Chapter Twelve

Nia awoke to the pleasant scent of summer flowers. The tantalizing aroma tickled her nose and reminded her of long summer days with her mother, picking flowers for her to use in her dyes. She would use the brightest, most exuberant flowers she could find, always leaving just enough to not detract from the natural beauty of the fields.

“It would be a shame to keep anyone else from seeing such sights,” she would say to her. “You must always only take what you need, never anything more.”

Thinking back on those memories made her sick to her stomach. It had already been three months since she ran away from home, but when she smelled the summer flowers blooming around her every morning, guilt ate away at her from the inside like a sickness.

She could easily stop the flowers from growing; all she had to do was ask. Her teacher, Mister Greeny, knew that she liked flowers, so had them grow all around her every day. That was why she never said anything . It made him happy to make her happy.

The patchwork of various blooming flowers represented every imaginable color and shade; many of them she recognized, but so many more she had never seen before. It was a wonderfully stunning display of magic that she wished desperately to emulate.

She rolled out of her bed of soft grasses with a tired groan, her bare feet sinking into soft, fluffy lichen as she stood. Her hands shot above her head as she stretched her body with a yawn, pleasurable pops running down her spine and across her joints as she twisted herself at the waist. Her knuckles rubbed against her bleary eyes, wiping away the traces of her dreamless sleep and revealing the room around her.

Her bed was behind her, a small, rectangular patch of grass that reached her knees. When she first saw it, she was skeptical about its usefulness, but now, she couldn’t imagine sleeping on anything else. To her side was a small table with a single chair pushed underneath it; both had an amateurish look, crooked and uneven, but that was to be expected as they were made from twisted vines and springy leaves.

Another miracle of the magic around her.

The flowers shifted around her feet as she padded toward her wardrobe, trying to put the memory of her mother to the back of her mind. It was hard for her to do; she missed her dearly. She missed both of her adoptive parents but her mother more so. Don’t get her wrong; she loved her father, but he was often gone from the house and not as present as her mother was.

“I’ll see them again after winter.” She said to herself, pulling a long, flowing dress from the wardrobe before her. It was sky blue and had white embroidered snowflakes falling from her waist to the hem above her ankles. It was a lovely piece of clothing, something she worked on for over a week with the help of Mister Greeny. She thought her mother would be proud of her work.

She couldn’t wait to show her.

Nia pulled a matching shawl over her bare shoulders, wrapping herself up to protect her from the chilly winter air. Although the small ruins she now lived in were protected from the heavy snowfall by her teacher’s magic, even he couldn’t prevent every wayward gust from penetrating the far-off corners of his barrier.

She closed her door behind her and was greeted by a vast clearing of heather and alfalfa. It was a thick blanket of deep purples and vibrant greens, contrasting sharply with the barren, snow-capped trees further away. She could see snow twirling above her, dancing in the air on an invisible wall protecting her from winter's indifferent cold. It was a sight to behold, one she didn’t think she would ever grow accustomed to.

Good morning, little one.

Mister Greeny’s groaning voice drew her eyes away from the sky above her. She tilted her head slightly down to look at the wolf beside her. It stared back at her with unblinking, emerald eyes that never betrayed the feelings behind them, but she could tell that they were happy to see her. They always were.

“Good morning,” she said as she looked around. “Is Mister Long out hunting again?”

He is. The wolf nodded, his leafy ears waving as it did so. We are out of boar, and the rabbits are deep in their burrows this time of year. The wolf cocked its head as it regarded her more closely. My nectar could replace your need for meat. If you would only—

“No, thank you.” Nia quickly interrupted, not interested in having this conversation again. Just the thought of eating something that dripped from Mister Greeny caused shivers to run down her body. Logically, it wouldn’t be any different from eating a fruit or vegetable, as he was more of a plant than anything else, but she couldn’t look at him that way.

Very well. The wolf relented as he stood from his haunches. Are you ready to begin?

“I haven’t had any breakfast yet.” She told him as she walked beside him deeper into the clearing.

Mister Greeny nodded and looked up at her as he padded along. Today, there will be a change. You are to grow your food for breakfast. If you are unable, you will go hungry until Mister Long returns from the forest .

Her steps faltered, creating a small gap between her and the woody wolf. “That’s unfair! I’ll starve!”

Mister Greeny turned to look at her, his eyes a placid lake of green like always. Your progress in magic is slow, and your time to learn is limited. I believe a stronger approach is needed.

Nia’s face scrunched in anger, only to burn in shame moments later. She had been lax in her training. Mister Greeny had been extremely patient with her, and she had taken advantage of that, slacking off when she should have been practicing. He had been so kind to her, answering every one of her questions with the same gentle voice no matter how dumb they were, showing her the same techniques over and over again until she understood them, even going so far as to give her breaks whenever she felt like she needed them.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

She didn’t deserve him.

“I’m sorry…” She mumbled as she hung her head, her dark brown hair falling over her eyes. “I’ll do better, I promise.”

Good. Before continuing to walk, he said, that is all I ask, for you to do your best.

From now on, Nia promised herself that she would.

Nia knelt in a soft bed of heather, a look of absolute concentration plastered on her freckled face. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, her brow furled and moist with perspiration, and her hands were held out in front of her, palms even with the ground with her fingers splayed out wide. She could feel it; she was almost there.

A pit in her stomach had formed over the course of the day, not from the hunger that clawed at her but because she had continuously drawn from her core, the source of her magic. She had been pushing mana from deep inside herself, along her arms, and out her outstretched hands, all with the intent of growing a strawberry for breakfast. Or lunch. It was much closer to lunch now; either way, she was starving.

Shaking her head, she flicked her hands to work out the cramps and reset her concentration.

She had been taught that magic worked on intent and formed itself according to the caster's will. According to Mister Greeny, anything was possible when using the mana of the world; anything that one could imagine could become reality. He said all one needed to do was envision what you wanted to happen and then do it. Simple.

Except it wasn’t. First, one needed to be able to ‘feel’ the mana within themselves, which wasn’t as easy as it sounded. It had taken her the first few weeks even to do that much. Once you had found your core and the mana held within it, you had to wrestle control of the mana itself, directing the slippery substance to move the way you wanted. It had taken her a month to do it.

She was ecstatic when she finally felt her mana ebb and flow according to her will, moving like the gentle river close to her village. It was so beautiful, pulsing and iridescent, a kaleidoscope of colors that swelled from the little ball of mana just behind her heart. Even Mister Greeny was intrigued with the color of her mana, telling her that it wasn’t like anything he had ever seen before. Of course, he admitted that he had little to compare it to.

Still, she felt special; for a time.

Then she hit a barrier. She had found her core and her mana, then managed to wrest control of it within her body, but then was unable to do anything with it. Nothing she did could make her mana form outside of her body; as soon as it left her hands, it fizzled like a candle caught in a hurricane. Well, maybe not as dramatic as that, but that’s what it felt like to her. And maybe because of her frustration at her inability to control her mana or because of her anger at herself for failing, she started to avoid trying at all.

She found it easier to simply watch her mana flow throughout her body during her magic lessons, putting off the more challenging aspects of her training while telling herself that she would try again tomorrow. Of course, Mister Greeny never said anything to her about her lack of effort; he was simply happy to have her around, and he told her as much, so she had let herself fall into a state of apathy.

And she was ashamed.

She felt like she had taken advantage of his kindness. Mister Greeny’s lack of discipline had made her much too comfortable and allowed her to become lazy and unfocused. But she couldn’t blame him for her failings. It was her fault for behaving that way. He just wanted her to be happy, but even he had eventually seen how things had to change.

She just wanted him to be proud of her.

Nia focused on the barren patch of soil in front of her. She closed her eyes, thought of the juiciest, reddest, most appetizing strawberry she could, and then pushed. The rainbow-like mana in her lithe body surged to her will, just like it always did. This was the easy part for her; the difficult part was yet to come.

She felt her mana rush to her hands and struggled to slow its flow. She needed to know what was happening; if it flowed too quickly, she would miss it when things went wrong. Although she wished she were, she didn’t expect to be successful; she was just finally putting in the effort like she should have been in the first place.

Her magic left her hands and fell like a silent waterfall. It was invisible, even to her, but the effects were apparent. A tiny sprout pushed its way from beneath the ground, shifting the soil into a little mound as a single green leaf unfolded and turned toward the sun hanging high above. It was as if time was moving much more quickly for the little plant as it shook and shivered, a second leaf unfurling, then a third, then finally a minuscule red fruit swelling on the end of a whisker thin branch until it hung heavily, just barely off the ground.

Nia’s breath caught in her throat as she peered at the little fruit. She reached out with a shaking hand and gingerly plucked it from the tiny plant, nearly pulling it out of the ground, root and all. The fruit was no bigger than the nail of her pinky, and it was shaped like no other strawberry she had ever seen, but it was a strawberry. No one could deny that fact. And she had made it. With her magic.

“…I did it…” She whispered to herself as she held the little strawberry up to her eyes, a toothy grin spreading across her face before she screamed across the clearing. “I did it!”

Very good, little one. Mister Greeny said to her, the suddenness of his voice causing her to squeal in surprise. The tiny strawberry soared through the air as she flinched, and it slipped between her fingers, disappearing into the soft grass and purple flowers.

“By the spirits, you scared me , ” Nia exclaimed as she calmed herself. She was so entranced with her small success that she must have ignored everything else happening around her. “But did you see it? I used my magic!”

Mister Greeny nodded, his green, wolfish ears flopping back and forth. I did. Congratulations, I knew you would be successful.

“Thanks,” she said happily before her shoulders slumped. “ But I lost it. Now, what will I eat?”

Like many falling trees, a sharp, cracking noise sounded beside her as Mister Greeny laughed. Nia had never heard him laugh before, and although she was happy that he was so amused, she wasn’t quite sure how to feel about the harsh sound. It hurt her ears.

Come, little one. Mister Long returned some time ago, and food has already been prepared.