“Yes, but… What as?”

“What as?” Kene asked, a troubled look on their face. “What do you mean?”

“Like, is it a date? A friend hanging out thing? A trial run date?”

“Oh!” Kene said. They pushed their hat back on their head a little bit and didn’t quite meet my eyes. “I mean… I’d like it to be a date. Or a trial run if you’re more comfortable with that. But you don’t have to, I’d get it if you want to, we could… Just go as friends.”

“A date is fine!” I said quickly. “Better than fine! Good!”

“Good,” Kene said, sagging and letting out a long, relieved sigh. “I’m glad. I’d been working up the nerve for a while. Do you want to stay here, or go to the city?”

I glanced at their hands, soaked in shadow.

“Are you able to head to the city?” I asked. “I mean… I know solitary-ness is probably useful.”

“I’ll be fine,” they said, smiling. “Thank you for the concern.”

He glanced down at his own hands.

“I guess you deserve to know, though, don’t you?” he asked.

“You don’t have to,” I said. “But I think I can make a guess, though I’m not sure of the exact mechanics.”

“I want to. You deserve to know,” they said, sitting down on a rock. I took a seat on the grass across from them.

“What do you know about demi-humans?” Kene asked.

“Not a whole lot,” I admitted easily. “I know that most sapient magical creatures can choose to assume a human form eventually.”

“Spellbinder,” Kene said. “They don’t bind mana sources to their soul, but instead bind new forms to them. Typically, they choose human form. Others choose their native form to improve its power.”

That did explain why Ivy was so much stronger than me, at least. His parents had no doubt rushed him to spellbinder, since they lived in a city.

“Other than that, demi-humans usually gain a legacy related to their parent,” Kene said. “A phoenix, for example, might have one of their gates produce phoenix mana, and have wings and regeneration, but otherwise effectively be human.”

Kene flexed his hand, and the shadows stirred.

“Not all creatures reproduce purely biologically, though. My family carries a lineage of deals with hags, and as such, every once in a while, we’re born with a legacy called Hexed Heritage.”

Dusk let out a comforting peeping sound and climbed up Kene’s pantsleg to sit on their lap. They petted her gently before continuing.

“It emerges early. When I was a young teenager, about thirteen or so, hag magic tried to surge out of me and take me over. I didn’t have any magic of my own yet, but my grandmother did. She’s a witch; old, powerful, and scary. She’s also hung around my family as long as I can remember, and when my legacy activated, she caught it and sealed it.”

They tapped their tattoos with one sharp finger.

“This is what these were. I can control the design a bit, but it’s a bad idea when the hag within is acting up.”

“You’re talking about the hag almost like it’s a separate entity,” I said.

“In a way, it is,” Kene said. “In a way, it’s not. It alters my perception at times, but it’s still a part of me. But if it can break the seal and free itself, it will consume me, and the hag will be all that’s left. That’s… another reason I wanted to tell you now.”

“Thank you,” I said seriously, nodding and thinking. “If you ascend to spellbinder with a full-gate solar spell, you think you can keep it contained?”

“I think so,” they said. “My full-gate spell is one my grandmother designed for me, so it should help a lot. It’s a pain though – I need to remove a bunch of useful spells just to use it.”

“Have you ever considered trying to tame the hag powers?” I asked.

“Of course,” Kene said. “It’s not possible, not with the Hexed Heritage legacy. It fundamentally requires me being devoured by the hag. I can easily enough let power out through the seals, but it turns on me if I try to shape it into any spells, or do anything other than just draw it out. I’d have to alter my legacy at a fundamental level to stop it.”

“You could become a vampire,” I said. “But… Yeah, that wasn’t a helpful question. Sorry.”

“It isn’t, but I don’t blame you for asking,” Kene said, a tired smile on their face. “But, now you know. Do you still want to go out with me?”

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“Yes,” I said certainly. “Neither of us are perfect, but we’re both working on it. I’m working on becoming who I am, and you’re working on staying who you are.”

Kene’s smile grew slightly less tired, and they nodded.

“For now, let’s head back. We’ve got a lot of sorting to do, and I’ve got to get you set up with some of the alchemical basics.”

I nodded and rose to my feet, then extended my hand to Kene to help them up. Dusk scampered from Kene over to me and back onto my shoulders as we flew back. When we did, I made a quick excuse to Kene about needing to check on some things, and slipped into Dusk’s realm, shutting the portal behind me.

I walked over to the hamlet of small folk and sat down next to them.

“I need to talk to you all.”

The androgynous green pixie floated up after a few moments and then looked at me, nodding their tiny head for me to continue.

“You’re avoiding Kene because of the hag mana you can sense leaking from them, right?” I asked.

“The one who came in here earlier? If so, yes,” the tiny pixie said. “Hags are known for kidnapping small folk and using them in potions, curses, blood magic, or dark rituals. We don’t want to risk it.”

“Kene is not a hag,” I said fiercely. “They are a human, and they are going to remain human. I don’t know how, not yet. It may be as simple as bonding to his tattoos and full gate spell, but… Kene will not lose themselves to the hag.”

“I can sense a witch’s seal on them,” the pixie said. “But…”

“But nothing,” I said. “I want you all to treat Kene like you would my brother, or me.”

The pixie stared at me, then darted back and forth. It took me a second to realize that it was a gesture of thinking.

“I will try,” they said. “But… Fear is hard to root out. It isn’t instant.”

“I understand,” I said, nodding. “Trying is the most important part.”

I went back to Kene, and we headed into his own garden. He had a small greenhouse as well, to try and keep some unseasonably warm plants, but it was only able to hold a half dozen plants.

“Once we’re done, I can get you set up with the four cornerstones,” Kene commented as we began taking out the herbs and sorting through them.

“What are those?” I asked, setting aside a lump of ordinary marigolds.

“They’re four plants that are cornerstones of alchemy, because they all have the ability to moderate reactions between natural arrays.”

“Like slowleaf?” I guessed.

“Yep,” Kene agreed. “Slowleaf, quickflower, bindingroot, and managrass.”

“Slow reactions, speed them up. Then I’m guessing binding non-plant elements, and…” I trailed off. “Adding extra mana in? That doesn’t seem useful, though. I can just shove more mana in.”

“Managrass produced a highly balanced mana that’s very easy to convert into whatever type you need,” Kene explained as he took a trowel to the earth. Dusk scurried over and waved her hands. To my surprise, the earth actually split open some, and the plants began to crawl over towards the holes she’d made.

“So, by using bindingroot and managrass, you can enhance the effectiveness of your non-plant ingredients,” I surmised.

“Yep,” Kene agreed, before turning to Dusk. “Thank you for your help. Is there anything I can do to repay you?”

She leaf-rustled, asking him for as much of his power as he could spare. He held out a finger and began channeling his solar mana into her, which she hungrily devoured. Once he was dry, she peeped up, asking for his other one.

Kene glanced at me, then back at her.

“Your older brother’s got life mana. Do you need more?”

She let out an annoyed wind-whistle.

“What do you mean, not my life mana?” Kene asked, a frown creeping across their face.

Dusk hopped onto his lap and scurried to his hand, then slapped it repeatedly.

“My… Hag mana?” Kene asked.

Dusk cheerfully nodded, and a contemplative look came over Kene’s face. They closed their eyes, and power began to roil off of them.

A lot of power, and highly concentrated. I shivered. The hag inside of Kene was definitely near third gate. If they didn’t have tattoos…

Dusk drained the power out of the air and into herself, gulping down everything that Kene was able to output. As she did, the darkness on Kene’s hands slowly retreated back, banishing itself back to his fingers, and then to his pip joint.

Kene stared at the tiny spirit as she let out a contented sigh and slipped back into her realm.

“Did she just…?” I asked.

They looked down at their fingers and flexed them. Their tattoos began to shift, moving from spell designs over to more casual and fun tattoos, like a cat with a witch’s hat on it.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not perfect. It’ll regain power like anything else, and I’m not sure you want Dusk feeding on nothing but hag mana. But… Yeah, it helps.”

A grin broke over their face and they grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into a tight hug.

“It helps a lot. Thank you.”

I tensed up for a moment when I was grabbed, but slowly relaxed and hugged him back.

“I didn’t exactly do much. It’s Dusk you should be thanking.”

“I absolutely will, as soon as she wakes up,” they said, letting me go and nodding emphatically. “I… How did she do that?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Drained the power behind the mana,” Kene said. “I mean, if it was as simple as just dissipating the mana, I could just draw the power out and let it hang out in the air until it dissolved.”

“I… Like I said, she started off as a growth item, and a lushloam seed evolved her into a living spirit. She was designed to be able to take in sources of power, even ones a lot stronger than her, and use them to alter herself.”

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” Kene said, though the didn’t look convinced.

We finished sorting through the plants, and Kene helped get me set up with the four cornerstones, as well as some samples of the sunset marigolds, breath-aster, dewdrop feverfew, and draw-roses.

“My my, and we haven’t even gone on a real date yet,” I joked as we planted the rose bush. “Already giving me roses?”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Kene groaned. “Draw-roses in particular are horrible. At best, they can be used in potions that enhances the flavor of food, draw out nostalgia, or that sort of thing. But they’re also used in so-called ‘love’ potions. Not illegal to own the roses, since they can’t do anything on their own, but…”

I wrinkled my nose, and was tempted to toss out the roses. I didn’t want anything like that.

But… Enhancing the flavor of food was good.

With a sigh, I patted some soil down around the bush.

Once we finished, we headed inside to make dinner – this time, a dish that had red bell peppers, loads of cherry tomatoes, sesame seed, savory, oregano, marjoram, cumin. Then we poached two eggs each in the sauce it made.

It was all topped with a yogurt-based sauce, a very light affair with parsley, cucumber, lemon juice and zest, and mint all mixed in.

It was definitely outside of my usual Mossford cooking, but it was quite tasty. It almost reminded me of the dish that Meadow had made for us once, but its spices were noticeably different, and the tomatoes were too.

After dinner, we muddled around the upstairs for a bit, talking and playing a dice game for a bit before we both headed off to sleep.