Unearthing Trouble

So, Lena and I had this brilliant (or maybe not so brilliant) idea to loop Mara in on our little "we-found-something-weird-in-the-woods" situation. Figured if anyone could tell us we'd accidentally discovered a magical booby trap, it'd be her.

The walk back home was basically us trying to outdo each other with wild guesses about how Mara would react. "Bet she'll ban us from ever going near the forest again," I said, half-joking but also kinda hoping. The less cursed forest altars in my life, the better.

Lena just laughed that laugh of hers that makes you forget you're worried about possibly stirring up ancient curses. "Mara? She's gonna want to see it for herself," she said, all confidence and curiosity.

The image of Mara, with her no-nonsense vibe, trekking out to check our discovery was both ridiculous and reassuring. Because, honestly, if anyone could figure out what was up with that altar, it was her.

Finding Mara in the kitchen was no surprise. She was in the middle of cooking magic, turning something ordinary into stew that smelled like heaven. "Hey, Mara, got a minute?" Lena dove right in, casual as ever, "We kinda found something out in the forest."

Mara's look was a perfect mix of 'I'm intrigued' and 'You kids haven't broken anything, have you?' "What kind of something?" she asked, already drying her hands on her apron like she knew this was going to be a whole thing.

"It's like an altar," I jumped in, "Really old-looking and, uh, kinda gives off a spooky vibe."

Mara didn't say much, just told us to lead the way, but her tone had this seriousness that suddenly made our little adventure feel a lot more like real life.

So off we went, the three of us, like some mismatched band of adventurers from a storybook, heading back to the forest. Lena was quieter now, squeezing my hand tight as we got closer. I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze back. Teamwork, right?

Standing there in front of the altar again, with Mara inspecting it like she might inspect a particularly interesting vegetable at the market, was surreal. "This is old," she finally said, "And definitely magical."

"No kidding," Lena muttered under her breath, earning a quick smile from me.

"What's the game plan, then?" I asked. "Do we call in the village's magic SWAT team or something?"

Mara gave a blank stare and said. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First, we figure out what we're dealing with. But for now, how about we agree not to poke it with sticks, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan," Lena agreed, relief clear in her voice.

Walking back, the mood was lighter, but the mystery of the altar hung over us like a big, unspoken question. What had we gotten ourselves into? Whatever it was, at least we weren't in it alone. And with Mara on our side, it felt like maybe, just maybe, we could handle whatever the forest had in store for us.