“Does that seem like more useful magic?” Lilith asked.

“I can see a number of uses,” Kass mused. “Not just light without having to rely on torches, but also possible communication applications. While only being able to create one at a time isn’t that good, if that number or duration increases on level up, it could become a very nice skill to have.”

“Alright, so we’ll keep that one on a shortlist. Let’s see what else there is,” Lilith said, scrolling down.

"Now, that's interesting," Lilith said.

"The Arcane Forge seems like the more useful of these two," Kass mused.

"That depends on what the 'benefits' are. Either of these could be very useful."

“It’s a sex skill, I’m assuming the benefits are sexual in nature,” Kass said.

“Not necessarily. [Comprehend Languages] is a sex skill, and that’s not ‘sexual in nature’, to use your phrasing.”

“Fair. However, both of these are level three skills, so we can most likely table this discussion for later. We know for sure that you can give them magic, now we need an actual religion. And we only have… how long is it until sunset?”

“About an hour. Maybe an hour and a half,” Amelia said, taking a look at the sun as it started to set past the treeline.

“About that long to make up a religion.”

“In that case, let’s get to it.”

- - -

After about fifteen minutes, they were no closer to having made a religion, just frustrated. Resultantly, when Gorse spoke up again, Lilith was eager for anything that might provide some way to get the ideas flowing.

<Lilith?>

<Yeah?>

<Is there any food I could have? I’m still a bit weak from earlier, and I’d like to eat something before I rest some more.>

<Oh, sure. One sec.> Lifting her gaze towards Amelia, Lilith relayed Gorse’s request to her. “She’s after something to eat. Think she could get a little more milk?”

A quick blush flashed across Amelia’s face, but it disappeared just as quickly. “I don’t actually think I can with this dress,” she said. “I have some other clothes I made back home, but I changed out of them earlier.”

“Why?”

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have to explain my clothing choices to anyone I ran into. The knight interrogated me after that, so I think I made the right call.”

“Huh. Well, now I’m wondering what these clothing choices were. Could you quickly go get them from the house?”

“Okay. I’ll try to be quick.”

<Amelia’s going to go get you something to drink,> Lilith said, turning to Gorse.

<Ah. Thank you.> 

Picking up Gorse and moving her to Lilith’s lap, Amelia left to go change.

- - -

After another period of no ideas, Lilith felt inspiration strike. “I just had an idea.”

“What is it?”

“Where I came from, there was a concept called SSC- safe, sane, and consensual. Essentially, a short list of guidelines for sex stuff.” It was mainly a BDSM thing, but I think the general principles can be applied here.

“What were those guidelines?” Kass asked.

“Safe- you’re taking precautions to make sure there aren’t any unpleasant consequences, like wearing a condom to prevent unwanted pregnancies or having a safeword in case things start to hurt.”

“A safeword?”

“Essentially, just something that allows you to say to your partner ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’, and they stop. That ties more into consent, but it’s also important here,” Lilith explained.

“Makes sense. The next one was ‘sane’, right?”

“Yeah. Sane is basically saying that everyone’s in their right mind.”

”That one’s a bit more tenuous for us, given the whole SP thing.”

“True. The third one is consensual- Everyone involved understands what they’re doing and is okay with it. Going back to safewords from earlier, this also means that if they stop being okay with it, they can stop at any time.”

“We haven’t been really following the last two, have we?” Kass asked, dismayed.

“Not as much as we could’ve been. Still, we can at least do better going forward.”

“Alright. Well then, are there any other guidelines ‘where you’re from’ that we could use?”

- - -

As she made her way towards the house, Amelia was intending to quickly grab the clothes and then go back to the church. However, when she noticed how people were looking at her, she knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

In the center of the village, a gaggle of people were holding a whispered conversation when one of them noticed her.

The rest of the group quickly turned to look at her, then started the whispered forum up again. After a moment, one of them left to talk to her- Dylan, a friend of her brother's.

"The priestess lives with you and Kass, right?" He asked.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Amelia had a pretty good idea of why he was asking, but felt like she shouldn't let on too much just yet.

"Do you know what her deal is?"

"Her 'deal'?"

Dylan waved his hand a bit. "You know. Where's she from? How's she able to do magic? Why does Milo trust her?"

"I don't know where she's from or why Milo trusts her, no."

"But the magic- you know that?"

"I do," she admitted. "But she said she wants to explain everything herself."

"That's why she wants to talk to everyone at the church?"

"Yeah. She figured it'd be best to explain to everyone at once."

"But she's told you," Dylan said, as much a question as it was a statement.

"As well as Kass and Milo."

"What about the knight that's sticking around?" Someone else from the group called out, confirming that everyone was listening in.

"He knows a little, but he'll get the same explanation as all of you tonight. And now, I do have to get going," she said, turning and continuing on her way home, as the gaggle of townspeople began whispering to each other again.

ArmamentCalligraphy

chapter 69! Nice. I honestly never expected that I'd be doing this for so long- by the time the next chapter drops, it's going to have been over a year since I started writing this story. Thanks for sticking with me.