Samira had made quite the home in the church. There was a room big enough even for her thirty-foot tail to unwind. In fact, the whole church felt like it was specifically made to house her. It wasn't something she was used to. She was used to feeling cramped and too big for her surroundings, so this freedom felt quite nice.
She even had a kitchen and storage for food. The twins helped her stock her storage and even showed her how to power the cooler with her inherent magic. It didn't require the magic she feared; a much simpler form was used. Still, she had flashbacks every time she had to power the device. Her scars from her magic ran quite deep.
But it was slowly getting better for her. She was slowly getting over the trauma she inflicted upon her family back home. The words of her companions were slowly sinking in. It was grim and horrendous to say, but Samira's magical ability allowed them to be useful to those bitches. Without Samira, they would have likely been executed or enslaved.
She could only hope that they were doing well. She wasn't emotionally ready to reach out to them yet. She knew she had the ability to. She could easily have Elsie or Ana bring a letter to Restol's mayor, and she could send it off to her family. But there was still that doubt within her. The feeling that they hated her, or were glad she was gone. She knew it was irrational, but that was always her biggest fear.
The fear that she was never wanted, never truly loved. Just an outcast taken in out of pity.
Samira was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of the church doors opening. She glanced through an opening to make sure it was her companions. She couldn't help but smile after seeing Claire and the others. It was something she didn't even notice about herself yet. She opened the door to her room and quickly slithered towards them.
"Now the wide margins make sense." Lily tilted her head. She initially thought it was weird to have such wide gaps for people between the pews and the extra-wide aisle between both sets.
"Like it was made for me," Samira giggled and quickly wrapped Claire in a hug. "I'm glad you are up and about, Claire. You had us worried."
"Sorry, Samira." Claire gripped her tighter than Samira expected. "We made you use your magic…"
Samira lightly slapped Claire's shin with her tail. "Claire. That's so far from important. I'm far more worried about your health and recovery."
"Yeah, but still." Claire pulled away from the hug to look at her expression. "I was worried you would spiral too."
Jasmine shook her head. "Priorities…"
Lily elbowed her in the ribs. But Samira smiled at her. She pulled away from the hug. "I'm more than fine. I haven't had a nightmare for a couple of days now."
Claire's shoulders relaxed, and she nodded. "That's good to hear… I was really worried after seeing you use your magic."
Samira went to respond, but Jasmine shook her head. "Fine. Whatever… I'm just glad there are no lasting effects on your body."
"Well, we're not quite sure yet," Lily mumbled just loud enough for them to hear. "No soul rejection from her body, but there could be effects when she uses her skills…"
"Her passives seem fine," Jasmine pursed her lips. She could feel the warm aura of Claire just by being close to her. "We could go test it out."
"Good idea!" Claire smiled. It'd been a while since she had her shield or sword in her hand. It kind of felt like something was missing. "Oh right, Daphne made me new armor. We could test out how it feels too."
"Oh yeah," Jasmine smiled softly. "I had to pay her for my knives. That little bitch…"
"Well, to be fair," Lily teased back. "She did give them cocks and allowed them to get pregnant. One of those was a major long-term goal they were building toward."
"Yeah, but I'm her fucking sister!" Jasmine bantered back.
"Strange." Samira tilted her head. "I've never seen Jasmine so jovial before. I like it."
Jasmine paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, we met under dire circumstances and almost immediately found out we were being hunted. Not exactly a fun time."
"Yeah, but even during the down times, you felt quite distant and cold." Samira mused and slithered closer. "Even your body temperature is warmer than before… And I doubt it's just because you are home."
Jasmine shrugged. "I don't know. I feel the same as always."
Lily tilted her head. "Maybe a little. I'd have to ask Daphne. She'd know best."
"Stop acting like me being happy is so foreign," Jasmine whined. She took a deep breath. "Why are we even talking about this when Claire is literally recovering from channeling a Goddess?"
"Because it's funny," Samira giggled and moved closer to Jasmine. "Claire seems to be more than fine. And it's fun to tease you."
"Probably best not to," Claire stifled her giggling. "She may have some trauma from Victoria's 'teasing'" She made finger quotes with her fingers.
"Ohhh, my bad." Samira played along. "Should have been more careful."
"Gods," Jasmine shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm going to go help Ursa. You're starting to annoy me."
Before the bantering and giggling could continue, a thump was heard. All eyes turned towards the front altar of the church. It startled all three of them, while Jasmine was quick to jump into action. Thankfully, it was just a book. Jasmine slowly moved towards the book, unsure of what exactly had happened.
"It's one of those old books…" Jasmine mumbled to the women behind her. They quickly caught up to Jasmine to inspect it. On the ground was a dusty, open book with its pages pressing into the ground, its cover on display. "Which one is it, though?"
"It's a spellbook." Lily bent down to get a closer look. "We think it has Silkie's spells written within it. But it's even harder to decipher than the old language."
"Huh?" Claire bent down to look too. "It's another language you're trying to translate?"
"Kind of." Lily flipped the book over. She examined the page that it was open to. "An even older language that was used for magic. Magic wasn't as refined back then, so it couldn't be channeled through skills alone. Magic words, sigils, and circles were used. You see a bit of that when Elsie sets down her magical traps."
"What?" Samira was confused. "Where did you learn that?"
"Fyre," Lily sighed. "I'll show you the books I found from there. It explains a lot of what it was like during His time."
"Interesting, what does this one say?" Samira knelt down as well.
"I wish I knew." Lily shook her head and adjusted her glasses. She could only really guess what was on the page. "Doesn't look like an offensive spell or anything… You'd see something like this…"
She flipped the pages for an example. On one of the pages she found was a primitive fireball spell. There was a symbol for "enemy" there. Something they found in what looked to be Silkie's journal. She was translating the spells into the old Rieflhemian to better understand them.
"See this? The 'X' and 'T' combined? We assume it means 'enemy', or it could mean attack." Lily pointed to the spell circle with symbols etched into it.
"So what would that make the opened page?" Claire's head was already starting to hurt from all the magic talk. "What would She be trying to tell us?"
"Not sure…" Lily frowned. "But wouldn't She reach out to you in your dreams?"
Claire blinked and thought about it for a moment. "Yeah? So what? This is another one?"
"It could be." Lily shrugged. "Or it could be the wind."
"There are no windows open," Jasmine said quickly. "There's no wind to knock it over."
"A ghost?" Samira offered.
"Restol isn't that old," Jasmine said, shaking her head. "A vengeful spirit wouldn't be here."
"So a Goddess?" Claire frowned.
"Well, it could be a God," Lily shrugged.
"I think She said something about it…" Claire frowned. Her memory was hazy about the details of her dreams. "I thought She meant Rava… But is there another one?"
Jasmine rubbed her temples with her fingers. She couldn't handle another Goddess like theirs or Anka. Rava seemed to be helpful, but mostly hands-off. She just prayed it was more like Rava.
"Who would it be, though?" Samira rubbed her chin. "Couldn't be the Earth Mother, Bennos. She's too hands-off for this… Ostea? She is the Goddess of knowledge, and I mean, it is a book on lost knowledge…"
"Why do they have to be so fucking cryptic?" Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Can't they be any more specific about what the fuck they want to tell us?"
"No"
Claire blinked. Her mouth moved on its own, and her voice sounded different. It sounded like Her's. She clasped her mouth with her hand.
"What the fuck?"
Claire could feel her Goddess's gentle presence swirling around her. 'Being here allows me to speak through you without harming you. Only my voice though.' Claire heard the Goddess, this time within her mind. She could hardly think. Besides one word.
'Why?'
'Your noble class is not the only group who does not want change. Several Gods believe this current system to be proper punishment, even millennia later.'
All eyes were on Claire in that moment. They all heard the voice of the Goddess. It took a moment for Claire to recover from her own shock. She unclasped her hand and finally said something in her own voice. "It was Her. She spoke through me."
"Are you okay?" Lily quickly examined Claire for any signs of fatigue. "Why would She do this so soon?"
"She said I would be okay if it's just Her voice." Claire blinked rapidly. She was trying to wrap her head around it all. But all that did was make her head hurt. "And to answer Jasmine, it's to hide their involvement from other Gods…"