It took Zalia some time to set up what was necessary, especially with the odd shape of the space she was working with. She set up one of her living rituals, much like she had in Cormaine, but had found a way to combine them into one. The protections on the Grove had been three separate living rituals that blocked senses, spiritual senses and spiritual attacks respectively. Here, Zalia made good use of Adastem as well as the components of each individual ritual to create a single large one that would adjust itself as needed.

Aylie seemed fascinated by the process as Zalia planted various cuttings of the plants required and moved on, letting her Healing presence grow the plants and using Preparation to trim them to her needs as she planted the next. This kind of multitasking was something that she wouldn’t have been able to accomplish if not for the Bronze rank mental attributes she now had.

The hardest part came when she had to form five separate components for the initiating ritual and then apply the entire thing across the large area she had planned out. Dried, crushed, cut and whole herbs drifted through the air, forming from nothing but mana as Zalia focused on her intent. Boreal, helpful as ever, started running around, smashing through gathered patches of herbs even as they collected where Zalia commanded. Aylie, who was currently riding the large feline, actually let out a joyous laugh as Boreal did so.

Once everything was in place, Zalia had to pour quite a large chunk of her mana into the ritual before it settled over the area, the plants grasping the magic as their own and beginning to fuel it even as it fueled them.

Zalia could visibly see the dome formed by the ritual go up before it altered itself, slowly becoming less and less visible until it seemed nothing but a part of the nature around it. She could feel the very weak corrupting aura disappear immediately, the initial ritual easily strong enough to counter it. She had a feeling it even made that part of its function weaker to allow the other parts more strength.

With her planted Adastem, Bitterbalm, Manifest and Dodge-vine, the area looked a little nicer, the plants well cultivated and in an aesthetically pleasing pattern. The area within otherwise held a few trees around the place and the little gorge of course.

Zalia began the process of forming the Grove now that the prerequisites to it were complete. She walked around the perimeter of the space she had chosen, lightly brushing her hand over the trees and looking up into the bright blue sky above. The chirping of the birds faded into the background as she closed her eyes, letting the ability and her instincts take over. She walked up the slight slope to the gorge and walked along the small stone path to where the water dripped down the wall at the end. She cupped her hands and caught some of it, drinking it before moving back out.

She went to the centre of the space and knelt, hands against the sapling that grew there. At once, the power of the Grove began growing outwards, forming the land and space to her needs.

The sapling before her grew in a matter of moments, becoming a large tree with a thick trunk. From that trunk, a curving staircase grew to its boughs above.

Other trees in the area grew similarly, forming their own staircases, railings with leaves growing from them and within the branches, paths began to form. Little winding walkways were formed by the branches as they grew larger and intertwined with their neighbours. Within the treetops, small homes grew. Small homes that held nothing more than beds grown from the walls yet made comfortable by the warm lights that began appearing.

All across the ground, dome-like huts made from earth pushed from the earth, grass growing across their surface. Warm light came from small windows set into their sides, revealing an interior decorated with wooden furniture similarly grown from the roots of the trees that now formed smooth yet patterned floors.

All along the perimeter of the Grove, sharp and tall hedges formed, leaving only a single small archway that people could move through.

The tree that Zalia had her hands on grew an archway of its own, set right into the trunk, that would summon the entrance to her vault should she will it so.

Finally, the pond that sat near the gorge deepened, blue lights appearing in its depths as it did so. The lights moved around, bringing back memories of Zalia’s first time seeing the collective's old home. The comparison brought tears to her eyes but she stayed focused on the growth of the Grove as it continued into the gorge itself. The walls were shored up and far at the back, a little cave was dug into the wall behind the trickling water, turning it from a running river to a small waterfall. Behind that waterfall, the cave grew until it was big enough to hold an altar, an altar that grew from the ground, an altar that she knew oh too well.

It was the altar of Nateysta, the story of his origin written along its surface, along with the story of his sacrifice to bring Zalia to safety once more. A story that Zalia herself was trying so hard to avoid remembering.

With that final touch, the changes to the space finally finished. Each one of them was visible within Zalia’s mind as if she had seen them herself, even as she remained kneeling in front of the tree, eyes closed.

She opened her eyes, taking in the sight of the Grove that was itself connected to her. Aylie and Boreal were running around, exploring the changes for themselves, dashing up a flight of stairs into the treetops to explore the homes now built there.

The warm and protective aura of the Grove settled over the space, providing the healing and boost to resilience. The trees now much larger threw shade across the entire space yet little beads of yellow light floated around, providing more than enough light to see by. Further away from where the homes had been built near the gorge yet still within the hedge, land had cleared in preparation for the planting Zalia wanted to undertake.

She smiled, happy to have finally set up the Grove once more. There really wasn’t anywhere she felt safer. Despite… despite what had happened in the last one.

The memory flashed through her mind, a small body crushed in a large hand.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

She stood up quickly with a jolt.

“Hey guys! We should go grab the seeds so we can begin planting food,” Zalia called out.

“Have to?” Boreal asked.

“Yes,” Zalia said, a little bit of the anguish she felt making its way into her tone.

Boreal came running down a different staircase, Aylie hot on her heels yet definitely not keeping up. Boreal slid to a stop in front of Zalia and bumped her head into her.

“Zalia ok?” Boreal asked.

“I was thinking about Delphi,” Zalia whispered.

“Delphi was good friend,” Boreal said sadly.

Zalia hadn’t shown the memory of what had happened to Delphi to Boreal, nor had she explained it. She had only said that the collective had died during the fighting to save them. The very visual memory of their death was not something that Zalia wanted Boreal to have in her mind. It wasn’t something she wanted to have in her own either.

Aylie finally arrived as well, puffing even as she slammed into Boreal’s side, sinking into her fur.

“Right! We should go get some of the plants they’ll have ready for us,” Zalia announced, helping Aylie back onto Boreal’s back for the journey.

There was quite a bit of farmable land within the bounds of the Grove, perhaps not by the standards of her old world, but with the extreme growth the plants would experience due to the Healing presence always present in the place, it would be more than enough for the odd thirty or so people that would be able to live there.

They made their way back to the army camp and were let in after a short inspection by the same nervous man as before. Zalia managed to get him to explain what the inspection was actually for.

“We have encountered a type of Cormaine creature that is able to disguise itself as others. It was something we didn’t really figure out until an officer got his head ripped off by one of the damned things. Let me tell you, they are not happy when they’re discovered,” he explained.

Well, it explained his nervousness at least.

The way he was able to detect the things was through an ability he had, something Zalia unfortunately wouldn’t be able to replicate. She just hoped that her Healing presence would have some sort of effect on the creatures as that would allow her to discover them too, if necessary.

She found a couple wagons and a group of people waiting for her as she made it through the gates.

“You’d be Zalia then eh?” a weathered looking older man asked.

“Uh, yes. You have the seeds and other plants Faian is giving me I see. Shall we get going then?” Zalia asked back.

“You don’t look much of a hero,” he said, ignoring her question.

She immediately liked the man.

“Well that’s good because I’m not. I’d prefer not to be treated like one either,” Zalia replied.

The man grunted.

“Alright lads and lasses, let’s get this thing rolling shall we?” he called out.

He had a gruff voice, as weathered as his own skin was, doubtless a result of long years spent working the fields in the sun.

“You’re a farmer?” Zalia asked as the others in the group began taking up the leads of the animals hitched to the wagons.

Paying attention to them, she realised they were the thick furred cow creatures she had seen so long ago in the farm.

“That I am, my whole life. Not about to stop that and become a soldier just because the kingdom hit a little rut in the road,” he said.

Zalia smiled, finding the rough positivity to be nice.

“That’s good, a kingdom can’t live without people like you,” Zalia replied.

The man looked at her from under bushy eyebrows as if reconsidering his initial assumption of idiocy.

“Well ain’t that refreshin to hear,” he said with a huff.

“You don’t happen to be from the north, closer to Alston, do you?” Zalia asked.

“Why d’ya ask that?” he said.

“I think I’ve met one of those cows before,” Zalia explained, looking at one of the beasts hauling the wagon.

“Not sure what a cow is but that Burris there has been with me for a good many long years. Ole feral won’t let a little apocalypse stop her,” he said with a chuckle.

“Did you just call her Ole feral?” Zalia asked in surprise.

“Yep! Found her stomping a Garroi’s head in once you know. She’s a mighty beast,” he explained proudly.

“Ole feral,” Zalia muttered.

They were let out of the gates and Zalia began inspecting each of the members of their small expedition. The farmer she had been speaking with was Bronze rank, expected from an older man like him. The others were a smattering of Tin and Iron ranked youths, all of whom Zalia figured to be farmhands of the older man. The way they seemed to defer to him gave her the impression they had been working with him for a while. He didn’t strike her as the kind of person to deal with nonsense.

“Got a name I can call you by?” Zalia asked.

“Jus call me Mate like everyone else does,” he said.

“Alright Mate, you and your lot plan to move into the Grove or are you just delivering all this for me?” Zalia asked.

“Thought I’d have a look, I’m real sick of having to live in the war camp, being of no use to anybody,” Mate said.

“Well, I’d like to set a few rules then. Firstly, no one is to touch my plants. My plants happen to be every single plant that is in the Grove at the moment. They’re quite important and a part of the defences that are set up. Understood?” Zalia explained.

“Yeah fair enough, I’d do the same,” he replied, nodding as if the request was completely normal.

“Good. Secondly, if you or any of your people ever call me ‘hero’, you’re out,” Zalia finished.

“I’d take myself out before I’d let it happen,” Mate assured her.

“Sounds like we’re going to get along just fine then,” Zalia said, giving him a warm smile.

“Don’t bloody smile at me,” he grumbled, not entirely in a serious manner.

Zalia gave him a low chuckle.

“Fair enough,” she said.