"You did," Moria whispered. "You started it over again."
Ashyn's cheeks warmed and tears prickled. I can't do this. I truly can't.
"I'm sure no one noticed," Moria whispered. "I only did because I woke up when you got to the interesting part." Ashyn knew Moria hadn't truly fallen asleep, but the thought made her smile.
As Moria helped with the ritual bath, Ashyn tried to cleanse her mind as well. She opened her mind to the spirits--all the spirits. While the ancestral ones of the village were her primary concern, there were many, many others. Spirits were everywhere, inhabiting everything--spirits of hearth and fire, of wind and rain, of plant and beast. She did not hear those. They were not the sort that spoke. There were other human spirits, though, ones she might hear, if they passed her way. The hungry dead. The lost and the angry.
Like the spirits in the forest. The forsaken. The vengeful--
She inhaled so sharply that Tova lifted his head and whined.
Moria rubbed the steaming cloth over Ashyn's aching knees. "Did I tell you that Levi wrote me a poem? I can recite it if you like."
"You memorized it?"
"Of course. It was truly memorable. I've never heard anything so terrible."
Ashyn sputtered a laugh.
"Do you want to hear it?" Moria asked.
"Please." Ashyn leaned back, closing her eyes and relaxing as Moria finished the purification ritual and recited Levi's poem.
As for whether the rituals went well or not, Ashyn couldn't say. That evening, as promised, Moria entertained the children with stories, but Ashyn knew they were truly for her. Distracting tales of legendary beasts and wild adventures.
There were some creatures that didn't find their way into Moria's tales that night. Monsters of the spirit world, like fiend dogs and shadow stalkers. Those would not calm Ashyn's fears as she headed into the Forest of the Dead.
"You'll do fine," Moria said later as they slid onto their sleeping mats.
"What if I don't?"
Moria sighed. "Nothing ever goes wrong, Ash. If it did, we'd hear the stories. The only thing people love more than a good story is a bad one. Tales of tragedy and woe and bloody entrails, strung like ribbons, decorating the battlefields."
"I could do without that last bit."
Moria grinned. "That's the best part. You know what I mean, though. There are no bards' tales about Seekings because they are boringly predictable. You find the bodies. You purify the bodies. You bury the bodies. No one's ever done it wrong before."
"What if I'm the first?"
A coin thumped off Ashyn's forehead.
"Oww."
"Don't complain. That's one of the twice-blessed coins. I kept it for you. Put it in your pocket tomorrow, and you'll be protected from evil spirits and snakebites and Faiban." Moria paused. "Unless you don't want to be protected from Faiban. I hear he volunteered for the Seeking."
Ashyn's cheeks heated. She lay in the darkness, feeling the copper warming in her hand.
"What kind of curse was it?" she whispered finally. "A minor one?"
Moria groaned. "What does it matter? It was one of many I've taken. It only means I'll suffer some small misfortune. Daigo will probably get gas tomorrow night. You'll be thankful you missed it."
The wildcat growled softly beside her sister.
"So it was only a minor curse?"
"Good night, Ashyn."
Moria flipped onto her other side, ending the conversation.