The temple had beaten it into our heads. Through songs, through prayers, through lessons, through bricks carved with old stories and legends. Of our pantheon, Crown Naruune, the Lady in the Soil, was without a doubt the most powerful and important goddess. She was the goddess to originally teach us language, and the first to let us borrow her divine power via channeling. Her daughter, Hallow Zaya, taught us agriculture and medicine. It was thanks to them both our crops and city thrived.

To represent our connection to Crown Naruune, it was a custom for the royalty, nobility, and priestesses of Gresha to all go barefoot, decorating their ankles with jewelry. Even a number of commoners would mimic this, out of a desire to appear higher in status or in a show of faith and fidelity. It did make traversing the woods a bit of a pain, though. What I wouldn’t give for a pair of good leather boots, like the foreign merchants wore.

The Deep Woods were said to be the sacred ground of Crown Naruune and her daughter. The immense primordial trees acted as a barrier between the mortal lands and the lands of gods and monsters. Gresha’s royalty and priestesses held many important ceremonies here, such as coronating and burying our kings, so Crown Naruune would welcome their souls into her house. Our last king was buried here a little under a year ago, but as a candidate, I wasn’t yet qualified to participate in King Aranen’s funeral or Prince Lordrin’s coronation.

All this to say, it was my very first time in the Deep Woods, and despite my earlier hesitancy I was now enamored. The trees’ canopy completely obscured the sky, casting the entire forest in a soothing emerald light. A thick layer of moss lay below my feet, like the most decadent of the palace’s rugs. The whole forest rang with the songs of birds and insects, a symphony completely different from the everyday chatter of Gresha’s marketplace.

Despite protesting all the way here, the second we set foot in this miraculous place it was like a switch had flipped, and I had become an entirely different person. Suddenly I dashed from one new sight to the next, chattering about what I had heard of before, and what I was just now discovering.

Elian walked amiably a few paces behind me, content to let me talk myself into a sore throat. The second I got one, of course, he proceeded to tease me relentlessly about it, asking where all my excitement had gone and if I was bored of the goddess’ sacred grove already.

Finally we both exhausted ourselves, and made camp. It was bizarre, sleeping where I couldn’t see the suns or stars, eating food we had cooked ourselves rather than from one of Gresha’s many public mess halls. But despite the dirt and bugs and sore legs, I couldn’t deny I was happy. Instead of anxiety swirling about within me, excitement had begun bubbling up in my chest.

A few days into our grand adventure, once we had ventured deep enough, we began hunting down new Weaponsrite material for Elian in earnest-- even if we weren’t quite ready to stop chatting as we walked.

“Ellie, for the last time, you can’t have befriended an Angran warrior, even one our age! It’s not that simple! He probably thought you were trying to bribe him or something!”

“We ate together, so we’re friends now, that’s how it works! Like that old saying goes… the best way to someone’s heart is through their stomach!”

I choked out a laugh. “Ellie. Ellie, that saying’s about marriage proposals. Elian of Gresha, did you propose to an Angran warrior?”

“...It’s what!? Wait… all those times at the mess halls… how many hearts have I broken…?” A faraway look entered their eyes.

More giggles escaped me, until I dissolved into laughter. “Poppy bread!” I gasped. “You propose to a girl you like by giving her poppy bread! No one in the mess halls is serving you poppy bread…!”

“I’m so sorry, girls of Gresha! My heart belongs to another!” Ellie wailed, throwing an arm over their forehead. I laughed and laughed at their melodramatic behavior, until finally an earsplitting noise interrupted us. I flinched, my hands slamming down over my ears, and looked about. Elian instinctively stepped beside me.

“...Stay close to me, okay, Nia?” he muttered. “There’s a reason the Deep Forest is forbidden if you ain’t a warrior or priestess.”

I knew his warning was logical, but it didn’t stop excitement from fluttering in the cage of my ribs. I took Elian’s hand and nodded. When I smiled it was genuine, and I felt more confident than I ever had before.

“I know… but you’ll protect me, right?”

His worried frown became a cocky grin. “Always.”

Still holding onto each other, we took off at a run towards the source of the sound.