see you're all quite thin and no doubt weary from your travels. Take a few weeks to rest and recover before we really have you start helping. Are any of you Plant shapers?"

  Shafer frowned. "I don't know what that means."

  "Can any of you use magic?"

  Shafer shook her head. "We know magic exists but that's it. It's outlawed in Hasaeon."

  It was Kali's turn to frown. "So none of you know if you even have it?" Shafer shook her head. "We'll have to take you to the Sanctum and have most of you undergo the Rite of Awakening then." When Kali saw how ill at ease they were, she smiled. "Don't worry. There won't be any harm. It's a simple ritual that simply awakens your ability to manipulate Aether if you can. Every child at the age of twelve has it done here in Illyria. It's gentle and only takes a few moments."

  Shufen shook her head. "Magic is outlawed by the Hasaeonite government. The Nocthara are seen as tyrants by the government and their worship is outlawed. Even mentioning the other realms of existence is outlawed. I've been to them a few times but rarely.”

  “Nocthara?”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  "The real gods, not the demigods. I'm not sure how to translate the term. Thyri, Velora, Lorrick… The Nocthara. Raelan, Zeloran, Leianis... The Ashkorae. Again, I'm not sure how to translate it."

  Kati nodded. "I see. Well, after you've all eaten, we can go to the Sanctum and have the Rite of Awakening performed on most of you. If you have magic, though, you will have to spend time there to learn to use it. Our Sanctum is a mixed one to the Divarchon, so there should be those that can teach you how to use it. A lot of smaller Sanctums only focus on one deity, so people have to travel to larger Sanctums for training."

  Shufen nodded. "I wonder what sort of magic we'd have, if any."

  Kali smiled. "We'll just have to see. Magic is usually passed down along family lines, but the Divarchon sometimes have other plans. Like most of Ghira's line are Plantshapers and Beastcallers. but Marina is a Dreamweaver. None of the children inherited my Deathsensing and Shadowbinding." Sun glanced at his parents. Deathsensing? Shadowbinding? He could see the terms had spooked them too. Kali's smile didn't waver. "All it means is that I can see the Twilight Veil near somebody as they approach death and I can control shadows. Neither is nefarious, I promise."

  "Okay," Shufen said, though they remained ill at ease. Kali fell quiet and allowed them to finish their meal in peace. Everyone only ate a portion of what they had gotten like Sun had. He wasn't surprised i he had heard stomachs could shrink when one hadn't had enough food for a long enough time. He felt bad about how much would go to waste, but Kali didn't seem perturbed. She explained about the compost bin and to put anything leftover there. Sun's family clearly felt the same way he did but followed her directions.

  She smiled again. "Now how about we head to the Sanctum?"