Word of Tami’s celebration ritual for her daughter slowly percolated beyond the borders of her village. Before night had fallen, thorough visitors and dealings, every one in all the five villages had been made aware, and by sunrise of the next day, the normally quiet village of Kedu had turned into a metropolis.

As attested to before, city planning was a non-existent concept, so there were no streets to be crowded.

However, the scattered houses, and the pockets of space between those houses were soon crammed with visitors, well wishers, and party crashers from all the surrounding five villages.

Traversing the village at the best of times required continual trespassing through people’s front yards. Now, however, every attempt to get somewhere required traipsing through five communal feasts and ten private conversations.

And, at Cas’s, snail’s-pace crawl, she was left floating in the perpetual awkwardness of a woman who had to squeeze her way down the long side of a packed movie theater.

“Sorry, sorry,” she crawled her round body past a small brunch of laughing people, accidentally bumping the wooden – and thus very valuable – coffee stand the lady of the house had been roasting some beans upon.

Cas could hear the ancient wood creak, and she could see everyone’s present smiles straining as they tried not to show any distress at the great Slime Sage.

That was the worst part of being the Village hero, Cas supposed. It was hard to have honest conversations with the people around you.

“Sorry again! I’lll pay you back for any damages,” Cas yelled back, rushing to escape the awkward scene and taking a whole ten seconds to do so.

“Oh, no! Great Sage! It’s no trouble at all! The lady of the house assured, panic in her voice at having insulted the hero. She attempted to stand to pay her respects before a quick ‘no need’ from Cas rebuffed her, and made her all the more confused and worried at having offended the Sakkari.

Perhaps if the problem had been solved in a day, it would’ve been better. The excitement would’ve been more intense, but would have flashed away after a week.

However, healing an Oasis was a lengthy process. The slimes that were now freely able to escape the caven still had a long trek through the desert sands, and catching the scent of the degraded pathways they’d carved took time.

So, the Oasis healed slowly, and continually, and every week there was a new milestone and record water level to keep the village gossip mill perpetually occupied about how great the Oasis was doing and about just how thankful they were that the Sage arrived in time!

“Oh, great sage!”

Cas passed by another trio of huts, all constructed facing a central, shared front yard that was currently host to another breakfast party. This group, of course, stood and prepared to offer a respectful invitation to sit with them:

“No! That won’t be necessary, really!” Cas assured, rushing away before they could insist and turning a corner to another brunch group, who were also standing with exaggerated looks of amazement and awe…

Huh…

—--------------

Declining invitations was a strange thing in Nemorian culture.

This was because, among the Nemorians, declining an invitation was considered the polite way to accept.

Here, saying, “Oh, no, I absolutely couldn’t accept your free food,” was usually accompanied by taking a plate.

It was a polite gesture Cas was familiar with back on earth. However, here, it was taken to a new extreme, as – if you actually did want to say no – the offering party would usually be required – out of politeness – to offer again… multiple times.

For someone as popular as Cas, in such a crowded environment, this was a death sentence.

So, naturally, Cas was prepared for war, and she came packing her nuclear deterrent: Kari.

People still invited her out of politeness, of course, but Cas found they were quicker to accept a declination when there was an Unari in the mix.

Kari was all too happy to be useful.

In fact, following their reconciliation, Cas found the girl had been happier and more pleasant than ever. She stood up straighter, had her ears perked up at attention, and Cas even caught her smiling when she was alone! It was a complete transformation in the girls demeanor that Cas was happy to see.

“So, so, so, are we going to pick up Nadia now or should we wait until the party?” Kari paced around like a caffeinated chipmunk around the stationary Sakkari. “I think we should do it now. It’d be a good surprise, or maybe it wouldn’t be a surprise. Do you think Tami’s already told her?”

Cas, who’d been valiantly trying to focus on the aura, despite her blindness, started seeing the double edged nature of this new and improved Kari.

“Probably,” Cas answered slowly.

“Oh! Yeah, I guess she would. But what if-!”

“Trying to focus,” Cas intoned purposefully.

“Oh, right!” Kari acknowledged, a little embarrassed.

Taking in the quiet, Cas focused again on trying to find that ‘spark’.

The village was crowded, the Oasis more so, and Cas’s hut – normally understood to be a sacred place meant to be left alone – was crowded with tourists.

So, they came here, sitting in a shaded corner of Tami’s farm land. It was quiet here. It being winter, and with Tami having thrown such a wonderful party, the surrounding fields were left empty as everyone decided to reschedule their week-long vacations to right now.

Still, sound carried well in the dry air, and she could hear occasional roars of jubilation coming from the village in the distance. The wind was in their direction, and she could smell that something large and fragrant had been set on fire. The wind and the smoke it carried caressed over the barren and tilled fields, and she could hear sands shifting like the sea in the distance.

Cas had hardened a blinder around her eye, and she could feel the crystal gyrating inside of her.

It wasn’t a deliberate motion on her part. The crystal just moved whenever she tried to look for that ‘spark’ inside of her. It moved left, it pointed up, and currently it was making strange swirling motions around a point in her lower body.

Of course, her blinder moved to keep pace with the eye, and the view didn’t change.

In fact, after hours of trying, it seemed ridiculous to Cas that she could try finding it like this. After all, in some sense, she was her eye. She moved wherever it moved, and that spark always seemed to be somewhere inside of her, like it was somewhere behind her field of view.

At that thought, the eye flipped around like a coin, spinning faster and faster about its axis as – like a dog trying to chase its own tail – it, on instinct, tried to follow Cas’ intention to see behind itself.

Of course, Cas understood that was impossible.

Wherever the eye looked, it’s perspective would drag along with it. It could never see behind itself because the periphery only existed where she wasn’t looking.

And then Cas found her spark, and her whole world lit up.

Aura Unlocked!

New Vital Stat: Aura!

Aura Level Updated: -> LVL 1!

Cas dissolved her blinder, and Kari came into view. The girl sat with her back against a wall, hugging the thin strip of shadow that bordered along the structure, her toes dancing on the dangerous border between shadow and sunlight.

“Kari.”

She looked up at Cas.

“Get Sin,” she said.

—----------------------------------------

Sin was back in Fari village preparing for the wrestling match, so Kari had to be dispatched by herself to get him.

Of course, Cas could’ve gotten there in a quarter of the time by flying, but once again she was faced with the inconvenience of her own unwillingness to reveal her abilities to the villagers.

It was strange how long she’d kept up the charade, but it just never seemed to be the right time. First, the Oasis was in danger, and she didn’t want to appear suspicious, then there was the celebration she didn’t want to interrupt.

Really, though, Cas – usually an ‘honesty is the best policy’ sort of person – didn’t see any problem with revealing the truth now, and would have told the villagers already, had Kari not been so adamant that they keep the secret between them.

Still, that decision came with its consequences, and Cas had to make the long crawl back to the village alone.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Her recent updates had given her a lot of reading material, however.

image [https://i.imgur.com/VhgqPsZ.png]

It was all very interesting.

Interesting as the status screen appeared, however, it just didn’t hold a candle next to her Aura.

It wasn’t a visible thing, her Aura – rather, it was something understood. Cas just knew she had an Aura, and she knew that it was everywhere! It was inside of her, outside of her, it was in the ground, the sky, the stars. She could see her aura everywhere she looked, and she could feel its presence everywhere else!

It left her with a strangely serene feeling, like being drunk without the loss of coordination, and it felt like nothing could bother her.

A villager who’s name she didn’t know approached her. In her face was that familiar look of magnanimous humility as she prepared to invite Cas to tea.

Cas didn’t feel any frustration as she made this twelfth refusal, however.

After all, the woman was her Aura.

At least, Cas truly believed that to be the case as the woman’s smile changed course into disappointment. “Surely, you must say hi, at least!” the woman insisted with a politeness that could hardly be refused.

“Absolutely not!” Cas replied with a cheerful voice.

Cas was honestly cheerful, too. Right now, Cas felt incapable of anything other than serenity because her Aura was everywhere! That meant she was everywhere! And if she was everywhere, how could she be annoyed at herself?

It was a strange sensation to be so calm. It gave her a bravery she didn’t expect to have when she confronted Nemaris.

…

“I heard you’ve been telling the other Village elders that you don’t expect me to succeed,” Cas said.

Kari had told her as much last night, in fewer words.

Cas decided to expand on what Kari had eavesdropped for Nemaris: “I heard,” she continued, “that you’ve been telling the other Village elders that Nadia wouldn’t cause any trouble by staying, and that she wouldn’t stay for long once I failed to take care of her on limited rations.”

Nemaris looked cornered against the wall of his hut, looking over his clay cup at her.

Cas, had spent all last night agonizing over how to say this. In fact, she hadn’t even been certain that Kari had been telling the truth!

Something about the recent discovery of her aura made the accusation flow effortlessly, however.

“I was surprised to hear this because… well, I wasn’t even aware we were going to be spilling that secret to anyone in the village, much less bad mouthing each other in the process.”

Nemaris, for his part, looked merely confused.

“Of course I told the elders,” he answered. “We tell each other everything of importance.”

Whatever serenity Cas had developed with her Aura seemed to be temporary, and annoyance sprung back up.

“Oh? And what about your promise that I would fail? I’d assumed you’d be a bit less antagonistic in this regard.”

Nemaris looked conflicted. “I only told them my honest thoughts,” placing his cup down onto the plate. “I told you about the laws as a favor, Sage. It doesn’t mean I expect you to succeed, and it doesn’t mean I’m willing to put my name into that madness you’re concocting. If you want to keep the Unari in your hut, fine, but I won’t be associated with it.”

Nemaris sat back against the wall, arms crossed and closed to further conversation.

—---------

“Whoa! Calm down there!” Sin warned with a jolly figure.

Cas, frustrated, stopped her attempt to imagine her body.

Finding the ‘spark’ inside of her had been easy enough for Cas. Lacking a human body, with all its flowing blood, and heart beats, and stomach growls, finding the dim essence of aura inside of her was a relatively unobscured process.

The next step, however, was to ‘imagine the form of her body’ and Cas, being an amorphous blob that didn’t have a set form, well, it wasn’t exactly-

“Easy!” Sin warned. “You’re already trying to compress your aura! We don’t move onto step six until we do everything beforehand, understood!” He seemed panicked for some reason “Try that again, and you’ll blow your arm off!”

Cas guessed that might have been the reason.

Cas sighed. ‘Imagining’ such a fluid body was hard to do precisely, especially considering how dull her sense of touch was in this form. She guessed that she’d probably need to do this step in her human form… which she couldn’t do now because she was still hiding her transformation ability.

Sin apparently mistook the cause of her dejection. “Ease up,” he consoled. “Honestly, you’ve advanced surprisingly quickly at this. Usually it takes most kids several weeks to get this far.”

“Kids?” Cas interjected, looking over at Kari.

“Well,” Sin looked abashed, “we don’t teach them anything past step three until they grow older. You’re still doing great, though. You’ve got an ability to focus that I’ve hardly ever seen!”

“I spent a lot of time alone in a Cave,” Cas supplied.

Sin didn’t know how to respond to that, so he moved on.

“Still, I’m surprised you’re having trouble,” Sin looked at her appraisingly. “Usually things go fairly smoothly after someone finds their spark. I mean, people’s emotions generally flatten away for the first hour after someone awakens their aura. Did something happen to frustrate you before we showed up?”

Cas only sighed again.

An hour of enlightenment and she wasted it talking to upper management.

“Nothing,” Cas replied to Sin and Kari’s awaiting looks. “It’s nothing. I think I’ll have this figured out by tonight. Do you know when I can expect to learn the rest of the steps?”

Sin hmmed. “Well, the most difficult steps are over. I’d say you can learn the rest of them in a day, as long as you know what to look for.”

Cas didn’t have any expression, but the downward cant of her crystal eye revealed her to be overthinking things.

“Actually,” Sin said. “How about this. Do you know what your skill is, yet?”

“Skill?” Cas asked.

“Oh.. you don’t know?” Sin brought a hand to his chin. “Hmm.. well…how to explain… you know how everyone’s different, right?”

Cas nodded.

“Well, skills are like talents. They’re complicated things someone can do with their aura without having to learn all the eight steps.”

“Ok.” Cas floated her eye up to the surface of her body with great interest, “and what’s your skill?”

“Sensing,” Sin smiled proudly. At her inquisitive gaze, he only laughed, “I could explain further, but I think a demonstration would be faster.” Slowly, he reached out a hand towards her, “If you’re ready, I can help you use the skill.”

Cas wanted to believe. “You’re saying I can use your skill when I can’t even get past step three without blowing myself up?” She sounded incredulous.

Sin laughed. “You’ve already awakened your aura. Technically you can do anything as long as you have that. The rest of the steps are just… techniques to help you use your aura more actively. Skills, as I’ve mentioned, don’t need that, besides, I’ll be keeping an eye on you the entire time. What do you say?”

…

Of course, Cas agreed.

Sin had uncanny insight into her progression, and guided her smoothly.

Though his hand was inches away from her surface, Cas felt she could feel the shadow of the appendage as it instructed her aura to make alien motions, and that feeling of everywhereness returned for an instance before disappearing.

It wasn’t just her aura that disappeared. It felt as if the whole world was gone, now, unable to obstruct her from seeing all those living creatures that had previously been hidden away.

She was sensing, Cas realized. It felt like when she’d read Sin’s character screen, but more intense, and for everything. The formerly plain fields now frothed with life, with fungi and hibernating tubers and all the burrowing creatures that bubbled just beneath the surface.

Cas was left with a feeling like butterflies in her belly as she felt all those creatures at once.

It was so much.

In fact, it was too much. Everything blended together into static and nothing stood out from the endless mire of life that surrounded her.

Distantly, she could hear Sin talking easily to her. “Overwhelming isn’t it? Don’t worry, it’s easier in the desert. Try focusing on your aura, remember what it feels like when its active, see how to sticks to the shape of your body?”

Cas felt the sphere of aura around herself. She could also feel a faint ghostly shape of her human form standing around it, somehow.

Still, that explosive nebula of life around her was an enticing distraction, and she couldn’t help glancing over at the intense show.

And, there, camouflage against the background signature of life, Cas sensed a more human figure, fox ears flickering nervously atop her head.

She looked over at Sin, who seemed focused on guiding her aura. Could he really not sense her?

Cas then realized that the figure was only visible because Cas recognized it. She wasn’t sure who, but it was someone Cas had been in the presence of before, someone she bothered to remember. What were they doing out here in the middle of a celebration, though?

Cas wandered away, the sensory cloud fritzing away as soon as she disconnected from Sin.

Sin looked at her.

Glancing back, Cas gave a whispered warning. “Someone’s here.”

Cas wasn’t sure why she decided to investigate. It was none of her business, but she was a curious sort.

Why was that person here now? They should have been in the village celebrating. Why did they seem so nervous? Why were they moving as if they were trying to hide? Why were sneaking into the granary? Why did they seem so familiar?

In an isolated community like this, people showing up in the fields wasn’t a strange occurrence.

But all those questions hounded her as she led Sin and Kari to the squat, wooden structure where she’d last sensed the figure.

Now that he was looking for it, Sin nodded to her to confirm the figure’s presence, and all the same questions seemed to run through his mind as he led them round the back of the storehouse, crouching low and taking careful steps.

Soon, he was pressed against the front wall, his breath reaching past the edge of the open door.

Looking back, he nooded, and Cas shook her eye in assent.

They all stepped forward, shadows stretching into the building, casting the girl into darkness.

Cas stared at the sight, feeling lost at the turmoil of emotions it caused.

Cas was surprised at the culprit. It was Yessina: Kari’s older sister, and Korivenna's assistant.

She was also confused.

Yessina stood near a pile of granaries, holding a cloth bag full of flour and roots which she was trying to stuff into her side satchell.

It was incontrovertible, obvious, undeniable, Yessina was stealing food.

Cas was confused, in turmoil. The sight felt like a parody to her. The closest experience she’d had to this on earth was when she’d caught her niece sneaking sugar. Back then, she’d been able to laugh at her niece, to find it cute how she denied eating sugar even as powderfuls of the stuff puffed out from her lips.

This was quite a different sight, however.

Yessina’s face was far from wide-eyed surprise. It looked more… fatalistic, almost as if she’d been expecting to be caught.

She also looked terrified, and that abject terror infected Sin and Kari and Cas, too, because everyone in this room knew the law of the village:

The punishment for stealing food was death.