Cozy had just finished dealing with the merchants at City Hall. It took a while of bargaining, haggling, and arguing, but she managed to sell all of their meat for quite the excellent price. She had just left the massive centre and entered onto the streets, where the remaining trio met up with her.

  “Cozy!” Ed called out. “What took you so long?”

  “Oh, hey guys. I was just haggling, and the lines here take a while. This city has the best prices you can sell things for but I dunno if it was worth the time,” Cozy said, a little bit annoyed. “Did you get what you wanted?”

  “Ah… uh, no,” Adelyn shook her head. “There wasn’t an easy approval process. It was something to do with blood… divine sanctity… you know what. Apparently, none of us were divine enough to receive approval.”

  Cozy tensed up at the mention. “That seems… unfair.”

  “Apparently we can earn our divinity, but we don’t know how,” Teddie said. “She just said we need to figure it out ourselves.”

  That caused the girl to shake her head. “I told you guys, religious people are always the worst to negotiate with.”

  “But we need her approval anyway, so we need to figure out a way!” Adelyn said. “You’re our primary negotiator, Cozy, so we were hoping that you had an idea.”

  Cozy let out an audible sigh. She thought for a moment, but she quickly brushed off any ideas that came to her head. A lot of rules went out of the window when dealing with such extreme devotion.

  “I dunno if I can haggle all four of us into divinity,” Cozy said. “I think we might just need to do research… as vague as that sounds.”

  “Yeah, like, where do we even start?” Ed asked. “Do we start praying to Midnas every day until our blood becomes pure enough?”

  “Well… maybe,” Teddie said. “My blood did last the longest… I didn’t pray to any gods or anything like that but… if Midnas is the god of the land then maybe me playing with my animal friends for years helped?”

  “So we go into the woods, then? But we pray to Midnas more or something?” Ed asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Adelyn said, flipping through Grimace’s encyclopedia. “It is said that Lune is the closest city to the Moon. If our divine answer is to be found, then it has to be here.”

  “Then, we’re stuck,” Cozy crossed her arms. “We have a vague governor with an unreasonable demand.”

  “But we’re not giving up!” Adelyn said. “Cozy, how about you and Teddie go and ask around about people who have passed the test. They have to be doing something right! I’m going to head to the library and see if there’s anything there.”

  “Considering what the governor said,” Ed said. “Maybe good deeds can help. I’ll do a few of those. Probably some quests in City Hall.”

  “Good luck, Ed!” Adelyn said as Ed headed inside. “I’m going to go too. You guys can find me at the library once you think you’re done!”

  Adelyn ran off, just leaving Cozy and Teddie alone with each other.

  “I suppose we’ll take to the streets?” Teddie said, he was clutching his stuffed bear.

  “Yeah, I guess. The market around here is pretty crowded anyways,” Cozy said. She began to head off, with Teddie following her shortly after.

  “Hello, miss? What do you know about divinity?”

  Cozy watched as Teddie started a conversation with a passerby. They had been repeating this process for a while, to little results. This conversation seemed to be going the same as the last few ones did.

  “Do you know of anyone with divinity?”

  “No, it’s pretty rare. Only a select few like the governor have it.”

  “It’s blood related, right? But can you also earn it?”

  “I wouldn’t know the process, it’s divinity is beyond us. I wish I was lucky enough to have it, but until then we must keep praying for his strength.”

  “I see, thank you.”

  Teddie finished his conversation before returning to Cozy, who was waiting by a wall for him to finish.

  “It still feels like we know nothing more than what we started with,” Teddie said to her.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “I dunno what else we can do. It feels like we get the exact same answer no matter where we ask,” Cozy crossed her arms.

  “Well, we’ve only been to the marketplace so far… the festival around here celebrates the moon but nobody strives to reach it…” Teddie thought. “What about the church? That would make sense.”

  “Ugh.” Cozy rolled her eyes. She didn’t like being here, and she especially didn’t like churches. Teddie began to head off to the nearest chapel he could find. Cozy dragged her feet behind him, slowly following along his footsteps.

  Shortly after, the two of them laid their eyes on a pristine building. The front stood a small tower with a bell that rang every so often. The large doors were open, though the chapel itself looked empty on the inside. It was likely due to other places in the city taking up the attention.

  Teddie seemed happy about it though. Cozy actually suspected that was probably why he picked a smaller chapel over a larger church. Not that she would complain though, the less crazies the better.

  “Welcome!” A lady in a robe said as the two of them entered the church. “Need a break from the festival? We’re happy to accommodate.”

  “Honestly, yeah,” Cozy said, still a little bit uneasy.

  “My name is Julia. I’m the priestess here,” she explained. “I like to think of this place as uniquely holy in the city. The moon shines down on this place specially, I’d say.”

  She pointed to a window at the top of the front of the chapel. The moon shone at a unique angle for them to look at. Teddie stood inside it, and glittered like he did outside.

  “Sure,” Cozy shrugged.

  “Either way, we would like to ask you a question!” Teddie said.

  “What is it, young ones?” the priestess asked in response.

  Teddie turned to Cozy, like she was supposed to say something. That put her on the spot, not like she wasn’t used to this situation, but she wasn’t a fan of this.

  “Right, uh,” Cozy said. “We were planning on… we need divinity. Do you know how we get it?”

  “Hm? Why would you need divinity? It’s a very rare trait, so I’ve taught people to not necessarily chase unrealistic dreams. Instead they should focus on bettering themselves with what they have now,” the priestess explained.

  “It’s something else. Surely you know someone who had, right? And how did they get divinity?” she responded.

  “You can become divine, but it is up to you to find ho-”

  “No. I’m done.”

  Cozy immediately stormed off. She was sick and tired of that answer already. The girl immediately pushed her way out of the church and ran out into the front yard. This city was the worst, and it kept on refusing to give her any answers.

  She sat down on the grass, the moon shining down upon her. It stared at her, and she stared back at it. A constant, enduring belief. Something that made her life a pain and wasn’t going away.

  “Hey.”

  The soft voice speaks behind her. Teddie had snapped her out of her stupor as she turned around.

  “Oh, hey, Teddie. Sorry about that,” Cozy said. She returned to looking at the moon. Teddie quietly sat down next to her.

  “Mr. Bear and I were concerned about you. He told me I should apologize for putting you on the spot like that… I just thought you’d be better at talking than me,” he said.

  Cozy didn’t like being put on the spot, but she couldn’t be mad at the apology. “You’re fine,” she assured him.

  “I know you said you didn’t like religious people back at Pugna but… I do have to ask, is there something wrong? Normally you’d try to make the best of any situation we’re in. Plus, I feel like I’ve been doing more talking than you,” Teddie said.

  “Have I really?”

  “Yeah. You barely talked to anyone at the marketplace, I just thought it wasn’t like you.”

  Cozy sighed. She supposed she was being quite gloomy. It wouldn’t take long for her teammates to notice.

  “I dunno. I guess it’s just hard to be back home,” Cozy said. As she finished her sentence, Teddie’s eyes opened wide.

  “You’re from here?” Teddie asked.

  Cozy’s eyes also widened in shock. She did not realize she said that. She hadn’t expected this city to lower her guard so much that she would blurt out something so careless. She covered her mouth in surprise.

  “I… forget I said that,” Cozy shook her head.

  “No no no!” Teddie responded. “It’s okay, I won’t tell the other two if you don’t want me to. I just didn’t know that you knew this place.”

  “It’s not a pleasant memory, I’d rather not talk about it.”

  “That’s fine. I’m sure you have your reasons. I just… I just don’t want you to feel too bad about it.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I know it’s necessary. It’s just hard to be excited for anything like the rest of you guys are. I’m sure it’s fun for all of you guys, and I don’t want to put a damper on that. And I don’t want to annoy you guys on your quest.”

  “You don’t need to apologize so much… if it means anything, I’ll work hard so you’re as happy as possible.”

  The two of them returned to staring at the moon. It really shone down brightly on this specific area, the ethereal light caused both of them to glow. It felt warm, but also a little bit cold. Cozy hadn’t felt this feeling in a long time.

  “You know, people say that the moon gave the gift of crystals to this world. Shards of magnificent power and unparalleled beauty,” Cozy said, absentmindedly.

  “Is that why you use crystal magic? Because you’re from here?” Teddie said. “I think your powers are really cool, regardless.”

  “It’s a little bit more complicated than that, but I suppose it’s the gift that this city gave me.”

  Cozy got up from the ground. “Lets keep searching for an answer. I’m not going to get out of here faster by just waiting.”

  “Mhm,” Teddie nodded. “I just want you to know that we care about you, Cozy. If you ever feel stressed, then let me know.”

  “Thanks, Teddie. I appreciate it.”