"And you, the one hiding in the shadows. Do not think I did not notice you. Come on out, I have a few things to discuss with you as well."
After Recha had said this Marcus looked over in the same direction she was, only to see a shimmer before a familiar person appeared.
'Aria?! What the hell is she doing here.'
Looking out at the edge of the room was Aira, who being beckoned by Recha flew forward, and when she arrived in front of her bowed and said, "It is an honor to meet you Great Spirit Recha, and please forgive me for trespassing into your domain."
Stunned again, Marcus and Mrazivý, who were already surprised to see Aria here, but furthermore her laid back attitude was gone, and she seemed deadly serious.
In fact, if one looked closely, they could see a few bullets of sweat on her forehead, as she was obviously nervous as well to be in the presence of such a powerful entity.
"Great grandmother what are you doing here? Mrazivý asked with a bit of suspicion.
Of course, she already had a good idea, especially since this was not the kind of place one just stumbles upon.
Sighing Aria raised her head and looked at Mrazivý and Marcus and said, "I was following the two of you. You may have come to totally trust this monster and spirit called Marcus or Irene, but their intentions are unclear, and I could not let something happen to you."
At this point Marcus who was still dealing with all of the information he had just obtained realized that he was currently in his original form and that Aria knew who he was.
A bit of panic began to well up in him, since if Aria knew he could be in trouble.
But while Marcus was feeling fear Mrazivý on the other hand was getting angry.
"Were you spying on me?! That can be the only way, otherwise not even you could have found and caught up to us after just reading the letter I left."
Mrazivý was practically fuming since never in her wildest dreams, did she think her loving great grandmother would be the one to invade what little privacy she had.
"No Mrazivý I was not spying on you; I was spying on them." Aira said as she pointed towards Marcus.
Naturally this did not make Mrazivý feel any better but before she started to get even angrier another voice interrupted.
"Ahem! I do not know or care what is going on, but can you have your family spat after we have our talks, no?" Recha who was becoming upset at being ignored said.
Remembering whose presence they were in, both Mrazivý and Aria gulped, before bowing their heads and apologizing.
"Now why don't you two go ahead and get started on fixing up my shrine, while I have a chat with this lady here." Recha said towards Marcus and Mrazivý.
She then snapped her fingers and two floating balls of light one a light yellow and the other a light blue appeared.
'Spirits.'
This was Marcus' second time to see a spirit after Voda in Loursend, but there was not doubt in his mine that these two floating balls of lights were spirits.
"These two little ones will give you the directions on how to fix the shrine. And take these, they should have any materials that you might need." Recha said as she threw each Marcus and Mrazivý a magic bag.
After that the two of them followed the little spirits instruction and got to work on fixing the shrine they had damaged during their fight with the lamia.
"Now that those two are out of the way I wanted to talk to you, Aria Borealia." Recha said with look of greed in her eyes.
Seeing this Aria felt a shiver go down her spine, but quickly composed herself and said, "Certainly I would be more than happy to talk with a great spirit such as yourself. What might you want of me?"
"While it may have just been a coincidence, since I have come across someone who has such a great affinity towards sound, my very own domain how could I let them go without trying to recruit them."
Hearing this Aria stood there dumbfounded for a moment, before bowing and saying, "It would be my honor to follow in your teachings, great spirit of sound."
Internally Aria was cheering. To receive the acknowledgment of a great spirit directly, was considered quite the honor, and if she proved her loyalty may even be given a great boon.
"Great I am glad that you would become one of my followers. Ah and seeing as you already have the blessing of resonance, would perhaps want to receive my blessing of music?"
Looking up, Aria could not believe what she just heard.
A great spirit was offering her one of its blessings right out of the gate. She had not even done anything to prove her loyalty yet.
It was not like she was a believer of any other great spirit, but she knew that they did not hand out their blessings easily, and normally only to their most devoted followers after years of worship.
"Oh no need to be troubled by receiving one of my blessings. I am not like some of those others that build big churches to attract large quantities of followers. All of my places of worship are hidden away little shrines, like this one. In fact, I do not believe that anyone had made it here in the last three hundred years. So, I will ask one last time, do wish to receive my blessing?"
Nodding her head, Aria got down on one knee and cupped her hands and said, "Yes, and thank you Great Spirit of Sound Recha."
Smiling Recha held out her and a soft humming sound enveloped Aria as a beautiful melody began to play around her.
Then after a few moments Aria began to glow softly and the melody slowly subsided.
"There you go, you have now received my blessing of music."
Standing up Aria could immediately feel the changes to her body as the blessing of music increased some of her stats, and her already high affinity with sound had increased further.
"Now then, I would love to talk with you some more, but I have something more pressing to deal with. Recha said as she nodded her head towards Marcus.
"Would you leave for now and come back in a months' time to this shrine and we can talk some more then."
Looking over at Marcus and Mrazivý who were currently fixing up the shrine, Aira was a bit hesitant to leave but she knew going against a great spirit and one she had just pledged her alliance to would not be in her best interest.
"Very well, I will leave for now and visit you again in one month's time. Thank you again for giving me your blessing."
After that Aria began making her way back down the path and thought, 'With this I may finally be able to break past my limits and once again aim to go higher.'
She then gave one last glance towards Mrazivý and Marcus before exiting the room and going back to the crystal caverns to wait for their return.