“Did you find anything?” asked Kelser as I stepped into the pit.

“Yes,” I said, as I threw something at him.

He scrambled to catch it. He looked at it and frowned. “What is it?” He held it up to the light and admired it. “It’s pretty.”

“It’s a diamond,” I said as we walked out of the pit and back to the festivities. I’d found the diamond under the empty circle where the floating globe used to be. It had been covered with a thin layer of dirt, but I felt it under my feet when I walked over it and dug it out. It was a massive uncut diamond. I didn’t think there was much I could do with it right now, especially because I wasn’t sure how to cut it or shape it, but it was a cool thing to have around anyways. Especially because it was probably provided by the Immortal of Evil. There was no way prehistoric humans could have dug this out of the ground.

“I have an idea,” said Kelser.

“Oh?” I said.

“It’s really pretty,” he said. He rapped it with his knuckles. “And hard too. Look at the way the light falls through it. This would make an amazing new artifact for the ceremony!”

I gave it some thought. “That isn’t a bad idea. I can give it a fancy name and present it to the tribesmen at night. Along with the other artifacts.”

“You’ve already decided what the other artifacts are going to be?” asked Kelser.

I nodded. “But I’m not going to tell you. At least, not yet.”

“Oh come on!” said Kelser. The music and festivities were becoming louder. “Fine. I won’t tell you about our surprise then.”

“Your what?” I asked.

“Our surprise!” he said with a grin. “It was supposed to be a surprise, and you’d find out during the ceremony, but I was thinking about telling you…”

“That’s okay,” I said. “I’ll wait.”

“Wait, no, you were supposed to—fine,” he said. Grumbling, he tried to walk away to the side when we returned to the singing and the dancing and the eating and the drinking, of which the drinking had probably been Kelser’s aim. What a sly kid.

I spent the rest of the day partying it up with the humans. Even the demon princess had gotten into it by the time evening rolled by, her black tail flitting about like it was doing a little jig. Well and truly hammered, the humans proceeded to the pit, filling into the stone seats of Bek Tepe that overlooked the wide, empty fields on all sides.

Moonlight flooded the distance, but the night was dark and unwelcoming. We lit torches all around Bek Tepe, filling the night with an orange glow and setting the scene for the new and improved summer solstice ceremony.

The human Jora priests were no longer in charge, but they were still the most experienced with running this sort of thing, so I asked Priest Mal to step up to the stage first. The middle-aged priest, who was still as grumpy as ever, stood on the stage and held his hands aloft. With a deep breath, he yelled over the noisy crowd by welcoming them to Bek Tepe and thanking them for coming from all corners of the double river basin.

“The past year has been a strange one,” continued Priest Mal, “we have done things we have never done before, learned things we did not know, and made peace with our ancestors and our histories. Our tribes have grown closer than ever before. I have heard there are more marriages these days then ever before! More families and more children. A time of great prosperity has arrived. And it is all because of our great teacher, our wonderful mentor, one who has stepped out of the legends to lead and teach our people. Please, cheer for our wonderful Teacher Cas!”

The humans cheered for me. I tried to shrink away. It was so uncomfortable receiving so much praise and adulation. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to hide, so I had to give an awkward smile and wave at the cheering crowd, which only made them cheer even harder. It didn’t help that many of them were drunk and hard to control. Priest Mal had lost all control of the crowd and he couldn’t get them to quieten down again.

I stepped forward and raised my hands into the air. The din lessened but it was still there. I shot fire into the sky. The crowd hushed. “Thank you for those kind words, Priest Mal. I also want to thank all of you, you who have been so kind to me this past year. You who have changed your way of life, your traditions, your norms, your very way of life at my request. You insist on calling me ‘teacher,’ but I say that you have taught me as well. You have taught me about your people, your language, your history and your stories. You have welcomed me into your families, shared with me your food and your drink, and made me into one of your own. Your love and kindness, the wisdom of the elders, the bright vigor of the children, and the earnest hard work of your men and women have taught me much that I did not know, and I wanted to thank you for that, tonight.”

Cheers again.

“But!” I had to shoot some more fire to get the crowd’s cheers to subside. “This is a ceremony, a ceremony that was ruined last year for reasons that are not worth mentioning on this happy occasion. Especially when we have a guest from another land.” I gestured towards the demon princess, who was shocked at being singled out all of a sudden.

Still, she wasn’t royalty for nothing. She gave a regal smile and waved to the rest of the crowd on either side, before thanking everyone for their hospitality. She even stood up and began to speak. “I am honored to be a part of this ceremony, which I have been told, is a precious and sacred event. When I return to my homeland, I will make sure to inscribe this event in our historical records!”

I smirked. That princess was shrewd as a politician. Or rather, I suppose being the princess in a monarchy was kinda like being a politician anyway. Whenever she’d asked me about sending her back to her homeland, I’d avoided the question. But now that she’d mentioned it this way in front of everyone, I’d look foolish if I kept her here forever. Well, it was alright since I’d wanted to send her back anyways. “Thank you, princess!” I said.

The princess sat down. The crowd gave her a polite cheer. Most people still had no idea why being a princess was a big deal, but at least they respected her as a guest. I moved on to welcoming and thanking the other elders, who came up to the stage one by one to say a few words.

However, apparently I hadn’t been given the memo about the way this part of the ceremony was supposed to go. Each elder came up to me after giving their speech and handed me a gift. It was mostly things like the best alcohol from the Ibog tribe or large bushel of fruits from the Jenin, but it was still unexpected and there was nothing I could do to stop it with all of these eyes on me.

Finally, I introduced Elder Kezler from the Roja tribe. After giving a rousing speech, the old man came up to me and presented a large, smelly fish. He said it was the largest catch of the season. I pinched my nose and accepted the ‘gift’ while promising to punish Kelser, who was chuckling in the corner of my vision.

After the elder walked away, and before I could proceed with the rest of the ceremony, Kelser began walking towards the stage. I frowned. I hadn’t heard about this either. But I couldn’t say that in front of everyone so I just smiled awkwardly and waited for Kelser to step up right next to me and gesture towards the crowd.

“Thank you, friends, for entrusting this important duty to me,” said Kelser to the crowd. Somebody yelled back that it was only natural. Others yelled something that I couldn’t quite make sense of. Were they calling him the ‘first disciple’? Why hadn’t I heard anything about this? Kelser gestured to the crowd and they shut up so quickly I had to rub my eyes to believe it. They didn’t even react that fast to me! Since when had this little red-haired kid gathered so much respect? “It is my sacred duty, dear Teacher Cas, to present to you the conclusion of the great mission that you entrusted to us over the past year.”

What? A great mission? I didn’t remember giving them anything like that!

“We spent many months deliberating between ourselves. Many delegations were sent, many secret meetings held, and many nights spent contemplating an answer but we believe we have one that you will find satisfactory,” said Kelser as he made a grand gesture and cleared his throat. He raised his voice and yelled: “The name of our new settlement on the banks of the River Teg shall be: New Cas City!”

I blinked.

Huh?