“You guys alright?” one of the locals who had remained in their village asked the moment we got close enough to him to talk, “That was one freaky storm last night. Came from nowhere and a few guys who were up top said it looked weird, almost like a wedge in the sky,” the guy added, making me snort softly, especially the part where the storm came from nowhere. It hadn’t, but these guys didn’t know that just yet. They likely would learn it soon; I doubted the locals in my daughters’ groups would remain quiet about it, regardless of my wishes. Not that I genuinely cared whether it became known or not, it didn’t change what the locals knew about me, and thus it shouldn’t influence their behaviour regarding me. It might motivate a few to train more and try to raise their level, but ultimately, it didn’t matter too much. Hopefully.

“Got almost hit by a tree or three, the storm was insane,” a member of Lia’s group remarked, before glancing over to me, as if trying to judge my temper, “Thing is, the storm didn’t come from nowhere,” the guy continued, after making a decision regarding my temper and potential outcomes of his gossiping. A part of me was tempted to prove the guy wrong as a matter of principle and react in some chaotic and, hopefully, unpredictable fashion. However, given that I had no idea what the guy might have inferred from my bored expression, it was difficult to gauge what he might predict, and thus I couldn’t react differently. But I could continue to ignore him; maybe he had expected a reaction, and I wasn’t giving him one. Who knew?

“So, what caused it?” The guy who had talked to us initially asked. By now, I realised that said guy might be supposed to guard the entrance, something the locals hadn’t done before, simply because their home hadn’t been attacked, which I considered curious in and of itself. However, their original security was likely the result of lucky geographical circumstances and the incredible devastation of the local area during the change, the combination resulting in somewhat favourable conditions here. It might even be some sort of compensation created by the system, to make up for the utter devastation of their home, but trying ot reason out the underlying motivations of the system was what I considered an exercise in futility.

As my thoughts drifted a little, the people who had been with us started to spin a tale of magical storms and rain, making the whole thing sound quite epic, especially given that the tale essentially was about walking through the rain and hearing my daughters claim that the power within the rain felt familiar. From a purely story-telling perspective, it was fairly simple, but the narration made more than up for it, even if the twist, namely that I had conjured the storm, was a little bland. At least it felt bland to me, though that might be due to my level of involvement.

By the time the story was finished, and the travelling group had managed to convince the guard that they weren’t joking, I had already continued onwards, unwilling to hang around just to be gawked at. Strangely, it was almost as if the story had travelled through town faster than we could, though I had no idea how that might work. Sure, there were numerous idioms about rumours and lies spreading faster than anything, but there had to be a limit. They couldn’t just spread by some sort of strange radiation, people had to converse to actually transmit information, and unless there was a telepath or something along those lines in town, the story couldn’t spread as fast as the staring did.

So, consequently, the numerous stares focused on Luna and me had to have some other underlying reason; they couldn’t be due to the storm I had conjured. And, given that Luna was stared at almost as much as I was, the reason was connected to the two of us.

“What do you think is going on?” I quietly asked Luna, curious if she had an idea. Given that I hadn’t been in the village for a few days, she might know more.

“Not sure,” she admitted, her voice just as muted as mine, “Might have something to do with the shrine they wanted to set up, you know I told them about divine magic, right?” she asked, getting a nod in return. Luna was tightly connected to Lady Hecate, so spreading lore about Her was almost a compulsion for her. Though maybe that was a little unfair, I knew Luna felt that everyone should know about Lady Hecate, even if few would worship her. Just knowing was enough, especially if said knowledge was accompanied by an increased interest in the arcane, as odd as that was. But then, Lady Hecate’s underlying religious doctrine was somewhat odd, too, so it fit quite well.

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When I nodded in response to her question, she explained that the locals had started to work on a simple shrine at roughly the same time as I had started to set up my distant laboratory from where I had conjured the storm the previous night. If that was the case, Lady Hecate might have let something slip if she felt it would ultimately generate more knowledge or, if she was feeling mischievous, simply thought it would be interesting.

“You mean Lady Hecate might have prodded them into an unexpected direction?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Possible, yes,” Luna readily admitted, while Lia simply snickered, deeply amused by the potentially divine antics. “Or it might be something else entirely, I’m not sure. The locals weren’t even sure just who they wanted to worship, nor do I have a broad enough knowledge of the various deities to advise. Just some things I learned from Lady Hecate, but I’m honestly not sure how biased the Lady might be.”

“How blasphemous, what would your dear Lady say if She could hear you speak like that? Accusing Her of being biased, of all things,” Lia joked, but even while she was joking, I could hear the respect she held for Lady Hecate. The Lady had given us enough advice and help to have earned our respect, even if Lia and I weren’t actively worshipping her.

“She might actually agree with me, one of the core teachings She told me to always keep in mind is to check your sources and diversify them, if at all possible,” Luna replied, her tone just as amused as Lia’s.

“A religion that teaches you to question everything, including your religion,” I couldn’t help but snicker as well, “Does that count as a paradox?”

My daughters grinned at the joke, lazy as it had been, while we made our way up the valley, planning to meet with the chief, if he had time for us. On the way, we were met with more and more stares but nobody dared to approach us, reinforcing the light confusion I felt.

“Miss Jade,” the slightly familiar voice of Catherine, the mother of the young boy I had healed right after entering this village for the first time, called out, making me look over to her. Today, she was on her own, her boy apparently parked somewhere else, allowing her to act freely. “Good Morning to all three of you,” she greeted us, and for a bit, we just exchanged pleasantries, her behaviour only working to raise my curiosity. Sure, we had talked before, but never to make small talk, which this was.

“What brings you by today?” I finally asked, deciding to make her get to the point.

My somewhat blunt prodding managed to make Catherine pause for a moment, a light blush lighting up her cheeks, before she took a deep breath and started to speak seriously, the earlier lightness gone.

“You may now, Miss Luna instructed us in regards to matters of divine importance and conduct,” she began, getting nods from all three of us, “We’ve worked quite hard to set up a suitable place for worship, though just who exactly we wanted to enshrine there had remained a question. A few wanted to use God, you know, the Christian one, but too many disagreed, so the consensus was that all those we were truly interested should look into themselves and try to make a fitting idol to worship,” she explained and I couldn’t help but nod in approval at the method employed.

“And?” Lia prodded, making Catherine get to the point.

“Well, the idols carved by eight of us, including me, all depict some variety of you,” Catherine admitted, her face now blushing, while I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t expected that, though maybe I should have, given that Lady Hecate had used my face on more than one occasion when I set up shrines for Her. Maybe She had done the same here.

“I can explain that,” I promised, “At least I think I can,” I added with a shrug. We would have to take a look and find out what was going on here.