Most of the visitors had headed back by the last night of the Festival since they couldn't be away from their duties at home forever, but there was still a sizeable crowd on the walkways and in the main level of the spire when the summoning ritual was being prepared that night.
Priority had been given to the families of the newly awakened Witches, and as a shock to all of them, they had been invited up to the top floor with the ritual altar to witness the ceremony firsthand.
"Please understand that intense concentration is needed for the spell, so please don't interrupt no matter what you see inside the spell circle. No harm will come to them, so rest assured that this is a necessary and joyous moment in their path as Witches." Cassie informed the gathered family members.
She had lost the game of rock paper scissors and had been nominated as the spokesperson to organize tonight's ritual, which had a somewhat limited timeframe and many more participants than originally expected.
With that in mind, she had altered the platform a little for the purpose. A second platform had been raised over the main one, with six summoning circles on it so they could go through them in batches.
First would be the five witches from Myrrh and Mary, who hadn't managed to sneak away this time, and then the newly awakened witches would be done in two groups, with Headmistress Peach going last on the standard platform alone.
Cassie had wanted to do Mary first before beginning on the groups, but she had insisted that it was a group event. Wolfe suspected that was mostly to pacify Pup, who still wasn't sold on the idea after having met Ember, who was currently standing at Cassie's side, sending a longing look toward something that was happening outside.
Ember was incredibly easily bored, and Pup took the burnt of the excess energy that the Hellhound had, much to his dismay. So, his greatest fear was that Mary would summon another one, and then there would be two Hellhounds ruining his peace.
"Since we have a few minutes before the time is right to start, I will explain what will happen here. The majority of Familiars will be a common creature of the area. Here that means squirrels, Flame Winged Sparrows, and similar small creatures.
Because this is a Fae Forest, we can expect a number of Fae summons as well in a group this large, maybe even three of them. So, don't be alarmed if various creatures appear that aren't usually associated with safety. They will be perfectly harmless here."
The moon rose above the horizon, and Cassie lit the braziers in the fading twilight.
"It is time. Let us begin." She announced, and the first group was ushered forward.
With Mary leading them, the girls were much less nervous about going first, and they had been memorizing the procedure all day to build their confidence.
As soon as they were in their spots, Mary began to channel mana into her circle, signalling the others to do the same and fill the air with magic.
The six balls of mist formed in circles, five gray and one bright white. It looked like Mary would get a Fae Familiar this time, going by the colour.
That assessment process hadn't been wrong yet, but Wolfe still waited anxiously while the fog coalesced. The white cloud was the fastest forming of the group, and only a minute after the ritual started, a small white cat with two tails was looking up at Mary.
The two of them shared a loving stare that promised chaos for everyone around them, and Pup shuddered in fear of what the intelligent beast and the small Witch would come up with together.
The twin-tailed feline didn't seem to be malevolent to Wolfe, though he had heard legends of Nekomata actually being a form of Demon that ate people. But this one had come from a white cloud, which suggested it was a form of Fae and not a Demon. It also seemed fairly friendly, though mischievous, which was a good fit for Mary.
The other five summoning spells ended close together, returning two Flame Winged Sparrows, a honey badger, and two rabbits, including one belonging to the new fluff-loving friend Mary had met earlier today.
Bunny kin summoning a bunny as a Familiar had a strange sense of rightness to it, though. It was like they were meant to be together.
The badger was a big one for its species and looked utterly unconcerned about anything, including its summoner, as it sniffed around the air.
Only when she presented food to it did the creature appear to notice her and begin to care about her presence.
The first group was ushered off the platform by Cassie to prepare for the next, and the small piles of reagents were refreshed for the six new witches from the villages.
"Have you all learned the process? Just channel mana into the circles and focus on the Familiar you want, or what you want in a Familiar." Cassie reminded them.
That was a strange concept for them, as they grew up terrified of the creatures that lived in the Frozen Wastes, but they had seen a lot of Familiars this week, especially after going underground to see their new rooms, and the girls began to focus on the spell.
This time the young Witches took longer to begin forming the mist, but all six spells were working, and they all looked relatively normal, though Wolfe noticed that only one was forming near the ground, so the rest had a higher chance of being flying creatures if his deductions were correct.
He was proven correct when the Familiars coalesced. Only one was not a bird, and it appeared to be a baby Jackalope, going by the small horns on its head and tiny size.
The Flame Winged sparrows made three of the others, but a pair of hawks rounded out the group, and the crowd tried hard not to laugh as they landed on the outstretched arms of the bunny kin girls who summoned them.
Cassie told them to focus on what they wanted in a Familiar, and that was power and safety. What was more synonymous with that than domesticating a Hawk, whose giant cousins were well known for grabbing and flying off with villagers and all sorts of small animals?
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