The day after my arrival, we got to go on a field trip of sorts. And by got to, I mean had to. I didn't think you could skip out on other trips, but Lilac Governess was pretty adamant about this particular event. We were to pay a visit to the Deity, or that is what she announced. I had no idea what she meant, first I've heard of this Deity. Of course, I made use of my two sources as we marched our way through the village to wherever this "Deity" resided.
"The God of Clear Sky is his name," River said. "Lilac Governess is obsessed with him—we are always visiting his shrine—though I am surprised you haven't heard of him. Well, I guess you have only one cycle."
"You should show a little more respect for the Deity, he is revered by all of our kind." Dawn chided with what was becoming her trademark haughty tone.
"Yeah but, my parents are not nearly as strict with their worship. I think they only stop at his shrine in passing." River didn't seem at all put off by her friend's self-righteous remark. I guess this was just another conversation for them.
"Why is she so interested in him? I don't think my parents had much interest in him either."
"Well... I couldn't say." She shrunk back a bit from her previous pomp. "But, there is nothing wrong with being pious!" She tried to regain the moral high ground but didn't quite make it.
"But what about the Goddess of the Grove, I've heard my father mention her." She was the only god or goddess I had heard of since coming here.
"The Goddess of the Grove..." River tilted her head back in thought. "I don't think I've ever heard of her."
"Yeah, you probably wouldn't have," Dawn interjected. "Mother only speaks of her regarding her role."
"Her role?" I queried.
"Yes, she is a Harvester. She always says they can't bring back more of that delicious green fruit because the Goddess of the Grove will be angry if we don't leave some for the rest of the wildlife." She looked just a bit downcast, but I was taken aback.
"You mean that smelly green fruit?! You like that??" I couldn't help but blurt out.
"It's not smelly! They're amazing!" Dawn said with reproach.
"Amazing in only how much they smell."
"Well..." she looked away with a scowl, "I can't expect a baby to understand." A smug smile began to creep over her face as she added, "You do lack the refined pallet of an adult."
"Um... you might be older than me, but I'm pretty sure it will be quite a while until you are an adult." Honestly, I was a little surprised she would imply such a claim. I was under the impression she was more mature, but I guess I was duped by her high degree of conscientiousness.
"!!!" She shot daggers at me with a look of chagrin. At this point, River was laughing her ass off. "What is so funny River!"
"Oh man, just how you let this little kid get you so worked up! This might be a new low for you!" She was hugging her sides as she continued laughing. I should point out that laughing was kind of unusual compared to its human counterpart. For one it was mostly a mental thing, it had to be transmite for others to really be aware. That being said, it was odd, but it felt like you needed to broadcast it, almost like a yawn. There was also a vocal component that manifested in what could mostly be described as a stifled cough. Needless to say, River wasn't making any attempts to conceal it. I could see the frustration building on Dawn's features as she pursed her lips and puffed out her cheeks, but she refrained from saying anything else. She was probably aware that anything she said would only get River going even more.
"What are you finding so funny, River?" Lilac Governess at this point stepped in from ahead of the pack to do her appointed duty of ensuring that there was no fun to be had.
"Sorry Lilac Governess, it was just hilarious." She was still laughing a little, "It's just that she likes green fruit, and he doesn't like green fruit, and..." She got caught by the laughter again and couldn't finish. Lilac Governess looked at Dawn, and I was certain Dawn was going to say something. But due to either deference for her friend or having nothing legitimate to add, she just looked down with mild consternation about her.
Lilac sighed, "Well could you please just keep it between those involved? You are old enough to know better." She must have been talking about the Whisper. I had never tried using it with more than one person, but I see no reason it shouldn't be doable. After shaking her head at us, she resumed her lead of the excursion to the sacred site.
Naturally, since the entire village consisted of only two trees, it didn't take long to reach the shrine. Or at least the stairway to the shrine. It was situated at the highest part of the tree that could sustain a structure. The North tree specifically; it was the tallest. Two things distinguished this structure from all the other domiciles of the tribe. One, it was the only building that had been constructed, and not simply carved into the side of the tree. In fact, it was more of a large platform, similar to the one that surrounded the tree. This was probably done so that it could be built higher up on the tree, after all, to carve into a tree, you needed some diameter to work with, and this would naturally limit the height you could build the shrine, being that this was a sky god, it made sense to build it as high as you could. As it turns out, they felt that the highest was when the tree trunk was about a meter wide.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Now the second difference is what I took issue with. It was quite a ways up from the rest of the village, so you needed a way to reach this structure. I suspected that our people could fly, what with fox magic and all, but I hadn't seen any definitive proof of this; there had been a few instances where I suspected that they might have been levitating, but it was very minor and I couldn't be totally sure. Anyways, to reach this height they employed a good old-fashioned set of stairs that spiraled around the tree. Now I should point out that the first platform of the village was probably only around 20 meters from the ground, with the three platforms spaced at about the same distance. But the shrine must have been around 500 meters above the top platform! This would be an arduous climb for a fit person, but here I was, practically an infant who could just barely walk. And they expected me to climb this!?
Honestly, I would be surprised if any of these kids could make this climb. Perhaps it was just my first-world bias, but it seemed like an unrealistic expectation to me. However, to my amazement, almost everyone had no issue with this climb. For one thing, there was a pit stop area about halfway up. At this level, there were branches and they used this to build a surface much like the platforms far below, only this didn't stretch around the entire circumference of the tree. It was a much-appreciated break for all. Well, not all. As it turns out, Miss Lilac Governess was not a total drill sergeant, and didn't expect that the younger children would be able to make the climb; I got the privilege of being carried to the top. The next youngest was incredibly able to make around half of the climb under his own steam, only needing to be born the other half. As it turned out, Lilac was more than up to the job of carrying us both, though I guess we probably were not that heavy, all things considered.
As you can imagine, it took some time to reach the summit. Seeing as I had Lilac Governess's ear—it was quite literally next to my face, although I guess that is irrelevant—it only seemed appropriate to make conversation. In my past life, I may have refrained from such an activity, but you never know when the universe will drop a large string instrument on you, so best make while the iron's hot.
"You want to know about the God of Clear Skies?"
"Yes."
"Haven't your parents told you about him?"
"No."
"Sigh, that isn't really a subject that should be neglected." I imagined she was furrowing her brow, but, you know, mask. "So this is your first time going to the shrine?"
"Yes, Miss Lilac Governess."
"Well, you are still very young. Don't worry. We will make a devout devotee out of you yet!" That seemed unlikely. I was hesitant to even believe these gods existed in the first place, and even if they did, I didn't see any reason to devote myself to one, but perhaps I should keep an open mind. I mean, I did get reincarnated as some kind of anthropomorphic fox. Was a man in the sky that absurd? Probably.
"Why is the God of Clear Skies so important?"
"Because he allows us to live the way we do. Our race can live a carefree life because of his favor."
"What do you mean by carefree? It looks to me like everyone is working hard." The idea of carefree didn't quite seem appropriate. I wasn't sure, things seemed to be going pretty smoothly during my one year of life, but I couldn't imagine that a people who lived this primitive lifestyle didn't have bad years.
She turned back and cast a glance at me, "That doesn't seem like a question someone of your age
would be asking." She turned back and rubbed her chin, giving the idea some thought. "Well, it doesn't mean life is necessarily easy, but that we can live without the interference of outside forces."
"Outside forces?"
"Humans mostly, but also other creatures as well. Oh, you've never seen a human have you?" After this, the vague image of a human appears in my mind. Not that I need this to know what she was talking about. "Humans tend to encroach on anything they can. We are mostly peaceful people, and prefer not to engage in warfare."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with the God of Clear Skies? It seems like it is outside his domain."
I could feel her get a bit flustered. It seemed as though she hadn't been asked these kinds of questions. "He is the God of Clear Skies, but that is also in a metaphorical sense as well. Clear skies mean peaceful days, without troubles…" I could feel her trailing off into a kind of melancholy. I wondered what that was about, but just at that moment, a scuffle broke out a few steps below us which resulted in one kid almost getting sent tumbling down a flight of stairs. However, Lilac Governess reacting with reflexive speed grabbed him with the fox-hand, and set him safely down. "What is this!?"
"He started it!" A girl pointed to the boy that got sent tumbling.
"It's true, Miss Lilac Governess. I saw Dusty pull her tail!" Seemed like Dawn would never miss an opportunity to suck up.
"And how did Dusty get sent flying?"
"Well... I might have pushed him a little." She was pushing her index fingers together, as her posture slumped.
"Do you realize what you could have done??" Lilac's anger was apparent, but it also seemed kind of routine.
"I'm sorry, Miss Lilac Governess..." She managed to relay as she began to cry. At this, I could feel Lilac's anger crumble. She put me down and stepped down to where the girl was crying and patted her head.
"Breeze, you know you shouldn't push people, especially on stairs." Her tone had softened considerably.
"I didn't mean to. It just kind of happened..."
"I see, you are still having trouble controlling your fox magic." Lilac looked up. "I will have to work with you some more it seems."
"Sorry Miss Lilac Governess." She was starting to bring the tears to an end. It was interesting that nobody was using the Whisper. I would think this a private conversation, but apparently, it was in the public domain. Perhaps because everybody was focused on the incident?
"And Dusty!" Dusty's turn of the head couldn't have displayed less interest in what was going on. "Don't pull people's tails!" To which Dusty responded in the most deadpan way,
"Why?" I could feel the facepalm before I saw it. I could swear she was going to give him a slap upside the head, but she opted for instead,
"Because it's not nice." Dusty blinked and went back to doing whatever it was he was doing. Now I see the problem. Was this her way of disciplining? The toddler version of a harshly worded letter? I felt like someone needed to tell her she needed to lay down the law. But alas, that someone couldn't be me. That would just be ridiculous.