Two minds enter the range of my [Empathy] as I examine the quite-ripe mana berries on the bush. They're not the minds of Thomas and the chief, so I'm a little surprised to feel them. If it weren't for what I can feel, however, I'd probably think those two were telling others about me left and right to cause someone to approach.

One of the minds feels about my age, maybe a year older. The other feels like a two-year-old, which is why I'm more curious than annoyed.

Both minds are male, and the man's feeling anxious, extremely nervous, a little fearful, cautious, and hopeful. Whatever is he's hopeful about, he's also expecting it to be wrong, doubt and expectant disappointment intertwined with it too much for it to be anything else. The boy, on the other hand, is just feeling scared, with a little bit of comfort. Only being carried in his dad's arms is making him feel any degree of safe.

Both are feeling tired and hungry, while the dad seems to be admiring my body just a little as well. He definitely thinks I'm more attractive than Thomas does.

Sometimes, being an [Empath] can be a pain in the ass.

They stop moving closer, but I don't react. Aluci isn't nearby so he didn't warn me of their approach, but I also wasn't using magic so that at least hasn't been revealed. With my back to them, I also logically wouldn't know about their approach as it was actually pretty quiet.

For almost a minute, the man just stands there, his anxiety and fear building as he tries to work up the courage to speak.

"H-hoi there," there's a slight tremble in his voice.

"Hello," I turn my head to look at them, the man's feeling of attraction to me increasing when he sees my face.

Both have the standard, slightly-curly brown hair of the majority of the kingdom, their eyes blue rather than brown. They're both skinny and dressed only in old, ratty brown pants. No tunic or shirt, no boots. Just their pants and a worn-out length of twine. The boy is holding the man fearfully, his head pressed against his father's chest so tightly that it might as well be a part of it.

One difference between them is that the man wears a necklace, just like Thomas and the chief. As with theirs, it's a leather cord with a wolf's fang hanging from it and a small wooden bead to either side.

He also has a nature spirit sitting on his shoulder, but I doubt he's aware of it. The spirit hasn't fully manifested itself so it can't be detected by most. With no flower atop its head, I know it's not an older one, and the young nature spirit gives me a wave when I look at it. Another nature spirit is floating beside the boy in the man's arms, this one also young in age.

If one spirit likes someone, all spirits of their type like them. Both father and son are liked by nature spirits.

The boy is also quite small for his age. His mind feels two years old, but he looks like he might be one, barely. Despite the bounties of the region, they're struggling for some reason.

"Not exactly equipped to travel through the woods," I say. "And most don't take their sons hunting, anyway. I take it you came here deliberately?"

Now that I think about it, he approached from the direction of the stream, too. That just makes this confusing as it suggests he's not come across me by chance. It could have been that he's not a hunter like Thomas but does hunt, but that's definitely wrong.

He's not a mage, and without a weapon, it's unlikely he's a hunter.

"Yeah," he answers. "Thomas and Chief told me not to come to you back when they learned you'd moved in, but…"

He trails off, hesitation in his voice and expression and reluctance in his mind.

"They told you not to come to me?" I ask. "Did you mention me to them?"

I need answers and now. How he knew about me is important.

"No," he shakes his head. "Chief was doing his monthly check on me and noticed the pond was fuller – I live downstream, right where the stream meets the pond. It's… still part of the forest. It's complicated. Anyway, he asked Thomas to investigate the stream now that it was flowing again, then they came down here and told me about you moving in. Told me not to come up here. Then the other day, Thomas came back and warned me not to approach you under any circumstances as he was fairly sure you're a wizard and I'm pushing it already with…"

He shakes his head at that. There are several things in there which need handling. His emotions are all over the place, though still in the same confusing mix as before. There's something he wants but he's hesitant – even fearful – of actually approaching me about it.

Judging by a certain shift when he mentioned Thomas suspecting that I'm a mage, it might be related to magic.

Wonderful. I should ask Thomas next time just how much he's told others.

"Why aren't you living in the village?" I ask.

"It's… complicated," yet judging by the way his emotions shift, it's also the reason he came to me.

"And why is living at the pond pushing things?" I ask.

"There's a lake a little more southwest," he explains. "It's mostly in Amberwood Forest, but partly in the Mistwood. An ancient wizard has a tower there and… I moved there hoping he'd maybe help with something. He never answered when I knocked and ain't ever come out to me, so I think he ain't one to care about it."

He shakes his head, but that's an interesting piece of information. There's a mage out here? There isn't one in any record of all the stationed mages I've seen. He must not be registered.

There's nothing wrong with being unregistered, and it seems I'm not bothering him as he hasn't said anything to me about my presence or activities, so I'll leave him alone. He'll probably do the same unless I bother him.

"Thomas ain't sure if you're a wizard for sure," he says. "Just that you had a stone bath built too fast to be possible if magic ain't involved."

"So you want help with something magical?" I ask. "I explained to Thomas that it's just a trick I learned while adventuring. No magic involved."

"He didn't believe you?" He weakly offers. "Though he also admitted it could be, you seem pretty experienced to him. You at least know what you're doing."

"Okay," I say. "And I get the feeling that what you wanted the mage's help with is related to why you're not in the village."

Guilt fills his mind. Guilt and anger, along with a little bit of fear. The first and third are partly directed at me, the second is directed elsewhere.

"Y-yeah," he says. "They ain't wanting Nolan anywhere near them. I had to move out after he was born. Went to the Wizard's tower in the hope that he'd help but he wouldn't answer the door. Set up camp at the pond instead and have lived there since."

The nature spirit makes an over-exaggerated expression of exasperation, complete with him pulling down on his cheeks and tilting his head back.

"A curse?" I guess.

There are many superstitions throughout the lands, some with actual grounding in real events. The only reason I can think of for people to not want an infant anywhere near them is if there's something foul involving the child. Either something happened which triggered a superstition that he's cursed or something actually cursed him.

Whichever one it is, that explains why he was warned to leave me alone. They don't want the curse leaking over to me. Before, it was probably just a case of them not wanting me to report to the town or whatever that they're spreading a curse here. Thomas is probably afraid that if it does spread and I am a mage, I'd simply enact revenge upon the village myself as retaliation.

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"Yeah," hope fills his mind. "So he's got one? You can tell?"

"That was just a guess," I say. "It wasn't actually hard to come to that conclusion. It's almost always a curse in this sort of situation. As for… Nolan, was it?"

The boy's mind finches as his body tenses up.

"Y-yeah," his dad says.

"Well," I say. "You'll be happy to know that he's not cursed."

Annoyance and aggravation fills the man's mind.

"How can you know?" He asks. "You ain't inspected him at all. And you ain't even confirmed whether or not you are a wizard."

"I'm not a wizard," I tell him. "That's a term used by commoners who don't know better and we actually find it an insult, and the word 'witch' is viewed the same way. The appropriate term is 'mage'. As for 'inspecting' Nolan, I don't need to. I'm sensitive to magical energies, and curses have a pretty obvious one. Ever smelled a rotten egg you couldn't locate? Imagine that but worse and as a feeling across the skin over your entire body. Even the residue has that feel to it.

"And I don't sense it at all," I say. "The residue lingers for years. Much longer than how long your son's been alive. Since I can't sense it at all, that means he was never cursed in the first place."

"But his mother died when he was born!" The man exclaims. "Everyone knows that if a child kills their mother during birth, it's 'cause they're cursed!"

Well, that's only sometimes, but it's understandable why the locals would believe it. Many people in cities believe in that particular one, and superstitions are lighter there.

"There are other reasons," I say. "It was probably one of those for your wife. Nolan's never had a curse on him."

He frowns a little but before he can say anything, I change the topic.

"How long has the mage at the lake been there?" I ask.

"Dunno," he shrugs. "Ain't no one really sure since he's been there for centuries now. We only ever see him on occasion, like at certain festivals. When he does show up, and if the Witch is there, er, the other mage, the two of them bicker in some language no one knows. That's… also something which everyone knows has been going on for centuries. They really ain't fond of each other, but we ain't sure what they're arguing about."

There are two mages in the region yet no record of it? That's really interesting. I still won't pry, though.

"If he's that old," I say. "Having someone cursed living within twenty miles of him would bother him and he'd have broken it without a second thought. I can sense curses up to about two miles away and I'm only twenty, and a mage's sensitivity to energies only grows with age."

I stand and face him fully, and the man's eyes travel across my slender torso for a moment before returning to my face. He finds me attractive for sure, but I'm not going to try to make a move with him. I'll go for slender if the guy is nice enough and there isn't a more toned guy my age around who's willing, but skinny isn't something I'll ever go for. Only if they approach first, and only if I'm actually that desperate.

"My name's Rowan," I introduce myself.

"Dylan," realization enters his mind, probably at that he never introduced himself. "So sorry, I was just so nervous about asking and-wait. You still ain't proven whether or not you're a mage. I still don't trust that you can actually sense curses. Nolan definitely has one, that's why we had to leave."

It can be difficult to get rid of a notion that's deeply ingrained in someone's mind. Proving that someone doesn't have something non-tangible is extremely difficult, too. Fortunately, I know how to manipulate people in the sticks to believe something like my claim about a curse.

They lack the magical knowledge to know I'm wrong.

"He doesn't," I state. "Nolan, buddy? Could you look at me for a moment?"

Nolan keeps his head pressed against his father's chest, not turning it even slightly as the fear in his mind increases. Just what has been said to him by others for him to fear people so much?

"I want to show you a neat trick," I tell him. "And don't be alarmed by the wolf that's approaching, he's a friendly."

At the mention of a wolf, both Dylan and Nolan look around, spotting Aluci as the beast approaches. He gives the two of them a cursory look before plopping himself beside the fire ring, where the remnants of this morning's fire sit. Pieces of firewood float over and land on the ashes and charred wood, then the entire thing flares up and the dream beast curls up and closes his eyes.

"Don't mind Aluci," I say. "He likes sleeping beside a good fire. As for the trick I'm going to perform, it's a conjuration – making something appear – and it flees from curses."

Aluci snorts.

Nolan gives me a curious look, though I can tell that the beast beside the fire is scaring him. I hold out my right hand, palm up, and the boy watches it.

A golden light forms on my palm, then pulls upward and forms into a sphere which hovers above my palm. The sphere is still of golden light, but it has a slight white marbling to it. For a few moments, the sphere hovers there, then it begins to unfold, slowly turning into a cube that's one foot on each side with the same coloration and pattern as the orb held.

Dylan is frowning and I can tell that he's confused but impressed, while Nolan's curiosity has increased and is touched with a little bit of awe.

The cube of light hovers a few inches above my palm, then floats forward, stopping halfway between us. I can't see what happens next, but a section of the cube of light facing the two of them turns blue in a shape resembling a butterfly.

Then it peels itself off and the butterfly of blue light starts to gently flutter around. A second butterfly forms, this one green. Then a third, then a fourth. More and more butterflies begin to form on the sphere and peel themselves off. Most are blue, green, or purple, though a few red, pink, and orange ones form as well.

As they continues to pull off of the cube, the cube shrinks. This continues until the cube is gone while thousands of butterflies flutter through the air around us. Some of them float near us while others just gently fly around.

The nature spirit on Dylan's shoulder waves to the butterflies even though it knows they're just illusions of light, and I make one go to his head. As for Dylan, his mind fills with shock and awe with a slight touch of wonder, his mouth just a little agape as he watches the butterflies. The nature spirit at his son's back is silently giggling and trying his best to catch the butterflies even though he knows they're made out of light.

Nolan, on the other hand, is completely awestruck by the butterflies. All of the negative emotions he felt before are gone, his mind overtaken by wonder and mouth fully agape, eyes wide.

He flinches when some of the butterflies go near him, but after about a minute, he reaches out to try and touch one while keeping his other hand firmly on his dad's shoulder to keep from falling off. His fingers pass through the butterfly, which then flutters forward and "lands" on his arm. Nolan tilts his head curiously at it, then holds his arm up so he can show his dad the butterfly.

With Dylan still looking at the ones fluttering around, Nolan gets a little insistent and bounces in his dad's arms. Dylan looks down and sees the butterfly on his son's arm and relief fills his mind.

If he knew as much about magic as a noble grew up learning, he'd be terrified to see this around them. I've cast a single cubic foot of light illusion but am maintaining it split between thousands of smaller portions. This is a level of skill not normally held by someone twenty years of age.

Or even someone two hundred years of age.

I really am a gifted mage, and that works in my favor here. The design of the butterflies and the way I colored them makes it easy to interpret them as something good, as a spell which can detect curses.

Since they're not avoiding Nolan, and I said that they flee from curses, that's told Dylan that his son really isn't cursed.

"I'm ending the spell now," I say, and both father and son look at me, then I snap and all of the butterflies fade away. The snap was more for theatrics than anything as I feel it works for keeping them impressed. It actually startles them less than the butterflies simply vanishing would. "As I said, he's not cursed and never has been. If he was, then one of the other mages here broke it as soon as they noticed it and did something to erase even the slightest trace of its energies, which isn't something I've heard of as possible."

Nolan has an expression on his face matching the emotions in his mind. He wants the butterflies back.

I'd rather reassure his father about his son's cursed status than not, which is the only reason I bothered with the spell. The reason I ended it when I did is because creating illusions of light is pretty taxing in terms of cost.

Actually maintaining a single illusion performed in such a complex manner is also taxing on my mind. I honestly might have run out of mental stamina before reaching the threshold I don't want to drop below in case of an attack – which I've already drawn close to.

"Consider yourself lucky," I tell Dylan. "Breaking curses is extremely difficult. If you meet someone who can break a curse, they're probably a least a hundred and fifty years old. Even then, it'd be pretty expensive."

A little bit extra relief enters his mind at that news.

"Anyway," I say. "Aside from that, would you mind not confirming to Thomas that I'm a mage? The whole reason I didn't tell him in the first place was because I don't want people coming to me, asking me for help with things. I want to get settled in before even thinking about that. And I want to establish what type of person I am to everyone first, so they know not to come to me for just anything."

"Sorry," guilt fills Dylan's mind. "I-I'll do that."

"Thanks," I say.

I could have played dumb and let him think Thomas was wrong, but even the thought of someone thinking his son is cursed bothers me too much. And I can still sense that hunger that's been in both of them the entire time they've been here. It being in Dylan doesn't bother me too much, but I don't like it when extremely young kids are hungry.

I might be a little too nice for my own good sometimes.

"Since you came all the way here," I say. "Would you like to eat something? I was going to start making it in a little bit but can make it now, and the little one looks like he's a bit hungry."

Nolan puts his head back against his father's chest without responding, but I can feel the excitement in his mind at the thought of getting to eat.

"Though I'll expect some help with something after," I add. "Nothing too strenuous, just enough to make up for my information and the food."

Dylan things about that for a few moments and I can tell he's about to decline. A look down at his son changes his mind, though. He'll do anything for the kid, and putting food in his son's stomach is something which he wants.

"Sure," he tells me. "What do you want help with?"