In her previous adventures looking through the former shrine priestess’s book collection, Sophie hadn’t found a cookbook or a handy Guide to Being a Shrine Priestess anywhere, but she had found a whole lot of books about gardening.

Judging by the shed full of mostly dead plants and the little overgrown plot behind the shrine, the former shrine priestess seemed to be quite the green thumb. Sophie, on the other hand, had trouble even keeping a cactus alive, so she hadn’t paid much attention to the books when she first sorted through them all. But after finding the strange plant that Elowen insisted was full of mana, she found herself more curious about the idea now that she was looking through the pile of books again.

She thumbed through the pages of one of them, full of ink sketches and descriptions of unfamiliar plants. It would be nice if she could find a sketch that looked like the plant she and Elowen had found, or even better – a bookmarked page with a big note on it that said, This one! This is the weird plant you’re looking for.

The plant in question was a spindly thing with a few sad little leaves – it almost looked like a baby tree, in fact. A sapling, she was pretty sure they were called. But why would the former priestess have a shed full of saplings? And it didn’t seem to need much sunlight… Although to be fair, the rest of the plants in the shed were dead, so maybe they did need more sunlight and something had blocked it.

Times like these, she really wished she could just do a quick internet search. She probably should have at least asked Acacia about it before the other woman had left earlier. Or maybe even that mage who stopped by the other day. Drat.

“We should probably water it, right?” she asked Elowen absently as she continued to flip the pages.

“The plant? I would imagine so,” Elowen replied.

Sophie closed the book she was currently holding and picked up another one. She opened the cover, frowning down at the title page which the Universal Language blessing translated to something like Delicious Herbs and Other Edible Plants. This one looked particularly unhelpful. She immediately closed it and set it aside. She doubted the plant they had found was either edible or delicious.

She pushed the books back into a pile, already frustrated with the task. It would be easier to just ask someone to look at the plant and identify it for her. She was annoyed she hadn’t thought of that earlier and missed several chances to do so. But there was nothing to do about that now.

And anyway, there was still the stack of letters she had found on the first day. Perhaps there was something more interesting in there.

She made her way over to the desk, opening the drawer and pulling out the small collection of letters as Elowen watched her curiously. Sophie hadn’t paid much attention to the contents of the letters on that very first day, when she was so surprised at even being able to read the things. But today, she immediately noticed something odd.

Right on the top of the first page, there was something that looked awfully like a date, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of it, even with the Universal Language blessing.

Caspian 28, Third day of the Month of Falling Petals

“You wouldn’t happen to know the date, would you?” she asked Elowen, already sensing the hopelessness of the question.

Unsurprisingly, Elowen shook her head. “I’ve never kept track of such things,” she declared, perhaps a little too eagerly.

“You don’t even know what this means?” Sophie wheedled, holding up the letter for Elowen to look at. “Caspian 28? Month of Falling Petals?”

Elowen barely glanced at the letter before shaking her head, and Sophie sighed. She honestly expected as much. Elowen did seem to lack a lot of basic common sense.

Sophie began scanning through the text of the top letter. It seemed to be some sort of reply to an inquiry. It even had an official looking seal on the bottom of the page from something called the Sentus College of Mages. The letter was short and to the point, although one line in particular stuck out to her.

We do not have the materials you requested. If further assistance is needed, one of our Librarians would gladly aid you in your research.

Materials? Perhaps more books? The former priestess seemed to have a thing for books, as well as plants. And a college for mages? That sounded awfully important. Perhaps Sentus was a bigger city than she imagined. She had sort of been thinking it would be similar to Caulis – a smallish town with some shops and restaurants. She supposed college towns could also be small, though. Her own college town had been fairly small, after all.

Sophie set that letter aside and glanced down at the next one on the pile. This one was dated similarly, but it had a much less formal tone.

Caspian 27, Twenty-fourth day of the Month of Spirits

Hi Rosalie,

I do hope you and Elowen are doing well. It’s been such a long time since you came to visit. Are you having any luck with the plants? With Early Frost soon upon us, I do wonder if they will survive…

Plants? Perhaps the ones in the shed? Sophie skimmed the rest of the letter in hopes of finding more information about the plant Elowen found, but it quickly moved on to friendly chatter about the weather and local gossip that she had no way of following. It was simply signed Anson.

Sophie set it aside to pick up the next letter in the stack and then quickly glanced through a few of the others. They all seemed to be from the same person – Anson – probably a friend of the former priestess.

She wished she could figure out the dates on them. She had no way to parse whatever weird month system they used that sounded more like bits of poetry than anything, but Caspian 27 seemed likely to be earlier than Caspian 28 if that was an indication of the year. The letters went back a few years if her assumption was correct, and from the little she read, the overall tone seemed suspiciously pleasant and mostly conversational.

Not… for example… like the shrine was in any sort of imminent danger of mana depletion. Or that Anson, whoever that was, expected anything bad to happen to either Elowen or the former priestess.

“Her name was Rosalie?” Sophie asked after skimming through a few more of the pages. “The previous priestess, I mean.”

Elowen’s head snapped up at the question. “Rosalie…” Her eyes hazed over for a moment and she frowned. “Yes, that was her name.”

Even if it had been decades or whatever, Sophie didn’t want to push Elowen if it was going to be a sad memory. Instead, she simply nodded and set the letters back in the top drawer for now and pulled open the drawer below it, curious to see if she could find anything else that might be useful.

She wasn’t sure what she expected to find here, exactly, but she was starting to think that what she really needed to find was a calendar. Or maybe a map. The letters were dated which meant she had an idea of when the former priestess had last been alive and receiving correspondence at least. If she had some way of telling how long ago the dates were… Well, it would be some sort of information, although she wasn’t sure how useful exactly.

And as for the map – Sophie kept hearing townspeople mention Sentus and the shrines near there, but she still had no idea where Sentus was or if there were other shrines nearby. If Sentus had a College of Mages, it seemed like it was probably an important city, right?

She could probably ask Acacia the answers to both of these predicaments, but she was a little wary of doing so, still. It might bring up more questions that she still had no good answer for – like where was Sophie from? Why didn’t she know anything about the surrounding area?

Maybe she should just tell Acacia the truth. But so far she’d been muddling along okay…

She dug through the rest of the drawers, but came up empty handed. No calendar. Which… wasn’t all that surprising. But no map? Did people just not have maps here? Or maybe the former shrine priestess – er, maybe Rosalie had been so familiar with the area that she hadn’t needed one?

Either way, Sophie’s mind and her stomach were starting to wander back to the leftover soup in the kitchen. She had no way of keeping it good until the morning without the chill box, so she should probably finish it off tonight, right?

Her stomach growled in agreement at the thought, so she grabbed one of the remaining books about plants off of the pile and took it back with her into the kitchen to flip through while she ate.

Elowen followed her in, floating back up to her spot, hovering above the counter next to the little box of cakes from earlier.

“We should try that again,” Sophie said, gesturing to the box. “The offering, I mean.”

Elowen glanced down at the box beside her and looked skeptical at the idea. “You don’t seem like you’re ready to work with fire, yet,” she countered. Her hand hovered over the box, though, as if she wished she could reach inside and grab a piece.

“But I did it, right?” Sophie asked. “Won’t it get easier the more I try, just like the other stuff we’ve been working with?”

“Yes and no,” Elowen replied. “Working with elements like fire and earth is a little different than working with mana stone. Some people have a natural affinity for a particular element, so it can be easier for them to work with. But elements in general are a little more dangerous. You might never be able to get the hang of it, fully.”

Sophie thought back to how it felt when she finally connected to the fire. It did feel like she could have kept feeding it mana, and it would have never been satisfied. Almost as if it had a mind of its own. Altogether, not exactly a pleasant feeling.

“So I guess I don’t have a fire affinity, then?”

Elowen shook her head. “Probably not. Although, as a priestess, it doesn’t really matter since you’ll usually just work with mana directly.”

Sophie nodded and glanced back down at her plant book. She continued to flip through the pages, growing more frustrated with it as she went. The problem with this particular plant book was that a lot of the plants looked exactly like the one they had found, and she had no way to tell the difference between any of them. Once she finished her soup, she closed the book and pushed it aside, sighing.

“I’d still like to try again sometime,” she said, going back to the discussion about the burnt offering. “At least before those cakes go bad.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Elowen said slowly, and then she smiled down at the box fondly. “It was wonderful. It would be a shame for them to go to waste. Although, you’re welcome to have a few.”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Sophie said, without any real intention of trying the cakes. She felt oddly guilty about the idea of eating something that Acacia had brought specifically for Elowen when the spirit couldn’t even eat it herself. No, instead she wanted to try the offering again. Just maybe a little more carefully the next time. Now that she knew what to expect, hopefully she would at least be able to manage doing it without passing out.

But, for now, she was ready to call it a night.

***

The next morning, Sophie added a new task to her growing routine as a novice shrine priestess. After getting ready for the day, drinking her tea, and eating the last remaining pastries from her stash, she began the brand new, extremely important ritual of staring at the plant in the entryway and wondering if it needed water or not.

Elowen did her best to participate in this new ritual as well, although she seemed to be more concerned about the plant’s mana levels and seemed less interested in the whole water dilemma. Sophie just wished she could even sense mana levels.

“Maybe we should just put it back in the shed,” Sophie said after a long moment of indecision. “It seemed to be living a happy life out there –”

The shrine’s bell rang, interrupting Sophie‘s train of thought, and a familiar voice rang out, “Hello?”

Sophie stood up, as Elowen peeked through the wall. “It’s Briony!” she announced.

Sophie practically scrambled to the door and threw it open in her excitement. “Briony!” she echoed.

The other woman grinned at her. “Well, hello there. I’ve brought your chill box,” she said, gesturing back towards the edge of the courtyard. “It’s still in the cart. Let me go grab it, and I’ll help you get it set up.”

Sophie nodded and held the door open for Briony as she hefted the quite heavy-looking cabinet into the shrine. She wondered if Briony was also using mana to enhance her strength, like Acacia must have the day before, or if she was just that strong.

“We’ll have to remove one of your existing cabinets,” Briony explained, once she got it back into the kitchen. “It’s a shame, but we’ll take good care of it and make sure it doesn’t go to waste.”

“That sounds fine,” Sophie replied. She didn’t really get what the big deal was about replacing a cabinet, but since Briony was a Crafter, she must’ve held some sort of affection for the quality of the work or something.

Briony carefully removed one of the cabinets on the end, and Sophie helped hold the doors open for her as she took it back to the cart. When they returned, Sophie helped carry the new chill box into the kitchen area. She did not have mana-assisted strength, and it was quite heavy indeed. She added that to the list of things for her and Elowen to try. If she didn’t have a fire affinity, maybe she would have a… Well, a muscle affinity? No, that couldn’t be right. She’d have to ask Elowen to explain that more later.

Elowen watched with rapt curiosity as Briony set to work installing the new chill box. “But what does it do?” she asked.

“It keeps things cold,” Sophie explained. “Food mostly. Like leftovers.” When Briony looked over to her questioningly, she waved a hand. “Ah, sorry. Just talking with Elowen. She’s interested in the chill box.”

Elowen nodded eagerly. “It’s so full of mana! How could I not be?”

Sophie laughed, and Briony nodded, seeming to understand. It was seriously difficult with Elowen not being able to manifest or interact with anyone yet. “Elowen says it’s full of mana,” Sophie added in further explanation.

Briony laid a hand on the chill box in an almost fond manner. “That it is,” she said. “The mana will dissipate with time, but as a priestess, you should have no problem recharging it on your own.”

Sophie nodded at the explanation, but wondered how long the mana would last exactly. Channeling mana into her chill box sounded like a good training exercise. Much more pleasant than lighting the markers on the path, at least.

Speaking of mana though… “Hey, do you know anything about plants?” Sophie asked.

“Plants?” Briony looked confused for a moment, and then shook her head, chuckling. “Um, no. Not my specialty in the least. I can appreciate a nice wood grain when I see one, but I doubt that’s what you’re asking about.”

Sophie laughed. “Nope, definitely not,” she agreed. “Is there, um… a plant specialist? In town I mean?”

“Well, there’s the Forester who cleaned up the path, and there are quite a few Gardeners, as well. Some professional and some that are more hobbyists. Do you need a recommendation?”

“Yes, please!” Sophie replied. “That would be great.” Surely a Gardener would be able to identify her weird plant.

“Just a sec,” Briony said and pulled out a small pad of paper. She scribbled something on it and handed it over.

Sophie glanced down to read Mabel’s Flowers. “A florist?” she asked, and Briony grinned.

“The best florist. And the top Gardener in town. Talk to Mabel. She’ll be able to help with anything you need.”

“Perfect,” Sophie said. “Thanks for the recommendation. And thanks again for installing the chill box.”

“No problem at all,” Briony replied. She glanced around the kitchen, looking pleased. “It’s truly looking a little better in here.” She patted one of the cabinets fondly. “I can really tell you’ve been working on the shrine.”

“Um, we have,” Sophie agreed, although she didn’t quite understand. “Do you mean like getting rid of the stuff that was in the entryway?”

Briony shook her head. “Well that, of course. But the woodwork in here also seems a little healthier. You can’t tell?”

“Healthier?” Sophie looked at the cabinets, but they looked as they had before. Like boring wooden cabinets. Nothing all too thrilling by her standards. With the exception of the new chill box, of course.

Briony nodded. “Sure – it seems like they’re already getting a little of their shine back. The last time I was here, they seemed completely dry – drained of all of their mana, but now… Well, it’s still not much, but it’s there.”

Sophie stared at the cabinets in surprise. Mana? Here, too? It’s not like she had been channeling mana into the cabinets, after all, and they weren’t made of mana stone.

Even Elowen was looking around the kitchen in surprise. “I think she’s right,” she said softly. “I can sense it, too, if I know to look for it. It’s very faint. Just…” She spun around in a circle suddenly, smiling with happiness.

“What? But how?” Sophie asked.

Briony shrugged. “Sometimes things just need a little care. It’s not a quick fix, but a little attention can go a long way with these things over time.”

Sophie still wasn’t sure if she understood, but she nodded. “I suppose…” she trailed off.

She couldn’t help but wonder what exactly she had done. Was it all of the channeling practice? Was cleaning the shrine up somehow healing it?

She walked Briony back out to the courtyard and watched as the other woman made her way to the horse and cart at the bottom of the little stone staircase.

“A little attention, huh?” she wondered out loud as Elowen floated around her happily.