"Easy does it, Nami." Ludus chuckled as I carried the last stack of wood I needed for my home renovation beside him.
When I told Ludus that I had collected all the materials required for the house upgrade he had offered me the first time we met, he had insisted on helping me carry the materials to his shop as his grandmother would have scolded him otherwise. I was grateful for his assistance, especially since my muscles were burning from trying to cut up enough lumber and stone over the past few days. Dessie had kept me company during the afternoons I spent preparing material, chatting away about the big plan she had to break into Lulukoko town's temple and awake Witchie from the slumber she was put into the inside of there. Whilst I had developed some muscle from preparing my farm for new crops and taking care of them, this type of manual labour was something new to me. I could hear my father's disapproving voice every time I felt that I was too weak to conquer such a task, so I persevered through even if I wanted nothing more than to curl up after it was completed. I had successfully managed to get the materials I needed to upsize my tiny shed by myself, although I did imagine using Goddess labour more times than I cared to admit…
'You can steal my food andmaterialise colouringpencils, Dessie!" I smiled playfully and laughed, "Can't youmaterialisea miniaxeand help me?"
Dessie simply tilted her head and looked confused, 'Why would I do that? I'm very busyorganisingour Super Ultra Special Cool Ultimate plan!'
'But you're a goddess! You could use magic to cut everything up and do all of the hard parts for me!"
Dessie's expression suddenly turned somber.
'What's wrong?' I asked hesitantly as I set myaxedown.
Dessie frowned, "I try really hard with my magic but I'm not very good at it. I mess up too much… Last time Witchie and I were trying to create a frog that would lay endless piles of strawberries instead of eggs but I accidentally messed up and put Witchie and our other friend into a deep slumber. They haven't been awake for years…'
I crouched down to her level and pulled her into my arms gently, 'Everyone makes mistakes, Dessie. What matters is that you're working so hard to fix things. I promise I'll help you to rescue your friends.'
Dessie sniffled and buried her face in my shoulder, 'Thank you… I promise when I've practiced lots I'll cast a spell on Wayne to make him fall deeply in love with you.'
'Hey! Watch it!' I tickled her playfully. She began to smile again so I endured her teasing for the rest of the day to keep her smiling.
"E Kala Mai, Ludus." I smiled gratefully and paused… "Did I say that correctly? I said thank you, right?"
"Not quite," Ludus chuckled and helped me place the material in a pile, "You just said that you were sorry, the words you were looking for is 'Mahalo'. Mahalo, by the way, for the Mahalo." He grinned.
"At least my mistake wasn't a terrible insult or something! Mahalo for helping me bring with my home, Ludus. I'm so excited to be able to move more than a few steps before reaching the walls."
Ludus walked over to his countertop and unrolled a set of blueprints, "No problem. We'll have to get more materials if you ever want to make it even bigger or add some more rooms but the design I made should get the most space out of the things you've collected."
"Are you sure I can't pay you for doing this for me?" I asked quietly.
Ludus shook his head quickly as he showed me the blueprints he had put together, I let out a tiny gasp upon seeing the label 'kitchen'. A KITCHEN. I can eat!
Ludus glanced down at me and chuckled, "I thought you would approve of the kitchen. And no, this one's on me. It's important for our local farmer to be able to have somewhere suitable to live."
I felt a sense of pride as I mentally imaged myself ticking off the first task my father had assigned me in his list: Upgrading my home. It seemed odd when I had first looked over the list of tasks my father had chosen that upgrading my home had an effect on myself being a good farmer.
After eating lunch with Ludus I excused myself to go and find Dessie, I thanked Ludus again for his hard work and told him how excited I was to finally have my home upgraded. I was surprised Dessie hadn't been pestering me all day to hurry up with my errands after appearing on my doorstep last night to tell me that her plan would be initiated tomorrow.
I found Dessie sitting with her face against one of the wooden boats that had been parked on the shore of Lulukoko's beach. I know before I approached; The little Goddesses' usual sparkle was gone. From a distance, I could see her fiddling nervously with her staff, but as I got closer I noticed that she was crying quietly to herself.
"Hey, Dessie…" I said quietly as I sat in the empty stop beside her, "The ocean is really pretty here, huh? I bet your friend chose this place for a reason."
Her eyes were downcast, skimming the floor, not raising to my eye level. Her voice was quieter than usual, with a meekness that didn't belong to this typically cheerful little girl. The deity who would bring an extra ray of sunshine into my life was sad.
Dessie nodded slightly, she made a sound of agreement as she fiddled with one of her braids.
"What's on your mind, Dessie?" I asked softly.
Her eyes shifted to the side and became glazed with a glassy layer of tears. As she blinked, they dripped from her eyelid and slid down her cheeks. She bit her tip tightly in an attempt to hide any sound that wanted to escape from her mouth; my heart sank seeing her like this.
"I'm just… Scared, Nami. It's all my fault that Witchie has been away for so long. What if she hates me when she wakes up?" Dessie said before pausing and whimpering, "What if she doesn't wake up at all? I made a mistake and it's all my fault."
"I know it would be wonderful if it were possible to go through life without making a single mistake but that just doesn't happen. Getting knocked down, losing the way, making mistakes, it's bound to happen. The most important this is how you overcome these things, you can't just let yourself feel guilty because I'm sure this friend of yours will be understanding. I'll help you wake your friend up, I promise. This time tomorrow you could be playing together again." I said as I held out my pinkie finger and offered Dessie a reassuring smile.
She hooked her pinkie with mine quietly and offered me a small smile, "You have to stamp it."
"Hm?" I tilted my head in confusion, "Stamp what?"
"You have to seal your promise by stamping it so you have to keep it, silly. Like this…" She kept her pinkie finger hooked with mine as she pressed her thumb against my thumb. "Now the promise the unbreakable." Her eyes lit up slightly at this comment, the Goddess I was more familiar with was coming back to me.
"I wouldn't break your promise, Dessie. In fact, let's go and fulfill it right now." I stood up and rubbed the sand off of my jeans, "What's the first stage of your Super Ultra Special Cool Ultimate plan?"
"Oh!" Dessie pulled the piece of paper she had been working on at the Garden Grill and examined it carefully, "Stage one of our mission is to go the Lulukoko temple! Are you ready, Captain?"
I laughed. "Captain? I think you should be the captain, Dessie. This is your plan after all."
Dessie's gasped and nodded quickly, "I get to be the captain? Wow… I've never gotten be the captain before. Witchie always insists that she's in charge and if I don't obey she'll turn me into a frog." She mentioned, casually, as she walked beside me. This Witchie sounded like an interesting character. Despite Dessie's reassurance that Dessie wasn't actually THE Witch Princess from the tales I heard as a kid, I still imagined her to be just like that stories described. I wasn't sure what she would actually look like or what would happen when we reached the temple, but I prayed quietly that Witchie couldn't actually turn people into frogs…
"Don't say, do, or touch anything, Lotus!" An unfamiliar voice screamed as I approached the temple with Dessie.
My heart sank. A man and a woman were standing at the top of the steps of the Lulukoko shrine, placing random vegetables on its altar and sighing frustratedly. Were we too late?
"P-Professor Mithra, maybe we mistranslated.." The man, Lotus, said as he nervously adjusted with his glasses.
His female companion shot him a glare, "Quiet, Lotus. I'm trying to concentrate." She snapped then pulled a large turnip out from her backpack, placing it with a force on the altar.
"Unbelievable!" The professor groaned, "There can't be anything wrong with my translation, I'm never incorrect!" She threw her backpack onto the floor and began walking away, as she started to store down the steps the ground began to rumble and her attention snapped back to the shrine.
A large stone slab began to slowly open up as bits of debris fell from the temple, as if it hadn't been accessed in years.
Dessie gasped beside me and clung to my hand, "What are they doing?" She whispered.
"I-It looked like they're trying to get into the temple…"
"Oh dear!" Dessie whimpered, "We need to follow them quickly before they find Witchie! Come on, Nami!" Dessie grabbed my hand and began pulling me towards the steps. I was shocked by how strong the tiny Goddess was.
"This is stupendous, my translation was correct!" cheered Mithra as she picked up her backpack and ran into the temple. Her nervous companion cried out behind her and fumbled as he raced towards her clumsily, "H-Hold on professor! Wait! I-It could be dangerous!"
I raced up the steps of the temple hurriedly, cursing as they seemed to be never-ending. I wasn't sure how the town priestesses' Siluka and Iluka could make this journey every day to present offerings. I slowed down as I reached the entrance Lotus and Mithra and just entered, being careful to approach quietly so they didn't notice me. I peered inside silently, noticing a gap between two pillars that I could hide between if I could just make it inside…
"Dessie I need you to keep watch since no one else can see you, okay? I'm going to try and get inside to investigate." I whispered.
Dessie nodded quickly and whispered back, "Okay Cap- I mean… Soldier?"
I crept inside as stealthily as I could, biting my lips and squeezing my eyes shut whenever I made a sound, praying that Professor and her companion wouldn't notice me. As I squeezed in between the pillars I let out a deep breath, luckily they hadn't noticed me as the Professor seemed too busy ranting about something.
I took a moment to glance around and take in what was in front of me. The room was instantly recognisable at a witches' haven, there was a cauldron that was somehow still bubbling in the corner of the room and somehow patches of what appeared to be poisonous mushroom sprout through the gaps in the stone floor. Log seats adorned the other corners of the room, the Witches' haven seemed like it belonged more in the sinister woods then the stone shrine of a tropical village.
"What? Seriously? It's empty!" Mithra hissed, "All my hard work getting a turnip to enter the shrine for this."
In the center of the room was a large dais and atop it was an emerald bed that resembled a pearl by the way it arched over. I squinted, noticing a small figure sleeping peacefully under the purple sheets that covered the bed. I turned my attention to Mithra and Lotus in confusion. Could they not see what I could see? That must be the case… How could THIS look like nothing?
"Oh well, now that I think about it at least we were able to prove the authenticity of this engraving." Mithra claimed as she pressed her finger against her lip, "Hm, yes. There's no point worrying! We should go back and document our findings immediately! Let's go, Lotus!"
As Mithra pulled Lotus towards the entrance they came through and slipped further into the shadows, holding my breath hoping they wouldn't notice me at the last minute and ruin Dessie's chance at awakening her friend. After they left hurriedly without glancing in my direction I waited for a few moments before climbing out for the gap and walking towards the dais.
As I approach the sleeping princess I let out a scream as she bolted up suddenly.
"Boy, that was a nice nap… Hm? Wh-Wh-Wh... Who are YOU?! What are you doing in my house?" Witche demanded. I froze on the spot unable to respond. "Hold on a sec… Now that I think about it, normal people can't even see me. Ha! I got worked up over nothing." She smirked as she climbed off of her bed and stretched her arms.
"... Um. A-Actually I can see you…" I whispered hesitantly, "I can see Dessie too. She asked me to help wake up you…"
"WHAAAAAT?!" she shouted as she grabbed the staff resting against her bed, pointing it towards me as she slowly approached. "Wait! You CAN see me?"
I gulped and nodded slowly, trying to think of what I could say to stop myself from being transformed into a frog or something equally undesirable. "Yes. I can see you... "
"Hah! It's been a long time since I met a human who can see me. Well, if you can see me, maybe you're not so bad." she grinned as she lowered her staff. I felt my shoulder sag with relief. "I'm Witchie. I come from a long line of great witches, and I'm awwwwwwwwwwweeeeesome at magic. Just so you know."
"Hi, Witchie…" Dessie squeaked as she materialised beside me. "I'm sorry for messing up my spell a-and putting you into a long slumber…"
Witchie cocked her head in a bird-like manner, like a vulture, and repeated Dessie's words slowly. "A long slumber?" She pointed her staff to Dessie swiftly, "Explain."
Dessie fumbled with her hands nervously, "W-Well we were trying to create a frog that would lay endless piles of strawberries instead of eggs but I accidentally cast a sleeping spell instead. Y-You've been in a deep slumber for the past…" She inaudibly mumbled the rest of the sentence as she clung to her legs like a terrified toddler.
Witchie's eyes narrowed as she stared coldly at Dessie's shaking form, "How long." She demanded.
Dessie squeaked nervously, "S-Seven Y-Years… I'm sorry!"
"Seven years?! Bah! I knew I should have cast that spell instead, you fool!" she growled then paused, contemplating something. "Normally I would punish you by transforming you into a frog for pulling me away from causing mischief for so long but I'll forgive you just this once since you brought us a playmate." She smirked.
Play… Mate?