Swamped

It was a ways back, but you remember the wizard said there was some kind of plot to sabotage the holy festival. Maybe a little more information on what the festival involves would be helpful.

"So, are you doing anything for the holy festival?" you ask.

"My wife and I are skipping most of it. Partly because we both work here, and we expect more patients than usual, but it's also a lack of interest." She shrugs a bit. "Half the stuff going on is just priests making sermons, which we get plenty of at church. The other half is mainly sailors getting drunk, supposedly in Nual's name. Still, we're going for the main event - this is the one time in a hundred years when it's the actual holy day, so no sense in missing it. Not like we'll get another chance next year."

You feel like you're missing something here.

"Only once a century?"

"Sorry, suppose I should be clearer. Most years, the festival is for Brume's holy day. This year it's Nual's." She lets out a little sigh. "It always sounds a bit weird to people who aren't in the faith, I know. Suppose you want an explanation?"

"It's not urgent, but I'm a bit curious."

"Well, gotta fill time somehow," she says with a shrug. "The way the prayer goes is, Brume is the waters, and Nual is the ocean. Easiest to start from there, even if it doesn't entirely make sense to you." She looks at you expectantly, probably wanting to know what you think.

"I guess that means Brume is about the physical object, and Nual is more about the idea?" you ask tentatively. "That's what it makes me think, anyways."

"A bit more literal than that. Brume governs the water that flows through the ocean, while Nual governs everything that lives in it and makes it what it is. There's no ocean without water, but with just water, it's not an ocean."

You think that makes sense to you, so you nod a bit.

"So what separates Nual's holy day from Brume's?"

"Brume's day is about the water flowing. Nual's is about, well, it's hard to sum up." She gets a doubtful look on her face. "I mean, I could tell you the priests call it the Day of Rebirth, but that wouldn't explain much about why they call it that. Give me a bit to think about where to start."