“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

“There is a limit on the information we are allowed to share about that,” Ama said rigidly.

“Ama…” Astsila said in a pleading voice, tugging on her hand.

“Atsilla, you know we can’t,” Ama said sternly, though the edges of her eyes softened.

“Most of the independents are endorsed by myself or an independent occultist,” Meadow commented quietly. “Such as the Beggar Luminary, Craftsman, or Amethyst Mask.”

“And anyone on Mossford, Suntorch, Dragontooth, or Thornfront’s teams are endorsed by Orykson,” Atsila said, before knowledge mana flashed in the air and sealed her speech. She looked up into the sky and squinted in annoyance.

Ama sighed and ran a hand through her hair, looking at her… Wife?

“Fine. Each win gives substantial political capital to t–” she didn’t get to finish, as the same seal on speech hit her.

“The endorser?” I asked.

Atsila and Ama were silent, of course, but Meadow nodded, and then she was sealed too.

Would that be so bad? To give Orykson more political capital?

I didn’t know. I liked Mossford, it was a good country. But was that Orykson’s influence? I doubted it. He seemed to keep his hands off of proceedings. Even Liz had barely known who he was, and her grandfather had participated under his name.

Was Orykson what made Mossford a nice place to live? Or was Mossford a nice place, despite Orykson.

“So,” I said aloud. “You’re fine with me working for an independent party, but you don’t want me working for Orykson, or anyone else. Including yourself…”

I considered that. If they were asking me to compete for them, that’d require me to swear fealty to Elohi, at the very least. I didn’t know if I’d like Elohi – I’d never been – but I wasn’t willing to uproot my entire life.

But they weren’t asking that. They wanted me to compete for Meadow or another independent.

“Alright,” I said.

I could live without Orykson. As far as I was concerned, this was just an extension of the deals I’d already made.

I took the plant and sent it into Dusk’s realm, and then Ama and Atsila signed me something that I thought was a 'thank you’ before they turned to leave.

A few moments later, the mana around Meadow eased up, and she let out a tired sigh.

“I’m glad you decided to not give the old man more power,” Meadow said. “Though I should say, it wasn’t their intent to ambush you like that. Atsila is… Abrupt. I told her about your decision to pursue beast magic, and she took in on herself to scour southwestern Elohi for the plant. Their time to act was limited, which made them both move faster as well. I doubt Atsila even realized how the offer could come across as suspicious. Though, I suspect this is the last offer you’ll receive of this sort.”

She sounded somewhat disturbed by this, as if she’d expected me to get one or two more, but I didn’t even know what to say to that.

“I trust you more than him,” I said simply. “And I trusted that they weren’t acting in my ill interest because of you.”

“Thank you,” Meadow said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “Tell me, are you ready for a trip tomorrow? You’ve begun to move things into Dusk’s realm, but you’re far from having a house set up in there.”

"Not really," I said. "I can get ready quickly, though. Why, what's up?"

"I've planned a visit to Delford Forest," Meadow responded.

"To see Kene?" I asked, a bit of excitement entering my voice. I wanted to see them – their time with their grandmother had ended a few days ago, and I hadn’t had the opportunity to see them since.

“No, though if you’d like, we could speak to him,” Meadow said, a sly smile on her face.

“Yes please,” I nodded.

Dusk, as if summoned by the conversation, popped out of a portal next to me and stumbled out. She looked up and whistled that she wanted to check on how his hag-state was, and to eat more of its power if it wasn’t good.

Then she looked up at the plant and whistled.

Not as in her usual whistling-wind, rustling-leaves speech. It was an impressed whistle that sounded oddly human.

“That impressive, huh?” I asked her.

“Oh, it’s a very rare plant,” Meadow said. “Rarer than a Lushloam, by a not insignificant amount. Less expensive, because it offers less power, and only has niche use in some rare medical cases where healing spells fail but alchemy succeeds. But certainly rarer, and if you treat it well, it should serve you well in healing potions of any grade.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I looked at the plant with a little more respect.

“Noted.”

We headed into Dusk’s realm. Healer’s Heart thrived in a dry, sandy environment, which wasn’t actually something that we’d had anything of in Dusk as of yet. For now, we kept it in its pot, and then headed out.

“The mana apples of your Red Star tree should be ready to harvest soon,” Meadow said. “It’ll bear less fruit than a normal apple tree, and it’s still quite young, but you should still get twenty or so, over the next few weeks.”

“Twenty?!” I asked. I’d expected something along the lines of three or four.

“That’s actually quite low,” Meadow said with a chuckle. “A mature apple tree can easily produce four or five times that. And a well treated tree that’s a part of a grove? Easily eight hundred apples or more.”

It was getting late, but we flew out to the local hardware store, talking about the specifics of apple tree growth, and how spirit-apples like the kind produced by Red Star trees differed.

I decided that I was going to plant half of the apples I harvested, in the hopes of producing more trees. With more trees, I’d be able to drain each one less, which meant that the spare energy could be funneled into producing more powerful fruit. And of course, having more trees meant more fruit.

With the Emperor's tree and several Red Star trees, I’d likely have a small grove by this time next year, assuming Dusk and I both fed them enough mana to let them grow faster and stay in their prime longer.

At the hardware store, we bought several bags of sand, which Dusk consumed to create a dry sand patch, far from the river. It was only a few feet on each side, but it should help the plant flourish.

I then fed the plant power until it increased its mana density to second gate, then frowned.

“The plant has mana,” I said. “Not just energy, power waiting to be converted into mana. Actual mana inside of it. Like it has a mana-garden, almost.”

“Well spotted,” Meadow said, nodding. “Indeed. That’s part of what makes the plant so rare. It will choke out many of the plants around it to grow, and if it isn’t supplied enough by the environment, it will wither and die. And why it’s able to help with mana toxicity. It’s mana, but… Unflavored, for lack of a better word.”

“It’s definitely life mana,” I said. “Also solar, some creation, desolation, and abnegation. Plus small bits of other things too.”

“Ah, I meant… We both share life mana. But our life mana has subtle differences, based on many factors like the pills and potions we’ve taken, how we have constructed our mana-gardens, natural affinity for the mana type, and more. A flavor to it. The plant has none, and it takes on whatever flavor your mana has, as well as using its mana to stop the toxins from building up in the first place.”

“Huh,” I said. It was interesting, but pure theory. “When will I be able to take a cutting of it?”

“To give to Kene?” Meadow asked, the corners of her eyes crinkling.

“...Yes,” I admitted. “Okay, in my defense, he gave me way too much for the carnival. I need to repay him.”

“It should be ready now, if it’s done with care and not used for potions for a few days,” Meadow said, mercifully choosing not to push the topic. “Though, for now, Dusk, it’s your turn.”

Dusk cheered and happily started altering the flow of power in the environment, feeding excess power into the plant to ensure it had enough to be stable. It took enough that I started to understand why it wasn’t commercially available, and when I commented as much to Meadow, she grimaced.

“Aye, and this is with Dusk’s help. Normally, treating it takes expensive enchantments and spellcraft to maintain. Being able to alter the terrain at a fundamental level shaves off that cost.”

“Is it even a decent gift for Kene, then?” I asked, concerned.

“Oh, I’d say so. They’re an alchemist more than a pure doctor, so they’ll find it more useful than most. Enough to likely justify the cost.”

We talked for a while longer about plant care until Meadow left to go to her cottage for the evening, and I packed for the trip and turned in.

Meadow chose to fly with me, though she used a flight potion, rather than a broom, and while we flew, we talked about expanding my arsenal of plants. If I was going to use them in combat, then I was going to need a few plants that could be used offensively, after all.

Icespine Blackthorn, Sun Lotus, and Lightningbranch Hazel were the core of Meadow’s recommended plant mage arsenal. Each, when flooded with mana, could unleash elemental power as an attack.

The Icespine Blackthorn would explode in sharp ice spikes and brambles that would spread rapidly over an area.

The Sun Lotus was capable of releasing blasts of heat, and eventually, waves of solar light mixed with heat.

The Lightningbranch Hazel could, well, release blasts of lightning from its branches.

With my eventual Magister’s Body, I’d be able to feed them life mana intermixed with whichever energies they needed, which was a benefit I hadn’t even thought of. Plenty of plants used multiple mana types, like Kene had said.

There were plenty of other plants that could be used in combat, especially if it was combined with a bit of alchemy. Phials of mist or darkness. Leaping, slowfalling, or levitation potions. Disorientation bombs. Alchemical lights. Strength, speed, or sense enhancing elixirs. Mental clarity potions. Even the legendary invisibility potion, though that was illegal, and I didn’t plan to make one.

And that was just what was available at my current gate. As I grew in strength, and was able to handle stronger ingredients, I’d be able to brew far more potions. As a spellbinder, I’d be able to manage transformation potions, flight potions, scrying blocking potions, pills of protection against elemental energies, phials of water breathing, and even some of the more basic magical nullification elixirs.

“While what you’re doing with your cauldron at the moment is just fine,” Meadow said, “a good alchemist should be able to handle components and products a gate higher than they are, as a rule of thumb. A master should be able to leap two gates up, but you’re a generalist, so I don’t expect you to go that far. When you get the chance, you should purchase a cauldron able to handle fifth gate materials.”

“They’re so expensive though,” I groaned.

“I know,” Meadow said, smiling. “It’ll be a good experience to save up for one. Though, you should know, if you do start a business selling your products, or join Kene’s for legal purposes, it could be written off on your taxes. Also, you could use it to apply for a loan to get it. Though admittedly, doing so would mean that you’d wind up paying more in the long run, much like with your broom.”

I nodded as I listened, taking in the information. Dusk had been listening too, outside of her usual urging for me to fly faster – which I couldn’t, I was already topping out the broom’s speed. She didn’t ask questions often, but when she did, they were quite insightful.

Oddly, being able to listen while flying was helpful to me. Flying was starting to become somewhat of a mindless – but fun – task, but it still took enough of my attention to let me pay attention to Meadow’s talks.

Idly, I wondered if that was why she’d waited to have this talk until now. I wouldn’t put it past her.

The talk made the flight to Kene’s village feel short, and before too long, we were landing just outside of town.

“You should go meet them,” Meadow said, gesturing to me. “You’re welcome to ask them to join us. We’ll be mainly looking at spells in some creatures that live in a spatially aligned magical locus not too deep in, so there won’t be a ton for them to gain, but I’d be happy to help with what I can.”

I nodded to Meadow, then turned and darted into the village.