Chapter 297: Learning
Nights inside of these Sunstoian buildings of the far north were the same as usual. The only difference was that time Irene had far more entertainment than she had the nights before. Considering she had been familiarizing herself enough with the language, she felt comfortable tackling more difficult books.
However, what she drifted towards the most were the books that had to do with being a Volna. They contained the lessons she had hoped to receieve from her grandmother, but, in the worst case scenario where she wasn’t able to teach her, Irene was preparing herself otherwise.
Some books were a bit too intense for what she was hoping to achieve. With a bit more searching, she found something closer to the basics. At least, it was the introduction to that sort of figure in their soceity altogether.
What Irene learned was that this position acted as a guide to the girls as they grew from adolescence into adulthood. It was said to be a time when girls’ souls were most succestible to outer force.
That didn’t mean it was an inherent flaw of girls, but that the god in charge of the underworld, Emun, had predatory tendencies. He would lure girls in any means possible and, considering his position in the heirarchy of gods, he could go about it in all the ways he saw fit. After all, he was already being punished in the underworld, so what more did he have to lose after falling out of their afterlife in the clouds.
After reading a bit about the Volna of the past, Irene couldn’t help closing the book and laying there with the crackling fire casting shadows on her face as she mused over life and what it was like to be the first female knight for Chemois but the last Volna for the Sunstoian people.
It made her feel momentarily desperate to pass on her Sunstoian blood and beg the universe for a daughter one day. However, the thought of having to get close to a man in such an intimate way made her head spin. She wasn’t even sure if that was something she could ever accept in her life.
"How stressful..." she uttered. "Perhaps Arne will have to have a lot of daughters. He seems more inclined to pass on our genes. I will teach them..."
She patted the book and placed it onto the table that stood next to the bed, covered in furs and blankets to keep her warm. It was too burdensome to think about any longer. She was only here to be a guide to young girls, not figure out her entire life as she crept closer to adulthood with each passing month.