The crowd gasped and dispersed. All eyes were on her; she felt the pressure, and the regret she felt was overwhelming. It was difficult to focus on the task at hand with all the people staring at her in awe. 

"Hey," Feng said and gently touched her cheek with its tail tip. "Close your eyes and ground yourself. Try to feel the surrounding air, hear the insects playing their songs in the background, and notice the texture of the sand under your feet."

Raajimera closed her eyes. She couldn't see the village anymore; she stopped hearing and feeling. In that one second, there was only her and the infinite abyss of the ethereal plane. 

The woman lifted her hands and began doing calm moves resembling gentle martial arts. 

Among the darkness, her third eye saw a clone of herself made of shiny water. She could almost touch it if only she moved a little closer…

Who are you? She asked in her thoughts.

I am a part of you, the clone responded. I have always been. You are fragmented and weakened. Only when you unlock every part of you will you become powerful. 

Do you know who I was before? She asked again.

The clone shook its head. Forget about the past, it said. You are a perfect blend of flesh and celestial magic. The gift of Raa is a powerful one, but also one given in parts. Just see what happens when you collect more pieces… The clone reached out to her and grabbed her hand.

A sudden flash of light blinded Raajimera, and she lost her balance. She opened her eyes and saw water sprouting out of the well like a geyser. The villagers cheered and began to collect it in whatever they could. 

The woman was still confused from her experience and couldn't understand what was going on. She looked up and felt like, for a split second, she could see the face of Raa in the darkening sky. 

"Mother…" she mumbled.

Suddenly, her view of the sky was obscured by Seyed's face. His hair, now wet, made his head appear smaller in proportion to the rest of his body.

The man gave her his hand, attempting to help her get up from the ground. She grabbed it, but something drew her attention. His skin seemed so soft, yet it was so coarse to the touch. It felt as confusing as walking on a carpet made of gravel. 

"Marvelous! We knew you would do it!" Seyed said as he clapped his hands. 

"Huh?" Raajimera looked around. Nobody paid even the slightest attention to her; all of these people were too busy collecting water. Her eyes returned to Seyed as she said, "What do you mean by 'we'?"

"Oh, I already told them that I made you speak," he answered as if that were obvious. "I spared them no detail of what happened at the shrine of Raa as well."

Raajimera felt slightly betrayed. She raised her eyebrow. "You made me?" she asked, for she couldn't believe what she heard. After so many days of struggling to accept her current situation, someone had just taken the credit like that? 

The woman wanted to argue with him, but he just turned around and spoke to his people. "You had your proof! The prophecy unveils before your very eyes!" Seyed threw his hands up and continued, "We will make the Emperor answer for what he has done to us and this country; we will make the Empire fear us!"

The village people cheered briefly and returned to their tasks. At that moment, Raajimera felt incredibly selfish by making it about herself. She remembered that the village was in danger, and she must keep going on until she can protect them all from the evil emperor. The woman lowered her head. 

Seyed left her standing there in the mud; he went off to help his peers. 

Raajimera's eyes followed him—suddenly something came to her attention. She lowered her voice and spoke to Feng. "Now it occurred to me that I never asked them how their prophecy ends," she said.

"What do you mean?" the animal asked, raising its head to look at her.

"They said that their village is supposed to be saved by the Snake Queen, but they didn't tell me what will happen afterward," she explained. 

"You could try asking around the village," Feng pointed out. "It makes me wonder where they got it from."

"Huh?" Raajimera was confused. "I thought they heard it from Raa?"

Feng shook its head. "Raa has nothing to do with it. As far as I know, neither do the remaining spirit animals. This is rather peculiar, if you ask me."

"But if not Raa," she wondered, "then who told them about the prophecy?" Raajimera scratched her head and continued, "It sounded too specific, but the fact that I am here means that it's real."

Feng moved its tail in a way that made it seem as if it were shrugging. 

Raajimera looked around and noticed Aya and the village women trying to carry jugs of water. She approached them and asked if they needed help.

"Not really; you already helped us enough," Aya said, leaving her there alone.

Perhaps she was simply overthinking everything, but something didn't sit right with Raajimera. She couldn't stop the rush of thoughts, so she decided to do something to distract herself from it all.

The woman headed back towards the tavern, but as she approached the door, she heard a group of villagers talking about something right behind the building. Their voices were hushed, so she couldn't really understand what their conversation was about. She thought she heard something about the empire, although she was not entirely sure.

Raajimera entered the tavern and brought a pot with her. 

There was an old terracotta bathtub in the room next to her. She intended to collect some fresh water to clean herself with. 

After many rounds back and forth, she had finally managed to fill the bathtub. It was then that she realized that the water was too cold to bathe in. Raajimera sat on a small stool next to it with a defeated expression.

Suddenly, Feng emerged from hiding. "What is it?" it asked.

"I was going to take a bath, but then I realized that the water was too cold," she explained. "Do you think I could go to the kitchen and ask the workers to boil some water for me?"

The snake gazed intently at her. 

"What?" Raajimera seemed clueless. The animal quietly kept observing her, so she said, "Don't say I can do this myself as well."

Feng nodded. "You can. It's great to be a god, isn't it?" The snake asked.

Raajimera sighed. "I should have figured this out myself," she said as she rolled her eyes. "Guide me."

Feng hissed, "This is very similar to what you did before, only this time you have to visualize a small flame in your chest."

"Is that all?" she asked impatiently.

Feng slithered closer to the brown bathtub. "No," it said, "this is merely the first step. Now put both your hands on your heart and visualize extracting the flame and putting it on your palm."

Feng gave her a nod of approval. "Now bind yourself to the water the same way as you did at the well. Your inner flame should connect to it," the animal explained.

The woman gracefully moved her hands, and after several minutes, the water was pleasantly warm, only to reach the boiling point within several seconds.

Raajimera squeaked.

"No, that's too much!" Feng shouted, "Revert it before you kill someone with this overgrown, boiling flowerpot falling from the ceiling!"

"I don't know how!" Raajimera panicked.

"You must have used a flame that was too large," Feng explained. "Just imagine extracting some of it from the water. It should stabilize the temperature."

Eventually, the temperature dropped. Now, the water was serene and pleasantly warm.

"See, you've done it!" Feng sounded excited. "You are a natural! I mean, as natural as a person who got their powers from a deity can be. " If snakes could smile, this one would definitely do it right now.

Raajimera began undressing. Feng looked at her and asked, "It may sound strange, but… may I bathe with you? I'm about to molt, and my skin feels really dry."

The woman placed her animal companion by her side and sat down in the pleasantly warm water. 

Feng hissed, "Ahh, yesssss." The snake was beaming with joy. 

Raajimera laughed briefly, and quickly her facial expression turned serious. "I also have a question for you," she said.

The animal looked at her with its beady eyes while floating on the surface of the water like a toy. 

The woman scratched her arm awkwardly. "When I first connected with the underground river, I saw a clone of myself made of water. It spoke to me. Do you think it's normal?"

"You're a demigoddess with powers from the sky, speaking with feral snakes; what do you consider normal?" Feng asked. 

"I don't know," Raajimera mumbled and looked away. "The clone said that the gift I got is given in parts, and I will only be powerful once I claim them all."

"Hmmm," Feng hissed. "Don't think too much about it; I think it was just Raa trying to motivate you to hone your skills."

Raajimera nodded. She almost fell asleep in the bathtub. 

The woman decided to just prepare herself for sleeping. She went out of the tub, dried herself with a piece of cloth, and returned to her room. 

Raajimera wrapped herself with the colorful blanket from her bed and approached the window. 

The village people were already in their homes; the well was abandoned, surrounded by mud and empty vessels. Raajimera looked up and saw a dark night sky filled with thousands of sparkling stars shining like a myriad of little flames. 

"It's so beautiful; would you look at it, Feng?" She placed the animal on her palm and lifted it up so that it could also witness the beauty of the night sky.

The snake lifted its little snout and asked, "Can you see that one big star? The brightest one?" Raajimera responded with a nod, so Feng continued, "It is where Twilight Mother is when she isn't called. Whenever I feel scared or worried, I look at this star and know that she's with me. It makes difficult times easier to bear."

Raajimera smiled and gazed upon the star.

"I still don't know what your plans for me are, but… thank you, Raa, for putting such a wonderful friend in my way." She rubbed her cheek against Feng's. They both seemed so happy.

Maybe it was because she wanted to believe.

Perhaps it was because she didn't know how to listen.

But that night, the universe sang quietly.

Perhaps this isn't the only thing put in her way by fate…