galvarelli/sarlastory/outline.txt

overarching theme: trying to do the right thing can make things worse

big conflict: role of the hierarchy in galvarellan culture, treason / excommunication of the hierarch and appointment of auroklos as hierarch
small internal conflict: sarla doing what?
	deciding on supporting auroklos?
	Sarla ends up convincing herself that throwing herself into her studies and practice will give her security. She's wrong.


Sarla given to hierarchy as a young child, raised in service
Sarla is educated and grows up, not many chlidren given to the Hierarchy, and she's aware of the commotion around Yakaterina's arrest.
She enjoys her time with her friends Cyril and Marina.
They approach the age of the Trial (traditionally 14) with trepidation, because if they fail they'll be turned out from the Hierarchy.
This freaks out Sarla, who only knows about her father, who won't write back in response to her letters, and is scared of losing everything.
As Sarla grows up, she starts to learn about the Meadowlark in her extra classes, in preparation for her Trial.
Her teachers, Tomasz (one of the Practicants in charge of leading a class) and Grigory (who has only recently sworn his vows) begin to teach her the Exercise of Connection.
When she starts to learn and practice the Exercises, Sarla is distracted by a buzzing sound others seem to be unaffected by.
It distracts her enough that Sarla starts disturbing her classes.
Tomasz and Grigory point out that if she can't do the basics, she probably is not going to succeed at her Trial, and suggest she just give up.
Sarla freaks out, and starts studying during her free time.
They don't have any advice for her, just to stop letting her mind wander to random sounds.
She spends less and less time with Marina and Cyril, but both of them try to hang out with her while studying anyway.
She does start to despair though, because she can't keep her mental focus on the exercises, because of her friends and because she keeps hearing that damned buzzing.
Eventually she learns to ignore those distractions more, but by this point she's basically been barred from actually attending classes.
She spends her time in the Library, learning from books instead of her instructors.
When she turns 12 she's informed she will be facing the Trial early.
It's up to Tomasz to decide when she's ready, and he wants her to be not his problem anymore.
He figures that since she'll fail anyway, might as well do it early.
She rightly freaks out. It's a dick move on his part.

The day of the Trial, she's barely slept and is an absolute mess.
The buzzing sound has been getting worse and worse, and she's having a very hard time concentrating when she prcatices.
She enters the classroom where the Trial is being held, and it's a Councillor (scary!) and a Master, Master Auroklos.
The Councillor seems annoyed to have to give a trial to a very young yak, but Auroklos seems to mostly pity her.
They send her out for a moment to talk to Tomasz, and Sarla overhears him telling the examiners that she does not have potential.
Auroklos says that Tomasz should have just waited for her to reach 15, the maximum age for her to pass the Trial before she couldn't stay in the Hierarchy any longer.
The Councillor agrees, but bemoans how expensive it is raising a yak.
In any case, as the Councillor points out, Tomasz has done his part already, and the Council has added her name to the register of Trials, and this Trial is going to happen.

She starts doing the exercises as they take note, and seem relatively unimpressed.
She tries her absolute best, but as the Trial goes on, the buzzing sound gets louder and louder and eventually throws off her concentration, and she's devastated.
She's clearly failed, and gives up and runs out of the room.
As she leaves, she kicks one of the planters because it's particularly loud.

Auroklos calls her back in, asking why she picked that one.
Through tears she explains that it's too loud and she can't tune it out.
Auroklos seems surprised, and the Councillor face palms.
Auroklos whispers something about there needing to be consequences, and the Councillor resignedly agrees.
Auroklos walks Sarla out of the room, down the hall, and Tomasz is called back in.
Sarla sits silently as Auroklos talks about something confusing, until he mentions that 12 is still too young for vows anyway, but she will have to be studying Meadowlark things.
She's passed! What?
Yes the buzzing sound was the Meadowlark, the Voice of Beasts.
She hasn't yet learned to control it, but turns out all her ridiculous practice was just making it easier to hear it. Whoops.
Tomasz and Grigory will face some serious consequences for missing that their student was more competent than they were.

Sarla does better.
She's awkward and her new classmates are older and don't like her.
Many are friends of Grigory and Tomasz, and their punishment is harsh.
They blame Sarla.
Sarla also is now less able to talk to her friends, Marina and Cyril.

The stuff she's studying is fascinating, and she throws herself into it.
When she reaches 15 she decides whether to say vows and become a Renunciate in the Hierarchy or to leave and join the lay world.
Vow time, magic nun yak.
Cyril and Marina do too, yay!
They're very happy to stay in the Hierarchy, but neither do as well as Sarla.
She spends more and more time in research, and seems likely to become a very very young Practicant.
They get older, and Marina is clearly super into Sarla.
Sarla is internally very into Marina, but is not self-aware enough to realise it.
Kinda heartbreaking.

At one point Marina shoots her shot, and Sarla doesn't notice at all.
Poor Mar-mar.
She leaves the Hierarchy.
Suppression is officially gone now.
It's easier for religious yaks in the lay world now.
She only wanted to join to be near Sarla.
Cyril scolds Sarla because Sarla is inconsiderate.
Oh no that's Sarla's friend group.
Microcosm of how Sarla ruins her own happiness (she and Marina would be cute af) by pursuing what she thinks would make her happy (performing well with the Meadowlark).

Sarla does not have a lot of connections within the Hierarchy.
She isn't related to someone important outside the Hierarchy, like a lot of those who merely spend a year or two in the Hierarchy, and she doesn't really seem useful for any of the powerful yaks within the Hierarchy.
Not savvy enough for most of the Ennearch's or Councillors to take her under their control.

Some minor conflicts here and there.
Tries to parlay her academic achievements into perks in her life, and is rebuffed.
So she doubles down and studies harder.

She makes it to Practicant.
She swears her Practicant oaths before the Council, is added to the Register, is now allowed to use the Meadowlark outside of the Hierarchy.
It's basically the equivalent of getting an advanced degree for people.

The Council isn't going to give her anything though, apart from the bare minimum she shares with Adepts way younger.
Her only options are either to find an influential yak to glom on to, or to try to become a Master Practicant, which requires an instructor.
None of the Ennearchs have much use for that.
Mastery of the Meadowlark is not as important as it once was, and now that Ennearchs don't have frozen assets anymore (because Suppression is ending), they have true power: wealth.
Amidst all of this is great debate about who the next Hierarch should be.

She ends up reuniting with Master Auroklos, who agrees to train her.
Auroklos is not very popular.
He's not part of any of the Offices of the Ennearchs, and the Council mostly seems him as a nerd and a loser.
He wants to do it traditional though, have her pass the traditional tests of being a Master Practicant.
Nowadays the standards have dipped.
there's a growing sentiment that it's the fault of an increasing population of farm animal refugees.
This colours a lot of her interactions with people based on their thoughts on this.
Kind of an irrational belief that ends up affecting the refugee crisis for Calvin and Kral later.
At some point around her she meets Cyril again, and he's a dick about farm animals.
Sarla basically just follows authorities and the books don't say one way or another, so she uncritically believes it.

As she trains with Auroklos, it becomes pretty clear that A) she finds his instruction brilliant, B) he has other stuff going on she doesn't understand and C) he thinks the farm animal stuff is bad theology, and doesn't understand why anyone is against farm animals.
He wants her to study a lot and not bother him with "easy" stuff (even if that "easy" stuff is actually super deep Meadowlark theory).

Auroklos talks to her about an upcoming Council vote.
He's championing an agreement to a Treaty with the Galvarelli government to regularise the status of the Hierarchy within the Republic.
It seemed very unlikely, but it seemed like he managed to convince a few people. (TODO: What happens behind the scenes here?).
Suddenly he's not isolated crazy yak Auroklos, he's candidate for Hierarch.
Still disrespected. Most of the Hierarchy sees him as a puppet candidate that the Government approved of, nothing more.
He has less and less time for Sarla, and basically pawns her off on others to push her through the process of becoming a Master.
He does still use her for errands.
Her abilities as proof that the Hierarchy could be valuable to the Republic, and that the Meadowlark was more than a relic of a bygone time.
Doesn't go great as far as the government goes, because the political elite are quite negative to the Meadowlark.
But while running an errand she sees her old crush Marina.
She's now a quite beautiful yak, and very happy to see Sarla.
They connect a few times, and this time Marina is a bit less ambiguous with her hint.
Omg Sarla finally admits she kinda still likes Marina a lot.
Cute.

It takes a Master to nominate a Master to the Council, and Auroklos claims that it would be improper for him to nominate her, as her instructor.

One of the Ennearchs takes her out of the city to use the Meadowlark to enliven the fields of a small yak town (Greyfield idk some name).
She realises there is a way to tap into the deeper history of the land to make the whole field grow immediately, rather than the small incremental growth she was asked to do.

Auroklos is annoyed, because it means the Ennearch does not need to keep returning to the town.
Sarla expected praise and is broken by the insult.
It seems like he has other work to do, and is annoyed she's not helping with it and is going on about being a Master.
She runs more and more errands for him, tracking down members of the Hierarchy who are campaigning against the farm animals.
And the small minority that are in favour of the Barns too. Too politically charged, antithetical to whatever Auroklos wants.
The Councillor from her Trial ends up humiliating her by publicly bringing up her breakdown, he supports another yak who wants to be Hierarch.
It's painful.
Auroklos is unsympathetic and unhelpful.
But he has more work for her, if she's ready.
She is not.
Runs away to Marina's, and Marina says she should just leave the Hierarchy.
There's a chance for a new life outside, together.
Bit of domestic bliss.

But who's that at the door?
Auroklos? but why?
Flatters her a bit, points out that she can become Master if he's the Hierarch.
An "Oh, honey..." moment because  Sarla can't say no.
Marina is hurt all over again but Sarla is going to be so important in the Hierarchy with her new rank!
Ends up completing some mcguffin quest (documents linking other leading candidate to Yakaterina's treason plot), new Hierarch in place! It's Auroklos!
Sarla does not end up becoming Master right away.
Auroklos has a lot of work to do.
But she gets the hollow victory of being right-hand yak to a yak who doesn't seem to really care about her, public scorn because he's still seen as a weak puppet.
And the love of her life won't respond anymore.
It's okay, there are more books to read, right?

Ending has to be Sarla carrying out some dirty work for Auroklos, showing her full descent.
Does she murder?
Does she blackmail?
Maybe both.
She must end up miserable.
As Auroklos becomes Hierarch, the people she hated end up as necessary political allies, she's still working with the Councillor and other people she dislikes.
Auroklos favours the Councillor from the Trial, because he's more important.
Sarla's stuck now, she can't do anything else because she's done too much for Auroklos, but she sees that Auroklos only cares about her utility.
And if she's not as utilitous as Councillors or any of the Ennearchs, then shame on her.
She won't ever make Master, likely, she's made enemies of her friends.