Stepping through the door, a middle aged man with short white hair, scruffy beard and dressed in rags of dark wool carrying in his hands a bowl while walking to the bedside table next to Zeki, smiles and starts with an introduction, "My name is Serkzyl", laughing to himself he places the vegetable soup on the table; continuing- "I am very honored to have received you as a guest, however, the river mouth and ocean is not exactly my front lawn, it must be destiny that I have spotted you which lead me to scooping you up while traveling home. It has already been 6 days since then."

While sitting on the bed, Zeki reaches for her head, however, before she can get to it, a grumbling sound echos through the room and the source happens to be her stomach.

Laughing at Zeki sitting on the bed, Serkzyl gestures towards the bowl and encourages, " You must be hungry, I have prepared some vegetable soup with a little poultry to assist you in regaining your strength, we can talk afterwards."

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Zeki nods her head, and after smelling the scent of the soup dish, she reaches for the bowl and begins wolfing it down without a quarrel for etiquette, which is understandable.

While slurping and chewing, Zeki feels a sense of enlightenment, as before this, it was entirely unnecessary to eat food due to the Origin Force and Individual Force sustaining her constitution and growth, however, now that it has all been sealed, she has no other choice but to indulge in the macro nutrients, which of course, she is very happy to do so with this particular meal leaving her taste buds tingling.

Watching the girl before him eating, Serkzyl decides to leave the room and only to return with a wooden cup containing purple liquid.

Serkzyl: "Here you go, it is fruit juice, it is something I spend quite some time on cultivating and hope that you find it pleasant."

After receiving the cup, Zeki puts it to her lips and as it enters, a cool and yet subtle gush of juice flows into her mouth before immediately she jugs it all down- eyes sparkling with delight and such.

Wiping her mouth before speaking, "Thank you so much Mr Serkzyl-", then getting up from the bed before bowing at the waist in gesture of appreciation.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

With a light chuckle, Serkzyl motions with his hand and speaks to the girl before him, "Not at all, young one, my cooking and especially the juice I produce is just a hobby, I only happened to be granted with an opportunity to gift it to somebody, perhaps getting an opinion on it, and that somebody happens to be you, now, little girl, do you have a name?"

Raising her head from the bow and already having jogged through the shared memories, she proceeds to introduce, "My name is Zeki, Mr Serkzyl, I dived into the river currents to save my little sister and after reaching her before helping her to dry land, the current sucked me under and I hit my head, which probably left me unconscious. Thank you for rescuing me, Mr Serkzyl."

How admirable of her, having saved her little sister which then lead to her being rescued must be karma and with a gleam in the eye after realising this, Serkzyl looks to have had an epiphany.

Serkzyl: "Well, now, Ms Zeki, I have decided to take you in as my disciple, have you already become a priestess or have you not underwent the ceremony yet?"

Zeki: " No, teacher, I have not, I have only recently turned 14 years of age and it has not been full moon yet." Having only turned 14 two weeks ago, Zeki has to wait until the next full moon.

Serkzyl: "No problem, I have a shrine built close to my home, it will be two more days until full moon, by then you will be ready to venture along the path of the priestess; by the way, Zeki, we are currently on an island, do you know what this means?"

Before she can speak, Serkzyl informs, "It means that it is surrounded by water, an ocean of water at that, which leads to the meaning of an ocean of aquatic beasts."

Slightly dumb founded at what Serkzyl just said after having wanted to say something entirely different, she looks at him- with question marks swimming through her head, "I, I know-"

With a hearty laugh, Serkzyl nods his head, "Good, now, student Zeki, do you also know about the various ranks and what they entail?"

Zeki has some knowledge of it so she replies nodding, "Yes, teacher, I know a little."

Serkzyl: "Thats good, well, let me tell you anyway, seeing that I am your teacher, come, come, have a seat and let's talk."

Walking over to the table in the room near the window, Zeki takes her seat from across her teacher before he begins to explain.

Serkzyl: "There are 5 ranks for the priest and warior. The first rank is Warior or Priest/Priestess, the second being Warlord or High Priest/Priestess, thirdly King/Queen or Bishop/ Holy Maiden, fourth Emperor/Empress or Saint/Saintess and fifth God/Goddess of War or Deity of Piece/Subtlety; it obviously depends on gender and, of course, what you receive through the inheritance ceremony, perhaps your path may be that of the warior. Haha-haha."

Listening to her teacher laughing, Zeki understands that also, to claim an area of land such as an island as a home, one at least, from her knowledge, has to be at the Saint or Emperor rank.