(She's Very Frozen.)

...Yeah, fawns freeze instead of running.

It's just an animal. But Sana asked her not to, earlier.

She investigates a different part of the forest for berries and roots and such.

That was scary for a moment. But the orange... friend... probably wanted to just play a prank on her, right?

Boink boink boink.

The forest has a lot of wild fruits, she can recognize blackberries and some late raspberries.

She has a good sense of smell. She'll go on a little gathering spree. Berries, maybe yarrow or wild carrot if she can sniff them out, or the edible sorts of mushrooms... Honey... Maybe a rabbit, those little idiots are more defensible than the fawn as prey...

Whatever the results, it's relaxing. And she'll head back around sunset with a magic tail stuffed with the proceeds.

"Welcome back! Did you have a good hunt? I'm almost done with my preparations, the ritual starts as the sun gives his last light."

"I'm looking forward to it."

She activates her arcane sight to peer around. Currently Selena seems a lot like the witches she's familiar with- Each has their own incredibly weird, specific, idiosyncratic rituals, and deriving new ones is intensely personal work. If that's the case, she might not be able to help much beyond pointing out magic.

There is a ritual circle drawn on the ground. On its edge, 30 candles stand ready to be lit. Inside it an hexagon and a pentagonal star are inscribed.

"Do you have any questions before we begin, sister?"

Sister? Where did that come from?

Oh well, too late now. She said what she said.

"A few. How did you come up with this ritual? Shall I just observe and see what I can see? Would you like me to light the candles for you- Or is that part of the ritual?"

"Honestly? Mostly trial and error. The five and six come from the Great Cycle of 30 years of the lunar calendar which is also where the 30 candles come from. The circle is a symbol of Her, and I felt better with a pentagonal star and hexagonal circle than any other combination."

"You can just observe, if you want, or we can try having you participate. I've never done it with someone else, never felt safe enough to share, so we'll have to improvise as we go, but I feel like I can do it with you."

"You can definitely help me light the candles. For new moon it's going to be part of the ritual, but today I'm going for the simplified version. Well, not completely simplified, the simplest version uses five candles only, no other circle or symbol."

"...It's probably better if I see you do the whole thing through at least once, first. There's always later."

She pulls her fluffy tail in front of herself and paws a few embers off the tip. They gently float down to light the candles in rapid succession.

"Beautifully done."

And as the sun sets.

The ritual begins with a small melody, just an echo of the full one.

"Let the song begin."

The prayer is spoken with rhythm and repetition, not quite a song but not entirely unlike one.

"We witness the blood of the sun painting the sky in good omen. We witness the stars bearing the stories of old. We witness your face, almost full, smiling lovingly on us."

"We appreciate, a new friendship, the hunt - feral, the sacrifice of life, the melody we sing in the song of life."

"We see, Pold's pain, Marlin's sleep eternal, Noya's slowness, ..."

"... my struggle."

"We hope, for relief, for memories, for rest, for change."

"And as the circle opens, we accept our sisters."

She looks at Weiss.

"Do you want to add a color, an emotion to the song?"

"Peace is a luxury. May Tereo continue to enjoy it."

"So mote it be."