The sun had traveled past its zenith and cast long shadows from the shack into the bog. Renalia lifted the blanket and a cold blast of wind caused her to shiver. Granny waved it off, indicating she should keep it on her.

“Girl using cards?” Granny asked.

“Yes, I tried the cards while you were busy. They only last a second, though. Am I supposed to do anything else while I wait for them to be active again?”

“No. Using whenever possible. Every waking hour. Tonight, lasting ten seconds. Couple of days, lasting one minute. Week, lasting ten minutes. Couple months, lasting twenty minutes. Year, lasting thirty minutes.”

Renalia nodded, secretly vowing to wake herself up at night to speed it up. “So eventually I’ll never feel hungry again.”

“No!” Granny disagreed sharply. “Not feeling hungry. But body needing food.”

Renalia startled and shrank further into the blanket at the rebuke. She only intended to talk about cards, not the other stuff.

“Girl listening Granny. Suppressing cards temporary. Hunger important. Emotions important. Impulses important. Girl listening self.”

“Okay. I only meant–”

“Knowing what you meant. Wanting strength? Eating. Wanting peace? Dealing with frustration. Wanting–”

“Wanting you to stay!” Renalia shouted. Silence intruded between them, an unwelcome stranger invited by her words.

In the past two years, an easy friendship had developed between the child and the wise woman. Renalia had found, in her mother’s savior, an adult who enjoyed her endless questions about Decks. In lessons about cards, letters, and numbers, Renalia had bloomed under the brilliance of Granny’s tutelage.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” she whispered, hesitant to dispel the uneasy silence. But she must know, even if it signified replacing a hazy future with a certain dark one.

“Yes. Granny coming here. Not meaning staying. Not meaning forming relationships,” Granny said. “But happy knowing Girl. Girl best thing happening to Granny here. Wishing Girl came with.”

Renalia swayed, one of the pillars of her life crumbling. She forced back the urge to plead, knowing it would only cause distress without changing anything.

Granny reached up and around her neck, lifting a leather necklace. She placed it over Renalia’s head. “If Girl going Central Kingdom, coming find Granny.”

Renalia nodded, not trusting herself to answer. On the necklace dangled a wooden pendant, which boasted an etching of an open book. She clutched it tightly, willing herself not to cry. It was the first thing she ever owned, but a poor replacement for something lost. “Will you visit sometime?”

“Not likely. But nothing written.”

When Renalia’s cards were ready for use, the two of them sat cross-legged on the ground, facing each other. As Granny had instructed, Renalia recalled the times in their past when the two of them had gone to gather herbs, focusing on the joy when they found what they wanted. Meanwhile, Granny closed her eyes and concentrated on materializing her [Find Herb] card.

Despite Granny’s warnings, the turmoil apparent in the old woman still shocked Renalia. The latter strained, her entire body tense. She reached around her navel and pinched, slowly forcing out a card the color of moss while her whole body broke out in a sweat.

“Uncommon? I can’t take an uncommon from you.”

“Now!” Granny commanded with urgency.

It whipped Renalia into action as she snatched the [Find Herb] card. She coerced it into her core, activating [Restrain Impulse] and [Dull Emotions] when it brushed against her being. But even past the barrier, she struggled to retain the card, her very soul rebelling against its foreignness. As Granny had advised, she visualized expanding her spirit, imagining the delight of finding new herbs.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

After a moment of meditation, the card finally settled, forming a new row beneath her first set of ten. As Granny had suggested, she practiced visualizing ten cards, replacing the healing card with the herb card. To her dismay, she found it more difficult than anticipated. Either eleven cards showed, with one of them looking fuzzy, or ten cards showed with one of them obviously on a lower row.

“Remembering. Expecting seeing ten cards. So Girl showing ten cards. Lying not about telling untruth. Not about hiding truth. Lying best when believing lying as version of truth.” Renalia smirked at Granny’s instructions. Her parents had approved of her learning from Granny, but that probably didn’t include life lessons on lying.

Together, they walked to the village square, Granny’s [Sun Orb] hovering above them, providing ample light and warmth. Renalia needed neither, though. Due to familiarity with the path, she could have found her way back with her eyes closed. And she did not feel the cool breeze, absorbed with Granny’s new topic of White Pond Sect.

As they neared the square, Granny warned, “No telling. Secret between friends, yes?”

“Yes. No telling, secret between friends,” Renalia repeated.

Earlier in the day, while Renalia’s puzzled over materializing her Cards, Chief Cian had interrupted them seeking succor from a recent foot fungus flare-up. Granny had given more medicine that he needed, announcing that she planned to go back home that very night.

He had tried to convince her to stay, but Granny had given him a steely stare. Renalia had covered a smile behind her hands, knowing better than to test Granny’s resolve. He had convinced her to attend a farewell party before she left, though.

Villagers crowded the town square. More people than even for Sunday Church. It seemed like the entire village had received word of Granny’s leaving and hastily assembled a farewell party.

At first, various villagers approached, trying to get Granny to remain with them. But after grumblings about “kids needing her”, word spread and the villagers kept up the pretense. They wished her kids well, even though nobody had ever heard her mention kids before.

Renalia stayed glued to Granny like a newborn duckling, as if the latter would vanish as soon as she lost sight of her. Granny spent most of the night offering final guidance on various ailments.

As the night wound down, Granny chatted with Mama, pressing a pouch into Mama’s reluctant hand when she finished. Mama had glanced worriedly at Renalia several times while Granny whispered at her. So Renalia had a good guess as to what Granny had said. Thankfully, her card leveled up, allowing her ten seconds of dulled emotions.

The next day was Manor’s Day. It was a day of the week when the serfs, which most of the villagers were, worked the lord’s fields as part of their rental contract. The requirement covered able-bodied adults over the age of ten.

Renalia had joined their numbers when she was eight, though. She had no siblings to care for, and the work started with a small breakfast and ended with a hearty dinner. These served as a major attraction for her, as she received full servings of food even as a child.

She used to look forward to Manor’s Day, but in recent months, irritation had replaced her satisfaction at doing a good day’s work. Ullock first, followed by Shim, had Decked and joined the work crew.

The former, large and muscular for his age, bent down and grabbed a chunk of peat, tossing it up at her. His size had always intimidated her a little, the two of them representing two opposite ends of the growth spectrum. He had never been physically violent, but after getting his Deck, he had an edge of rage to him.

At the top of the mound, she restrained her impulse to dodge and caught the chunk of peat. It smacked into her palms, causing her to grimace. She hid her face from Shim by looking down and stacking the peat by her feet. The two of them took turns receiving the peat and stacking them, allowing gravity to compress the dried turf into charcoal.

As Ullock tossed the next chunk to Shim, she swore it hit him with less force. What had she ever done to Ullock to deserve this treatment? Even so, she still would have preferred to have Ullock up here instead of Shim. Ullock never spoke with her much, but Shim never seemed to shut up. Seeing him open his mouth again, she activated [Dull Emotions].

Shim stacked his peat and needled her, “So you finally drove Granny away with your questions, huh?”

“At least she said goodbye. Your big brother didn’t say anything before he ran off,” she responded. She was just as good at insults as he is. She caught the next chunk of peat and stacked it.

Shim spat at her feet. “At least I have a brother. Your Mama had you then tore her womb out rather than have another.”

Her gaze turned red as his words punched deep into her shame. Her [Dull Emotions] card expired, and unsettled by his words, all the exasperation and grief from the previous day snuck past her defenses.

Before she knew it, she had her hands wrapped around his throat, strangling and shaking him. “You take that back!” The shock in his eyes shocked her, too. But before she could release him and apologize, she saw a chunk of peat flying toward them. She screamed and dodged, but tangled up with Shim, she lost her balance. The two of them tumbled from the mound.

She quickly used [Disinfect Self Wounds] on her scrapes and stood up. But Shim lay there screaming, his arm bent underneath him at an unnatural angle.