Sage has no idea how this feast is going to go. She’s always been good at smiling and moving forwards but man she’s feeling a lot of second hand anxiety for Jin. And only because of how clearly Jin is dreading the event. The gold eyed girl is coiled like a rope.

Speaking of Jin, Rosemary must have gone through Sage’s stuff for clothes because those are her pants. Not that Sage has any intention to complain of course, but Rosie could have at least asked.

Sage doesn’t get to distract herself by pretending to be mad at Rosemary for long since the plaza is only a five minute walk from her house. She takes in the sights quickly.

The sun is just about past the horizon, so night will be hitting soon. A glance at the sky doesn’t show any overhead clouds, so there will still be light from the rings, too. Despite this, people can be seen lighting candles, lanterns, and torches in preparation for the sun’s departure.

And the plaza itself! It’s just as decorated as it is on a holiday. Banners are strung between trees, cliffs, and the church. The church has all its own windows lit and the stained glass of its windows casts an array of lights onto the plaza outside. Baskets of flowers are scattered around, and the giant feast table is absolutely covered with food. Most of the village looks to have turned up since something to the tune of sixty people are crowded into the open space. Sage can see her mother arguing with Ingrid about food placement like she does every feast. Poor Moss is just standing with a roast in his hands waiting to be told where to put it.

The crowd goes quiet as everyone sees Sage and Jin arrive. Or, when Jin arrives, more accurately. Sage looks at the cleric to try and gauge her response.

Jin stands half a step behind Sage, and takes several moments just to scan the crowd. Her eyes land on Priest Herrick, who smiles at the eye contact and starts walking forwards.

Honestly Sage is dying of curiosity to see what all Priest Herrick knows of Jin. She tries to keep it contained and takes a small step back, trying to gesture Jin forwards with a smile.

Jin doesn’t take the bait. Instead she straightens her back, crosses her arms, and maintains eye contact with Priest Herrick as he strides towards the two. What is she doing? Trying to intimidate him or something? This isn’t a confrontation.

Priest Herrick stops several paces in front of the two and folds his hands in front of him. He bows slightly as he speaks, “I believe you are the cleric Thior told me of. Cleric Dijinndera, is it?” Woah, Thior told him?? The god of the Traveler itself! Wait, what did he call Jin?

Jin looks like she just swallowed a lemon. “Where did- No, just Jin, please.”

Priest Herrick nods appeasingly. “Of course, my apologies, Cleric Jin. Allow me to invite you to the hospitality of our humble village. Let us feast and be merry! Enjoy the succor of food and good company, and afterwards we can turn to matters of more importance, if you should wish.” He bows shallowly once more. He looks up, and when he sees that Jin has no intention of replying he nods and turns towards the crowd. “I believe it is time to begin the feast, everyone!”

A round of cheers breaks the silence, and just like that the invisible tension is snapped.

Three people take this as a cue and start playing instruments. Music fills the plaza.

Sage desperately wants to flood both Priest Herrick and Jin with questions, but holds herself back. Priest Herrick gestures the two towards the large table, and villagers see this, or pull the more oblivious of them away from the table to make room for the cleric.

Sage stares longingly at the table full of food for two seconds before realizing that Jin is making no moves towards it. Sage glances at Jin, back at the table, then back at Jin. Finally she hooks one of her arms through one of Jin’s and starts walking forwards, “Guests of honor get dibs! Ooh, Gale can we have that plate there? Thanks! Oh, another for me? Thanks Moss!”

Looks like Moss escaped roast holding duty and pre-loaded a plate for her with roast on it! He’s such a saint. Sage passes this one to Jin and holds the empty one for herself. Jin, who was just accepting being dragged along till now, unhooks her arm and glances around covertly. Sage decides to help out and points out various foods, describing what they are and who made them. This seems to be enough encouragement for the girl, who starts serving herself upon hearing the description of a pommen pie made by the village baker.

Once that dam is broken, Sage feels free enough to start serving herself too. Moss comes by again with two cups filled with a bright yellow liquid. Sage’s eyes go wide, “Is that the mead that Farmer Joel and his wife were making?!” Moss nods as Sage grabs a cup and then points over to the church. A small table with a couple kegs on it is surrounded by a small crowd. A blonde woman sees Sage looking and smiles at her before going back to filling cups with drink. Sage waves.

Moss is staring at Jin again. Sage sighs, boys. “Hey Moss,” she doesn’t have to keep talking. Moss jumps, blushes, puts the second cup on the table, then walks away. Sage giggles.

People around them are starting to close in and fill their own plates, now that Jin looks to be finishing filling hers in a surprisingly tall pile. Sage considers the fact that she maybe should have waited too, but decides she doesn’t actually care. She will be an inquisitor soon! Probably. Hopefully. That should at least grant early food privilege right? Right. Food is never wrong.

“Anyways, let’s find somewhere to sit.”

The plaza is large enough to hold several tables and still leave room for people to walk between and mingle. The central feast table is rarely sat at, it’s always just used as a food staging ground while everyone floats around it.

Normally Sage would go sit with her family if she wasn’t walking and eating at the same time. Now she’s not quite sure where to go; should she try and help Jin mingle? Take her to sit with church members? The young adult’s table where people her age spend all their time flirting and pretending like they aren’t interested in each other? She glances over at Jin hoping for inspiration.

Jin is staring at Priest Herrick’s back again looking vaguely upset. A quick decision has Sage skip towards her family’s table. “Come on Jin, we’ll sit here for now.”

Rosemary is already sitting down and talking to a friend of hers that came over to chat. Her mother is trying to get Basil out of a tree that was definitely empty just a minute ago. He’s getting fast at climbing. Moss already vanished off somewhere, probably into the church. They have some nice quiet rooms in the back.

Sage sets her food down on the table and gestures for Jin to do the same, who does. “Ok Jin, you sit here with Rosie. I’ll be right back!”

Jin looks up sharply, looking slightly panicked, “I- Ah, ok?” Aw… Jin acts aloof but she’s really just a big softie, huh? Sage feels a little bad as she offers a bright smile to Jin in exchange, “Sorry! I’ll be back soon, really! I just need to find my last sibling!”

She’ll be able to take care of herself. It’s not like there’s any arc-wolves here after all. At this thought Sage frowns, knocks twice on the wood table, then smiles once more at Jin before skipping off.

—

Jin watches Sage leave with a sinking feeling in her gut. Her only line of defense…

Spotting the opening, villagers are already edging near to get a chance to talk to her. Jin very distinctly avoids eye contact with any of them. The girl sitting beside Rosemary smiles and starts to stand up while staring at Jin, but gets pulled back down as Rosemary starts whispering in her ear. The twinge of appreciation is snuffed when she hears a voice behind her.

“Cleric Jin?”

Ugh.

Jin takes a dainty bite of pie before turning towards her newest visitor. The pie is better than the desert pies they serve at the academy, surprisingly enough. How did they get the supply chain for this? Do pies even need supply chains? Pushing aside her thoughts, Jin takes one look at the man and instantly knows he’s a relative of Sage. Fortunately, for identification purposes at least, hers looks to be one of the few dark skinned families in the village. What did she say her older brother’s name is?

“Are you… Oak?”

The man smiles and Jin sees Sage in the expression. There’s her missing sibling. The timing is too good not to be intentional and Jin can’t help the hint of a smile from creeping onto her face.

“I am! Sage mentioned me, I take it?”

He sits in Sage’s spot and stabs something herby and starchy looking with his sister’s fork. Jin snorts in amusement, “Only about five times? Maybe more, I wasn’t able to keep track.”

Oak chuckles good naturedly, “That sounds like her.” He looks much like Sage, but has black to her auburn hair. He’s also quite a bit bigger than she is, both in height and muscle mass.

Jin scans the crowd to see if anyone else is trying to edge towards her. Few make eye contact, but Jin easily spots people stealing glances or outright staring. Oak spots the eye movement and copies it. “No one for crowds of attention?”

Jin wrinkles her nose, “You could say that.” She spears another bite of pie. Pommen pie, Sage said? It’s like a mix between apple, cherry, and peach, but kind of tart and with honey? Or honey was added to the pie? There is mead, so honey is definitely a thing in the village. She’d have to try the actual fruit to figure out where all the flavors come from.

“I’m not a fan of crowds either, although, I can’t say I’ve ever attracted this much attention, myself.” A pleasant smile stays on his face while he talks. “Traveler’s Rest is full of crowds. I didn’t think that many people could exist in the same place until I went.”

One of Jin’s eyebrows quirks, “What’s the population density there?”

“Ah, what do you mean, exactly?”

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Jin smiled mirthlessly, “Nevermind, I’m just a delusional cleric.”

Oak laughs at this, “Oh that old story? I’ve heard it. Never knew why the church likes to tell it so much.” With this he finally takes a bite of Sage’s food. “Mm, I’m guessing it’s not true, though?”

Jin stares at him, then lowers her voice. “Is all of your family this dismissive of the church..?”

Oak laughs again, “No! No, aha, don’t let Rosemary get to you, hm.” Rosemary? Jin’s eyes flick over to Sage’s sister. Oak lowers his voice, “The church wasn’t always here, you see? I was nine when our old mayor died and the church was finally able to move it.” He nods to the church building with this note. Is he saying the mayor lived where the church is now..? “Until then, we’ve definitely heard of the church and what it taught, from traveling merchants and preachers and the like, but it wasn’t here. It’s rather impossible not to be a believer, but I personally don’t ascribe to all its beliefs.”

Jin furrows her eyebrows and puts her fork down. That’s a lot to unpack, “What do you mean it’s impossible not to believe?”

He raises his eyebrows and smiles, “You’re at least aware that we knew you were coming since this morning, yes?”

Jin nods impatiently, “Yes but that’s hardly-“

Something whacks Oak on the head and he shouts in dismay. Sage is holding one hand on her hip while the other waves a plate around, “I was looking for you!”

He smiles while holding one arm half up in defense, “I know! That’s why I waited for you to leave,” He stabs more of Sage’s food and eats it before Sage can stop him, tanking plate blows all the while. “Oak!”

Oak has to retreat and he gets out of Sage’s chair and out of Sage’s plate range. She solves this by throwing the plate at him, which bounces off his arm that’s still in defensive position. Sage’s eyes narrow and Oak, seeing this, widens his own eyes and backs off. Both have smiles quirking the corner of their mouths. Sage starts stalking towards him-

Apparently sibling rivalry means Jin is free game for conversation, because someone else walks up to her now. Jin bites into the starchy looking substance on her plate. Probably potatoes? They taste a bit odd, but it could just be the herbs? There’s a lot of interesting flavors today. The newcomer looks to be patiently waiting on Jin to acknowledge them, but she busies herself with sampling different foods. The roast is quite good too. It’s pork? And has a solid centimeter of herb-something casing. Herb rind? Jin never learned cooking terms.

The newcomer eventually clears their throat and Jin looks up at them. She raises her eyebrows and takes another bite of the roast pork. There’s definitely honey in the rind, she decides. Wait rind is specifically for fruit isn’t it? Damn, what is she supposed to call-

“Cleric Jin, correct?”

Jin finishes chewing and swallows. Daintily, she dabs at her mouth with a napkin. Alize would always do this when people would try to talk to her in public, “Correct.” She spears more food onto her fork. Some kind of vegetable?

The villager waits for a beat, realizes Jin isn’t saying more, then starts speaking, “Good, Cleric Jin.” They nod, and continue, “I, we, uhm.” They clear their throat, “The otha’ villaga’s an’ I, we’ve neva seen a miracle in person. We was hopin’…”

“Oh.”

Both pause. She bites into the vegetable on her fork, chews contemplatively, swallows, then shrugs, “Yeah, sure, I had planned on it sooner or later.”

Compared to the pork and pie, the roasted mystery vegetable is a disappointment. She puts her fork down, stands, and cracks her fingers while facing the largest collection of villagers.

The plaza doesn’t go silent, but most conversations fall away as soon as Jin stands. Freaky, but she tries to ignore it.

Jin puts her hands on her hips and stares intently above most peoples’ heads. Several villagers turn their heads to see where she’s looking, confused. She’s not a fan of being watched this closely but… she knows what she’s doing.

Jin crafts her spell formula for several beats, and then floods the structure with magic. Suddenly a field of multi-colored light orbs sprouts into existence above peoples’ heads, and they start moving in a hypnotic pattern. The village collectively gasps and exclaims in awe. The music stops and a few people try to get a round of applause started, but most are too caught up in the moment to join.

Jin bows quickly, then sits back down. She raises her eyebrows at the villager still hovering beside her, “How’s that for a taste of divinity?”

“Ah, ah, very good! Yes, very good Cleric Jin. It’s ah… beautiful…” They look torn between staring at the lights and looking at Jin. Jin decides to help their conundrum by turning away. She glances at the other faces in the crowd and… Yeah, everyone is doing that. Eyes are either on her or her light spell. Shit.

Jin sighs and takes a sip of the mead. It’s… really good. She’s had mead before, but never this good, it just tasted like alcoholic honey water. Which is technically all mead is, but this is good… Maybe she should find more descriptive words. She eyes the gold-hued liquid appreciatively. Who made this? That blonde woman serving it by the barrels? Jin might actually want to have a conversation with her if it means more of this mead.

The music starts back up, fortunately. It’ll take up some of peoples’ attention from her.

Sage slips back into her seat beaming, “Jin! I didn’t know you could do light miracles like this!” Her hands gesture vaguely everywhere.

Jin smiles slightly, “It takes some effort, but I went ahead and prepped for this spell ahead of time. I picked the rotation pattern out in the bath, actually. I figured the village would want something showy, so…” She finishes with a shrug.

Oak takes the seat on her other side, “You figured correctly.” He’s still watching the light show, looking transfixed. “Our village has never had a visiting cleric. I know I’ve never seen the miracle of light made like this… This is a new experience for most of us.”

Jin looks over at Oak, and takes a guess, “But not for you?”

He smiles at her mysteriously, “Traveller’s Rest is full of all different sorts of people.”

Sage pipes up, “Yeah! I went once last year, that city is huuuuuuge! The grand cathedral is there, so you get all kinds of people coming just to visit.”

Sometime between the few seconds Jin looked away, Basil managed to climb Sage and perch himself on her shoulders. Sensing that Jin is looking his way, he tears his eyes away from the lights and looks at Jin, smiling. “Hi Cleric Miss!” He leans back using Sage’s shirt as a hand hold, and, now choking, Sage has to reach back and bat Basil’s hands away.

“Basil!” Sage’s mother wraps both her arms under Basil’s, and the boy switches tactics and wraps his legs around Sage’s throat. After a strangled noise Sage pries off his legs and takes a deep breath. “Basil! You were choking me!”

“Was not!” Basil is hanging limply in his mother’s arms and trying to cross his own with little success. His arms stack in front of his chin in a vaguely upset manner.

Lilia takes a lecturing tone, “Basil you best be leavin Sage n’ Jin alone tonight or you gonna be feelin it tomorra’”

Basil squeaks and squirms free from his mother’s arm, escaping to sit beside Rosemary. Lilia crosses her arms then takes another seat at the table where a plate of food is set down. She eyes Basil sternly for a moment longer before letting her expression soften. “Miss Jin, I had no idea you was such a’ accomplished cleric! I’ve neva seen one befoa, but my husband has. He took the younguns to see the cathedral just last year, see.”

“Momma! Oak and I were both adults last year!”

With the expertise of every mother in denial, Lilia ignores this comment. “How was the journey, Sage? You left without tellin’ me, again, by the way.”

Sage grins sheepishly, “Oh, easy. Nothin unexpected, just me and good Cleric Jin, journeying. Haha,” Lily’s expression hardens. Sage makes herself forcibly casual, “You know, just normal journey snags. Stopping to forage, arc-wolves, navigating the sewers. No big deal.”

Oak sits straight at this, “Arc-wolves? Sage are you sure they were-“

“I know what an arc-wolf is! Lightning, arms, the works. There’s at least three in the ruined city.”

The table and the villagers near enough to hear go silent at this. Slowly a murmur starts to go up about the new topic.

Rosemary’s friend stands and goes white before running away to the village below. Looking around, Jin sees some people are showing similar reactions. A few more slip off to the village at the news.

Suddenly the feast has a darker tone.

Sage looks around guiltily, “I wasn’t gonna say anything till after everyone ate…”

Jin takes a bite of the roast, unperturbed. “They scare off easily enough, I don’t see the big deal?”

Oak looks at her like she just grew a second head, “Scare off? They don’t just scare off- they are relentless. They don’t stop until they or their target are dead.”

Jin pauses mid chew, then quickly swallows, “Um, no they ran off I’m pretty damn sure. I was a little out of it at the time, but…” She glances over at Sage who looks equal measures concerned and confused, but nods.

“Yeah, they left. That artifact I told you about? Jin made it explode in one wolf’s face. Then it ran off and joined its friends. We never saw the other two, just heard ‘em. I dunno what they did after that, but they didn’t chase us anymore.”

Oak and Lilia both look unsettled by the news, and Rosemary and Basil just look upset that everyone else is upset.

Jin furrows her brows, “What are their normal targets?” She directs the question mostly at Oak, since he seems to know something on the matter.

He frowns and shakes his head, pauses, then nods, “Clerics and Paladins? I had always assumed that they’re the ones reporting the attacks because they’re the only ones who can survive them but… I don’t know.”

Huh.

Lilia stands up, “I’m afraid I’ve lost my appetite. I, ah, won’t be able to sleep t’night without checkin’ the locks and windas. Basil you’re helpin’, c’mon.”

Basil gets up and follows his mother dutifully, still looking upset by everyone’s reaction. Rosemary stands as well, “I’ll take care a cleanup, an maybe get Moss ta help too, if I can find ‘em.”

Lilia nods absently and hurries towards their home with Basil in tow.

Several other villagers can be seen taking similar actions, but most stay to feast and drink. Sage starts nervously chatting to Oak about… something. Jin stopped paying attention.

Jin takes another bite of the roast. “Good food,” she comments idly.

Oak stands up and excuses himself, and Sage gets up to follow him moments after.

Jin sighs.

She downs the rest of her mead in one swig and considers getting up for more when she hears someone behind her.

“Excuse me, Cleric Jin?”

Priest Herrick stands behind her, smiling pleasantly. He mostly doesn’t stand out much in the crowd. His clothes are a similar style and color to the rest of the village, and he looks just like every other average middle-aged man Jin’s ever seen. What does stand out is the silver chain he wears around his neck. When she looks at it with her mind’s eye, it glitters with magic, although it will take a while to examine it to figure out what it does. Her current guess is some form of communication device.

Jin chews on another bite of pie. No point in ending the feast yet.

“I did not wish to interrupt, but it does appear you are alone now..?”

Jin glances around to confirm this, “Looks that way, yeah.”

“Hm.” He tilts his head, then leans in close. “I believe you’re now going to come to the church to tell me why the arc-wolves were following you, and why they submitted to your will. This is not a request.”

Huh.

…Shit.