Even after Briony left, Sophie kept thinking about the Crafter’s comments with regards to the shrine. Could the shrine heal itself? From the way the unspecialized mage talked the other day, it didn’t seem like it, but it did seem like something was happening within the shrine.

If only Sophie could sense mana.

She made her way back into the kitchen with Elowen trailing behind and stared down at the new chill box. This apparently had a lot of mana. Maybe she would be able to sense something.

She knelt down to place her hand directly on the wooden door of the chill box. She tried concentrating on the wood – what did it feel like? Mana stone had a particular feel to it, and the fire from the night before had felt totally different.

The wood felt… curious. Interested.

Interested in her mana. She nearly gave into its curiosity before she pulled her hand back. “No! Bad chill box,” she scolded it. She was not about to feed this thing more mana. Although she did want to train more today, she had better things to use her mana on. Like lighting more markers on the path or trying to work with Elowen’s stone finally, even though the spirit would probably tell her not to.

She placed her hand back on the surface again, seeing if she could sense anything else about the chill box, but she couldn’t figure out exactly what she was looking for. After several more long moments, she eventually gave up, rocking back on her heels with a sigh.

“Well, I guess I could go into town and get something to put into the chill box,” she said. “I am running out of pastries, after all, and I should probably get some real food. At the very least, I could put leftovers in here.”

“And you’ll stop by the florist, too?” Elowen asked. For once she actively seemed interested in Sophie going into town.

Sophie nodded. “Sure,” she said. “I have quite a few things I’d like to do today, but the florist is definitely on the list. I also want to check on my new priestess gear to see if it’s ready at the tailor’s shop.”

Elowen looked intrigued at the last part. “Oh really? I’d be interested in seeing what the Tailor made for you.”

Sophie smiled. She was glad Elowen seemed open to the idea of the new outfits. She was honestly excited to get them. She had started relying on the former priestess’s clothes more than she'd really prefer. Especially after her hasty declaration that she’d never wear the darn things.

But to be honest, the more she wore them, the more she felt somehow at home in them and the less she wanted to wear her old clothes. Besides, her old clothes were extremely dirty after a few consecutive days of use when she first arrived. And she hadn't mustered up the courage to try to do laundry yet.

It had only been a week, after all, and there were still dresses in Rosalie’s chest. Hand-washing clothes was just not a thing she was into. Luckily, it seemed like the Tailored clothes were a little more dirt resistant, and she could wear them multiple times without feeling unclean.

So even if the dresses were grey and had no pockets, she was starting to understand why they might be considered superior to her business casual office attire or the two outfits she bought from the market.

“And I’d like to ask about that earth mage,” Sophie added after a moment’s consideration. “Perhaps the Adventurer’s Guild will have more suggestions for the mana problem here.”

Elowen pursed her lips in thought, but finally nodded. “I suppose they might,” she said, but she didn't sound too convinced about the idea.

Sophie couldn’t blame her. She figured that someone had to have investigated previously, but they had no way of knowing what came of that. “You don’t remember what Rosalie tried in the past? To fix the mana issue?”

Elowen glanced away at the question. “No,” she said. “Not really…”

Sophie frowned at the reply. Shouldn’t Elowen remember something? It wasn’t that Sophie thought that Elowen was hiding anything from her, exactly. It was more that the shrine spirit didn’t seem all there at times. Was it possible that her fading form affected more than just her physical manifestation? Elowen didn’t seem to have many memories of her time as a shrine spirit. She claimed to not pay attention to dates or to the passage of time, but Sophie had to wonder if there was something else at work here.

“Well, even if that doesn’t work out, it’s worth asking,” Sophie replied. It did no use pressing Elowen on topics that she didn’t seem to remember. “I suppose I’ll go through the offering box before I leave,” she added.

Elowen nodded noncommittally, seeming to be lost in her own thoughts now. Sophie left her in the shrine while she went to investigate the little offering box.

She opened the offering box again, surprised once more by the number of coins she found in there. She tried wiggling the box to see if it would come off the stand but it was pretty solidly attached. So instead, she went back into the shrine as Elowen followed along curiously, and grabbed her coin pouch.

She filled the pouch with some of the coins. Even after just a few days of working on channeling, she was starting to have less reservations about using this money on herself. It seemed like it was going to take a lot of effort on her part to get the shrine back to a good state, although perhaps not as much if an earth mage truly would be able to help.

There were still many coins leftover after she had filled her coin pouch. She carried the rest back in handfuls and set them on the desk. After her trip later, she would have to count them all up and figure out exactly how much she had. She was honestly never that good with money, but at some point she’d have to make herself figure it out if she was going to live here for any amount of time.

She patted her coin pouch thoughtfully. This should be enough for a while at least. Next, she went over to the chest to pull out another item – a bag. The bag was also made of cloth, finely woven, and Sophie could almost feel something. She touched the fabric – a frisson of… well, she didn’t quite know yet. She was starting to think that the feeling meant that it was also Tailored. Like, perhaps she was just on the border of Understanding something…

She rubbed her fingers across the fabric fondly. Somehow, she really liked this bag. She placed the coin pouch in it and threw the strap over her shoulder. With only the small coin pouch in it, it felt almost like she was carrying an empty bag, but she was sure she’d have other items to place in it after her busy trip to town.

“Alrighty,” she said. “Well, I'm off to town.”

Elowen nodded, looking a little forlorn at the news. Sophie’s heart twisted a bit at her expression. She imagined it would be so boring to not be able to interact with anything. All Elowen could do, essentially, was wait.

“When I get back tonight –” Sophie began, prompted by her conflicting thoughts. “When I get back tonight, we should try channeling mana into the shrine’s stone.”

Elowen looked up at her, eyes wide with pleased surprise, but she eventually shook her head. “I don't know…” she trailed off. “It seems like it would be too soon, still. Most priestesses are at least a Level 10 before they get the class, and even then I think the stone is difficult for them.”

Sophie shrugged. “Well, we won't know until we try!”

She just wanted to do something to help Elowen. She knew her training was helpful in the long term. But it didn't seem like enough.

“Anyway, I'll be back,” she said, and she made her way out of the shrine back onto the path as Elowen watched her leave.

***

Sophie made her way down the little stone steps outside of the courtyard and began her walk along the path into town. She was delighted to find that the markers were still lit from the day before.

In fact, the lamps in the shrine had stayed lit as well, even though it had been a few days since she last lit them. She wondered how long it would take for the mana to disperse entirely. Was that similar to how the chill box worked?

It seems like there was some sort of push and pull between the mana stone and the mana. Mana stone can store mana but not indefinitely, it seemed. Somehow the mana dissipated… or evaporated, maybe?

She finally made it to the place along the path where she had stopped the previous day – where she had seen the little dragonling again, and where Acacia had met her on the path. She paused there, looking around at the trees, but she only saw the usual birds and some small fluffy rodent creatures. She was pretty sure they weren't actually squirrels but they reminded her of them all the same.

She glanced down at the next marker along the path that wasn't glowing. She hadn’t had a chance to finish them. It had been almost a day since her last terrible experience with mana exhaustion. It wouldn’t hurt to try a little, right?

Even if she was going to try working with Elowen’s stone later, there was plenty of time until then. Especially if she only did a few of these.

Besides… she was curious if she could do the distance channeling thing again. She remembered an Understanding the day before. Could she do it again?

That decided it. She wanted to at least try while it was semi-fresh in her mind.

She stood where she was, a few strides away from the stone and tried concentrating, thinking about sending mana towards the stone. But… she couldn’t find the connection. It felt way too abstract. She thought she felt something, but no – she was simply too far away. Even if she now had the Understanding of distancing channeling, it seemed like she couldn’t just automatically channel mana at whatever distance she wanted to yet.

She walked closer to the stone again, crouching down, but wary of her dress. She was thankful that she was probably the only one around in the forest. She placed her hand on the stone again.

The connection came immediately. She could feel the mana within herself, ready to push it into the little marker. The stone wasn’t as ravenous as the fire had been, but it still wanted mana all the same. Perhaps not as greedily, though.

She lifted her hand a few inches off of the stone and then a few inches more and the connection stretched – she felt herself breaking out into a sweat – this must be her current limit. She released her mana into the stone, threading it along the thin connection until the stone said enough.

The stone lit up immediately. She sat back on her heels, staring at it.

She glanced over to the next marker a few strides away. It was so far – she definitely couldn’t channel from that distance, yet.

She stood up again, shuffling over to the next marker, and crouching down beside it. She raised her hand over the marker. She really didn’t want to have to do this for every last marker all the way into town… She would be exhausted before she reached the main road. She stared down at the marker, frowning. Was there something about distance channeling that made it more difficult? Was she perhaps losing mana in the transaction?

She held her hand above the stone, a little further than she had previously. She tried feeling for the stone again, without touching it first this time.

It was almost easier with the fire, she realized. The fire was more dangerous in that it would take and take and take, but in that sense, it was easier to form the connection over a distance. These small stones were quieter, more reluctant. She started lowering her hand slowly until she could finally sense the stone properly, and then she made the connection.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start. She lifted her hand again, stretching the connection out as far as it would go until she felt like it was nearly ready to snap, and then she fed her mana along that small thread until it glowed blue like the one before.

She fell back slightly, sitting down on the path. She was already far too tired, even after that small amount. She glanced over at the row of markers that led into town, and they seemed even more endless to her than before. She definitely wouldn’t be able to do many of them like that if she wanted to save some of her strength for later.

As she was staring at the long row of markers ahead of her, suddenly the little dragon creature from before landed on one of them. “Oh!” she said in surprise, sitting forward a bit. But before she could even say hello, the stone began to glow blue.

She scrambled to her feet. “Hey!” she shouted. “How did you do that?”

The little creature tilted its head at her as if to say, “What, this?” and then it flitted over to the next marker a few paces down, landing on it and lighting it as well.

Sophie stared in sheer amazement. This little thing, no bigger than a crow and scrawnier besides, was showing her up. It was barely more than an overgrown lizard with wings. She put her hands on her hips. “So it’s like that, is it?”

She stomped over to the marker across the path that was still unlit and held her hand just above it trying to concentrate on the distance channeling again. Her mind was too scattered now though, and she was growing tired. She eventually gave up, placing her hand directly on the marker to light it, which came far more easily and barely drained her in comparison. But when she glanced back, the little creature had already lit two more.

She sat back on her heels, groaning in frustration. Even small forest animals could channel mana better than she could. The little thing must think this is some sort of game. What was left of her scraps of pride wouldn’t let her back down now. She stood up again, determined to light the rest of the markers, all the way into town.

But then…

But then she thought of Elowen and the fact that the spirit would be worried about Sophie again. Especially if Sophie did pass out in the middle of the forest after an ill-advised competition with said forest creature.

Fine. Maybe she’d do the responsible thing for once. She would save the markers for later. At least the ones the overgrown lizard hadn’t lit already.

So, instead, Sophie brushed the dirt from the path off of her dress, and calmly started back down the path into town as the little dragonling followed alongside her, lighting some of the markers as it landed.