The next morning, I woke up feeling queasy. Surprisingly, all the sprites but Rock were already gone, even though the sun wasn’t up yet. Rock was wrapped in a blanket and snoring on my floor, completely unbothered by the absence of the others. He probably didn’t even know, as I couldn’t recall when all of them left in the night.

My stomach lurched, and I ran to the bathroom, emptying the contents, which wasn’t much. It mostly consisted of graham crackers and marshmallows. I paused, my thoughts racing as my stomach lurched again.

I trusted Maple’s cooking, I really did. Nothing she gave me had ever made me sick—and most of it was magically enhanced or enchanted in some way, giving me a boost of energy or healing. Melvin’s cooking, however, was barely passable. But the marshmallows tasted so good!

I stood, feeling dizzy and nauseous. In all my time in Sagewood, I’d never gotten sick, and now I had some weird stomach bug. Or probably food poisoning.

Slowly pulling on my work boots, I trudged outside. I’d slept later than usual, and Woods was waiting for me by my moonbloom berry field. He turned a scrutinizing eye toward me, and I noticed he appeared exceptionally tired this morning.

“Are you sick, too?” he asked flatly.

If I looked half as bad as I felt, it was obvious. My stomach ached, and I felt like I needed to throw up again. “What do you mean? Are the others sick?”

Woods nodded. “Clay woke me up in the middle of the night, followed by Holly, Flint, then all the southern sprites. Afterward Reed, Ivy, and Maple came to me. They’re all with the River Spirit trying to get better.” Woods sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He always seemed to exude an air of parental exhaustion, and apparently, all the sprites went to him when they were sick. I remembered I always went to my dad, too, in those off years in my childhood when he was around.

Woods continued. “You should go see her if you’re really sick. Today is harvest day, and I was excited to study the enchanted moonbloom berries.”

I went through the list of sprites he’d named. They’d all had at least one marshmallow. I suppressed a groan. “I’m fine to harvest today… it just might take me a little longer than usual.”

He gave me an uncertain look. “If you say so.”

I slowly worked my way through the bushes, meticulously picking off each berry I could find. My stomach was still churning, but I worked through my nausea and took several breaks and small sips of water from my canteen. Woods left an hour later to check on the others.

Plucking off a moonbloom berry, I rolled the tiny, whitish blue fruit between my fingers.

Enchanted Moonbloom Berry

Quality: Perfect

The color of the berry was almost luminescent in the sunlight, and it was round and plump without a single blemish on its surface. I’d infused it with magic on the day it had been planted, and I wondered if the perfect quality had been a direct result of that. Working through a wave of nausea, I popped the berry into my mouth, curious at the taste.

It was delicious. Its flavor was both sweet and tart, reminiscent of raspberries from my world, but lighter and creamier.

I blinked a few times, realizing that my stomach had stopped hurting. Was it possible the magic infused in the berries had abated my food poisoning? I popped another one in my mouth and savored the taste. I guess anything is possible with magic.

After ten minutes, I found myself working faster, almost like I hadn’t been sick at all. Within the hour, I’d finished harvesting the entire field. Woods returned a little while later and was surprised that I’d already moved on to my other chores.

“You’re feeling better already?”

I nodded. “Much better, though I don’t really have an appetite. Those marshmallows did a number on me. They must have been toxic.”

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“Obviously,” Woods said. “I wouldn’t trust any food that wizard makes, though I don’t think he meant to poison all of you on purpose.”

“No, I’m sure he just did a weird combination of ingredients. These helped me feel better though, and I saved some for the others.” I pulled a handful of berries from out of my pocket and showed them to Woods. “Take these and give them to the sprites that feel sick. I think they have healing properties or something.”

Woods examined the berries before putting them in his backpack. “That’s a perfect crop,” he said. “You should be proud.”

“Thanks. We’ll see if they fetch a high price in the market.”

By day’s end, I had my entire berry crop in the dropbox, as well as a few gallons of Bessie’s milk. I figured that if most of the sprites were sick, it would go to waste, so I might as well sell it. I didn’t see anyone for the rest of the day, and it felt eerie when I retired to my bed that night alone.

The next morning, I felt much better, though the sprites were still missing. Except of course, for Rock, who had snuck in at some point in the night and stolen my blanket to curl up on the floor. Maple usually made breakfast, so this morning it appeared I was on my own. I scarfed down some stale bread she’d made a few days ago, not wanting to deal with the hassle of cooking.

I’d left the dropbox by the large field, not bothering to move it as I would be harvesting the small field’s embermelons in a few days. The lid creaked when I opened it, and inside was a large velvet sack, the sum of all my sales. I gave a low whistle as I pulled it out of the dropbox. It was heavy, and I opened it, amazed to see hundreds of etherchips inside. There was also a receipt of the breakdown of sales, and I glanced over it excitedly.

Fresh Dwarven Cow’s Milk – 3 gallons: 75 etherchips

Enchanted Moonbloom Berries – 3,576: 10,728 etherchips

My jaw dropped as I read the receipt. It was astonishing how much a single enchanted berry was worth. By my math, each one had sold for three etherchips, a ridiculous price for a single, tiny berry. It seemed that magically infused crops fetched significantly higher prices. Sure, they were tasty, but they were berries. Had any of these people purchasing from my dropbox ever had a grilled cheese sandwich before? My stomach twisted at the thought of going through any more cramps, and I shifted my attention.

I surveyed my embermelon field and regret washed over me as I hadn’t found any local magic sources to infuse into the crops. Who knows how much people would pay for some enhanced melons.

I wracked my brain for any other magic sources around but came up blank. Oh, well. Now, I had enough etherchips to pay Renna and Rowan for my greenhouse in full. That meant I would be able to stay productive during the cold of winter. Things are moving along more quickly than I thought they would.

As I was completing the rest of my morning chores, some of the sprites found me. Clay, Flint, and Holly approached me in the barn.

“Thanks for those berries, Matt!” Flint exclaimed. “They helped even more than the River Spirit’s healing spells!”

I chuckled, glad to see the younger sprites were doing better. “How is everyone else feeling?” I asked.

Holly spoke up. “Reed and Ivy are still really sick. I think they ate more of those things than everybody else.” She crinkled her nose at the memory. “I’m never eating anything else that guy gives us. Never.”

Clay and Flint nodded in agreement, and I chuckled again. “There’s a lesson in that for all of us, I think. Just because something’s good in the moment, doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be good for us long term.” I grabbed a clean milking pail from the refrigeration room and got to work milking Bessie. She mooed gratefully as she chomped on some alfalfa I’d purchased from Otis.

“Woods told us that you’re getting to be a really great farmer,” Clay said, watching me as I worked. “But he said he’d never say it to your face.”

I paused. “Why wouldn’t he say it to my face?”

“Probably he doesn’t want it to go to your head,” Holly said. “Not sure it could get any bigger without popping.”

“Hey, my head’s not big. I just don’t have a tiny little sprite head like you guys.”

All three of them snickered, and Holly continued. “No, you do have a big head. It’s like a gourd. You could probably fill it with all that milk in the bucket and still have room to spare.”

Clay and Flint both burst out laughing and I sighed, turning back to my work. Despite their teasing, I couldn’t help but feel gratified. Praise from Woods, even secondhand, was hard to come by. I felt my chest swell with pride as I considered how far I had come in this whole farming gig. My thoughts turned to other matters, including the innkeeper’s daughter, Martha. I’d decided that I would attempt to ask her out on a date, and even though the thought filled me with nervousness, I couldn’t help but also feel a little excited. It would be nice to have someone to talk to that wasn’t a knee-high mythical creature, and although part of me still yearned for what I had with Leia, I was looking forward to moving on with my life and potentially finding a real partner.

After a few minutes, I gave Bessie a pat on the neck and took the milk to the refrigeration room to be transferred into glass bottles.

I bid the sprites farewell and saddled Goldie to take a ride up the northern path. I’d pay a visit to Renna and Rowan—and pay for my greenhouse while I was at it.

As I was climbing into the saddle, I heard Holly, Clay and Flint talking, their voices drifting from my refrigeration room. They probably went in there to drink the milk I’d just put away.

“He really is getting to be a good farmer,” Holly said.

“I think so too. He’s the best farmer I know—ouch! Holly! What was that for?”

“He’s the only farmer you know, Flint.”

I shook my head, smiling as I led Goldie out of her stall.