Intro to the Village **now with slightly less suck**
Elli was awake long before sunrise. Her old bones creaked as she prepared the proper balm for Tory's ceremony later that night. Carefully sliced herbs and fat were mixed into a paste. Elli leaned back against the rough wall and sighed. She had only seen the ritual performed once before, and the recipient did not survive.
Tory had enough physical strength, of that she had made sure, but mental strength cannot be forced. The girl would either succeed, or die. She glanced at the girl lying prone on her cot, long black hair coming free of the plaits and fanning out around her head. She looked the picture of innocence.
"My dear child," Elli murmured, kneeling beside her, "I wish could bear the pain you will endure instead." She smoothed her callused palm across Tory's forehead and stood up painfully. There was much left to be done.