He also wondered about his relationship with Syn, her goddess. He knew of her only vaguely. She wasn't a common goddess. It was rare to find followers unless you rubbed shoulders with the seedier people in the world, or the very elite.

A few nights ago, Jennifer had explained that the name Syn was often mixed up with sinful acts. Jennifer, being very drunk, had snorted, and said even her heraldry was intentionally rude to snub those who spoke against her.

"Syn loves booze," Jennifer had said with a thick slur, raising the bottle in her hand. "Panty remover she calls it. She loves nothing better than watching people fuck and drunk people really fuck, ya know? I mean, I totally want to fuck right now. And I'm drunk. See?"

She giggled. “What was I talking about? Syn? Right? Her name means refuse. Urm, no, sorry Syn." She looked up. "I know! Okay? Geesh.

Sorry. I meant to say refusal. Defensive refusal. In other words, she defends truth, justice, and denial. Before her ascension, she guarded the doors to the other gods and goddesses."

Daniel had been interested in what Jennifer had been saying and pushed Jasmine off his leg where she had lain on top of him on one side, squeezing his muscles with interest, and kind of humping his leg a little. "Really? I always thought she was about the sins of the world. Lust, greed, gluttony, all that stuff. But justice? Truth?"

Jennifer snorted and swigged more whiskey. "Yeah, I know, right? Even Quinten thought that. The idiot."

"The dwarf I saw in Acron, Brian Bitmyth," said Daniel. "He's an actual cleric of Syn. He made it very clear that sex was the path to Syn."

Jennifer rolled her eyes. "I know him. Fucked him once. Though he prefers the dick, to be honest. He said that cause he's a sex addict.

Most followers of Syn are truth be told. Syn has a soft spot for them. I suspect she's an addict herself. Don't know why she wouldn't be. No, her true purpose is righting wrongs. Seeing justice served.

T mean, that's what attracted me to her."

“How did you find her?" asked Daniel. Amy and Jasmine were paying close attention now.

"She found me. Something happened. I won't speak of it. I don't think I'll ever be able to speak of it. I was at the bottom of a barrel. Literally. My life was about to end. Badly. I was deep into the injustice of it all. Syn made herself known to me. I hadn't even prayed to her. She appeared in my head, asked me a bunch of stuff, and apparently, I answered her correctly. She gave me the best orgasm of my life and I was out of there. Next thing I know, I'm being trained by a female warrior in the north. She taught me everything there is to know about fighting and fucking other women. Once my teacher had run out of things to teach me, Syn returned and offered to make me her paladin, and I said yes." Jennifer's eyes went unfocused. "She fucked me so good after that. What a dick she has..."

Daniel choked on his whiskey. "Dick!?"

Jennifer's face turned wistful. "Oh yes. She can be a man or a woman.

But she prefers being a woman, she told me. She finds her mind much more analytical. And the orgasms are better." Jennifer licked her lips. "I tend to agree with her. Am I right, ladies?"

The chorus of quick agreements made Daniel bite off the snarky remark he was about to make.

“How'd you end up here?" asked Daniel.

"Syn, of course. She sent me. She calls me. Not with words or anything like that, as I said. She just never speaks. It's like you know what she's saying without hearing it. It's like intuition. I just know I need to be somewhere. I don't question it. Like knowing you have to pee." She looked up. “What? I know, terrible analogy, sorry Syn." She looked at them. "Sorry, sometimes she interrupts me.

I once asked her, why don't you just tell me where to go since you talk to me all the time? She said it doesn't work that way. I mean, what kind of fucked up answer is that?

"What was I talking about? Oh, right. She's sent me all over the country. I step in, resolve shit, see justice served, cut off a few heads sometimes, enjoy the after-justice sex parties, and carry on.

"Then I found myself at the school and registering. Had to pretend to be a noob adventurer looking for more training." She snorted.

"Quinten met me right away when he sensed me. I was already a paladin, just not formally trained, and so showing up at the school made little sense to him. He was like some little yappy little dog protecting his territory. Yap! Yap!" Jennifer snorted and Daniel thought it was cute. "So, he shows up and pretends to be all so much better than me. Lording his One God bullshit over me.

"Then he made it A-Bun-Dant-Ly clear that a follower of Syn was not welcome at the Academy. If I were to stay, I had to cover up my heraldry. And these big tits of mine. He was not a fan. Which was weird. They're a present from Syn, by the way. Selfish on her part, I admit. She loves big tits. She says it's the male part of her nature. Anyway, I'm about to get up in Quinten's smug face when Syn said she didn't mind, so I agreed with his stupid conditions.