A chill of unease settled over Lilly's heart when Astra didn't turn up for her dinner. It was unlike the usually mischievous goat to miss a meal. While it was common for Astra to get loose, Lilly hadn’t had to shoo her out of the vegetable garden even once today. In fact, Lilly couldn’t remember seeing the goat around all day.
Lilly began to look for her as she went about her evening chores. Her enclosure was empty, and Aura the alpaca was happy to see her. But there was no sign of Astra. She looked on every roof with no trace of the goat that levitated over fences and perched on rooftops. She searched the woods near her farm to no avail. As the sun began to set, a sinking feeling of worry began to creep in.
She hoped Ignatius Timber wouldn’t have taken her as payback for not handing over the cria. Thinking of Aura made her hope that the glawackus or another predator didn’t catch Astra while she was free roaming. She had found the goat wandering in the woods in pretty bad shape not long after she had moved here. Did the goat move on now that it was good and healthy? Lilly hardly slept a wink all night.
The next morning, Lilly scoured her farm and the woods for Astra. She peered under the gnarled branches of the old apple tree where Astra loved to laze about in the shade. She checked the stables, the tool shed, even the top of the barn, where Astra had somehow managed to land a few times. But all her efforts proved fruitless; Astra was nowhere to be found.
After visiting Tom, harvesting some vegetables, and caring for her chickens and Aura, Lilly decide to visit Yorik. For some reason, just being with him always made her feel better. Sometimes, one of his flying pigs got lost; maybe he would have some ideas on how to find Astra.
Lilly decided to walk to Yorik’s farm, figuring it couldn’t hurt to search for Astra along the route. The winding dirt path leading up to his homestead was rutted from tire tracks, a testament to years of use. The smell of the earth after a light drizzle filled the air, while overhead, feathery clouds graced the sky. It would have been a joyful day if she wasn’t so worried about Astra.
Yorik himself was an imposing figure with a heart of gold. The burly farmer in worn overalls always had a soft spot for all his flying pigs, treating them with the utmost respect and care. His twinkling eyes and hearty laugh were infectious, often putting Lilly at ease whenever she visited. Lilly smiled to herself at the thought of seeing him soon; the smell of his farm barely even registered anymore.
She wasn’t far from the large, covered pigpen, where most of Yorik’s flying pigs lived, when Yorik’s favorite, Petunia, came flying toward her, ears spread wide. She gave the relatively small pig a scratch on the head, and Petunia nosed her leg with a grunt as if asking for more. Lilly couldn’t help but let a small smile escape as she gave in to Petunia’s demands before continuing down the lane.
Lilly found Yorik hard at work sweeping something off his wrap-around porch. She saw him look up and place his broom aside before walking down the steps to meet Lilly halfway. As Lilly approached him, her heart was heavy with worry; but she already felt a bit better.
Yorik lifted his wide-brimmed hat and pulled it to his chest as he greeted her with a large smile on his face. “Lilly! It’s so good to see you. I stopped by the other day to see if you wanted to play a game of Tekla, but you weren’t around.” His smile soon turned into a frown. “What’s wrong?”
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"Yorik," she began, her voice shaky, "things have been crazy lately. I saved an alpaca from my well; an herbalist shot at me; a creepy guy was at my farm; and now, Astra's missing. I didn’t see her at all yesterday or today. She didn't come for her meals, and I've been searching high and low for her. I can't find her anywhere." Her voice cracked at the end, the weight of her concern evident in her tone.
Yorik's eyebrows knitted together. He wrapped his arms around her, his hat pressing against her back. He spoke softly. "Well, it certainly sounds like we have a lot to catch up on. I’m glad you’re all right. How about I check that Beatrice hasn’t knocked over the pigs’ water again, and I’ll come and help you look? She’s a big girl to begin with, and she’s about to give birth. Her flying has been rather haphazard of late, and she keeps knocking into things.”
Lilly pulled away slightly so that Yorik’s arms still encircled her, but her head was no longer against his chest. She looked up into his brown eyes that never left her face. “Thank you, Yorik. I appreciate everything you do for me. You are the best neighbor I could have asked for.”
Yorik let go of her waist and returned his hat to his head. “Lilly, I’m here for whatever you need. I’m glad you asked.”
Lilly and Yorik searched every nook and cranny of her farm and the surrounding woods, their eyes darting up to the leafy canopy above with every rustle and chirp. Despite their best efforts, Lilly and Yorik watched dusk settle in with no sign of Astra.
Feeling weary and anxious, Lilly bid Yorik goodnight and trudged back to her farmhouse. Trying to distract herself from her worries, she turned her attention to her journal. With a soft sigh, she began writing about Tom's progress.
The sentient tomato plant was growing and producing tomatoes as never before. Even though he couldn’t talk, Lilly was trying to see if she could teach him to communicate. So far, she had only successfully taught him to shake his leaves once for yes and twice for no, but that was still progress toward communication. She hoped that if someday he could communicate with others properly, he wouldn’t become aggressive like most sentient plants.
Switching her focus to Aura, Lilly noted down her observations. The baby alpaca was thriving, each day bursting with a vibrant health and energy that was both surprising and delightful. Still, her mind kept wandering back to Astra. The unease she felt about the goat's disappearance was a heavy burden she could not shake.
In an attempt to distract herself further, she went upstairs to the room she'd discovered after purchasing the farm. It was full of fascinating and mysterious items, many of which she'd yet to identify.
Her eyes roved over the dusty shelves, taking in the clutter of peculiar objects. Sitting next to her precious copies of the Practical Guide to Magical Farming and Practical Guide to Magical Farm animals was a box filled with shimmering feathers. There was a teapot that hummed low melodies, a cowbell, and several unlabeled vials. Each item had a story she was yet to discover, a mystery she was yet to solve.
Lilly picked up a spyglass and looked through a nearby window. She couldn’t see much in the dim light, but it did make the imposing mountains that surrounded Briarhaven seem closer. She was about to put the spyglass down again when she noticed a small box tucked behind the teapot that could only be seen from the angle of the window.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she carefully lifted the lid. Inside lay a stone, smooth and opalescent, pulsating with an eerie light. Tucked beneath the stone was a piece of aged parchment. Unfurling it, Lilly squinted at the scrawled writing. It read, "In dire need, speak thy plea to the stone; and it shall summon forth the captured beast."
She was a human. She had never dealt with a magical item of this magnitude before. The person who owned this farm before her must have had powerful magic or a lot of money. Possibly both.
Her mind raced. A captured beast. Would this help Astra if Ignatius or someone like him stole her? What if a dangerous beast was captured within this stone? Speaking a plea sounded like an easy enough activation of the stone. It would be worth trying it if she knew it could help her in locating Astra. But what if it unleashed something altogether different and potentially dangerous on her farm?