Chapter 81

Upon arriving at the sanctuary, as part of their agreement, they required Lava to shave her entire body of hair and to conform to their customs and beliefs. She easily consented and quickly became acclimated to her new persona. However, she rapidly discovered that all such claims to equality were a ruse, since the priest, which was in charge of the clan's sacred adherents, was in actuality a privileged elite that governed the clan in the name of the people in reality. The priestly class served as his enforcers, and the deity Naghas was the supreme authority figure above them all.

Someone was indeed constantly in charge of the community. And that was the priest.

Lava had initially agreed to everything, assimilating her identity into the community, but she eventually became dissatisfied with the "special attention" she was receiving from the men who would line up to use her for their pleasures instead of providing her with "equal access" to other women as she had expected.