“Riala, come here!!” I heard Zara yell from right outside the door. Somehow, Bren was apparently able to stop a grown woman, but not a small child. Or maybe it’s because she has some respect for the guards and won’t try to go past them?

There was a knock on the door, but I wanted to know what was going on before letting a raging Zara in here. “Give us a minute!” I said, raising my voice, and it became somewhat quiet outside, except for a very audible “Ugh!!”

“Ria, what’s going on?”

“Sis won’t let me help you fight the beasts! She doesn’t let me use magic either, and she tells me what to do all the time! I want to be with you and Tomar again!”

“Ah, that...” I said with a chuckle.

We had taken a seven year old with us, showed her wondrous things, taught her Omega scripting, and let her largely roam free, with very few restrictions. Given Riala’s nature, perhaps it was to be expected that putting her back into her normal, daily life wouldn’t go over smoothly, especially if Zara wouldn’t let her use her new talents. I had honestly not thought about it too much though, and when I saw her big sister act a little different around Riala when she picked her up, I figured it would be fine. That was evidently not the case.

“And her boyfriend is even worse! He’s treating me like a baby!”

“Wait, boyfriend? Since when does she have a boyfriend?”

“Dunno. He came to our house yesterday,” she said.

“Huh. Anyway, you— Hm...”

You can’t just run away? Yea, great argument, Miles. That’s been her life for the past two months. What do you tell a child in such a situation?

As I glanced at Berla a little helplessly, she looked back at me with a very similar expression, while Riala hopped onto the bed to sit with us.

“I can stay, right?” she asked pleadingly.

My biggest problem at that moment was that, personally, I didn’t see much of an issue with her request. I could refuse, send her back home, and tell myself that I acted in her best interest or some nonsense, but I actually kind of wanted her to stay.  I had grown fond of the little girl, and I also would’ve loved to keep teaching her. The time for that would be severely limited if Zara forced her into the lifestyle of a normal, Alarnan child, however.

Granted, being around us wasn’t entirely without risk, but assailants could hypothetically also try to kidnap her at home, to threaten or blackmail us, and if beasts attacked the town, she would be in danger anywhere inside the walls. You could probably even make a case for her actually being safer with us. Well, maybe except for when we would take her to meet beasts on purpose.

Riala had a guardian though, and even if she wanted to stay with us, that’s not how this typically worked. Not to mention that it would also be difficult for Zara, who was essentially on her own without Riala. Phiona had had the same Calling, and she had to work hard for herself and Tomar, who took good care of the household while she was at work. Without her little sister, Zara had to do everything, which wasn’t ideal if something like washing your clothes easily took an hour and more on a regular basis.

“What about your sister, Riala?” Berla asked her, maybe having similar thoughts.

“We’re staying in Alarna, right? I’ll visit her!” she said.

Even if we wanted to, I don’t think we will ever convince her to go back to her normal life. Ugh, what would Zara’s reaction be if I make her the bad guy though? And what if Riala stays and her sister tells people we kidnapped her or something? God, this sucks.

“Ria... We can’t just take you away from Zara.”

Again...

“You can do whatever you want! You’re the boss!” she said in rebuttal.

Wouldn’t that be nice. Heh, maybe I’m not a good influence on a child.

“It’s not that simple,” I said. “We can’t do what we want just because we’re at the top. One wrong decision and the people could change their opinion about us in a snap. You don’t like how Zara is treating you right now, and you’re trying to do something about it. That’s how the citizens would react if we did things they didn’t like as well.”

She thought my words over for a moment, seemingly understanding what I was telling her. Though that didn’t do much to change her mind. “I still want to stay with you!”

“We would have to convince Zara then. Do you think that’s likely?”

“Ugh...”

That’s what I thought. How do you convince someone to essentially give their child away?

At that moment, I had an idea, however. “Hm... Maybe... Alright, we’ll try something. But can you do me a favor? Don’t tell Zara that we’re okay with you staying.”

“Okay!” she said enthusiastically.

I finally stood up from the bed again, straightened my robe, and addressed our guards outside. “Let her in, please.”

The door opened, and Zara stomped inside, fuming. “Riala! You—” she started, but then her eyes fell on me. “Oh... Lilly... I didn’t know this was your... bedroom? I’m so sorry.”

She briefly glanced at the bed and Berla on it, before focusing on me again. “I thought it would be Tomar’s room, since Riala came straight here...”

“It’s quite alright, don’t worry about it,” I said.

With her apology out of the way, she addressed her sister once more. “Riala. Let’s go. We’ll keep talking about this at home.”

Interesting. Is she more restrained in “Lilly’s” presence?

“No! I’ll stay here!”

“Riala!” she snapped.

“Excuse me, Zara. May I talk to you for a moment?” I asked her and motioned for her to sit at a table in the room.

“Huh? Uhm, okay,” she said.

After we had sat down, I thought about how to begin. I didn’t usually do well without some time to think my position through, but I didn’t have much of a choice right now.

“Your sister is quite headstrong, isn’t she?” I said with a chuckle.

“Quite so, yes...” Zara said with a frown.

“If you don’t mind me asking, she mentioned you wouldn’t let her use the scripture sigils, and I was curious why that was.”

“The scripture...” she practically spat. “That’s what took her from me, and I understand that it’s dangerous. She’s still a child, she shouldn’t be using something like this.”

“I see your point. But it’s also what kept her alive, did you know that?”

“She mentioned something about fighting a beast... but that would’ve never happened if she hadn’t become like... this. Uhm, I’m sorry, I mean no offense.”

“Don’t worry, I understand what you mean. My point is, the sigils can be dangerous, but they’re also a very powerful tool. And Riala is incredibly gifted at using them.”

“Is that so...?” Zara asked, uncertainly.

“She can actually do things that neither me nor Tomar are able to do. Have you seen her use it since she came back?”

“No... not yet.”

“Riala, could you show us a few signs?”

“Okay!” she said happily, and after pressing a seemingly random point on her body through her clothes a few times, an array of colorful balls of light appeared around her. Zara’s eyes went wide, and she stared slack-jawed at the balls exploding and raining down around the room.

This never gets old. So pretty.

“I told you to wash those off...” Zara said under her breath as she slowly recovered, but Riala looked away innocently, as if she hadn’t heard her.

“The display is impressive, isn’t it?” I said, drawing her attention back towards me. “And it seems so effortless. It’s not easy to understand how difficult what she did there right now really is. Frankly, I don’t have any idea how she does it.”

I was being serious. Not only were Tomar and I still not able to produce Calling signs without white stones, we also had trouble using more than two scripts at a time. The “water giving angel” I had presented during my speech to the citizens had been my crown achievement, using a stone-powered Calling sign script and two water source scripts at the same time. And even that had required a bit of practice, to concentrate on two scripts at once.

Perhaps as a result of our inability to do more, this had become Riala’s favorite trick, where she created as many as ten Calling signs at will, without stones, and somehow managed to not lose concentration on any of them. There was but one word for it.

“She is truly special, and it would be a waste not to cultivate this talent,” I said.

“I believe you,” she said, “but I don’t feel comfortable letting her do this. Especially without any oversight.”

Nice, we’re getting somewhere.

“That is understandable,” I said, but before I could continue, Zara interrupted me.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Why did this happen to her? What happened to her? She wouldn’t tell me...”

Funny how this girl is able to keep quiet about the interesting bits, but blurts out that she fought a beast and then petted its dead body, to feel its fur.

“Was it the gods?” Zara asked.

“No. What happened to Riala was an accident. It is possible for humans to imitate the power of the gods, but they aren’t usually supposed to. The same thing happened to Hope, the other ‘divine messenger.’ The process is expensive, risky, and unpleasant, but once you’re through it, you gain certain abilities. That being said... I do believe the gods look favorably upon your sister. Someone must have had a hand in making her this capable.”

“I see.”

I waited a moment before I continued, to let the idea sink in that the gods might like this turnout.

“I have to admit, I would’ve loved to teach Riala more, and see where this path might have led her.”

“You’ve been teaching her...?” Zara asked me suspiciously.

“We had to. You said it yourself, the scripture sigils can be dangerous, and they’re definitely not a plaything. Given your sister’s curiosity, she would have tried to figure out more on her own, and that would’ve been the point where she would have truly become a danger to herself and others. She had to understand what she was dealing with.”

“Ah. I see what you mean.”

“I would like to ask you to keep a close eye on her. We know how she can be,” I said, and then continued in a whisper, “and we both know she won’t stop, don’t we?” I said with a light chuckle.

“Right...” Zara said with a deprecating smile. “But I can’t watch her if I’m at work... or when I’m asleep... or when I have an errand to run. You can’t take your eyes off the girl for one minute without her going off on her own,” she whispered.

“Isn’t that the truth, hahaha.”

“I appreciate your advice though. She and I need to talk about this when we’re back home.”

“I said I’m staying!” Riala interrupted us from the other side of the room.

“Hrm!” Zara grunted, still trying to get her sister to comply.

Let’s see...

“Hm, Zara... I just had a thought. You know about my plans to give people Callings of their choosing, right?”

“Of course, it’s the talk of the town. Is that... actually possible?”

“Very much so. But you know, I’ve been thinking about the people who already have a Calling, and those who might choose not to receive a ritual at all.”

“What? Why would anyone choose not to get a Calling? And how would they find work?”

“I could think of a few reasons why someone might choose this, but my main concern is to give the citizens the option. I believe we are too quick to put people into boxes, which they have a hard time escaping from over the course of their lives. I’m sure you have met people yourself who aren’t happy with what the gods had in store for them.”

“I have, though most understand that that’s just how... Oh, but you want to change that.”

“I do. I’d like for everybody to be able to choose their own destiny, and one way of doing so might be to learn a job without a Calling. Were you to start that process at fifteen, however, it would take you several more years until you’re able to actually be productive. This might be the only option for some, but technically you could also start sooner... You would be able to contribute a little right away, and eventually transition into doing the job as if you had received a Calling.”

Realization of what I was getting at seemed to dawn on Zara, and she glanced at Riala. “You mean...”

“If someone were to start learning at seven, they would be able to learn enough to do their job once reaching adulthood in many cases, and afterwards, they could either get a Calling or not. Your sister might not have received a Calling from the gods, but in a way, she already is what we call a Sourcerer, and if we kept teaching her, she would have a glorious future ahead of her.”

“A Sourcerer...? And what do they do?” she asked.

“You could think of them like a mix of Fighters, Handiworkers, and Researchers. They explore what the scripture sigils are capable of, find applications for our daily lives, implement them, and if need be, they can use their abilities to defend themselves,” I said and stood up to get a quill from a cupboard. After sitting back at the table, I started drawing a lengthy sequence of interlocked scripts on my arm. “Let me give you... an example...”

Factoring in the size of the room, the positions of the furniture, and my position in relation to them, I tried creating something that would demonstrate a practical application of scripture sigils.

“I realize this is all very new, and most people probably don’t yet know how useful it is that we will be able to offer them in the near future. Picture this. Watering the farm fields requires the field workers to go to a water source, get water in buckets, and fill it into the trenches running through and around the fields. It takes up a lot of time and is laborious,” I said, and activated my script.

A wall of water droplets appeared, which rained down around the room, avoiding us and the furniture, and only hitting the bare floor. The script didn’t run for long, so the room wouldn’t get drenched, but it was enough to demonstrate what the idea was, as the floor was covered in neat, little, wet circles.

I looked around the room contentedly, when I noticed that Berla looked anything but amused. Oops... maybe this wasn’t such a good idea?

Ignoring Berla’s icy stare for the moment, I turned back towards Zara. “This script,” I said, showing her my arm, “was created by your sister.”