The morning light filtered through the trees as Lilly began her morning chore routine. The air was filled with the sounds of nature waking up—the soft coos of distant birds, the rustling leaves overhead, and the occasional soft bleat from the goat pen. The farm was alive and vibrant, as it always was at the start of the day. While it was still cool, Lilly hauled buckets and buckets of water from the pump she fixed when she first moved here to each animal and each plant on her farm. It usually took the entire morning.
In the midst of it all, a tiny ball of mischief, Feather, was keen on making the morning more “interesting.” The griffy puppy was a bundle of energy that knew no bounds. One moment, she was playfully pouncing on falling leaves, her eagle-like claws scrabbling against the dew-drenched earth. The next moment, she was attempting to fly, her little wings fluttering furiously, sending tufts of dirt into the air.
Seeing a particularly plump tomato hanging low on Tom, Feather couldn't resist the temptation. She bounded over, her little claws clicking on the stone pathway leading to the sentient tomato. In a swift movement, she lunged, snagging the tomato in her claws. The action caused a cascade of tomatoes to tumble off the vine.
A gasp escaped Lilly's lips as she witnessed the chaos unfolding. Feather, now drenched in tomato juice, looked up at her with wide, innocent eyes. Tom rustled his leaves in amusement and released a single leaf. As it glided to the ground, Feather recovered from her tomato-soaking and pounced on the leaf.
"Oh, Feather, you are a handful, aren't you?" Lilly exclaimed, shaking her head but unable to hide a smile.
The griffy puppy barked in response, a joyful sound that echoed around the farm. Despite the mess and the added work, Lilly knew she wouldn't trade these moments of laughter and love for anything in the world.
The heat of the day made Lilly decide to escape into her farmhouse and look through more of the items in the mystical room she found upstairs. She didn’t know what everything in the room was for, but she always found something interesting when she could spare the time to look.
Lilly stood in the dimly lit room, her gaze lingering on the various items that filled the dusty shelves and cluttered floor. As Lilly navigated through the cluttered space, her keen eyes spotted a small, old, rusty metal watering can nestled beneath a pile of tattered books and strange artifacts. The can was brimming with water, which perplexed her. How long had it been sitting there? With a frown, she lifted the can, surprised by the weight of the water within. She was relieved to find that the room retained no musty smell or signs of mold due to the stagnant liquid.
"Strange," Lilly said aloud, her curiosity piqued. "I wonder how this watering can has sat there full all this time?"
Lilly hauled the can down the stairs and outside to dump the stale water. She stepped a few feet away from the house and started to tip the rusty metal watering can. She was too tired to walk it down to her vegetable garden; and besides, she had already watered everything this morning. She tilted it over, expecting the water to splash upon the grass. Yet as her arm strained, not a single drop fell from its spout.
"Huh?" she muttered, shaking the can a bit. Its weight suggested it was still full of water.
"All right, you stubborn thing," Lilly grumbled, her brow furrowed. She tried again, pouring with all her might. But still, the water refused to leave the confines of the can. Frustrated, she huffed and set the watering can down, leaving it tipped on its side. Was it a cursed watering can? To always be full of water but never release its contents? "I'll deal with you later."
Her stomach growled, reminding her that lunch was long overdue. She headed inside to fix lunch.
As she pulled food out of the refrigerator, the thought of the watering can that obviously had some kind of magical property gnawed at her curiosity, making it hard to focus on the food before her. She ended up throwing together a sandwich and ate it in a few gulps.
Finally, unable to resist any longer, Lilly finished her meal and walked back outside. What greeted her was a sight both surprising and heartwarming: a small pool of water had formed around the watering can, its surface shimmering as if imbued with magic. Astra stood by the edge with her kid, both sipping from the pool with delight.
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"Would you look at that?" Lilly asked softly, a smile spreading across her face. She knelt by the pool, dipping her fingers into the cool water. "Seems you're not so useless after all, are you?" she teased, patting the watering can affectionately. “Now, I just need to figure out how to activate you.”
As Astra and her kid continued to drink, Lilly couldn't help but wonder what other secrets lay hidden in the room of magical items. Whatever they were, she knew that she would face them with determination and a spirit of discovery. She never let her ordinary human qualities hold her back from learning to farm, and she wasn’t going to let her lack of magical training keep her from discovering the uses of a fortune’s worth of magical farming equipment right in her own house.
That evening, after a swelteringly hot afternoon, Lilly began to fill up the animals’ watering troughs before watering her plants for the second time. Carrying the watering can in one hand, Lilly approached Snow, who was resting under the shade of a large oak tree. The white unicorn glanced up from her nearly healed leg, her eyes filled with curiosity.
"Hey, girl," Lilly greeted softly. "I've got something for you." She bent down and poured water from the can into a shallow trough near Snow. To her surprise, the water continued to flow as if it were an inexhaustible spring. When she deemed it enough, she straightened up, her eyes still fixed on the magical watering can.
"Remarkable," she whispered, feeling a surge of gratitude for this newfound tool. It still looked full.
With the can still in hand, Lilly made her way through the farm, filling up the goats' water buckets, refreshing the chickens' coops, and even sprinkling some over the plants in her garden. Each time, the watering can never ran dry.
"Imagine that," Lilly mused as she watched the droplets cascade onto the soil, nourishing the roots beneath. "All the water I could ever need."
When she was finished watering everything, she moved to dump some water on the little tree that was growing from the mysterious seed. She would have to sketch it and take it to Tunni to see if she could identify it. She probably should have done that before even planting the seed instead of rashly sticking it in the ground and seeing what came of it.
As she was watering the tree, she got distracted watching Feather chasing a butterfly across the field. When she looked down, to her surprise, the water stopped flowing. Maybe it only flowed where it was needed? She would have to test it to see.
As she carted the watering can around her farm, its content didn’t splash her like a normal bucket would have, but it was still heavy and awkward. Lilly couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of how impractical such an item would be for a traveler. However, for a farmer like her, it was perfect.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice full of warmth and gratitude. With the can's steady supply of water, the hours spent lugging heavy buckets between her well and the animals' pens had been reduced to mere minutes.
Her chores complete, Lilly stood in the middle of her farm, taking in the sight of her contented animals and lush plants. As the sun dipped beneath the horizon, casting a soft, golden light across the land, she felt a deep sense of satisfaction. The watering can of everlasting water had not only eased her workload but also brought a sense of magic to her humble farm.
"Thank you for making my life easier," she said once more, cradling the watering can to her chest. "I promise to put your gift to good use."
Lilly took the watering can back upstairs to study more thoroughly and headed back inside to the room of books and magical farm equipment. She picked up her notebook to write down everything she had learned about her magical farm for the evening. She was quite proud of her drawing of Snow and was considering starting a notebook all about her. There really was only a small section about unicorns in the Practical Guide to Magical Farm Animals, probably because they were one of the rarest livestock breeds.
"Y'know," she said softly, addressing only her notebook and the empty room, "that watering can was something else. Priceless, really." Lilly’s eyes grazed over the other items in the room and landed back on the watering can. "It takes a whole heap of magic to create something like that. Magic-wielders don't just go around making things that powerful for no reason, especially when it takes so long for them to regain their strength."
A magical watering can was priceless to her, but most magic-wielders used their magic sparingly. When they did use it, they were either going to give the magic-user a lot of power, influence, or money. Usually, she heard stories of a renowned adventurer buying a magical sword that never lost its edge or a famed singer who bought a magical tiara that made her skin always look flawless. Most magical items were flashy, and sometimes gaudy, as if a magic-user was pouring their self-worth into the item they were making magical. This watering can looked like the bottom was about to rust.
"Whoever made it," she mused, tapping a finger against the rusty metal, "must've known what they had in mind and that it would truly be worth it." She sighed, her thoughts drifting to the countless hours spent hauling water to and fro, her muscles aching, sweat dripping down her brow.
"Guess I should give that captured creature stone another shot. Maybe I just didn’t activate it correctly," Lilly murmured, glancing toward the stone that lay atop a handful of papers in front of her window, holding them down from being blown around from the wind. She picked up the cool, smooth stone and placed it in her pocket, using a heavy book to temporarily hold down the loose papers in its place.