With those last words, she waved goodbye to Beam, as her friend relentlessly called for her. Her friend sighed in exasperation. "Why do you keep bothering with the boy? Can't you tell for the filth on him that he's got no money?"
Loriel gave a soft smile in return. "He's special, and no one else can see it. He's my little treasure. Mark my words, that boy will grow into a fine man."
"So what? It's an investment? You think he'll get rich and take you away?"
But Loriel shook her head. "No… He deserves someone far better than me. I'm content to just see him do well."
Her friend shook her head. "I really don't get you…"
Beam sighed with relief as she left. Whilst all the other women treated him with something approaching disgust, only Loriel continued to pester him. Beam couldn't figure out why.
He dared to look over his shoulder to watch her go, only to see her sauntering seductively as she moved her hips from side to side, her fine figure more than evident in her tight purple dress. She must have sensed Beam's gaze, for she looked back over her shoulder and smiled at him, offering him a wink. And this time he did go red.
He scarpered away hurriedly onto the road towards home, determined to put as much distance between himself and Loriel as possible, for fear that the embarrassment would eat him alive.
As he walked, he almost flinched as he caught sight of the figure of another beautiful woman. Only, after a moment, he remembered that this particular woman was a statue.
In all of the village, there was only a single statue dedicated to the Gods – for they couldn't afford any more. And that statue was offered to the Goddess Claudia, the Goddess of Progress.
Beam slowed to a halt in front of it, looking up at the beautiful woman carved out of stone, with long flowing wavy hair and a kind-looking face. By her feet, there read an inscription. "Your struggles will be rewarded," it said.
Even being as poor a reader as Beam was, those were words that he knew well. He'd often paused in front of the statue, especially in his earlier days in the village. He'd believed that someway, somehow, his struggles indeed would be rewarded. That his suffering would lead to something better, and that he could make his family proud beyond the grave.
It had taken him two full years before that had finally paid off, but here he was, finally with something to show for all his work.
There were two other villagers kneeling in front of the statue in silent prayer. Normally, Beam would not join them. He didn't share the same religious fervour as the rest of the villagers. He wasn't sure what his opinions on the Gods quite were – though he knew he didn't like the idea that such powerful beings so freely meddled in the lives of mortals.
But of all the Gods and Goddesses, he figured that perhaps Claudia was the closest he was to appreciating. She didn't lie at least.
Today, since he'd gotten the promotion, he figured he may as well kneel down and offer thanks, just in case Claudia really did have a hand in helping him forward.
Elsewhere, as Beam prayed, in a dimension different from his own, a purple light shone, as a woman sitting at a wooden desk paused her writing a moment to acknowledge it.
"Goddess," the woman called out, her long blond curls swaying as she turned her head. "There's been another one. The Second Boundary has been broken."
Claudia lifted her head up languidly from her hand. She'd been sat on the stone steps of an ornate fountain, with one hand caressing the flowing waters beneath, the very image of a troubled beauty.
Her sad eyes inspired endless pity as she called back a half-hearted question. "And which noble house is this one from?"
"Err… Let me check," Claudia's attendant said, as she pushed her glasses back up her nose and fished a piece of parchment out of her drawer. Sure enough, just as always, the parchment fed her all the information the Gods had observed on this particular mortal.
Her eyes widened in surprise as numerous memories filled her own – not because of the uncomfortable sensation, for she was used to it by now, but because of the odd contents, that went against what she had come to expect from one breaking through to the second level.
Claudia noticed her distress and for a moment, the sadness faded from her eyes, replaced instead by curiosity. She looked up, brushing silver hair from her face as she sat up for the first time in hours. "What is it?"
"Well… You see, he's not a noble… He's not a knight. He's not even a soldier," Claudia's attendant said, in what could only be described as a panicked voice, a vast contrast to her normally dignified secretarial disposition.
Claudia reached out a hand for the parchment, as interest captivated her. Her attendant soon crossed the room to fulfil the unspoken demand, her heels clicking against the marble floor as she went.
"Goodness…" Claudia murmured, holding a hand to her chest, as the parchment filled her in. She recognized the boy, but only a little – she could not look in all places at all times, so many of her subjects often went overlooked for long periods of time, though she strove to keep an eye on them all as best she could.
"…What do we do?" The attendant asked in a panic. "We've had members of the peasant class break through the Second Boundary before… but that isn't the problem."
"Indeed, we do not discriminate. Progress will be gifted to all equally who yearn for it and struggle for it, and we have had more than a few peasants break through the Second Boundary before… but you're quite right, that is not the problem," Claudia mused, her eyes again clouded over with sadness, but this time for a different reason.