"The offerings can even be returned if the ritual is not successful?" Naomi repeated the words with an incredulous tone. In all her years of training and experience as a priest she'd never heard of such a thing.

Rituals were resource intensive actions that called upon the power of higher beings. Not only did it take energy and items to contact the Goddess, who would be idiotic enough to ask a Goddess to return an offering if they were unhappy with the results?

But no matter how ridiculous it sounded, it was even more unthinkable that Yuzu would be lying. With this guarantee from Yuzu in place, even though Naomi was looking for a reason to block the ritual she could no longer find an argument to do so.

Seeing that the group had finally been convinced, Yuzu nodded and focused her thoughts on making preparations for the ritual.

Naturally, Yuzu wasn't conducting the ritual to a higher power but to herself as the White Maiden. If she didn't have to put up pretenses in front of others it would have been simple enough to just pocket the offerings and then proceed with healing the village. However not only would this really appear like she was scamming them, but it would also reveal way too much information about her powers.

Right now, Yuzu's safety was insured by the rising power of the White Maiden, whose true power was shrouded in mystery. Before anyone made a direct move against her they would have to ask if they were capable of dealing with the repercussions of getting on the bad side of Fate. Even Yuima, who had centuries or even millennia of conflict with Fate, had to tread carefully.

This was the benefit of having a powerful benefactor!

Therefore, conducting this ritual properly and putting on a convincing show was paramount.

Fortunately, she already had experience with conducting a ritual to herself. Back in Kumin she had visited the White Maiden's shrine with Argus, and they had held a bestowment ritual. In Fuha, she had observed Somm build a makeshift shrine to the God of Preeminent Wisdom and had deepened her knowledge of conducting rituals.

Yuzu's plan was to use her accumulated knowledge to build a small makeshift shrine to herself and then hold a faux ritual. This would allow her to receive the offerings as the White Maiden, thereby completing the illusion for the group. Following this she could then cleanse the strings of the village using her powers and fulfill her promise.

As for how to handle the offerings, if she were at one of the White Maiden's shrines she could probably tap into its power and hold a proper ritual, but even without it she wasn't worried about making the offerings disappear into another plane, simply gathering them after should do. Though it was less spectacular than retrieving the offerings directly into the white world, she was not at the level where she could freely access the aetheric plane. Therefore, she'd just have to pick up the items physically and act like everything was as expected.

Even if it appeared strange, if the villagers were truly healed, who would dare cast doubt on her?

It was a bit of a nuisance to have to do things in such a roundabout way, but the calmness of the tapestry gave Yuzu some confidence that things would more or less work out without major problems.

"We have a small prayer room in the east wing of the house." The chief said, "The feng shui is particularly suitable for spirits, I believe it would be most effective to hold the ritual there."

"Very well." Yuzu nodded, letting the elder lead the way.

The prayer room was fairly sparse, with several potted plants and crystals placed in the corners in auspicious places. Yuzu scanned the room carefully as she entered, nodding as she saw that it wasn't particularly targeted toward Yuima. It may have been problematic if this had been a shrine to the Nature Goddess - After all, it wouldn't do to pray at another god's shrine. At the same time, she was slightly misleading the chief by not explicitly stating who she was praying to.

Of course, Yuzu had seen this room on the tapestry of fate already, but Yuzu didn't drop her guard. The Nature Goddess could very well have something unexpected planned for her, and used some unknown means to hide Her interference… At the same time her spiritual intuition wasn't warning her about any imminent danger, so the only thing Yuzu could do was proceed.

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"This will do well." Yuzu said, suppressing her worries, "Char Char, please help me set up the offerings table, similar to how it was done in Noga."

After a short bit of preparation, Yuzu knelt alone on a small cushion in front of the low offering table, while the rest of the group remained at the back of the room, watching on.

The curtains had been drawn over the windows, casting the room in darkness, but for three candles that stood at different heights in the center of the table. Their meagre orange light flickered with a spiritual radiance on the gold and silver coins that had been set on silver plates on either side of the candles. The seven Spirit crystals, glimmering with an aetherial blue light, were placed behind the candles in a silver bowl. Off to the side, looking somewhat out of place, a pair of boots took up the final silver vessel.

The scent of citronwood incense wafted over the room as small wisps of smoke swirled in circles around Yuzu's solitary form. They seemed to glimmer, as if infused with golden specks.

In a low voice, speaking in a soft flowing language charged with mystery, Yuzu prayed.

Oh Exalted Being of Fate I am your faithful servant I offer you a gift of silver and gold I offer your blessed a gift of essential footwear That you may bless this village with Your splendor and heal its ailments.

~

In the back of the room, a small smirk played upon Naomi's lips as she quietly enacted her own prayer. This prayer was infused with Nature, drawing from the rich energy flowing out of the vial of fertile earth from the Everblossoming Valley. She had been letting its essence slowly fill up the room, charging the air with energy that was particularly compatible with Yuima.

The purpose of this was not to interfere with the White Maiden's ritual, but to allow the Goddess of Nature to observe the actions of Fate. Using the vial as the source of energy and herself as a conduit, Naomi discreetly performed a prayer of her own.

Naomi felt a warmth in her spirit as Yuima quietly used her as a vessel for Her presence. In that moment, Naomi's consciousness fell asleep and Yuima gazed upon the room through her priest's eyes.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked upon the strange offerings on the table. She had not been privy to the conversation or happenings up to this point.

When dealing with Akahi, patience is needed. What is critical at this moment is understanding the extent of Her reawakening. Yuima thought to Herself. Discretion and the lightest of touches was of utmost importance when dealing with the Weaver. This was why such a low level priest as Naomi had been dispatched to guide the Weaver's blessed. The smaller the imprint that one could make on the tapestry, the harder their motives and plans would be to read.

The tall, thin girl named Yuzu who was conducting the ritual at the moment was kneeling quietly before the offering table, chanting a quiet prayer under her breath. Yuima felt the spiritual energies in their surroundings stir from the words, the familiar tingle of the Fate Domain played upon her skin.

Feeling the energies of the rituals coalesce, Yuima tapped into the Balance in the spiritual, aetheric, astral and physical realms. She became hyper aware of the spiritual presences of the Exalted in the room, feeling their weight.

Yuima was well-versed in Akahi's methods. No matter what techniques Yuzu was employing, the Nature Goddess was confident that She would be able to catch sight of her enemy. With luck, She might even be able to force a path straight to Akahi and finish her off at this very moment.

With these thoughts in mind, Yuima's full attention centered on the ritual as a heavenly aura suddenly blossomed in the air above the ritual table.

Bright!

A blinding white light spontaneously burst from the center point of the aura, forcing all the Exalted except Yuima in the room to shield their eyes.

To Yuima's surprise, She could not sense anything about the entity behind the aura. She had thought she'd be able to get a glimpse of this Goddess of Fate, but instead it felt like there was just a weightless, colourless light shining out, giving no impression of strength or even domain.

After only a few seconds the light was sucked back into some unknown dimension and the room returned to normal.

I couldn't feel any presence at all… Was it just a ruse? Yuima wondered, but quickly her body tensed as she looked across the offering table. The coins and crystals… They're gone!

Yuima's eyes widened as she stared at the offering table, which was now empty but for the candles, incense and the pair of leather boots. For the Goddess of Fate to be able to hide her energies such that even Yuima's couldn't detect any disruption in the balance of the room…

Didn't this mean Akahi was already far stronger than expected? Had she already recovered beyond the strength of an Angel, touching her previous status of Godhood? Not only that, but the Fate Goddess was using some new ritual method that Yuima had never seen before.

Danger! Yuima immediately severed the connection to her priest.

Naomi's eyes fluttered slightly as she regained consciousness, finding that she had missed the entire ritual. She could only look on speechless and confused at the now empty offering dishes.

Despite the apparently successful ritual having taken place, Yuzu herself currently had an awful look on her face.

She had seen Yuima's thread enter the room and also watched it leave immediately after the ritual was completed. From the tapestry Yuzu surmised that Yuima had only arrived to watch the show, and not take part in it.

Thus, Yuzu had thought that she had read the future correctly, but the heavenly white light had actually been a complete surprise to her too. She was only conducting a sham ritual, where did such an effect come from?

And what's more, where did the offerings for her payment go?!

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