Rosie looked horrified.
“No, no, no, I’m not killing her off in this storyline. She gets sent to Dwindle and never comes back because she figures outthat’s where she actually belongs. Not even withering magic can suck out the brightness of her pink wardrobe! She’s happy, we’re happy, we all live happily ever after!”
Rosie just rolled her eyes and elbowed me. I fell over to the side with the force of her nudge, bumping into a disgruntled woman beside me. Rosie grabbed me by my collar and righted me again.
“Some heroes are sent on quests that are dangerous and terrible. To Dragon Keeps in the far north, to wicked wizards in the Witherings.” Eldrene’s eyes glazed over as if seeing the terrors those heroes endured and did not survive.
Solemnness fell over the crowd. Quests hadn’t been dangerous for centuries—almost all of them were simple, if not slightly nebulous. My understanding was these quests had more to do with showing our dedication to the Goddess than fighting off dire threats. A single person embarking on a perilous journey just as she, a lone being, embarked on her own journey to save our realm. Only, instead of defeating the Prince, the heroes went on quests that were more of an adventure than anything else. More fire for hope, I suppose.
But the chance of death loomed over any adventure. Poor bastards; what a nightmare to find out tonight that they had to up and leave their home.
Eldrene’s speech was finally coming to a close, the hero would be chosen, and then I could get back to partying with Rosie. I needed to taste some carrot cake and soon.
“Refusal is not an option. Others cannot go in your place. Only I choose your companions; otherwise, you must go alone. You are bound by the earth, the Fates, and me,” she said simply. Her Forest Train looked severely upon the crowd as ifdaring the chosen hero to try their hand at refusing Eldrene. I wouldn’t want to know what Agnus, in particular, might dole out for such disrespect.
“Let’s get to it, shall we?” she finished, an impish grin dancing on her face.
Finally.As long as Rosie didn’t get chosen, then everything would be fine. Anyone else could go and do whatever, but Rosie simply had to stay here in Moss. With me.
“Fate has spoken, the Earth has sung her song, and I have listened.”
Didn’t she just say this? How drunk was I?
Eldrene cast her gaze among the crowd. She seemed to be looking for someone. Perhaps the fated hero missed the party. I started looking around, too. No one looked like an outright hero, but I guess I didn’t know what they were supposed to look like anyway.
No one had ever been chosen from Moss; they had always been from surrounding towns: Idle Groves to the west, the Golden Isles to the south, a few Windemere folk to the north. Moss folk surrounded me tonight with the rest of the towns huddled in different parts of the Clearing. Whoever the hero was, they were nowhere close to me, it seemed.
I looked back up at Eldrene, awaiting her choice.
She looked right at me. I gave her a glassy-eyed smile.
“Clara Thorne.”
Did she just say my name? Maybe my ears had double vision right now, too.
“Clara Thorne,” Eldrene repeated.
Shedidjust say my name. Why would she do that? She was supposed to be choosing the quest-goer.
Realization smacked me right across the face. Or rather, Rosie slapped a giant hand on my shoulder, shaking me into real life. I looked at her in confusion, but then she mouthedyou. And my world started falling apart right then and there.
No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening.
“You have been chosen to embark on the quest.”
Thiswashappening. What, why, how?
The crowd gasped, and all eyes turned to me. Distantly, I heard pints dropping to the ground. I think someone fainted behind me. But none of that could be real; this must have been a dream.
“Clara Thorne of Moss, you will embark on the quest. To travel to the town of Dwindle, and there, grow a garden.”
No, this wasn’t a dream.
This was my worst nightmare.
“You will have two weeks to prepare for your journey. A week to then make the journey. Once in Dwindle, you will have exactly one month to complete the task. Please see to it that all of your affairs are in order.”
And without another word, Eldrene, the Goddess that I’d worked for ever since I arrived in this town, for whom I’d spent months—years, actually—tending, preparing, ensuring everything about the garden and harvest wasperfectfor her Goddess Celebration, that very Goddess just vanished into a puff of floating moss and petals. No explanation, no anything; she just up and disappeared.
