When Sabrina, Silva and I walked back into the primary area of the community centre, I had to keep my face controlled so I wouldn’t break into laughter. The few people still awake looked at us, though now mainly at Sabrina, with an expression of confusion, likely wondering why the girl was suddenly clean and dressed in freshly-laundered clothes.

Ignoring the looks we were getting, I walked over to my bag, pulling out some of the supplies I had been carrying. It was mostly the meat we had harvested earlier, and given the situation, it was what I was planning to use. These people needed some nice fresh food, something hot to lift their spirits and remind them that they were people, not fungi that thrived on staying in the dark. Sizzling hot steaks might just be what the doctor ordered to get them into a mindset of progression, instead of the mindless stagnation they were trapped in.

In the meantime, I began quizzing Sabrina about her attributes and traits. It was a bit challenging, the little girl wasn’t the most competent reader, but by comparing my own status sheet to what she was supposed to see, I was able to get a good idea of her potential. And it wasn’t bad, even with an active starvation effect reducing her attributes by a great deal, there was definite potential there. It was enough to make me wonder if Silva had actually known that my old acquaintances were here or if she had guided me to this little girl, for some reason or another.

From the attribute spread Sabrina had, I was partially convinced that Silva had actually guided us here for her, as it read quite suitable for a spellcaster, especially one with a divine connection. When we got to the traits, that idea was only solidified. There were none of the affinity traits needed to become an arcane caster like myself but there were a few that improved her Astral Power, similar to the ones I had, alongside some that sounded like they would make it easier for her to get into contact with other planes.

The scent of food interrupted our conversation, forcing me to prioritise. It was a little challenging to feed the girl, I didn’t quite know how to handle children, but cutting the meat into small pieces and slowly feeding them to her seemed to work. Maybe it was the sheer hunger she had been suffering from, but she happily ate, to the point that I had to keep her from stuffing herself. Though, by the time I realised that, I also noticed that her stomach was bulging a little, making me think I had been too late.

Looking around, I noticed a lot of greedy looks directed at the grilled meat and simply set it on a nearby table, gesturing for the hungry souls to descend upon it. They looked a little feral, making me question my own intimidation value, as they hadn’t dared to intrude upon Sabrina and me. When I made it back to the couch I had taken over, Sabrina already looked ready to go back to sleep, the expression on her face somehow curling my mouth into a smile.

“Silva, you were guided here for her, weren’t you?” I quietly asked my canine companion, after the little girl crawled onto my lap once more. Sabrina looked so adorably out of it, making me think that she didn’t even notice me speaking, her eyes already shut and her breathing evening out. When Silva simply let out an affirmative bark, I started to wonder, what was I supposed to do with a child? She had the potential to become a great cleric of some sort, but did I really want to act as some sort of divine pimp and have her prostitute herself for power? Gently stroking her head, I asked myself, what was best for her? I doubted she’d be able to harness arcane magic, so what was left for her? What path to power could she take, how could she make sure that she wasn’t exploited by those in this world? There was no real society to protect the vulnerable and by the way she had attached herself to me, I doubted there was anyone left to take care of her. So, she only had herself, unless I decided that I wanted to settle down and take care of a vulnerable child.

The martial path was out, at least for the next few years. She might become a great fighter, but until she managed to grow up, her martial path would always be limited by her body.

Similarly, the societal or mercantile path was out. There was no real society, no way to distinguish herself unless I managed to teach her one of the crafts I had managed to learn. Either by learning alchemy or enchanting, she could become a valuable commodity but it would leave her just as vulnerable as she was now, only with a far higher value, making her even more of a target.

Leaving the divine or the arcane path. And by my previous logic, leaving only the divine path.

And that left the question, which entity should I have her sell herself to? At her age, she was probably malleable enough to enter the service of any, if she was indoctrinated properly. The easy choice, possibly the intended choice, would be Hecate, she was Silva’s patron after all, but was it the right choice for the child? Did Hecate even want clerics that needed Her power, I vaguely remembered the Daimon during the creation of my Avatar mock such clerics, calling them beggars who only knew how to knock on divine doors or something along those lines.

Other choices I could see were Lenore, though she wasn’t a divine entity just yet, nor did I think she was truly interested in becoming one, or the Grandmother. One a being of pure Death, possibly one that could rise to carry the souls of the Dead to the afterlife, the other a duality of life and death, a healer caring for her offspring, until it was time for them to pass into the next part of their lives.

Noticing Sabrina squirm on my lap, apparently in discomfort, I started to gently rub her tummy, using a bit of Blood Magic to smoothen the digestive process going on in there. By now, it was obvious that I had fed her too much, that her stomach wasn’t used to digesting large qualities of meat after weeks of a highly restricted diet. Without help, she’d be in quite a bit of pain, and would likely throw up the meat her body needed, simply because it was unable to digest it fully.

Softly humming to myself, I continued to use a bit of magic to make sure her body was working at its best, lending her some of my own power to regenerate what had been lost since the change. She needed a bit of meat on her bones, to regain some muscle but most of that would take some time and proper nutrition. There was only so much the meat I had fed her could do, even if I did my best to help the process along but I had a feeling that the foundation I was now laying would help a great deal.

And it gave me something to do, while a bigger part of my mind started to wonder once more. What did I actually want to do in this place? When I first entered, it had been because of Jenn and Chris but after talking to them, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. While both had listened, neither sounded as if they were interested in gaining strength for themselves. Maybe if I brought Chris to Mrs Wu, he might get started on some training but I wasn’t sure. He seemed to think that he’d find some sort of safe, managerial role to slip into, something I doubted. People would want their managers to have some competency, to be able to walk the walk, so to speak, not only talk the talk.

And that, in this new world, meant higher levels. Sure, prior training meant something, it was how Mrs Wu and Mr Wong had gained their original status as leaders and trainers but I was relatively certain that both of them had managed to leverage their training into levels. Either by going out and fighting or maybe in a way similar to a few of my own levels, gained by training others to fight, or to cast spells in my case. But Chris lacked any leverageable skill, he was a competent financial analyst, at least as far as I knew, but that didn’t mean jack. There were no stocks to trade, no bonds to sell, there wasn’t even cash at the moment. What counted was the food you could put on the table, the protection you could offer the community and what special skills you had to offer. Chris had none of those and unless I put in the effort to teach him magic, I doubted he’d gain them.

Maybe I should find out how the attributes of Chris and Jenn looked, it might be useful to have them listen in to any lessons I’d bestow upon Sabrina. And giving her those lessons was almost certain at this point, simply because I doubted that Hecate had Silva guide us here on a lark, even if it might be an amusing prank.

No, Sabrina had somehow roused the interest of the divine and for some odd reason, I had been chosen to guide her, likely because Silva lacked the necessary vocal cords. But how she was chosen, I had no idea. Maybe only the gods could figure that one out.