After Fuyuko was done with her prayers, she went out to the main entry hall to find Mordecai talking with an armored orc woman who was a little taller than him, and a little shorter than the luponi, “Er, hi,” She said, raising her hand in a small greeting.
Mordecai nodded and gestured toward the orc woman, “Fuyuko, I’d like you to meet my contractor Bellona. Bellona, our newest long-term guest, Fuyuko.”
Bellona gave a small bow, which Fuyuko did her best to hastily duplicate. She wasn’t used to the formalities of Kuiccihan yet, bowing and stuff was normally for nobles and stuff in Trionea. “A pleasure to meet you, Fuyuko. I understand the gods have a hand in your presence here?”
“Um, maybe? I’m not sure, and I feel weird sayin’ it.” She shifted uncomfortably and glanced down to avoid the woman’s gaze.
“Hmm, don’t worry about it so much,” Bellona said with a smile, “I’m a champion of Amirume, Mordecai is a priest of Ozuran, Moriko has newly become a priestess of Sakiya, and Kazue used to be a shrine maiden of Mericume. We are more used to interacting with the touch of the divine than most, and hopefully we can provide some guidance if you need it. Although,” she hesitated, then shrugged, “Your god is a bit, ah, different.”
That surprised a brief giggle out of Fuyuko, “I can’t deny that. I’ve been told a lot of stories,” wait, she had? She felt certain she knew plenty of them, but it seemed to be part of her fuzzed memories, “But meetin’ him earlier was somethin’ else.”
The older woman nodded, “I understand, I had no idea who I was dealing with during my early interactions. Well, while Mordecai shows you around, I’m going to be the face of the dungeon if needed. I should see you again at dinner, if all goes well.” They exchanged bows again, and the orc went to ensure order was kept.
Fuyuko turned to Mordecai, who gestured for her to follow, “I’m going to take you down Kazue’s route, while our friends are making their way down my combat path,” He shook his head with an amused look, “We’re not nearly deep enough to provide a challenge to even Gil, let alone Li when he’s playing with Gil.”
“Um, about that,” She started hesitantly, “You call Li your friend, but I’m not sure what to think about someone calling a god a friend.”
Mordecai chuckled, “I understand, but he and I became friends long before I realized that he wasn’t just Li, he was Li Zarb. And holding him in the normal sort of reverence would make him uncomfortable at best. I like him as a person and I treat him with respect, and I only take advantage of his nature in ways that keep him happy and entertained, and never cause harm. He wouldn’t like that very much. And he pretty much does the same with me, even if he is going more by instinct. Given that you arrived with Gil, I expect both of them to be leaving soon, and I think the primary reason he’s been at one location for so long is that he has been waiting for you to arrive, which lets me know that he approves of you.”
Li, approves of her? The thought made her flush with embarrassment, and she cleared her throat awkwardly, “Why do ya say that?”
Mordecai had demonstrated how the selection pedestal worked while they talked, and she was taking in the garden maze while he replied, “Li showed up here when I needed his luck to help me not kill some hostile intruders when subduing them, and I appreciate that, but he’s been here far too long for his nature, and I am comparing to my original self, where I had a much larger dungeon to entertain him in. He had to be waiting for something, and you arrive with Gil, an event that is going to prompt his departure. He didn’t need to wait for Gil, a shard could have found him anywhere, so he was waiting for you. Now, would you like to be shown the sights, or would you like to work your way through the puzzles and claim prizes? However, some potential prizes will require that you be able to recognize them. Some of the plants are useful herbs.”
Hmm, “I think I’d like ta try it.” It also gave her an excuse to be quiet for a while before replying during their conversation. She felt at a bit of a disadvantage and wanted to be sure of her questions. “So, if I’m supposed to be here, what am I supposed ta do?” Keeping herself occupied with figuring out the puzzles and matching flowers to the impressions also made her less nervous as Mordecai considered his answer.
“There are many possibilities. We have some troubles with a set of people in Trionea, so maybe there is an intention of you being a guide or a connection of some sort. Perhaps there is an insight or tidbit of knowledge that could be useful at a critical moment. It could be something as simple as being a reminder of who could be negatively impacted if I am not more controlled in facing this threat again. Or perhaps it is not we who are to benefit, maybe any benefit we gain is tangential to your learning and growing here, in order to affect something far in your future. And it could be some combination of any of those, or something I’ve not thought of. They won’t tell us, not really. You are a devoted follower, but not a priestess or champion, so their touch will be very light on you. But even for Bellona or myself, they will only offer so much guidance. We’ve taken the steps to actively dedicate ourselves to our gods, so they will tell us a bit more, but the more, mm, personal it is for us, the less they will say or do.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
While he’d been talking, she’d gotten the first puzzle figured out, and they’d moved on to the second room. There had only been a few plants she’d recognized, and they weren’t exactly rare, but she’d also found a few boxes of incense hidden in various places, which caused Mordecai to chuckle, “You’ve got the nose of your lupine-related ancestry it seems. Well, it balances for the plants you missed. Now, as I was saying, if there is, say, a developing monster problem, a champion might be given a vision that gives them enough information to get started. That is part of what the devotee agreed to. But something more personal, the things where their emotions run the deepest or the events have the most impact on their private lives, the gods hold back more there. It’s a consideration of free will, even the free will of those whom they oppose. It is what makes life messy. Free will makes us people, but it is also what gives us the opportunity to be bad people.”
Fuyuko chewed on that thought as she worked on the next puzzle. Mordecai seemed content to just let her work on it in silence, with an air of unbothered patience. That was something he and Gil had in common. Hmm, “So, if I stay, what exactly would I be doin’ anyway?”
He shrugged as he watched her search for another matching flower in the hedge maze, “I’m not sure yet, but I did have one thought about you becoming a contractor: we could have you spend a good amount of time each day outside our territory while you train or practice, and when Moriko and Kazue’s avatar come back here on their loop, maybe you can travel with them as well. Get some more worldly experience under your belt while letting your body mature. That could fulfill one of the common duties of a contractor, accompanying an invested avatar out in the world, though in this case, you would not be doubling as a normal bodyguard to the same extent. But a group of three is usually stronger than a group of two, and we can train you on some complementary skills. You are using Li’s own favored fighting style already,” he gestured at the pair of daggers on her belt.
“Before that, I think the most direct benefit you can likely provide is being another face of the dungeon. But we would still need you to fulfill the requirements of becoming a contractor: acquire something new and valuable for the dungeon on your own, spar with me to show your potential and spirit, and be approved by all existing contractors in addition to Kazue and me. Which is only Moriko and Bellona at this point. It would be unfair to skip the requirements we already set out for others.”
She didn’t want to be given special treatment, but she also felt she’d gone through so much to reach here that it didn’t quite seem fair to her either. She’d even… now there was an idea, “Would peryton horns ‘n’ hide count? Cause I think Gil still has them.”
“Maybe. Let’s see, on the gathering part, the kill was certainly solo, but you would have died alone. On the other hand, a fourteen-year-old killing such a monster on her own is certainly quite a feat. However, you’ve demonstrated bravery and resourcefulness, which is the point of the test. I’ve brought it up with the others, and we’re discussing it."
This whole mind communication thing was weird, and she ignored him long enough to complete the matching puzzle for this room. These two rooms had been entertaining, but not exactly hard. The only challenge had been memorizing the flowers and then finding them. She wondered what the next challenge was going to be to make matching flowers more difficult, like how the hedge had been harder to navigate and examine than the garden maze.
As the door opened, Fuyuko was greeted by a cacophony of high-pitched voices chattering away as fast as Li did, and in a disharmonic chorus of multiple conversations going on all at the same time as they all talked over each other to make their point or tell their story first. She slowly stepped forward, eyes wide as she took in the bright faeries flitting about the room. They were pretty little things, but the inane chatter did not leave a good impression of their intelligence.
Then the giggle of pixies noticed her, and it was impossible to tell which one was speaking, “Oh we got another one hey she’s being escorted by the boss man is she the princess no way she’s tall like the orc I bet they are sisters nah they can’t be sisters this one isn’t green enough and has fox ears those aren’t fox ears they are wolf ears like the tenti-wolves that Bellona brought in oh yeah they kind of like that I think they are cute and her horns are so small and shiny I want to touch them.”
Fuyuko had been so caught up in trying to parse what they were saying that she hadn’t noticed that they were all flying toward her, full of curiosity about the interesting new person. This was a dangerous mistake, as she suddenly found herself swarmed by the tiny creatures who had no sense of personal space or boundaries. There were tiny hands touching and tugging on her ears, and more of them poking at or petting her horns. She had sudden images of finding pixies tangled in her hair, despite how short-cropped it was.
The teen clamped down on the urge to flail at them, she was afraid she’d hurt the tiny, if annoying, creatures and forced herself to stand still as they examined her. She couldn’t even open her eyes or mouth for fear of one of them poking her eye or crawling into her mouth. And still, they would not stop talking, commenting constantly about every ‘discovery’ they made and random tangent that bounced out of their heads.
Standing still long enough proved to be enough to let their curiosity die down, and when she no longer felt swarmed, Fuyuko opened her eyes to find herself festooned with ribbons and garlands of various flowers. The fourteen-year-old street rat glared at Mordecai, daring him to let that laugh escape his tightly pressed lips.