"Not bad. It's a bit strange, not to have an all-consuming mission anymore."

"What did you do before?"

"Nothing much. I was the emissary to a pack, before my alpha left me for dead." 

"If you're feeling at loose ends, Ellayania will eventually need to establish a priesthood of some sort here. She's not at that point yet, but it's something that will happen in the future."

"What would I do, as a priest? People here aren't used to your kind of goddess."

"You'd be sort of representing her interests. Here, it'd probably be a lot of talking to people, explaining about Ellayania, who she is and what she does, getting them to believe in her. Also collecting books, she really appreciates books."

"I like her already. Any kind of book? Does it matter if it's one that's important to me, valuable or rare...useful or interesting?" 

"Both!"

"Okay. Collecting rare books, interesting books...I'll need to find a way to make money on the side, I think, a teacher's salary won't cut it. Can you tell me more about Ellayania? She must want things from her followers; a creed or values or something that she expects them to share."

"She's the goddess of libraries, she's about curiosity, the desire and drive to learn, to understand more about the world. People who ask questions, and people who can answer questions."

"Is she interested in learning about druidry? I have plenty of books on that, hard to find elsewhere. I'll work on getting new books, too."

"Druidry books would be great! And Ellayania will give the book back to you once she's made a copy."

"I think I like being a priest. Priestess?" 

"Whichever you prefer. You should come by her domain tonight, both to talk more to her about it and because we're going to attempt to regrow the Nemeton."

"Dear Diary, this town just keeps getting more and more exciting. I wouldn't miss it. Anything else while you're here?" 

"No, I think that was everything."

"Thank you, Ms. Yanna. And thank you, Ellayania."

They're ushered out at a reasonable pace; Ms. Blake seems to enjoy Pascale's company. 

That's good. Ellayania is less choosy about her priests than acolytes, but Pascale thinks Blake will be a good fit. And it will help keep her out of trouble.

She heads home.

And in the evening, everything is ready.

The druids begin to arrive. 

Good. This will be easier with an audience. Ellayania has surrounded the grove so as to be able to engulf it from all sides at once.

It's not much of a grove, these days. 

Just a single tree stump. 

She can try to surround the general area around it, though. 

The druids observe, with interest.

Ellayania fills in the circle she has drawn, claiming the ground and the stump.

Does it feel different from an ordinary tree?

It feels like a very old tree. 

Also, it's trying to find out what's happening.