Letters, Spirits and Wagons

About twenty minutes later, the Shooting Stars meet up again outside the church.

“How did it go?” Sher Aka asks.

“It was fine. The angel was so nice I think I might write to my mother about it.”

“Oh? Should we write to her too?”

“No, I think it will be fine if it’s just me. I’m thinking of writing her a lot again.”

“Should we help you out with that?”

“Haha, I guess a little help would be nice.”

“I see. You wrote her a book before, are you going to do that again?”

“Well, it might not be quite book sized but it’s getting there.”

“Is your mom going to show it to everyone again?”

“She might.”

“I see…When do you intend to write to her?”

“Hmm…Not today but I should try to get it done soon.”

“Does she still have that eye for detail or is she finally cutting you some slack?”

“I’m not entirely sure so it’s best if we put in some effort just in case.”

“Alright.”

Rayla interrupts, “I didn’t know you wrote books before!”

“Ahahaha just the one. But let’s talk about that some other time, okay?”

“Sure.”

“It seems your Elvish has improved quite a lot…” Sher Aka says.

“Yeah, Meshir Bakan taught me.”

“How nice of her. I’m glad she taught you more of our culture.” Giving her a hug Sher Aka adds in a whisper, “You learned counterintelligence during your training, right? I need you to thoroughly check for surveillance runes or items at the wagon. When you’re done give me a thumbs up if we’re clear or a thumbs down if not.”

“Pfft That’s the first time I heard a dirty joke in Elvish! Hahaha.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

—----------------------------------------------------------

Waking up again it feels like I’ve been transported back in time. Looking up at the familiar ceiling of our wagon and lying next to Scarlet and Rayla feels amazing. Noticing I still have the pacifier in my mouth I spit it out and give Rayla a hug, “I missed you so much.”

“Daaw…I missed you too, oko.”

“I’m glad we can do this again, it’s just like always. It felt like I went back in time when I woke up, haha.”

“Pfft Well, we didn’t quite do that but I’m glad you like it. Would you like to go out to eat with Sher Aka and your cousin?”

“Sure! Are you not coming?”

“Nope, Scarlet, John and I are actually getting a new wagon.”

“Why do we need a new one?”

“A few reasons. For starters, this wagon was never that good in the first place. We just bought it because it was all we could afford but thanks to your mom we can afford a better one now. Also with your cousin around we have six people in here which is starting to get a little too cramped.”

“I see, that makes sense.”

“Right? Is there anything that’s important to you that we need to get in a new wagon?”

“Hmm…A heater.”

“We’re getting one of those either way, anything else?”

“Hmm…Oh! A flower pot and some compost.”

“Do you want to grow some flowers?”

“Nope but Sage is going to wake up soon and they told me they like this sort of stuff.”

“Sage? Who is that?”

“They’re an earth spirit.”

“Oh? Did you get another familiar?”

“Yeah. It was kind of an accident but they are nice.”

“And they’re asleep right now?”

“Yeah, apparently the stronger the spirit is when they get a name the more exhausted they get when they try to get to a higher tier.”

“Oko…You need to explain this a little more to me, I don’t know much about spirits, remember?”

“Oh right! I forgot. Mama knows a lot so I forgot it’s not common knowledge.”

“It’s fine, just explain it to me like you would to someone that doesn’t know much.”

“Okay. So, spirits come in different tiers, depending how much natural mana is produced from the place they originate and how old they are as well as if they train or not and some other things. 

There are low-tier spirits who are usually born from something like a pebble or a drop of water or something small like that. They are usually pretty small and only around the size of my hand. Most small fairies and spirits of that size are low-tier.

The ones that are a little stronger are mid-tier spirits like Sally. They are born from something a little bigger like a well maintained forge, a dark cave or a tree. They can vary in size but they’re usually about dog sized.

Above them are higher-tier spirits, that’s what Sally turned into after I named them. They are usually born from something bigger like a waterfall, a heavy cave draft, or a grove. Sage is born from a grove. They are the size of larger animals. Sage for example looks like a green deer.

Above them are superior-spirits, that’s what Sage is turning into. They are born from something big like a mountain, a lake, a volcano or other things like that. I don’t really know what they look like but mama said that spirits from that tier and higher can vary a lot in how they look.

Next are legendary-spirits. They are either born from something like a mountain range or a huge part of the ocean or they are worshipped beings. Some probably go that strong through other means as well but I don’t know how that works.

The second strongest spirits are called mythical-spirits. They are born from things like multiple nations, huge parts of the sea, the wind that flows through the plains, that sort of thing. I don’t really know anything about them besides that they exist.

And on top are the Spirit Kings. They’re the strongest spirits because all spirits come from them.”

“I see…So there are seven tiers of Spirits. The Spirit Kings are tier 1 Sally is tier 4 and Sage is tier 3. Pretty impressive, that must mean Sage is really strong, right?”

“I dunno. I’m not even sure if Sage can fight.”

“I see, why did you make a contract with Sage then?”

“Well…It was kind of an accident. Apparently when you name a spirit it forms a contract for life.”

“So…You’re just going to let Sage eat your mana like Sally without them doing anything for you?”

“I guess? I don’t really mind though, I have enough mana.”

“But isn’t that just Sage exploiting you?”

“Nope. I’m sure they would do things for me if I asked them to. I just don’t want to force anything on them, they can live their life however they want.”

“Sigh…You’re way too good natured, oko. You need to be really careful not to get exploited okay? Don’t go make any more contracts without telling me first, okay?”

“Gao! Mama also said I need to tell her when I want to make a new one.”

“That’s good, she knows more about this stuff than I do so you’re in good hands. I’ll leave you with Sher Aka and your cousin now, though. I’ll probably be back with a new wagon by this evening so make sure you behave okay?”

“Gao!