As Bethany filled the kettle, she started to consider her next steps, while she had been terrified in her Trials she had also in a twisted way had fun, especially with her staff. She went to grab some wood to keep the fire stocked from the stack in their logging shed. It contained an eccentric mix of natural logs and branches and the remained of broken furniture and other wooded creations.

Among the discarded rubbish Bethany noted an abandoned broom. It was about the same thickness as those she had had access to in the trial, and while longer than the staff she had personally used it was still comparable to the others available to her. Yet despite it clearly being a staff Bethany found it unwieldly, and cumbersome, much as she had done when she sampled a larger staff during the trials. It did not feel like the promised improved skill had been delivered. In fact due to her adjustment to the shorter staff in the trials she found it less useable that she imagined she would have one week before.

She couldn’t train with this thing regardless; she went out to the chopping log and grabbed the hatchet lodged in it. Having approximately measured out the length of the staff she had used during the trials, she cut the broken broom down to a more manageable size. It still didn’t feel quite right, and the end was a mess of splinters unlike the other smooth end of the broom, but the weight and length felt roughly right. Giving it a few practise swigs Bethany could easily feel the different between it and the longer staff. Further, she could tell she was swinging it faster than she had been in the trial. She pulled up the skill screen again.

Half-staff (common): Level 1

The half-staff feels more natural in your hands, and you will find your grip on it is stronger now.

You can swing your staff 5% faster and are 5% less likely to lose your grip.

Paying more attention to the screen this time she noticed that despite the fact she could have sworn her Trials had been labelled as for the skill staff (uncommon) the skill she had actually been awarded was for the half-staff. This she assumed was a result of exclusively using it in the previous set of trials. Clearly staff (uncommon) was another skill and based on the fact it was uncommon Bethany had to assume it was also rarer and assumably better than the skill she did have. She theorised she would need to prove competence in a variety of types of staff to unlock the uncommon skill, as it seemed to be an umbrella under which all other staff skills would come. Taking the staff over to her room, Bethany hid it under her bed before going back and grabbing more firewood. By the time she had properly got the fire going and had set the kettle up to begin boiling her mother had returned from chatting with the other women of the village.

Bethany saw her mother trying to avoid looking at her nameplate as she re-entered the room, Susanna couldn’t help but reaffirm what she already knew and checked once more. Bethany kept moving as the eyes lingered and gave her broach a small squeeze again as she avoided eye contact. . Instead, she busied herself in the cupboards getting out the mugs and tea. Seeing the honey in the cupboard, something they normally save for special occasions or important visitors, Bethany pulled it out and gestured with it towards her mother. Susanna nodded at it and grabbed the kettle that had just started to boil. Together the pair poured out the tea and with a generous helping of honey each went out onto the patio to sit in the rocking chairs out there and enjoy their drinks. For a while neither spoke, content to enjoy the rare treat in their hands and enjoy the slight afternoon breeze that was blowing across the village.

Bethany had drunk almost all of her tea when her mother finally addressed her.

“The world has changed Bethany and its making me second guess a lot of lessons I’ve taught you so far.”

A pause followed this as Susanna tried to find the right words. Bethany ran her finger around the lip of her mug as she listened. Her mother had never expressed regret or apologised for her behaviour before. This was once again something new.

“The world I grew up in and you were growing up in was a scary place, especially for us. It still is, but things are going to change fast. Well maybe not here if the mayor can help it but out there things will rapidly change” she let out a nervous chuckle and took another swig of her drink.

“With these changes your future is so unclear, and while that terrifies me, I know it’s a thrilling opportunity for you. We can now get stronger. Break out of our assumed roles. Soon the only thing that will matter is your level and I want you to be at the forefront of that change. I was prepping you to be somebody you didn’t really want to be, but it was something I thought you needed to learn. The world was going to make you be that person anyway and I just wanted you to be the best version of that you could. Maybe that wasn’t the best approach. I do love you though. I love you so much it hurts. I’m going to adapt to continue to try to be the mother you need, even if I make mistakes. This new world means you can become whoever and I’m going to support you in that. To prove that I’ve got you a little something.”

At this Susanna stepped back inside leaving Bethany alone with her thoughts for a quick minute. It was a lot to hear from her mother, it didn’t match the image of the stern woman she had been before, it almost scared her. She had always loved her mother, and while she hadn’t loved all of her parenting decisions none of it was abusive, it just felt cold at times. It was stern but they weren’t without shared moments.

Bethany let out a large gasp as Susanna reappeared dragging something familiar behind her. It was her old butter churn, clearly repaired from the damage Lewis had done to it. It had one key difference though, where it had originally just been a basic brown it had had small stars painted on around the body of the churn. She leapt up and gave her mother a hug, something she hadn’t done in years. Susanna stiffened at the touch but loosened up fairly quickly as she pulled her daughter deeper into the hug and held her properly. The two just stood there a while neither wanting to end the moment. However, the universe had other plans and they heard a familiar coughing from the path. There was stood Sam and Lewis.

Sam waited for the two to pull apart and properly focus on him before speaking “ I know it’s a crazy time at the moment, but we must remain vigilant. For that reason, Bethany you are under arrest for the assault of Lewis Askstock.”