I wasn’t feeling confident about sleeping. So, because of that, I went outside, hoping a walk around our barren land would cool me down.

The moment I went outside and lifted my head, I saw a faint blue light near the <Wishing Fountain>.

“Dorthaunzee?”

I walked over to who I was pretty sure was Dorthaunzee, and only stopped when I was a few steps away from her. 

“Ahh...”

The sight stole my breath. Dorthaunzee was kneeling before the Wishing Fountain and praying. Her lantern glow was soft but soothing—I could feel my worries just burning away even.

Then, I noticed something and couldn’t help but focus in on it—Dorthaunzee had switched up her outfit. It was still a nun’s habit... Except it was a sexy variant. Her cleavage was more exposed. Did she always have such giant hills protruding from her chest? She previously wore a choker, but now she was wearing a different one that was connected to some kind of harness undergarment... Why was a nun wearing such a sexy harness? The bottom portion of her habit also exposed her legs more. Gaps exposed the sides of her grey and full thighs. It looked like she was wearing thigh-high tights as well.

“Where did this outfit come from?”

Dorthaunzee jumped. I realized my thoughts had slipped out when she did and immediately apologized. She waved my concern away and then looked at me with bright eyes.

“I didn’t mean to bother you... You were praying?”

She nodded and then pointed up at her lantern.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” I stuck my hand out. “Please. Mush me up.”

She looked happy and opened the lantern. The glowing spores flew out and swirled around my hand until the cute mushroom popped out.

I showed it to her and grinned. “Alright. I’m hooked up.”

She patted the ground next to her, and I sat with her—why not, right? Now that she was looking me straight in the eyes, I had to make sure I didn’t linger too long on any of her danger zones.

“So, is your room comfortable?”

I felt a wave of happiness as she nodded. 

“So you’re just out here because you wanted to pray? Oh, sorry. Was that insensitive of me?”

She shook her head, and a thought reached my consciousness—

“I want to thank my Lord for my good fortunes.”

“Yeah... Makes sense...”

She brought her hands together many times. “Do you want to pray, too?”

I waved my hand as I nervously chuckled. “Nah, I don’t believe in god.”

She cocked her head at me, and then I realized how stupid I had just sounded.

“Right... That doesn’t really make sense now. I live with a former goddess in the form of Svilran... Guess I need to update my world view...”

“Why did you not believe in a Higher Power?”

“Before the Hero Hub, right?” She nodded and smiled with her eyes. “Well, I just...” I tried not to recall those unpleasant, fragmented images from my early childhood. “It just didn’t make sense to believe in the God that a lot of people in my world talked about... Actually, do you want to know something funny?”

She nodded, and I got a tinge of curiosity beamed into my head.

I chuckled and continued. “I did believe in the devil and demons... Wait, do you have that? Like an evil force that opposes your God?”

Dorthaunzee bobbed her head from side to side and then showed me a ‘more-or-less’ hand gesture.

“Maybe not ‘evil’ but with different or opposite values,” she conveyed, or at least, I thought she did. That one was a little harder to interpret. It seemed like there was more nuance to it.

“Okay, well yeah. Demons, in our understanding, were just the worst. Anyway, I... believed in them. Actually, as a kid, I just thought that if demons existed, then their opposite, God and its forces, must have existed. But as I grew, I just—it made more sense that God was dead. I mean, that was the only thing that made sense to me...” I chuckled and looked up at the sky. “Honestly, I’m not sure how to reconcile all of this. It looks like some form of deity existed after all... And now...” I sighed and then smiled at her. “It is a lot. It was a lot.”

Dorthaunzee scooched over to me and extended her hand toward me.

“Dorthaunzee?”

She patted my head, and my cheeks ran hot.

“Take it one day at a time.”

I chuckled. “I will... Thank you...” I locked eyes with her for a moment and was reminded of the tentacles that had once burst out from them. “Hey, Dorthaunzee, your tentacles”—she perked up—“are they okay?”

She nodded many times and then stared at me with kind eyes. Her hands were shaking, and a few moments later, she lunged for me.

“Dorthaunzee!?”

She wrapped her arms around my side and pressed her face and chest against my arms. Her arms rattled like crazy as she did, but throughout it all, I only felt warmth.

“Thank you,” I was sure she conveyed.

She separated from me and placed her hands on her lap. Then, she showed me the crown of her head as she bowed. She lifted her head before I could tell her she didn’t need to bow.

“I think you’ll be a great Hero,” I said, completely enamored with her. I looked at my hands and clasped them. “Praying in front of the fountain couldn’t hurt, right?”

Her lantern twinkled brighter for a moment, and she excitedly hopped while on her knees. She oriented her body to face the fountain and clasped her hands. She kept her eyes on me—she was waiting for me to start.

“Hey, who should I pray to if I want better luck for Heroes? Do you have any suggestions?”

She placed a hand on her chin and exaggeratedly—and comically—pondered. Then she clapped and pointed her slender finger at the sky. 

“Pray to the Sky that touches all worlds. Pray for a sign.”

“Hmm, praying to a thing and not a god?” I chuckled and closed my eyes. “I think that feels like a better shot.”

I prayed with Dorthaunzee for what must have been twenty or so minutes, throwing all my desires up and into the sky.

Sebas_Guzman

Okay, there will actually be another chapter after this one. Anyway, this was a nice moment between Dorth and Fainn. Hope everyone has a good weekend. The next chapter is kind of experimental.