“Are you even listening to me?”

I blinked and glanced over at Woods, my tired eyes burning in the bright sunlight. “Of course I am,” I replied gruffly. I hadn’t been, of course. I’d been too focused on digging a hole and my exhausted mind was lost in the simple task.

“Then what did I just say?” Woods asked, crossing his arms.

I grunted and switched from kneeling to a sitting position, as my legs had started to fall asleep. “You were talking about… the dirt—”

“No, I wasn’t,” Woods cut me off, narrowing his eyes at me. “I asked why you, Finn and Reed all have bloodshot eyes.” He lowered his voice. “Did Finn convince you to try some muddle-leaf? That stuff will literally ruin your life.”

“No, nothing like that,” I said, reclining back on my elbows. “We went into the cave last night.”

"The cave? What for?”

I briefly thought about lying to him. He would only scold me for taking the others to confront a dragon. But in my fatigued state, my mind couldn’t think of a valid excuse. “We went to the bottom level. There’s a dragon there, and we needed to—”

“A dragon?” he asked sharply. “Here? On your farm?”

“That’s right,” I replied hesitantly. “He, uh… needs our help getting out. He’s trapped down there.”

Woods’ shoulders relaxed somewhat. “Good. Then that’s where he’ll stay. As long as we avoid the lowest level, there won’t be any problems.”

I didn’t immediately reply.

Woods frowned at me as the silence dragged on. “Matt? You didn’t agree to help the dragon, did you?”

I glanced at him sheepishly. “Maybe a little.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Oh, Matt. Why are you like this?”

“He brought up some good points!” I said defensively. “Besides, he’s a vegetarian! And he said he wouldn’t hurt anybody once we let him out!”

“And you believed him?” Woods’ expression was one of incredulity. “You can never trust a dragon,” he said. “Even the youngest and most foolish sprites know this!”

“Well, I’m not a sprite,” I shot back. My head was starting to hurt, and I was in no mood to argue. “I’m the farmer around here, and technically, the dragon is on my property. Therefore, I get to decide what needs to be done.”

Woods eyed me for a long moment before responding. “That’s true enough, I suppose. Though you may want to seek a wizard’s oath between you and the dragon in future dealings.”

“A wizard’s oath?”

Woods nodded. “A magical binding oath that ensures both parties hold up their end of the deal. Melvin could probably perform one for you if you convince him.”

I returned to my knees, using my trowel to dig the next hole. Woods dropped the subject, probably recognizing that there was no changing my mind on the subject.. Strange, I thought as I worked the soil. The old Woods would have been more stubborn than that. He would have argued with me until both of us were blue in the face. Looks like he’s changed in more ways than one.

Time passed and the sun continued its journey across the sky. I’d almost tilled the whole field, and I was looking forward to planting this new batch of spring seeds—but that didn’t take away from the exhaustion I felt from staying up through the night. I stood and stretched, yawning when the field was finally ready.

“So,” I asked, breaking the long silence, “how do I do this crop mutation thing?” I pulled out the remaining bags of spring seeds. One was labelled ‘Moonbloom Berries,’ and the other was labelled ‘Embermelons.’

“What did the perk tell you when you levelled up?”

“Not a lot. Just that I’d gained a level, gotten a new perk, and could now mutate crops.” My shoulders sagged. “And then it said thing about me having to get married.”

“Let’s put in a pin in that last part,” Woods said awkwardly. “Why don’t you try examining each seed type individually.”

I pulled out a berry seed as well as a melon seed. They were vastly different—the berry seed was small and white, almost like a sesame seed from back home, and the melon seed was large and dark red in color. To me, it resembled a watermelon seed, just a slightly different shade.

Nothing happened when I looked at them. I put them together in one hand, hoping that would trigger something, but again, nothing happened.

“Maybe if you plant them in the same hole?” Woods offered.

I tossed both seeds into the freshly turned ground and used my boot to cover them with soil. Seconds later, words appeared over the mound.

Moonbloom Berry

Days until harvest: 25

Embermelon

Days until harvest: 30

“I don’t think that worked, either. It’s showing that I planted two different crops.” I narrowed my eyes at the sprite. “Aren’t you supposed to be an expert in these sorts of things?”

“Aren’t you an actual farmer?” Woods shot back.

I sighed. We weren’t getting anywhere, and at this point, I was too tired to care much about the perk. “I’m just going to plant berries in this field, and melons in the small one,” I said. “We can figure out crop mutation later.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Woods shrugged. “Works for me. Maybe the perk requires more than two varieties of seed.”

I removed the one embermelon seed and placed it back into its rightful pouch, then continued to work through the morning, getting all the moonbloom berry seeds into the ground. Once that was finished, I began the arduous task of hauling buckets of water from the well. By late afternoon, all the seeds were saturated.

Breathing heavily, I removed my hat and wiped sweat from my brow. “Now… time to rest.”

A glob of mud suddenly landed between me and Woods, and we both looked up, startled. There was a line of colorful hats at the edge of the forest, joined by the addition of more muted colors from the southern sprites. Everyone was already covered with mud.

“No,” I whispered as dread settled in my gut. It was spring. Whose birthday’s in spring?

“It’s a double birthday!” Clay called out as if reading my mind. “That means we get to use double the mud!”

Finn walked out from the trees, wiping mud from his eyes. “I really hate this tradition,” he said in annoyance, “but happy birthday, Woods. Five hundred and seventy looks pretty good on us.”

Chaos erupted, and in a matter of minutes, I found myself coated in mud from head to toe. It was an overwhelming attack which saturated every inch of my body. The mud squished between my toes inside my work boots, clogged my ears, and even somehow found its way into my mouth. I could feel the grittiness between my teeth, and the taste was awful. I grimaced when I realized that I’d covered the field we were standing in with fertilizer in preparation for planting. I hope none of it got into my mouth.

Woods got it even worse than I did, and the southern sprites seemed to take special care to pelt him with as many mudballs as possible. Alder in particular wore a wicked grin as he splashed muddy water over Woods’ head.

Despite its intensity, the whole affair only lasted for a few minutes. Once the celebration subsided, the other sprites withdrew into the forest, but Finn and Woods remained by my side.

Woods chuckled and shook the mud from his hair. “You know, I actually forgot that it was our birthday. There’s just been so much going on, it slipped my mind.”

Finn nodded and scraped mud from his eyes. “Didn’t have many mud fights back at Crimsonshores. Seagulls can’t stand them. But what can you do? There’s an old sprite adage, ‘mud and glory’. Looks like they glorified us pretty well this year.”

Woods gave his brother a grin and slapped his back. His hand produced a wet, slopping sound.

I wiped the mud from my face. It would probably take me the rest of the afternoon soaking in the pond to get the grit from out of my hair. Regardless, this sprite birthday was a meaningful one, and I found myself grinning with the others. “You know, Woods, your birthday was the first one I celebrated when I came to this world. That means I’ve been here a little over a year…” I trailed off as words shimmered into existence before me.

Crop Mutation Opportunity

Local Magic Source: Celebration Magic

Infuse Moonbloom Berries with Celebration Magic?

Yes/No

A few seconds of silence followed as I reread the prompt several times, trying to make sense of it.

“Is he all right?” Finn whispered to Woods.

“No,” Woods answered. “He hasn’t been for some time now. He does this sort of thing a lot.”

“No, I’m fine, it’s just—I think I can infuse these seeds with something called ‘celebration magic’. It’s a prompt from my new perk.”

Finn and Woods exchanged a look.

“Do it,” Woods said after a few seconds. “We can see what it does to your plants.”

I mentally selected yes to the prompt, and it disappeared. Nothing happened.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” I said, disappointed.

“Maybe not. Examine one of the seeds you just planted,” Woods said.

I focused on one of the mounds.

Magic Infused Moonbloom Berry

Days until harvest: 20

I let out a low whistle as I realized that not only was the entire crop now infused with magic, but it had shortened the growing time by five days.

“I suspect it’ll have an effect on overall quality,” Woods said as he glanced across the freshly planted field. “You can probably expect an excellent crop, maybe even a perfect one. They’ll certainly fetch a higher price in the markets.” He turned to me, a smile splitting his mud-covered face. “That’s a pretty good perk.”

I nodded. I’d been thinking about it all wrong. Instead of mutating the crops with other crops, I could use local magic sources to infuse the crops instead. It was lucky that Woods’ and Finn’s birthday happened to fall on my planting day.

“I wonder if I hurry and plant the embermelons, I can infuse them with celebration magic as well?”

“Maybe, though I wouldn’t be hopeful,” Woods replied. “The magic sources are probably a one-time use feature. Still, I think it would benefit you to get those seeds in the ground as soon as possible. You might have to wait for the next sprite birthday to harness that kind of magic again. But there could be other sources of local magic you can infuse into the crops.”

I brought out the pouch of embermelons and moved to the small field. There was no point in bathing before I planted them, and I could keep the mud on for a few hours while I got the seeds in the ground.

“You know, it’s kind of a bummer. Since you aren’t five hundred and sixty-nine anymore, I can’t really make fun of your age.”

Finn shot Woods a confused look, and he simply shook his head.

“Don’t ask. It’s some twisted lore from Matt’s world. Sixty-nine is apparently a lucky number there.”

“Lucky?” Finn asked curiously. “In what way?”

I snorted, unable to keep a straight face. “I’ll tell you when you’re older, Finn.”

***

Woods and Finn retreated into the heart of the forest as the sun descended below the horizon. The ethereal glow of the sunset cast a mesmerizing spell upon the woodland, turning the bright spring colors into a breathtaking panorama. The rich hues of blossoming flowers and fresh foliage deepened under the warm, golden embrace of the fading sunlight, creating a blend of enchanting shades. The forest, now bathed in the dusky glow, exuded an otherworldly beauty that seemed to breathe life into every leaf and petal. The two brothers walked silently through the tranquil forest until at length, Woods spoke up.

“You know, I don’t think I need you and Skye as babysitters anymore. I think I’ll be fine if you want to return to the shores. The others can step in if need be.”

Finn drew his brows together but didn’t answer.

“I just know how much you hate it here in the countryside,” Woods said after a moment.

Finn shrugged. “It’s not so bad.”

“Really?” Woods stopped and stared at his brother. “You don’t miss the ocean or the sand or… anything like that?”

“Not so much. I mean, sure—this farm isn’t exactly relaxing at times, but I like being with the others…” Finn trailed off as he met Woods’ eyes.

“Any other reason?”

“No.”

“You and Skye have been spending an awful lot of time together.”

“Making sure you don’t go berserk, you mean?”

Woods snorted. “I guess that’s fair. Maybe I’m reading into it a little too much.”

Finn could feel his ears beginning to burn and was grateful the darkening night covered up the blush spreading over his features. “You are,” he said, a little too quickly. “Plus, she has an eagle animal form. I can’t really relate to a sprite that isn’t aquatic in nature.”

“You can’t?”

“Not really.”

Woods gave Finn a flat look. “I think you’re the only sprite I know who has an aquatic animal form—”

“That’s why I don’t relate to a lot of the other sprites.”

Silence enveloped the brothers once again for a few moments until Woods spoke up again, changing the subject. “You know, I’ve always liked the southern sprites. The others don’t, but I knew most of them during the culling, including Skye. She was just a child, of course. Probably barely remembers those days. Even then, she was a prickly one, but once you get to know her…”

Finn snorted. “You’re not much of a salesman, you know that?”

Woods chuckled. “I wasn’t trying to be. Just stating the facts as I remember them.” He turned away from Finn and climbed the oak tree that the brothers had taken to sleeping in each night. The farmhouse was crowded, stuffy and loud, especially with Rock and Reed’s constant snoring. “I’ve known sprites with all different kinds of animal forms. It’s a pretty trivial part of a sprite’s personality. I think you and Skye are more similar than you think.”

Finn stayed below for a few minutes, his eyes fixed on the ground. He did miss the shores, but he wasn’t keen on returning to his lonely life either. Plus, he’d heard the south had beaches. Maybe he could… No. He stopped himself mid-thought. I don’t belong with the others. I belong alone. He shook his head to clear away the thoughts and climbed the tree, choosing a branch opposite of Woods.