As it turned out, the assistant girl’s name was Sai Aja, and she loved talking.

“My coming of age came a year early than everybody else’s,” Sai Aja said, perched atop the village wall. “My parents wanted me out of the house, so they rushed through the ceremony, and that was that. Then, they dumped me off at the inn, like I’ve been a bother this whole time. Makes a girl think if she was ever really loved.”

“Perhaps you have to think deeper,” Renya said. “There is always a hidden meaning in the daily occurrences of our life. The Divine Will-” She paused. Somehow, her words felt empty. “The point is, maybe you can learn something.”

“Wait. Really?” Sai Aja asked. “Is there some deep meaning in peeling potatoes? Is cleaning chamber pots supposed to teach me discipline? Am I a better person now that I know how to sweep a floor?”

Renya cocked her head. “Are you telling me. . . you didn’t know how to any do that before?”

Sai Aja shrugged. “My mother handled that. She was always better than me at chores.”

I can see why they wanted you out of the house. Renya didn’t voice her thoughts, however. She didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot.

“What are you two doing out here?” a bright voice asked from behind.

Renya turned to face Shan. Shan was an oddity in Silverleaf village. It was expected for young girls to act meek and docile. Shan strove to be anything but. “Well?” She placed her hands on her hip. “Don’t you have work to be doing?”

“We’re done,” Sai Aja said. “The question is, what are you doing out here?”

Shan stuck her tongue out. “That woman tried to teach me embroidery.”

“That woman is your mother,” Sai Saja said, jumping down from the wall. “You can’t run from her forever.”

“She wants to turn me into someone I’m not,” Shan said, leaping up on the wall, her simple white dress ruffling in the wind. “I’m never going to be her perfect girly doll."

“So, what do you want to be?” Sai Aja asked.

“Something more than this. I want to be an adventurer in distant lands, or a sailor traversing the seas, or maybe even a warrior on the battlefield.” Shan turned to Renya. “You can’t be content with staying in this village your entire life, right?”

“I’m. . .” Renya touched her spectacles. “I don’t know.”

Shan stared at her. “Nothing? Don’t tell me you want to stay holed up here forever, like Aja. That doesn’t sound like much of a life. Don’t-”

“It’s a calm life,” Sai Aja interrupted. “Even if it’s boring, we don’t have to worry about starving or brigands.”

Renya scratched her head. “If I did have to leave, I’d like to travel, I suppose. See distant lands, try some exotic foods, meet new peoples.” Qilen’s tales from the outside intrigued her. Stories of the Sol Imperium, the oldest empire in the world. Of canyons carved out by gods mad with power. Of the Skywatch, home of the Skypeircer.

“See!” Shan spun back around to Sai Aja. “She agrees!"

Sai Aja sighed. “You’re an only child, Shan. Imagine what leaving would do to your parents. Who’s going to care for them in a decade? You have attachments here.”

Not like me, Renya thought. She didn’t have parents or responsibilities looking after them. And it didn’t seem like the Priestess was going to retire any time soon.

“Anyway,” Sai Aja said, waving her hand, “let’s forget all this nonsense and move on to important talk. What do you all think of Lai Teri’s new dress? It’s absolutely dreadful, isn’t it? I mean, it’s one thing to wear yellow, but such an ugly shade of it?”

“I don’t think it’s too bad,” Renya said reservedly.

“No need for all that!” Sai Aja exclaimed. “It’s only us girls here. You can say what you really think. We won’t tattle, I promise.”

“It is a rather ugly yellow,” Renya admitted. “But the stitching isn’t too bad. I think it was done by a professional from the Crossroads. Their sense of fashion is different from ours, so maybe the yellow looks good there.”

The denizens of the Crossroads were odd people. The town’s size was twice that of Silverleaf Village, although not large enough to be considered a city. In the outskirts of Kagia, however, the Crossroads was the closest thing to a city.

With a roll of her eyes, Shan stepped down from the wall and glanced at Renya. “Don’t humor her. She’ll go on for hours.” She started down the path back to the village but not before saying: “Thanks. You really did keep your word.”

Sai Aja shook her head. “That girl, I worry for her. She already had strange ideas, and that storyman only made things worse, I reckon.”

“You don’t agree with her?”

“I don’t especially like my life here, but I’m not a fool.” Sai Aja grunted. “We’re village girls, not adventurers. And I reckon village girls is all we’re ever going to be.”

Renya nodded distantly.

“Though I’d be lying if I said I was never curious about the outside.” Sai Aja turned away from Renya. “But. . . I think we all grow out of that phase eventually. My life is good, even if it’s tiring.”

Renya stood still, watching Sai Aja’s figure grow distant.

I think we all grow out of that phase eventually.

She frowned. Was curiosity really a phase? Would she be content with settling down and raising a family, like a proper Silverleaf girl?

Is that really what she wanted?

You can’t be content with staying in this village your entire life, right?

What would she even do outside? How would she survive? Renya enjoyed cooking but not so much as to make a career out of it. What other skills did she possess? It suddenly dawned on Renya that her entire life consisted of chores and memorizing proverbs.

Deep in thought, Renya began to walk back to the temple. She drifted past the fields of rice stalks, the village proper where cottages were set into clusters, each one built in the simple Silverleaf style. The roofs were tiled, and the walls were made of sun-dried bricks. At the center of each cluster was a shared courtyard, where goats or chickens would be kept. The temple was similar. Although it was ornate compared to the other houses—the Priestess had wanted it that way, the temple still followed the same layout. The wings were arranged around a courtyard, the Silverleaf tree standing at the center. At the back of the temple was the chapel. The left-wing was the kitchen and where Renya usually slept. On the right, the Priestess’ room and her study.

The temple doors were ajar. Strange, since Renya was sure she had closed them on her way out. The Priestess was standing in the courtyard, gazing up at the branches of the Silverleaf tree.

“What are you doing?” Renya asked. “I was looking for you earlier.”

“I never knew my parents.” The Priestess turned. Her face was distant, not entirely focused on anything.

“Priestess?” Renya asked, shuffling into the courtyard, concerned.

“They took me when I was just a baby, Renya,” the Priestess said. “I had talent, and that meant I was destined to serve the Divine Will. When I was your age, I was fighting on battlefields.”

Renya took another step forward. “Priestess. I-”

“So, when I found you, I thought you were a gift from the Will.” The Priestess continued. “A chance to give someone the life I never had. The outside world is dangerous, Renya. But I also know you’re too good for life here. You’re a smart girl. You deserve better than to spend your entire life cooped up in an insignificant hamlet.” She smiled warmly. “Maybe you don’t know it, but I do.”

Renya took a deep breath. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m leaving, Renya.”

Renya jerked forward. “You’re what?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with what happened recently. I’ve been considering it for a while now. I’m not getting any younger, and I’m certainly not making any more breakthroughs here. I planned for one of the widowers to adopt you, but I overestimated the generosity in their hearts.”

It was then, Renya knew the Priestess was serious. She really was planning to leave. What would happen to Renya?

“Are you abandoning me?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to suddenly disappear on you,” the Priestess said. “I won’t go till I know you’re ready.”

“Ready for what?” Renya asked fervently. “I don’t understand.”

“You will continue to do your morning chores—that you can’t get out of. But instead of scriptures at noon, I will teach you to weave varya.”

Renya’s heart skipped a beat. The Priestess had never offered her lessons before, even after years of badgering. Renya eventually just gave up asking.

“Your afternoon will be filled with lessons on history and current politics,” the Priestess continued in an unbothered tone. “As we are short on time, I predict we will be studying only the most surface-level of histories. But even superficial history can easily overwhelm if not taken seriously.”

Renya nodded dumbly. She turned and left the courtyard, heading back outside without another word to the Priestess. She couldn’t think of anything to say. She plopped down on the steps to the front door. It really was happening. What would happen to Renya if the Priestess deemed her prepared. Just what was she supposed to be ready for?

“Is something wrong?”

Renya looked up. Sujin stood in front of her, several paces away. She had forgotten all about him“

It’s nothing,” Renya said, her face somber. “What did you need?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” he said, his voice unusually soft. “It’s important.”

“Important enough to warrant a visit to the temple?”

He frowned. “I suppose it is.”

“Well then, tell me. What’s that important?”

“The Mayor-” He paused. “I wanted to make things right with you.”

Renya rose to her feet, her brows knit together.

“I know I’ve been a little unfriendly,” he continued. “I guess even downright hostile at times, but you should know I don’t hate you.”

“That’s all?” Renya asked. She was careful as to not sound too harsh. It was rare for Sujin to show actual feelings, so she didn’t want to dissuade him from expressing more in the future.

“No, that’s not all,” he muttered. “The storyman’s going to have a show in a few days. I was just wondering if. . .”

“If?” Renya raised a brow expectantly.

Sujin groaned. “I’m inviting you to the show, idiot.” He bowed his head. “Sorry, didn’t mean that.”

Renya’s mouth made an O shape. “I think I’d like to go with you too.”

“Really?” Sujin peered at her curiously. “I didn’t think you’d agree.”

“Why wouldn’t I agree?” Renya asked with a grin. “To be honest, even going with you would be better than going alone.”

“I’ll see you later then,” he said, waving awkwardly. He had an expression on his face Renya had never seen before: a mix of apprehension and shyness. It fascinated her. The Priestess had explained before the process that happened to girls Renya’s age. But this was a different feeling compared to the simple infatuation of the village girls. Or at least Renya hoped it was.

Renya waved him off and returned to the courtyard in a more cheerful mood than before. The Priestess was gone. She was likely in her room, her nose buried in religious texts.

The sun was dipping below the horizon, sending splashes of orange across the sky. Under the same sky, heroes fought beasts of calamity, kingdoms rose and fell, and village girls lived their boring and uneventful lives.

Renya wasn’t sure if she liked what the future entailed. All her life, she had imagined living an unremarkable life studying underneath the Priestess. That life was gone, replaced by an uncertain future. The most unusual thing was, deep down within her, she felt a sliver of excitement.