He is unsure of what this means. A little like a septon, it sounds like: he does not hold to the Seven, but everyone knows that they are thought to be one god with seven faces. His own gods have no faces but the ones their worshippers carve into trees, and no names but their own divinity.

"I'm no lord, Cadfael -- not here. How do you serve?"

Some septons do little, but some do much and more, and there are maesters in the world, too. Maesters serve. But they do not live together in enclaves outside of the Citadel, where they learn their craft.