The paladin spoke up once more, "And what if it is not what Lord Sidus wants? How do we find that out?"
She sighed slightly, looking to the small island in the middle of the pond. The paladin was outlining one of the places where she most drastically differed from those that worshiped the god. While she adored him, while she held to his tenants, she allowed herself to be free to see him rather than what others spoke of him. To her, his pride would be easy to see and so would his frustration. To them, seeing such things would mean admitting that their treasured god was not flawless and that was hard for some to come to terms with.
"Those that wish to see the truth of his thoughts will do so," she responded a bit cryptically as she released the spell and turned to walk towards the island, "In this matter, even I will refuse to act as a mediator. The decision must be that of the temple and reading the reaction of its god also falls to all of you. I am his daughter. I am close to him, can see his moods with ease. But if I tell you what he wants and what he thinks, you may come to depend on me to do so and that is not what I am here for."
Done speaking, she turned away and walked to the island to take a seat on it and summon a notebook from her inventory. Luna joined her, a small smile on the priestess' face. Eventually Ash glanced up from her notebook, pinning her with a small frown that demanded an explanation for the smug look on her face.
"That's the first time in a while I've seen you stand up for yourself like that. It feels nice," she explained simply before moving to seat herself beside Ash and look over the notebook, "You aren't planning on doing all of that today, right? Your magic isn't ready for that much work yet."
Ash had a rather long list of spells to attempt making from all the words she'd managed to get her hands on so far. With her mana circulation not working properly, though, she could only manage so much in one day without straining herself.
Ash gave a slight frustrated sigh but reluctantly admitted, "I wasn't planning on tackling the whole list today. Just the most important parts."
Luna leaned a little closer, finding the markings she was looking for next to Ashterra's neat notes. At some point the Starborn had realized that she'd only crafted one second tier spell, that of the light element which was Sidus' own. Her plan at the moment, it seemed, was to use the same method to craft the second tier of each of the other elemental spells.
Five spells with frequent breaks to restore her mana was a lot less than the entire theoretical list that Ashterra had, a list that would grow as she crafted new words. After a few quiet moments spent in thought, Luna gave a slight nod, "You should be able to manage that much but I'm going to be right beside you the whole time. If I say stop, you need to listen to me, Asha."
Luna left out that she was more than willing to summon Sidus or any other god that would answer in order to stop her if she didn't listen. Her slight scowl said it for her, though, and Ash nodded. There was none of her usual sass or reluctance to listen to reason in the move, she understood how much damage she'd taken very well even if she hadn't woken yet to assess it herself. It was not the time to play about and doing so could easily result in a complete loss of her magic.
She'd finished three of the five spells and was taking a break when Sidus appeared on the small island with them. He spared a slight glance for the group of people across the water that dropped almost immediately. Of them, only Gardenia and Fi stood again after a few moments spent in reverence. The two were immediately chastised, at which point he motioned them over to him. He had no doubt the others presumed he would be scolding the two young women but he had no intent to do so.
Once they were likewise on the small island with them, he asked calmly, "So, what is the temple's verdict?"
He was asking less for himself and more for Ashterra and Luna to hear the answer.
"We can begin planting whenever Ashterra is ready and the temple will make all attempts to gather some of the seeds we are currently missing," Gardenia's gaze moved to Ash and she asked curiously, "I heard Luna mention at one point that you have a lead on three of them?"
Ash nodded, "Once the plants are grown, there are a few botanists that claimed they would part with some seeds if I could cultivate the divine plants. I fear the two I would like most to see in the pond are currently beyond my reach, though," she said, her voice a little sad as she looked up to Sidus. The divine plant linked to him and the one linked to Lady Umbra were two of the three she couldn't find a viable lead on as well as the plant linked to Lord Venatio, the lord of the hunt.
Seeming to understand that Sidus might want some time with Ash without a bunch of eyes prying, Fi spoke up, "Do you wish our withdrawal, Lord Sidus?"
Sidus nodded ever so slightly, "Please. I would like some time with my daughter and duty is like to call me away all too soon."
Only after they were all gone did he move to seat himself and draw Ashterra into his lap, "How fares your spellweaving?" He asked, genuinely curious as he had yet to have the time to devote into watching her at it.
"I've dark and wind spells left to work on," she responded and moved to work on one when he asked curiously if he could watch.
Both spells were completed before too long had passed and he smiled gently, curling his arms around her in an embrace, "Ashterra. I thank you for always wanting to look after me," he frowned ever so slightly, "If I gave you the seeds you seek-" he began only for her to shake her head.
"As dear as the idea of seeing the temple's pond restored to the way it should be is to me, I think this is a quest you should leave to me and the temple. They will feel far more fulfilled to have worked to make it happen themselves and that fulfillment may help them realize it is the way things should be," she said softly.
Sidus kept hold of her for a while after a slight nod, enjoying being able to hold his dear child once more and working as he could to make sure her mana circulation was repairing itself properly. The five spells she'd crafted had actually gone a long way towards helping her, he realized, pushing her magic along the proper paths in a way that didn't strain it as she tinkered with her spells.
She was lightly dozing in his arms when she finally decided to glance at the series of notifications she'd been ignoring since she started playing around with her spellweaving. Following the notifications of learning Shadow Lance, Ember Strike, Mist Arrow, Pebble Dart and Breeze Blade was another.