“You said it looked good on me,” I said, “but I think it looks even better on you!”
The forest green garment which now clad her looked as if it had been perfectly tailored for her figure. In a way, it was similar to the way that the shinobi aspect of the Kitsune Persona manifested on her, a figure-hugging costume of rich, flexible fabric, with a deep hood. The supple leather boots were the dark brown color of wet tree bark. A band of green cloth covered her mouth and nose. The neat green top covered her breasts and left her belly bare, but the skin of her midriff was painted with lines of green stripes. They were like those of a tiger and ran away from her navel.
Across her shoulders was a bow, different from the small recurve bow which she usually had. It was very tall and long, similar to those that the hunter tribes of Saxe sometimes used. I knew from experience that a bow of that size would have incredible range.
At her hip, her potion belt was in place, but now it was made of green leather. A neat pack rested on her back, and at her belt hung a twinned pair of long, white-bladed knives. In her hand, instead of the bokken, she gripped a staff that looked at first glance like a humble walking stick. As she held it up, however, I saw the same carved inscription on the top, and I knew that it would deliver a lightning blast just as effectively as the bokken.
“Try the bow,” I encouraged her, since my version of this particular Persona had not included a bow.
The staff leaped out of her hand and affixed itself to the pack, out of the way. At the same time, the bow flipped through the air and appeared in her hands. I stepped to the side and watched as she retrieved an arrow from the quiver and readied it to fire.
“It’s telling me something,” she said wonderingly. “The Persona itself is telling me about the power of the bow... Ah!”
Cara laughed out loud as she fired the arrow. In a similar way as with the shuriken stars, the single arrow became two, then three, then four. The four arrows thudded into a tree within an inch of each other.
“I can do a spread as well...” she said as she pulled another arrow out. This time, when she fired it, the four arrows spread out to hit four separate trees. Cara’s eyes sparkled as she turned to me, placing the bow back on her back.
“I’m going to try the lightning spell,” she breathed, gripping the staff. She whirled it in mid air and slammed it to the ground. There was a thunderclap as an explosion of emerald lightning spread from her hands, through the staff, and out across the ground like ripples in a pool, then dispersed.
We stood, breathless, facing each other.
“Thank you, Leo,” she said quietly. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d never have been able to access this power.”
I smiled at her. It felt great to see how happy she was with our partnership.
“I think the Tree Spirit Persona works well for you, Cara. I am content with using the Ironside and Kitsune Personas. Perhaps you can keep this one? I may ask you to borrow it sometimes, though.”
She nodded. “It feels like it was made for me.”
“Let’s see if there are any upgrades we can get,” I suggested.
She came over and stood by me, and together we reached out and brought up the diagram for upgrading the Personas. This was the first time we had looked at this since Cara had joined me in her ability to access the Personas.
“The view has changed!” she exclaimed in surprise.
She was right. On the left, there was my Renown counter, looking like a tall tube of glass, filled with buttery yellow light. On the right, there was a new one, this one filled with green light. We both knew instinctively that this was Cara’s Renown. Between the two, we now saw three Personas: Ironside, Kitsune, and the Tree Spirit. These looked like scale models of each outfit, about three feet tall, hanging in mid-air.
“Do you notice,” I said to Cara, “that for Ironside and Kitsune, the diagram shows the combat aspect in the form that they manifest on me, but for the Tree Spirit Persona, it shows the manifestation that comes when you wear it?”
“I hadn’t noticed,” she said, “but I see it now. What do you think it means?”
“I think it’s showing us that the Tree Spirit Persona is meant for you. The spirit must have chosen you to bear it.”
“I. . . I don’t know what to say.”
I put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulders. “Reach for it. Let’s see what kind of upgrades are available for your new Persona.”
Cara reached out and touched the image of the Tree Spirit armor. It faded, showing the now-familiar diagram of three options.
The three options presented to us for the Tree Spirit were the bow, the staff, and a clear green crystal which shone with a clean light. Cara reached immediately toward the green crystal which sat on the right of the row. She held her hand over it, and it shone out for a moment.
“Can you feel what it does?” I asked her gently.
“Only just. It’s a strange sensation.”
She waited for a moment, and I stayed quiet, wanting to give her time to learn the way of perceiving the available upgrades for herself.
After a moment, I heard her catch a breath.
“I see it now,” she said. “It’s similar to the Ironside upgrade which you picked after our last battle. This green crystal will give me the ability to collect more Renown from kills when I’m wearing this Persona. That way, I’ll be able to get more upgrades each time I earn Renown.”
“A useful
