Chapter 15 — Festival Day

Ria had plans for how she wanted to celebrate the Harvest Festival, but now she would have to spend the morning preserving wolf meat and salvaging pelts.

Her first problem of the morning came when, after dragging the two wolf carcasses back to her house, she wasn’t strong enough to get the carcasses onto the worktable to cut them up. Instead, she had to use the washbasin.

The second problem was that she hadn’t washed the salt-cured venison scum from the pots yet, which meant she had to wash them first, just to have something to put the salted wolf meat in. Fortunately, she was able to save enough ash to clean the washbasin with later.

So, her entire festival morning was spent ferrying raw pelts back to her house for processing, cutting up the wolves, and salting the meat. When noon rolled around, she’d had enough. Finished or not, she was done. She chucked some choice bone parts into the new stockpot and dragged the rest over toward the woods for the scavengers to clean.

After cleaning the nasty out of the washbasin, she used the heatstone and waterstone to have a proper bath—with scented soap! Then she changed into her festival dress and protection cloak, strapped on her dagger and wands, grabbed her sack of prepared offerings and her staff, and headed out.

Ria had been meaning to visit the shrine dedicated to Hemse ever since she became curious whether it was a place of power. With the arrival of the Harvest Festival, she had a perfect excuse to do so.

Removing a plate from the sack, Ria arranged a bundle of a wheat-like plant, a radish, and some colorful pansies on the plate and placed it on the altar. All were found growing in her back garden. It was a simple offering, but she thought Hemse would better appreciate things that she had grown herself rather than things scavenged from around the village.

She said a prayer of thanks for the abundance of food that she had received and requested that he would continue to provide her with abundance in the future. Then she remembered that one of the things she could still do to help her family was to pray for them and also asked that her family be kept safe.

With that, her festival duties were completed, and she wanted to test her theory. Sitting before the altar, Ria assumed the Outwardly Focused pose and began meditating. She focused on her sense of touch. The hot flow of afternoon air against her face and hands. The wood surface beneath her.

She was genuinely curious. Wood or air? Which would be easier to extend her sense of touch through? The result was intriguing.

Feeling through the air was fuzzy and distorted, as if the different currents created layers. Feeling through the wood was much clearer. She was able to reach the statue of Hemse holding his hoe over his shoulder, with a cow on the left and a woman holding a basket of wheat stalks and fruits on the right, but the details felt more like pressing her hand over a relief-carving than something she could visualize.

She was right about the shrine being a place of power. Though not strong, an energy suffused the wood of the shrine, mostly concentrated in the statue. The energy felt a lot like her own inner energy, but… purer somehow, and touching it gave her a sense of comfort and encouragement. Was that divine energy? Or perhaps the result of generations of prayers?

Ria continued to practice her visualization while staying mindful of the sounds around her. The shrine was in an exposed location on a slight hill that overlooked the town. Because of that, she was wearing her cloak’s hood and probably looked like a priestess or shrine maiden from a distance.

Hmm… the letter from the duke didn’t say anything about clergy. Was that because there wasn’t a temple in Shadewood? Clergy historically had a special political status treated somewhat similarly to nobility and given some of the same privileges. Would the king risk angering the gods by conscripting clergy as well?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the soft sound of grass rubbing against itself. Her awareness alert, she listened and heard it again, closer. Footsteps on the shrine path.

Panicking slightly, Ria told herself to remember that she looked like a shrine maiden with her cloak and harvest dress. Calm and serene, she encouraged herself. Carefully drawing the wand of lightning, she took her staff in her left hand and stood, gracefully turning to face the approaching person.

“Oh, for you to notice me, either I’m getting rusty, or your skills are improving. Bit surprising to see you praying out in plain view, since I didn’t expect you to be the religious type,” Jarrel said with a bemused expression.

Ria’s quick glance confirmed that he wasn’t missing any limbs and appeared to be fine. Tears of relief threatened to flow and only an exercise in willpower stopped her from running over to give him a hug.

Instead, she pouted, “Today is the Harvest Festival. Someone had to do it. You’re late, you know.”

Jarrel scratched his scruffy chin nervously. “Ah, about that, took a bit more effort than expected, but I have news about our situation. Also, seems like you had some excitement while I was gone.”

Ria grinned at the mention of her triumph over the wolves and gave Jarrel a victory pose, “Heh-heh. They were no match for me!”

He looked surprised then laughed at the ridiculousness. “Looks like the rabbits had a rough time of it though.”

“Arrgh,” Ria grumbled in frustration then made a solemn face. “It’s true. But they died for an honorable cause. I wasn’t ready to face the enemy forces gathered that night, and they served as a diversion that allowed Ranger to fight off the initial assault on the Martins’ farm.”

“Bffft.” Jarrel snickered. “I’m glad that Ranger made it through. So, I take it your crossbow training proved useful?”

Ria nodded. “I used traps too.”

“Oh? You really did well, Ria,” Jarrel said approvingly, patting her head and then giving her a hug. “So, you’re not going to ask about the news?”

Ria hugged him back and shook her head. “No. Let’s head back first. I also discovered something important while you were gone.”

That reply prompted a raised eyebrow from Jarrel, but he didn’t push the issue, instead leaving his arm around Ria’s shoulders and guiding her back down the shrine path. “So, what’s that fancy looking stick?”

“This? It’s a magic tool.” Ria did want to show off her magic, but using the wand felt like cheating, so she hesitated—just a bit. “A defensive wand. The spell is kinda flashy. Want to see?”

Another raised eyebrow. “You can use wands already? Sure. Go ahead.”

Using her full power might be too unbelievable, so she limited herself to about a third, and lightning ripped through the air, striking the ground and causing a minor explosion of dirt and a small lightning storm in the grass where the bolt impacted.

A stunned silence followed for a few moments as Jarrel stood frozen before finally saying, “I don’t think you can call that defensive.”

“Hmm. You think so?” Sending out lightning did seem more like an attack spell.

“Say, Ria… you didn’t use illegal ritual magic to make a pact or anything, did you?” Jarrel asked, concerned.

Oops. Even at a third of her power, it was too unbelievable.

Ria shook her head and put away the wand. “No, my book advised against it. But I did learn how to do wards.”

Jarrel rubbed his forehead before directing her forward again. “Alright. Wards are pretty useful, just when we get to Crysellia, try not to draw them where you can be seen. People are touchy about anything that looks like a summoning circle.”

That made sense. Summoned monsters and worse have caused innumerable problems throughout history.

Ria nodded. “Okay.”

“You know, Ria,” Jarrel started. “Your talent at magic… I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone progressing so quickly. You could have the potential to be one of the greatest mages of our time.”

“There’s no way. Using tools is all I can do, and I can’t even keep the firestone going for ten minutes. I still can’t use any elements or cast any spells on my own,” Ria grumbled and kicked at the dirt. Sure, she thought she was talented, but… to be great—it was impossible.

“Being able to use mage tools in just one week is pretty amazing in itself, you know. Maybe we should get you enrolled in a magic academy? You could probably earn a scholarship,” Jarrel suggested.

“Really?”

“Yup.”

A magic academy did sound like fun, and maybe she could make some new friends.

“I’d like that.” Ria nodded to herself. If she did become someone powerful, maybe she could also make this country regret its treatment of her family and friends.

Ria asked about what the magic academies were like, and they chatted about the differences in the political systems between Crysellia and this kingdom of Revant. She found Crysellia’s system of city-states each represented by a member of the governing High Council and the emphasis on citizen rights to be interesting. Jarrel assured her that the reality wasn’t anywhere near as rosy as it sounded.

And if what she learned studying from her history books was true, Crysellian politics and intrigue were way more complicated than Revant’s.