it which I still wasn’t used to. An obvious worry came to mind.
“There’s nothing to be scared of at night here, right?” I asked.
She looked at me, bemused.
“What would there be in a place like this?”
I couldn’t do anything but offer a vague agreement when asked in such a straightforward way. This vague, ominous fear was obviously lacking any real cause. I’d never seen any ghosts or anything in this world either.
“We’ll be stopping here, then, yeah.”
I considered setting the tent up in the village, but I slept in the tent every night and wouldn’t have minded a solid roof over my head and some calm sleep from time to time, and I certainly wasn’t going to say no to a soft bed. If I could crawl into a bed, it didn’t matter whether it was in an inn or just an uninhabited temple.
“Be careful with your fire,” she told me, picking up the bucket and leaving.
To me, encounters between survivors in this ruined world were things to be treasured, but this woman seemed completely at ease with it all. It felt like I’d just chatted with someone while waiting for a bus on a Saturday, I reflected, as the woman left the temple.