I roll out of bed hungry the next day, so I'm really grateful for breakfast. I'm starting to be able to recognize a good number of the different vegetables in our stew from going out and gathering every day. It took some time to figure out, but it seems that the half of our things the orphanage takes are used to feed everyone. So it's really not too bad. Even if Mister Fredricson takes it, he just feeds it to us anyway.

"So I saw this deer yesterday, and Andy was there, so he had a shot at it, but he's so bad with a bow, he missed..." Emily sighs as she recounts events from yesterday while we eat. Over the last few days, she's introduced me to some of the other kids. Now I know that two of the other girls in our room are named Helen and Mary. Another person named Mary? That one surprised me when I found out. Of course, it only took a few moments to realize that there are so many people out there, of course some people would wind up with the same names.

And this Mary is only seven, with blond hair that goes to her shoulders and a cute, round face. So she's actually really easy to separate from the Mary I already know. I savor the tasty cut up vegetables in the stew while Emily talks. After we finish breakfast, I start to head upstairs to get the small basket from Mister Fredricson, when Emily asks, "Where are you going?"

"Uhh, to get a basket?" I don't understand, I do this every day.

"Did you forget? It's Shanaday." I have no idea what that means.

"What's 'Shanaday'?" I ask. Emily just sighs. It seems she's gotten pretty used to me asking about really simple things over the last few days.

"How could you not know what Shanaday is?" she complains. Then she clears her throat to explain. "Shanaday is the last day of the week." I know that seven days is a week already, so if this is the last day...

"Wait, the week has a beginning and end? They're separated like that?"

"Of course they are, isn't that obvious?" she thumps me on the head with an annoyed look.

"So the last day of the week is called Shanaday?" I don't understand the word itself, maybe it's a title to show that it's the last day of the week? If that's the case, wouldn't the first day of the week have a title too? "Hmm, so then what do you call the first day of the week?"

"Arcaday," she says simply. Well, they're both days and they end in 'day,' so...

"So then that means... 'arca' means first and 'shana' means last, or something?" How have I never heard that before?

Emily tilts her head. "Of course not, they're named after Arcanas and Shana."

"Who?" She blinks a few times.

"Arcanas and Shana," she repeats. That doesn't help at all. Are those people?

I shake my head. "I don't understand, I've never heard of them before."

"You've never heard of Arcanas and Shana?" she looks so taken aback that she actually shouts a little, attracting the attention of the other kids nearby. "They're gods!" Something about that word clicks. It catches in my memory. I try to bring back whatever it was.

"God, god, I know that word..." I say. Emily waits while I think deeply. "I know I've heard it before..." from the depths of my memory, I barely manage to dredge up the single instance of that word. I open my eyes and say, "Rostor, The God of War and Destruction."

Emily is at a loss for a few moments. "That's the only one you know?" She looks really worried. I finally manage to connect the term to the memories surrounding it. It sits firmly in the worst memories of my life.

It was when we turned combat age and first started learning to use our divine gear. Right after I discovered I couldn't use my gear. They were going over what everyone else could do, when they mentioned the ability to receive guidance from The God of War and Destruction. I was hardly paying attention at that point, but the title stuck in my memory. I don't know what it means exactly, but it's somehow connected to the divine gear. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that... I realize this far, far too late.

"I think I heard that before, but I don't know what it means," I try to explain it away somehow. Wait, did they ever mention the word Rostor? How does that relate to The God of War and Destruction? I can't even pinpoint where that word comes from in my own memories...

Emily lets out a long sigh, shaking her head in defeat. "So, no one ever told you about the gods or goddesses or anything?" I shake my head. "Oh boy, where do I even start...?"

However, before we can continue the discussion, Mister Fredricson comes down the stairs. I look away when he shoots me an sharp glare. Why is it just me? "Ok, everyone, time for church." All the children begin moving as one to leave the orphanage. I'm immediately swept up in the wave of bodies far larger than myself, and pushed outside.

Before I manage to meet up with Emily again, a hand grabs me from behind. I look up to find Mister Fredricson. "I'll put up with none of your usual stupidity today, so I will not be taking my eyes off you," he growls down at me in a menacing tone. I gulp and cower away, but he just tightens his grip around the nape of my neck. As I glance around, I see Emily in the crowd nearby, silently apologizing as she keeps her distance.

We all walk in one big group. We move at a fast pace, so I need to jog to keep up. It's hard to tell where we're going because I can't really see out of the crowd. We actually walk for a long time. A really long time, actually. I hear the third bell sound, and then quite a bit more time passes, so the fourth bell should be any time now.

Then I see where we're going. Despite the huge crowd of taller people around me, I spot that incredibly large stone building I walked through that one time. It's so tall I can see it even over the crowd. It seems we're going straight toward it. Soon enough, I step into the building, footsteps echoing against the huge panels of stone that have been smoothed down to a glossy surface.

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There are so many people walking, the footsteps echo like thunder in the giant space. I try to just stay with Mister Fredricson in the crowd as we move through the building, so he'll stop yanking on my neck. At some point, we move near one wall, and the crowd suddenly starts to thin out. I'm not sure where to go, but Mister Fredricson drags me along with him. We end up standing in a line that seems to go around the outer edge of the building. Mister Fredricson drags me all the way to one corner. Judging by our position compared to the door, ahead of me on the right, we should be in the northeast corner of the building. He probably wanted to get us all the way in the corner, but there is already a dark-haired woman standing in the furthest corner spot, so we take up position so Mister Fredricson is on my left, and the woman is on my right.

When I glance around, I can see that there are all sorts of people lined up here. However, most of them seem to be dressed in colorful clothes. Looking much farther away, near the south end of the huge building, I see much brighter clothes over there. The crowd coming in slows to a trickle, then stops entirely. There are so many people lined up around the outer edge of the building, it's hard to even count them. There must be at least a few thousand here. Despite the echoing sound of thousands of voices speaking at once, everyone slowly quiets down.

A number of people in robes enter. They come from the far side of the building, through the door that leads out to the south. These are the same sort of robes I saw people wearing the last time I was here. They look somewhat similar to the robes handlers wear, but are a much lighter, bluish purple color and have a whole lot of extra flaps around the sleeves and big hoods hanging back at the neck. The last time I saw them, I was more focused on the even stranger clothing the other people with them were wearing, so I didn't get quite as good a look then.

But now that I'm really looking, one thing that stands out is how there are different colored patterns on the fronts of their robes. They don't look like anything in particular, just random shapes, but there are a number of different ones, and I see more than one of some of them, so they can't just be random. I wonder what they mean?

Actually, there are a lot of the robed men. They all walk together as they enter, a line four people across, twenty four long. So ninety six total. I wonder what they need so many for? They stand near the middle of the room, facing outward toward the crowd. Then one more person in robes enters. His are much brighter, with stripes of saturated color and shiny parts everywhere. Big sections of the fabric drape all the way to the floor. It's weird, his clothes make him look really important somehow.

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As soon as he enters, the tiny whispers around the room vanish into absolute silence. His footsteps echo loudly as he makes his way to the center of the room at an unusually slow pace. Even I can walk more quickly than that, despite my size.

He finally arrives in the middle of the room. Or at least, it seems like the center of the room because there is a large circle in the stone floor in that spot. The man stands for a few moments before starting to speak. His voice echoes loudly through the silent room.

"We gather today to offer prayer and thanks to the gods." He stands, silent for some time. I try not to move my head since Mister Fredricson still has his hand on the back of my neck. With just my eyes, I look around, and it seems like everyone is standing with their eyes closed. When I glance over at the woman just next to me, she glances down, then puts a finger to her lips to show I should stay quiet.

I wait a little while, until the man finally starts speaking again. "Today, I will speak of order," the man sweeps his gaze across the room of onlookers. "First among the gods, Arcanas espouses order. To show our fealty, we must all remember our stations so we may preserve that order. Those of low station must act as the pillars on which those above stand. For the low cannot see what the high can. And without their support, those who rule will not receive the stability they need to see what needs to be done. We maintain order to praise Arcanas, to offer thanks for all of creation." He stops briefly, closing his eyes. After a short pause, he opens them again and continues. "The importance of order is shown by the tragedy of John," he takes a deep breath before going on.

"John was a farmer. He tended the crops year after year. He was a good, devout man. One day, the baron raised the taxes on his land. John was angry. The higher taxes made it difficult for John to support his family. He brought the other farmers together, and demanded their liege remove the tax. The baron had put the tax in place to collect extra funds in preparation for a coming dry season spoken of by the neighboring rulers. He needed the money to protect the people, so of course the baron refused. John and the farmers could not see this from where they stood as farmers, and turned to violence. Their rebellion was put down, but the damage was already done."

"By raising arms against those above them, they angered the gods. Arcanas withdrew her blessing from the offending town. Without the blessing of the gods, and with many of the farmers dead after the rebellion, the town suffered a long draught in which much of the population starved to death." He lowers his head for a few moments at the end of the story. "The tragedy of John shows us how the low cannot see what their betters can, and how disrupting this order only brings harm to all those involved. I hope that you maintain order within your own lives and do your best to support those above you so we may all receive the blessing and love of Arcanas." Once he finishes speaking, everyone stands for a little longer, eyes closed again.

While waiting, I consider the strange story I just heard. I have no context for most of it, but I can probably put some of the pieces together here... First off, Arcanas was one of those 'gods' Emily mentioned earlier. And it seems like if people act a certain way, these gods will make people's lives better somehow. In that story at least, it seems that they had some sort of control over how well the crops grew. The part I'm still not getting is exactly how you're supposed to act though.

He said people should act 'according to their station'. I have no idea what a 'station' is though. He mentioned high and low stations, and how much a person could see from them. The way he said it didn't sound literal though. So it's not like high and low stations are directly related to how high up someone is. Like, climbing a tree wouldn't put you in a higher station. He also swapped higher and lower stations with calling people 'betters' as well. I'm not familiar with that term either, but the way he used it, it sounds like it directly means someone who is better than someone else. But, better in what way? Older? Smarter?

There were a bunch of other words that stand out that I'm still missing though. 'Taxes', 'baron', and 'rebellion' are the big ones. Though, I think I can figure that a rebellion is some sort of violent conflict, based on the way he said the farmers ended up dying.

While I ponder all of these strange new ideas, they begin moving on. The important looking man takes an object of some sort from inside his robes. It's hard to see exactly what it is from so far away though. It seems to be some sort of bag though, because he takes something out of it. One by one, he takes things from inside the bag and hands them to each of the other robed people in the middle of the room. Once each one of them has taken something, they all split up and start walking toward the crowd. As they walk, the man in the middle speaks loudly. "Now, offer your prayers to the gods so we may receive their blessings."

All the way in the corner, one of the robed men starts walking right up to us. He's holding a... thing in his hands. It's metal and has a flat base, but then there are a whole bunch of small curling parts that twist around each other as they rise from the base. It doesn't look like anything I've seen before. I have no idea what it could be for. As he comes closer, I see that all the twisting parts spread out as they go, eventually turning into a ring at the top. The overall height isn't very tall, only about the length of my forearm.

As he approaches, I freeze. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do here! I glance around. When he feels me moving, Mister Fredricson squeezes down. He glances at me, and my nervous face is all he needs to see. He can tell I don't know what to do. I can see the realization in his eyes. I glance in the other direction, catching sight of the robed man. He's looking right at me, can he tell too? But he doesn't say anything. Then I turn again, briefly meeting the gaze of the women next to me as well. She can definitely tell.

But before the robed man comes to me, he moves over to the woman. He holds the thing out. Both the robed man and woman glance at me for just an moment. I can see that the top of the strange thing is flat. She places her hand on it. Then she speaks in a low voice, "I pray to Reena. Please grant me knowledge to flourish in these trying times." The robed man quirks an eyebrow when she starts speaking. Why is he surprised? He glances at me, probably understanding, even though I thought he already figured it out. This whole situation is weird! The woman finishes her prayer, glancing down at me again. Her eyes say 'repeat after me.'

The robed man moves over to me, holding the metal object out to me with a gaze that seems kind of threatening. I do my best to carefully repeat just as I saw. I hold my right hand out to the flat surface. I touch it-

My breath catches. A shudder goes through my body. This thing is weird! I can... feel it somehow. Mister Fredricson squeezes tighter, and I fight to get the words out. I repeat after the woman, speaking in a whisper. "I pray to Reena..." Even as I recite the words, my mind spins. I know this feeling. Like some sort of connection. A long bridge far into the endless distance. The feeling is somewhat different, but it's just like my divine gear. The feeling of my mana connecting. "Please grant me knowledge to flourish in these trying times."

As I finish speaking, I feel a hand on my back and a tiny whisper in the back of my mind. "Now push." Automatically, I move with the words. I can feel a shudder all through my body as my mana moves with my will. It follows the connection, off to somewhere far away. The moment passes and I remove my hand from the strange object. My body kind of tingles. I turn to the woman next to me, who gives me a small smile to tell me I did it right. I smile back to thank her.

What in the world was that other part though? Why is that object like my divine gear? It felt like I sent some of my mana into it, even though I wasn't able to do anything like that with my divine gear. It makes me want to check my mana, but I can't do that right now. If I can do it at all. I haven't checked since that time I fainted... And where did that strange voice come from? Seriously, what's going on here?

The robed man shuffles over to Mister Fredricson, who places his hand on the top for a few moments. He doesn't speak out loud though. Then he removes his hand and the man moves on. I stand restlessly while we wait. The robed men go through the whole crowd, having each one touch the thing while they pray. It's good that there are almost a hundred of them going through the crowd, or this would take all day.

Eventually they finish and return to the center of the room. They all return something to the important man, which he puts back into his bag. Once they have finished, the man speaks again.

"We wish you all well as you go. Remember to give thanks to Firos as he approaches the height of his glory, we hope to see you all return well next Shanaday." All the robed men exit out the south door, moving in a line exactly how they entered. Once they have passed outside, everyone begins to move. Not missing a beat, Mister Fredricson quickly begins to drag me toward the door. Even as I stumble along, I turn back and wave at the nice lady who helped me earlier. She smiles and gives a small wave back before we enter the crowd and I lose sight of her.

Once Mister Fredricson has me back on the road outside, he heaves a sigh and lets me go. "Long term investment, long term investment..." he mutters under his breath while rubbing his temples. I don't know what he's talking about and I'm probably not supposed to hear him anyway, but he seems to calm down after a bit. I just try to stand still and not to do anything to make him angry while the rest of the children arrive as well. Before long, we all start walking again.

Now that I'm free, I quickly escape from Mister Fredricson into the crowd of children, searching until I find Emily. "Emily!" I cry. I'm so relieved that I run up and hug her.

"Hwuah?!" she yells in surprise. "W-what? Aria?" It takes a moment to realize she's probably not used to people suddenly grabbing her. I quickly let go and take a step back.

"Aah, sorry. I was just so nervous the whole time, I'm so glad that's over." I sigh loudly, incredibly relieved that I got through it without any big issues. "So that's the 'church' thing Mister Fredricson was talking about?" I ask, trying to clarify things a little.

She nods. "Well, it's fine I guess..." she mumbles. I'm confused about what's fine, church? Emily looks away for some reason and finishes answering. "Yeah, that was church."

I don't know why, but the air seems to hang kind of heavily around us as we continue to walk quietly. I feel like saying something might help, but don't really know what to say. Where is this heavy feeling coming from anyway?

Eventually, Emily clears her throat and just starts talking about something that happened the other day. That breaks the tension, and we settle into a nice chat on our way back to the orphanage.