20th of Glace, Year 1023

After that, Eislyn left the Court of Saints again to continue doing whatever duties she was supposed to be performing. According to her, whenever she appeared in corporeal form, her influence over the plane diminished so that the essence of creation and order in the land weakened as most of it gathered where her corporeal form appeared. Thus, she cannot take a corporeal form too often or for too long.

Renee wondered if it was the same in the aether plane, where Eris might be choosing to stay in a non corporeal form. That would explain why all the nythrals that formed there were so aggressive and destructive. It would also explain why the saints never ran into Eris in person. She wasn’t in some hidden pocket of space in the aether realm. She was everywhere and nowhere at once. 

At least until someone accidentally uses their magic, leaving a magic signature that Eris will undoubtedly pick up sooner or later. Renee desperately hoped her mistake didn’t cause any lasting consequences.

The next few days were rather interesting. Shen, who was absent in the dining hall when the other saints met Renee, showed up the following day to formally meet the newest addition to the group once before disappearing back into his private quarters again. 

The saints who badmouthed her in the dining hall where they first met later sheepishly met up with her again to apologize for their behavior. Even Ardien swallowed his pride to apologize, although Renee secretly suspected that one of the more responsible saints forced him to do it. Regardless, it was nice to see them humbled a little. 

The first thing she did after she familiarized herself with the saints again was to see how the World Tree looked like in the past. As soon as she stepped into the open courtyard inside the Court of Saints, her breath was taken away. There hadn’t been a single illustration or interpretation from history that did it justice when it was in its prime. To be fair, most humans weren’t allowed in the Court of Saints, so almost nobody had ever seen the World Tree.

The version Renee saw in modern time was slowly fading and only a shadow of its former glory. However, the tree that stood before her now was standing proud and tall, with lush leaves and bright pink flowers. The whole tree emitted a soft glow that could be seen even during the day. 

Renee stood beneath its branches, gazing upward with awe. Since it was in the middle of winter, a thin layer of snow from a recent snowfall blanketed everything, even the World Tree. Yet, the snow only seemed to add to its beauty.

“You shouldn’t touch it, Renee.” Jareth, the Saint of Flora, timidly warned her. He seemed to have made it his duty to tend to the World Tree because of his experiences in horticulture. “None of the stories mentioned that the tree is full of thorns along its branches. Also, we’re not allowed to hurt the tree in any way, including pruning or picking the flowers.”

Renee already knew about this, as Matthias had drilled all the rules from the code of saints into her head only a few days before. 

“Has anyone gotten hurt by them before?” Renee jokingly asked.

“No, but that’s because no one is allowed in here except for the saints.”

“Why does the World Tree have thorns?” Renee wondered aloud. “To protect itself? Or to harm others?”

“Is that the new version of the question, did the World Tree come before the wild rose plant, or did the wild rose plant come before the World Tree?”

“The answer to that one is obviously the wild rose.” Renee argued. “The World Tree only existed for a thousand years. Roses have been cultivated for longer than that, which means wild roses existed for even longer.”

“I know that!” Jareth exclaimed. “I’m a botanist as well as a horticulturist.”

Then, to prove it, he rattled off a list of things that the Word Tree differs in compared to the natural wild roses. For someone who was quite introverted and shy, he seemed to shed his timidness when lecturing about the qualities of a flower. Then, Jareth later slipped her a small vase with flower arrangement as some sort of apology as if he was embarrassed for getting carried away with his discussion.

The magic in the Court of Saint was, indeed, amazing. Also fueled by the magic from the World Tree, it provided Renee with everything she wanted. Any food she wished to eat, endless hot water for baths, furniture for her room, and even new clothes. On top of that, her room stayed clean and spotless due to the self-cleaning magic.

She asked around to see if the saints had any official duties that they have to do, but she was shocked to find out that there weren’t many. Each saint takes turns monitoring the Boundary from the aether realm’s side for a year. They called it “standing watch”. Now that Lirion had returned to the physical plane, it was technically Kayden’s turn, as he came next after Lirion, but Elias apparently owed Kayden a favor and switched shifts. Renee suspected that Kayden must have overheard one of Elias’s secrets and blackmailed him into agreeing.

Aside from that, the other, the non-watching saints were supposed to monitor the health of the World Tree, delegate with leaders and high priests, attend any important celebrations, and dispatch any nythrals that sneak past the Boundary. The biggest issue for Renee was that there was no guideline or concrete instructions for how to do it. 

None of the saints carry out their duty the same way. For example, Matthias made it his job to record events. He carries a large textbook with him everywhere he goes, and he writes down everything of interest. From what Renee remembered, he already wrote several history textbooks from his tenure as the second-oldest saint, with The History of the World being one of his most popular. Ardien, on the other hand, was more physical. He goes hunting for destructive nythrals, but is also willing to hunt any other dangerous creatures that pose a threat to human life. From what Renee could see, there was no “correct” way to do one saint’s duties.

On top of that, important events were few and far in between. The next event was the New Year’s Celebration in just over one month’s time. According to tradition, all non-watching saints make an appearance in the main temple to bless all the worshippers who gathered there, which makes the New Year’s Celebration one of the biggest celebrations of the year in addition to being the first.

According to Matthias, that would be her official debut as a saintess. Until then, Renee didn’t have to handle any of the saint’s official duties. So, after a few days of not really doing anything except sitting outside underneath the World Tree and having small conversations with one saint after another, Renee started feeling restless. 

She couldn’t take her mind off her original time period. She was still afflicted with the desire to go back to them so she can fight Eris at their side. She felt guilty for not being able to return to them, even if they were the one who left her behind. She felt guilty for abandoning Anise, whom she sorely missed. Anise hadn’t become a saint yet. It seemed strange that Anise would only be a saint for a short period of time before the ultimate battle.

To take her mind off things, Renee tried researching for Eris’s weakness again. To her dismay, her books were left behind in the future, so she had to go around searching for new research materials. 

The Court of Saints was large, but she didn’t realize how large it was until she went hunting for a library and went from one hallway to another with no end in sight. She went exploring in places that were clearly unused. Empty rooms, devoid of furniture or objects. There were many more floors than she first realized as she went up and down countless flights of stairs. 

The building was much larger and more elaborate than any palace Renee had seen. The hallways and corridors closest to the outside perimeter had large open archways in lieu of windows to let in the breeze. One of her favorite features of the building was a peristyle-like covered balcony with open archways. Not only was the balcony beautiful, the view outside the balcony was even more so because the Court of Saints was so elevated. Looking out over the balcony, Renee could see rolling hills, lush forests, and meandering rivers as far as the eye could see. She also knew that just beyond them was the capital of Elysia, full of bustling people who cannot see her due to the magic that veils the Court of Saints from outsiders.

The Court of Saints was beautiful, but hauntingly empty, as if this place was mostly inhabited by ghosts. This place was definitely much larger than what twelve people needed. The question was, what was all this space for?