For the next three days, Helnion kept up this training and each day she became better at it. Unlike the first training, she had done Triosa had tried to keep her distracted. What surprised her was that Triosa seemed to know how to keep the distractions just enough that the water would almost melt but never all the way. The only reason Helnion ever lost to Triosa was that she would become too tired.

"Get up," Triosa said.

Helnion sat up in her bed slowly.

Triosa handed Helnion a plate of food and then left the room. Helnion took the simple meal of oatmeal and milk, which she stirred together, and ate lazily. The morning had been the only time she had had to herself so she liked to take things slowly.

Triosa came back about half an hour later and took Helnion's empty bowl and cup.

"I have decided to give you the day off. Any further training in your condition will only be detrimental." Triosa said.

Helnion looked at Triosa. She had wondered when the woman would give her a break from the mental torture. Helnion's head had been aching non-stop for the last two days. She wished the aching had come earlier because she might have been given time off earlier,

Helnion picked herself up from the bed and went to the door.

"The Summer Solstice Festival is tonight," Triosa said before Helnion had opened the door. "I recommend staying away from the villagers, especially the men, as they will be full of drink."

Helnion opened the door and the two women exited the house. Now that she was free for the day she was not sure what exactly to do next. She would do plenty of exploration around the village, the only question was where she would start. She had never been in any town smaller than Kein as her parents did not want her to be in such dirty places so she was excited.

Until now she had only seen the village, Al-Kel she remembered Triosa calling it, from afar and was getting more excited with each step. She hoped the people were as interesting as she imagined them to be. From what she had learned from Salis most families would have animals, which she was planning on petting and getting to know, had small gardens and lots of kids.

When she stepped off the small dirt path that led from her small home to the larger dirt street at the edge of the city, Helnion began to make out some sounds and smells of the village. While none of the smells were pleasant, the growing sound of people made Helnion feel a little more nervous than she had in a while. Still, despite her love for nature seeing normal people again would be nice despite her nervousness.

As she looked at the still sparse houses around her, she saw few people. The few people that she saw, mostly women and children, rushed out of sight when they saw Helnion and Triosa. Helnion was not sure why they would do that but guessed that it might have something to do with Triosa and her funny-looking veil.

Helnion saw her first animal. It was a goat standing not far off the side of the road. When Helnion approached it, it simply looked at her as it chewed on some weeds. It did not even flinch when she touched its head. It did react when Helnion tried to hug it and it jumped back a few steps.

"Aww," Helnion said in disappointment when it jumped away.

"You should be more careful with animals," Triosa said. "Even tame ones can be dangerous."

Helnion turned back to the goat. It had not moved since she had tried to hug it so she thought it still might be all right to just pet it, and for the next few minutes she did. She even tried to imitate the sounds it made.

After the goat, Helnion wandered every which way. She looked at several gardens that were behind all the houses and looked at the plants, trying to guess what was being grown. She also found dozens of chickens, several more goats, a few stray and tame dogs and even a cow. The dogs she avoided as Salis had told her she could catch things from them and she did not want to get bitten.

Along the way, several children had started following the two. They were mostly interested in Triosa and her veil, but they also started teaching Helnion a few games after they had gotten used to them. Helnion soon found herself running around and having fun with them.

An hour had passed by the time they reached the center of town. By now there were plenty of people. Helnion soon forgot about the children and rushed from place to place. Since it was a festival day, there was much to see.

A stage had been set up and some men were playing some instruments. The men often switched off with others so she got to hear many different things. Her favorite had been the man that had played the hand harp because it reminded her of Ferra even if the man was not as good.

Elsewhere Helnion saw a lot of other fun things. Just next to the music there was a place where the villagers were dancing, which she avoided because she knew she would trip if she joined in. Farther off, in the center of town, was the Deity shrine where people were placing offerings. After that, she saw a large place where women were preparing food and a place where men were butchering several goats and chickens.

Finally, Helnion came to a track where the men ran around naked doing things like sprints and throwing dangerous objects, among other things. She soon found herself staring at a large, heavy-looking ball that the men had been throwing. When she tried to pick it up it would not budge. Several of the men laughed.

The rest of the day passed quickly as Helnion bounced from place to place. Some of the villagers had even started to warm up to her, ignoring the ever silent Triosa, and invited her to help with various things, including gutting a chicken.

With nightfall not far off several men began to make a large pile of wood in a large open spot in the town square. Helnion soon got to see possibly the largest fire she had seen since she had left her family estate. She even tried dancing a bit but found her ankle was still not strong, making her fall several times before giving up.

"We should go, you are looking very tired," Triosa said after Helnion sat down on a chair the villagers had placed for her near the fire.

Helnion nodded. She hadn't felt this tired since she had trained with Salis back on Korron. On top of this, her ankle throbbed, and it now hurt when she put too much weight on it.

"I fear today was not the best day to let you visit the town," Triosa said, helping Helnion to her feet.

Helnion gave Triosa an angry look.

"Do not give me that look. I say this because I noticed several men giving us undue attention." Triosa said, Helnion hearing worry in her voice.

Neither made a noise as they made their way home and immediately after they arrived Helnion dropped straight into her bed and went to sleep.