As they left the guild, Ash had a disconcerting feeling of being watched for just a moment. A quick scan of the area around them, though, showed no one paying any more attention than was usual for a group that came out of the adventurer's guild. She gave a slight sigh and chalked it up to being told about someone with strange jewelry, her mind immediately going to the hunter.
They strolled around the city, stopping in several more shops including a few alchemy stores. Ash asked a few curious questions of the alchemists, trying to make sure her methods of potion making were as good as they could be.
After they left the alchemy shops Ash decided to ask a question that had started nagging at the back of her mind at some point during the day, "Is there a central library in Redwood Stars or just the temple library?"
Yarrow was the one to answer, jumping in quickly as if in defense of himself, "I never really got the time to show you around Redwood Stars, you've kept busy. I can show you the library tomorrow," his gaze moved to Luna, "As long as she's still good to be up and about?"
As the two conversed, Ash was reminded that she'd only been in Fantastoria for six days when the corruption had taken over her psyche completely. Six days, five if she was just counting the days where she was entirely herself. Suddenly it was eleven days later, her seventeenth day in Fantastoria with only two days until the auction that would hopefully help her make her potions better and just the day after it would be the Starlight Festival.
Her gaze moved away from the people around her and to her hand. It was real. The body she was in was just as real as the form of Sidus that she embraced as her father-figure. Everything around her felt real, too, far more so than she'd been led to believe it would. The dull pain to keep her from hurting herself that Luri had warned her of wasn't something she'd ever experienced and she wasn't entirely certain she would considering she was fundamentally different from Luna in the world of Fantastoria.
She remained silent as they walked along, eventually catching hold of Luna and drawing her ever so slightly away from the group. Sensing her companion was troubled, Luna didn't make any jokes but instead drew close to her side and curled an arm around her protectively.
"Asha, what troubles you?" She asked softly enough none of the others would hear.
"How am I doing, Luri? Truthfully."
Luna paused entirely at that, motioning the others to continue on to the next store as she drew Ashterra to a quiet bench and settled beside her. It was a complicated question to answer. Mentally, Ashterra was better than ever and, putting aside the damage to her mana circulation, the same could be said of her magically. Physically, though, the pain she was experiencing and the time spent without breathing had taken a harsh toll on her that would take time to heal even under the special spells and with healers constantly attending her.
Still, the priestess admitted to herself, she was doing better than she had been at the same time the year prior. It had, after all, not yet even been three weeks before that Ashterra had just about broken herself apart to fix the world's magic. In prior years, she'd been expected to be up and about no matter her condition, masking the severe amount of pain she was in so that she could sit in the grand temple and look pretty for the Starlight Festival. For the first time since the gods had been sealed from their world, she'd get to see the festival as a guest instead of a centerpiece.
Eventually she spoke, "It's complicated, honestly. In many ways you're so much better off than before while in others you're a lot worse. The healers spend the evening in a complete panic over the intensity of the pain you experience, worried that the shock of it will be too much for your weakened body at some point. They rotate shifts so often, though, that few of them remember how much worse it was at the beginning."
The first time her magic had shattered without Sidus to help hold her together had been agony and that agony had been followed by a desperate chase. The aftermath, though, had been three weeks of being unable to do anything save scream in pain any time she was conscious. She'd managed to hold herself together for the Starlight Festival somehow, appearing for a scant hour before teleporting back to her grove. It was the first time the healers had suggested the stasis-type magics to put her to sleep. It was the first time she'd lost months of her life to sleep and pain and it was still, by far, the worst she'd experienced.
"But I've always had my mana circulation to fall back on before," she grumbled, still angry at herself for not having been able to predict what could happen with taking in corrupted magic.
Realization struck and she glanced up at Luna, a small bit of panic in her eyes, "My horns. They fell apart. There's no way they've regrown enough for the festival ceremonies."
Luna waved the concern away, "I keep bits and pieces back from all of the offerings to the temples any time I trim them, there's plenty for the spells that need to be cast, plenty enough you could break them a couple more times and still be fine though I don't recommend it. Imagine how Lord Sidus would scold you," she grinned a little sheepishly, a slight bit of dark-humor meant to put Ash at ease.
Ash gave a slight nod, "I'll be more careful. Stop weaving spells for a bit-"
Luna interrupted, a little sharply, "No. Your Spellweaving is helping heal you, Asha. You can't overdo it, of course, so try to keep the number down a bit instead of tackling a whole list like I know you want to."
The priestess paused, suddenly terribly afraid of what could happen in the days Ashterra would have no one with her. It sounded as if Yarrow was going to try to find a way out of festival duties to stay with her, which was a relief, but she'd have to spend a while talking with the paladin and with Gardenia to make sure Ashterra's current condition was understood and teach them what to look for when her condition deteriorated.
Ashterra had become far too used to having to appear well when she was ill, so many were able to overlook the signs of her being in distress. She'd have to do her best to teach them those signs though she was hopeful already as Yarrow had caught on almost immediately. He needed only to see her sleeping in Fantastoria, to see how happy Sidus was to have her at his side and he was able to also see through to the pain she hid.
Reaching out to grasp Ash's hands, Luna let worry soften her voice, "Asha. Only weave spells when there's someone to watch you, alright. Keep your casting down to a minimum. Too much magic use too fast could hurt you with your circulation damaged and I don't know how that hurt would show itself. You could collapse, you could start to experience major status effects," her voice shook slightly as she continued, "You could die, Asha. Please, please, promise that you won't do anything rash. Skip the auction if you have to or just leave with nothing in hand. There's nothing more important to me than your safety, Asha."
"I'll take care, Luri," she responded just as softly, "Now," she continued in a bit more of a cheery tone, "Let's go. I don't get this kind of an outing that often and who knows when we'll have another chance."
"We'll be spending a lot of time together as soon as the festival is done," Luna promised, "I won't let the temple heads push me around, not right now. You need me and you are my priority."