The old woman sighed softly, speaking Kartherian Language with a Randall River Valley accent, but she remained standing instead of sitting down. Shade could indeed sense Enlightenment and Miracle Elements. Her face was exceedingly familiar, but he could not determine the relationship between this aged face and the middle-aged Miss Perry. The age gap was simply too great.
The witch was still standing there. Shade tugged at her sleeve, and the two sat down together. The old woman in nun's robes smiled and looked towards Shade:
"Young people, I do not know why you have come here, but you certainly are not lost or in danger. The earth likes you, and the time has indeed come. If you desire the power of the earth, I can give you a trial."
"What trial?"
Miss Benanis asked softly. The old nun finally sat down beside the campfire, on the other side of the Unicorn. She smiled and stroked the little beast, which docilely allowed her to do so:
"The earth chooses its own agents. Soil and stone tell us everything."
"Agents of the earth."
Shade was worried she would pull out some light that could turn people into giants, but fortunately, the old woman merely picked up a small stone from the dry ground beside the campfire. She put both hands behind her back, then brought them out again with both fists clenched, extending them towards Shade and Miss Benanis:
"Tell me, where is the pebble?"
Her aged eyes looked at them with amusement, as though she were joking with young people she had happened to meet on the street. And by normal logic, the answer to such a question was naturally not limited to "left hand" and "right hand."
Miss Benanis was taken aback. She had not expected the so-called "trial"