A white castle-like structure stands surrounded by a luscious green garden. The trees and the shrubbery line up in a column, ushering people to the entrance. The building towers over the others in its vicinity, Sunlight shines down on two women standing atop the marble stairway leading to the gigantic wooden front doors.

One of the women tugs on her low-hanging shirt and fans herself with her other hand. Sweat drips from her silver hair and crawls down her skin. It seeps into her gold-lined white coat that rests over her shoulders. The heat from the sun scorches her damp, open neck.

“Ah, man. This heat is killing me. Where did those clouds disappear to? I thought we were finally going to get some rain.” She looks at her friend who stands with her thighs glued together and her feet slightly pointed outward. “Share some of that umbrella, would ya?”

“Lady Maria, there’s not enough room. Maybe if you took off that bulky coat, you wouldn’t feel as hot. Besides, it gives you the shoulders of a man. If you took it off, you would look more refined and feminine.”

Maria spreads her stance, crosses her arms, and turns her cheek away. “I don’t know what you mean, Yui! I can be appealing if I want to.” She jabs her thumb against her coat. “This coat is a symbol of the authority I have in Logtown. When people see it, they know who’s in charge!”

She turns back to face Yui with her chin lodged between her thumb and index finger. Her eyes glimmer as bright as her dazzling smile. “And besides, I think it makes me look pretty cool.”

Yui brushes her long, black silky hair behind her ear. She angles her red, paper umbrella upward, revealing her snow-like skin and piercing deep red eyes. She pulls out a pipe that hangs from the slit of her dress and holds it to her mouth with three fingers. Yui gently purses her mouth against her pipe. A flaming bird emerges out of thin air and lights the end of it. A light grey smoke blooms out of her soft light pink lips as she exhales gently. “If you say so.”

The two women exchange opposing glares and puff their chests out. Their aura heats the air around them more than the sun. The cries of a woman break their tension.

“Hello! Is anyone here? We need help! Lord Alden sent us!”

Ceri wobbles through the garden. She bends her body to the left to compensate for Leor’s weight crushing her right shoulder. Her face scrunches as hard as she clenches her jaw.

Maria hurries over while Yui stays behind, continuing to puff on her pipe. “You must be Ceri. Are you both okay? What happened? Where’s Alden?”

Ceri collapses to her knees with Leor still in her arms. She hunches over and clutches onto her chest, trying to catch her breath. “N-nevermind that… Please help my friend first.”

“Very well.” Maria grips onto Leor’s waist and flings him over her shoulder. “Follow me inside.”

Ceri shakes her head and rubs her widened eyes. She blinks three more times.

“Did she just-?”

She pushes off the floor and trails behind Maria. As she walks up the steps, Ceri notices the woman hidden underneath a red umbrella, smoking a pipe, who begins to follow them as well. The way her dress accentuates her curvy body and the elegance in her walk piques her memory, but she can’t seem to recall who it is.

The four of them enter the first chambers of the church. The chamber walls reach high into the air, meeting a glass dome ceiling. The open space makes Ceri feel like a pebble in the ocean. The multi-color stained glass windows on the ceiling and walls reflect various symbols around the insides of the church. The largest one that shines on the huge white wall that faces the front door is the Ouranos Insignia.

A royal red carpet leads the way to the circular center, where a large statue of a battle-worn warrior with a gentle smile, dressed only from the waist-down descends from the ceiling and looks down upon the rows of wooden benches. Six other, noticeably smaller, statues surround the room along the upper walls. They stare down the four as they make their way to the center. Ceri stares at the giant statue that extends its hand into the light that shines through the window. It is as if the statue was gifting her something.

She drops to her knees into a prayer. “Lord Ludwig… Forgive me for not recognizing you sooner. I was captivated by your holiness and the way the sun shines upon you so. Thank you for blessing me with this sight.”

“Majestic, isn’t it?” says Lady Maria. She admires the giant statue of Ludwig placed directly over her head as she places Leor onto the floor. She looks back at Ceri and points her thumb at herself with her shoulders squared. “I’m Maria, the head priestess of this church. Pleased to meet you.” She rolls her eyes. ”Oh, and that’s Yui.”

Ceri bends forward. “You must be Lord Alden’s friend. Pleased to meet you! Sorry, I didn’t recognize you as the head priestess! You don’t look like one.”

Yui scoffs under her breath. Maria grinds her teeth.

“What do you mean!? Alden told me about you and how you are an apprentice. I’ll tell you this now. There’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ way of dressing for a priestess.” She grips her bicep with her opposite hand. “You can dress the way you want as long as you have the power to do so!”

“Yeah… if you want to embarrass yourself”, whispers Yui.

“What was that!?” stomps Maria.

“Umm.. that’s not what I meant,” mutters Ceri. “I just thought you both were too young and pretty to be head priestesses.”

Maria shimmies over and buries Ceri into her chest. “Oh, you!”. She looks at her with shining pupils. “I like you! How about you be my apprentice instead of Alden’s?”

Ceri attempts to respond but her words are muffled by Maria’s breasts.

“You hear that, Yui? She thinks I’m feminine enough!” laughs Maria. “Say, why don’t I treat you to her world-famous Azura grilled pork for being such a nice girl?”

Ceri musters enough strength to resurface her mouth for air. “That’s where I recognize you! You’re the cool beauty from the food stand!” As soon as Maria lets go, Ceri leaps in front of Yui. “I watched your show earlier and I was completely mesmerized by your performance. You looked so strong, yet so graceful! I’d love to try your region’s cooking!”

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“Thank you,” says Yui. She turns around and sits down on a nearby bench.

“Did I do something wrong?”, whispers Ceri.

Maria rests her arm on Ceri’s shoulder. “Don’t mind her. She’s like that. Deep down she’s actually a nice person. She just doesn’t know how to show it. She’s probably squealing inside since you admire her so much.”

“I don’t want to kill the mood, but can I get some help?” groans Leor as rolls over to face the girls.

“Leor, you’re okay!” shouts Ceri. She springs onto him, squeezing the air out of his lungs.

“Well, I wouldn’t really say ‘okay’. You’re... crushing... me.”

Maria struts over with her hands on her hips. “So, you’re Leor? Where’s Alden and what happened?”

“Before that, can you do something about these wounds?”

“Oh, yeah. Yui, could you fetch me a potion? Grade C.”

Yui gets up and walks away without saying a word.

“Now, while we wait, why don’t you fill me in?”

Leor attempts to squirm off the ground, but the shooting pain in his shoulder drops him back down. Ceri cups her hand under Leor’s back and helps him sit up.

“Leor, stop pushing yourself!” She switches her attention to Maria while comforting Leor by rubbing his back. “Lady Maria, some ‘agent’ of Lord Gwyn, named Afzal, attacked us in front of the town. Things were looking bad until Lord Alden showed up and put an end to the madness.”

Keeping one arm across her body, Maria points her finger at Leor. “And, what happened to him?”

“He got hurt… protecting me.” Ceri looks down at Leor with heavy eyes, but he averts his gaze. “He’s always putting himself in harm’s way because of me. He’s done nothing wrong and yet, he’s treated so terribly.”

The corner of Maria’s mouth curls into a sly grin. “Ah, I see. So this is what Alden meant. Very well. Leor seems like a decent guy so I’ll help him out.”

“What do you mean ‘seems like’? You weren’t going to give me one of those potions if I wasn’t!? Where’s the saint Maria who the townspeople spoke so highly of?”

“Exactly! I don’t know who you are. Even if Alden is vouching for you, I can’t blindly listen to what that man says. He’s not all there in the head if you know what I mean.”

Leor lifts a finger up and jabs it repeatedly into the air. He tries to come up with a counterargument but her logic is fool-proof. Only meaningless filler words leave his lips.

“Speaking of Alden, where is he? Why wasn’t he with you?”

“He decided to clear the crowd of people who tossed rocks at us,” grunts Leor as stumbles to his feet while gripping his left shoulder.

The clacking of heels against the marble flooring echo through the church. The three of them turn to see Yui walking towards them with one leg in front of the other, swaying her hips side to side. Leor’s mouth hangs slightly open as he watches her approach them. Ceri notices and slaps him on the chest.

“What?”

“You know ‘what’!”

“I mean is she not attractive?”

“She is, but hide it better!”

Yui’s giggle cuts their small dispute. “It’s fine. I don’t mind fine, respectable men like him, looking. I overheard you protected her with your life. I respect that.” She hands him a flask with a deep blue liquid in it. ”Here, put this on your wound.”

Leor lifts the flask to his eyes and peers at it, rotating it to inspect it further.

“Relax. We’re not going to poison a friend of Lord Alden’s” laughs Yui.

He pops the cork off the top and douses his shoulder in the blue fluid. He feels the weight lift off his shoulder. He pulls his collar low enough to see the skin on his upper arm. He raises his eyebrows to a completely patched-up wound. Leor examines it by rotating his joint back and forth. It’s good as new. It’s like an arrow never punctured his arm at all.

“You look surprised. Never used one of these before?” asks Maria.

“Leor is new to these gifts from the Gods.” responds Ceri. She feels Leor glaring at her. “Lady Maria, I heard you say Grade C potion. Is everything under the BSG?”

She places her finger over her lips. “Hmm… I guess you could say that. The BSG scale is usually only for items forged by a skilled blacksmith. These potions are only made by the church, so we give them our own rating. But, they are pretty similar in how we scale them.”

She snags the empty flask from Leor. “The one we gave him is a C grade. Basically, it heals surface-level injuries. The one Alden took was an A grade, which treats internal and external injuries. Since your injury wasn’t too deep, a C grade should fix it right up.”

The loud, creaking sound of the gigantic wooden doors opening catches their attention. Footsteps crescendo against the walls of the church.

“I’m back! Did you miss me?” shouts Alden, waving his hand as he briskly walks to them.

Maria steps forward with her hand on her hip, while Yui steps forward with her body bent forward. Their greetings to Alden are night and day.

“Alden! What took you so long!? Did the citizens give you too much trouble?” questions Maria.

“Welcome back, Lord Alden,” says Yui in a monotonous, yet warm voice.

“Thanks, Yui. Yeah, they wouldn’t leave me alone! I had to raise my voice at them.”

Alden curves his spine back and sighs loudly. “I told them to leave me alone for the rest of our time here, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Ahh….. I really wanted to show Miss Ceri around town.” A devilish smile appears on the corners of his mouth. He slides over and hooks his arm around Leor. “I guess you have to take her around for me!”

“Huh?”

A similarly devilish grin curls up from Maria’s lips. The feeling of a predator lurking behind him makes Leor’s skin crawl. Maria’s hot breath tingles his ear. “Yeah, Leor. Why don’t you take the lovely Miss Ceri out and have a good time? I’ll have Yui prepare a nice dinner for you at her stand!”

Ceri jumps in with drool bubbling from the corner of her mouth. “I second that idea!”. She pleads Leor and Yui with the eyes of a starving animal.

“I don’t see why not,'' smiles Yui. “ I’ll head there first to make preparations. Come by whenever you’re ready.” She winks at Leor with her red eyes that could drown any man who stares into them for too long as she struts past him and out the door.

Leo glances at the rest and none of them notice what happened. Ceri stands with her head in the clouds and her mouth gushing like a waterfall. Alden and Maria huddle amongst themselves, whispering inaudible words.

Leor plants his hand on his neck, pushing it as he twists it. “Haahh… I guess I could take her.” They dance up and down while embracing each other. Leor extends an open palm to Alden.

He points his finger at the begging hand. “Wha- What is this?”

“Money. I need an advancement on my payment. Remember the whole Licht Shop ordeal?

“Oh yeah…” Alden glides his sights onto Maria.

She shakes her head violently. “Oh, no. Not again.” Maria clamps onto Alden’s collar and pulls his forehead to her’s. “What happened to your money!?”

“I-it’s a long story!” laughs Alden. “I’ll explain what happened these past few days. Let’s send these two on their way first. That way we can catch up in private.”

“Augh.” Maria pulls out a pouch of coins and hands it to Ceri. “Don’t spend it all…” She snaps to Alden, “...and, you will pay me back for all they spend.”

“Hahaha…. Of course! Now, you two, go have fun!” Alden pushes them towards the door, and waves them off. “And make sure to come back here when you’re done!”

Ceri interlocks her arm around Leor’s. “S-sorry, Leor..”

“For Alden?” Leor averts his gaze and scratches his cheek. “Don’t be. That’s just the way he is, right? Let’s just listen to him and have fun…”

The change in Leor’s answer tightens Ceri’s chest, a summerly wave flows through her body. She snuggles her head against his arm. His faint, rapid heartbeat pulses through his veins onto Ceri’s cheek. The welcoming doors of the church swing open, flooding their path with a cozy, orange glow. Their silhouettes fade into the ambient light.