The next day, Mai'ya was in her courtyard, waiting for Arenim. The night before, Madelaine had told her that her tutor was also the high priest of the Temple of Selèn and that he held significant influence in the countries of the Selènic continent.
In her history and geography studies, the second princess learned that Orhyan had four continents, and that the one blessed by the goddess of the full moon was the western continent. The lands blessed by the other lunar goddesses, Eris and Yaci, were located to the east and south, respectively. And the continent of the solar goddess, Merah, was to the north of Orhyan.
A few minutes passed until the tap tap of the high priest's cane echoed through the corridor before the courtyard gates. When Arenim entered her wing, Mai'ya curtsied to him. "Greetings to the envoy of the full moon, Arenim, high priest of Selèn," the princess greeted formally.
Mai'ya stood up and adjusted her posture according to royal etiquette. However, she couldn't contain the awestruck sparkle in her emerald green eyes as she looked at the high priest. "Thank you so much once again for healing my wound, milord," she said. "If it weren't for you, I would probably be blind in my left eye by now." She bowed in gratitude, followed by Madelaine.
The high priest was a bit confused by the princess's gratitude, as this time he was the real Arenim. Then he remembered Lucien's words about his encounter with the second princess of Kálan. With that, he smiled and approached Mai'ya, placing his free hand on the princess's right shoulder. "I couldn't leave you after seeing you in such suffering, Your Highness."
"And by the way, today I would like to take a look at the medicines kept for the use of the second princess," Arenim said, looking at Madelaine, who nodded and left to fetch what he had asked for. "Let's proceed with today's lesson," the high priest said, gesturing for Mai'ya to go ahead. And so, they made their way to the living room.
"By any chance, would Your Highness know how to describe the symbol representing our pantheon and their descendants?" Arenim asked after Mai'ya settled into the desk chair. The princess shook her head in response, but her eyes and ears were attentive, ready to receive the new information. Arenim was impressed by the princess's eagerness to learn, but he didn't let this emotion show on his face. He pointed toward the board, and on it, he made a drawing appear—one that Mai'ya had seen before in the various books she had studied.
Looking at the drawing, Mai'ya saw a full moon, above it were the shapes of a crescent moon and a waning moon, their tips extending beyond the central moon. From the full moon emerged 12 solar rays, divided into groups of three, pointing upward, downward, to the right, and to the left. Surrounding the moons and solar rays, two hexagons overlapped, and at each of their points, a star shone. Encircling the symbol was a ring that passed through each star.
Arenim pointed to the full moon. "This represents Selèn, while the crescent and waning moons represent Yaci and Eris, respectively," the high priest explained. "The solar rays represent the goddess Merah, and the twelve stars represent the twelve children of our four goddesses." Looking at Mai'ya, he continued, "In ancient times, there were two gods in our pantheon—Rubius and D'aurum, who were solar gods."
"What happened for them to be removed from our pantheon?" the princess asked, intrigued.
"D'aurum murdered Rubius to take his magical power and become the sole solar god, so Selèn and her sisters, Yaci and Eris, imprisoned him somewhere in Orhyan," the high priest replied.
"But where did the goddess Merah come from?" the princess wanted to know.
"Merah was created by Selèn using the remnants of Rubius's energy," Arenim explained, and anticipating Mai'ya's next question, he continued, "And yes, Merah possesses both solar and lunar powers. Let's say her primary attribute is the sun, and her secondary attribute is the full moon."
"Once, I overheard some nobles talking about primary and secondary elemental attributes. What do they mean?" Mai'ya let out the question she had been holding onto for a while and felt embarrassed.
Arenim smiled kindly at the princess, seeing that she felt embarrassed. "Generally, morphs have the ability to shift into an animal form, but a portion of them also possess the ability to use elemental magic—magic of the natural elements—in addition to their everyday abilities," Arenim explained, pointing to the symbol on the board. "They are fire, water, earth, and air, and they are also represented in the symbol of our pantheon."
Looking at the symbol again, Mai'ya noticed that each group of three stars had different colors.
"Each place where the stars are located represents a direction and an elemental attribute," Arenim continued to explain, pointing to the stars. "At the top, the red stars are in the north and represent the fire element. At the bottom, the green stars are in the south and represent the earth element. To the left, the yellow stars are in the west and represent the air element. And finally, to the right, the blue stars are in the east and represent the water element," the high priest concluded.
"So, does that mean some morphs can harness the magical energy of more than one element?" Mai'ya asked.
"Exactly," Arenim confirmed, impressed by the princess's quick reasoning. A knock sounded at the door, and Madelaine entered carrying the box of medicines that had been requested.
"Well, let's end the lesson for today," the high priest announced. "If Your Highness doesn't mind, I'll take some samples of the medicines with me to analyze them." He declared, as he could see a dark energy overflowing from the medicine containers.
"Please, make yourself at home, milord," Mai'ya replied, unaware of what the high priest could see. "Have a safe journey back to Sagreif," the princess wished.
Nodding, Arenim gestured toward the medicine bottles and, using magic, took a portion from each. With another hand gesture, the samples disappeared. The high priest had an idea of what might be wrong with the princess's medicines, but he still took the samples to analyze them and reach the correct conclusion. "I hope Lucien hasn't left Sagreif yet," he thought. And bowing in farewell, Arenim left.