Chapter Eleven -
“Jade, I think that’s probably sufficient.” Camille’s voice broke her out of her reverie as she realized she’d grown the nearby grain until it was nearly four feet tall. It radiated out in a circle, the growth muted the further it got from her. “You okay? You’re spacing out a lot.”
“Just overthinking my life again because something reminded me of the dragons.” She climbed to her feet, brushing off the dirt as the two royals got up next to her. She’d only ‘finished’ one corner of the aviary. Her magic leached into the surrounding plants and everything was looking a bit more robust, the trees a little taller, but she was done here. Shaking her head, she said, “I’m going to go back to the fellacai.” Looking at the birds who were happily moving to nest in the grain, she asked, “You wanna come or stay here with Gaara and Rasu?”
She still had a hard time telling them apart from the rest of the flock, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case for long. As adults, they had less room to grow with Cami, but the results should still be significant. Was that why she was having a harder time connecting?
“We’ll come with you.” Camille stated firmly, still looking concerned.
“Suit yourselves.” She gave them a weak smile and started moving towards the door. Hunter scooped up Eris and hurried after her, while the beann landed on the princess’ shoulders as they made it to the door. The girl flinched slightly, but steadied herself. Jade could imagine it would take some getting used to, given their swooping wingspan. Looking at the thin material covering her shoulders, she added, “You might want to start padding your clothing a bit more.” While the mental image of the girl adding 80’s shoulder pads amused her, she couldn’t help but recall that falconers wrapped their arms up in leather.
Reaching up to pet her birds, Camille agreed. “Yeah, they’re already starting to poke through the material. No, it’s okay, you’re not doing it on purpose.” She added, obviously answering the mental communication with her bonds in a loving tone.
Skimming through her ring wardrobe as they made their way through the hallway once more, Jade finally pulled out a scarf, holding it out for the girl. “Try this? Might not be the most fashionable thing ever, but if you drape it across your arms it should at least help for now.” She didn’t have anything like a bolero top, but she figured she could make some quick and dirty adjustments on the scarf to mimic it.
“Oh, that’s helpful. Thanks.” Camille immediately took it from her, gently draping it from one hand, across her shoulders and down to the other hand while her birds shifted to accommodate.
“Here, let’s close it up so it’ll stay in place.” Jade moved in, considering which magic was the most applicable. She didn’t exactly have any sewing experience, but she’d stolen a bunch of tailoring from people before it got assimilated into crafter, so her brain was filling in some gaps of what she might be able to do. In the end, she chose to make little metal clasps that functioned similar to buttons as they pinched the ends of the material together. They’d be easy enough to take off again.
“Handy.” Hunter approved, and she could tell he was thinking about the problem too. Mostly because she could see Eris’ claws were also precariously close to causing problems for him too. Except that was more on his stomach and arms. He’d do better with wrist guards and a bellyband. Or armor. That seemed more in line with his style, although him wearing a corset was another fun image.
She nodded as they re-entered the fellacai enclosure, feeling the wave of greeting and love from her little ones as she admired the swirling swarm that had mostly roosted in their singular tree. Glancing at him, she added, “You should probably get some sort of long leather gloves to protect you too.”
Letting his raphna down gently, he nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” He watched as she curiously trotted off to explore the corners once more.
Jade absently pulled a pocket of green blood from the barrel she’d left there, moving to the next hole they’d dug for her as she let it drop in with a seed. She plopped unceremoniously to the ground next to it, letting her magic sink into it to grow the next cherry tree as she considered what else to do for the space. Grass would be nice. Maybe a few shrubs or flower bushes?
The tree sprang into existence as she pumped her magic in, seeming fairly normal until it sprouted leaves with blue veins. Another water variant. When the flowers bloomed, it was an entirely different story. With cores of deep violet edged in black, they were a gothic delight.
“What kind of blood was that? That’s a lot of compulsion represented.” Camille asked curiously as she finished, prompting the swarm to fly over for inspection.
Jade thought about it for a moment, then said, “I’m guessing orc. I’ve seen their shamans using that with water and dark.” She paused, then shrugged. “But I can’t actually be sure. I didn’t exactly pay attention when I just scooped it all up. And there’s definitely a couple different densities within colors. But yeah. I didn’t actually pay attention to what came out of who.”
“It’s good enough that they died.” Hunter agreed instantly.
“I won’t argue against that.” She replied offhand, already moving to the next plot. She chose a patch of red blood this time that somehow still felt warm to her, but she quickly realized she was just picking up on the residual magic as she grew it. The leaves were dark red with black veins, the flowers matched the brightness of a fire engine with a black core that matched the similarly shadowed bark. Close up, it radiated the tiniest amount of heat. Not enough to cause problems in the enclosure, but it would be a welcome shelter in any colder weather that hit the place.
“Ooooh, fire tree!” Amber echoed gleefully in her head, and she could tell Lilith was similarly pleased with the last two trees. Amused, she watched as her little ones spread out. Each new tree attracted a different subset of the pretties, and she could feel the anticipation from those who didn’t have one that matched yet.
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“It’s the same color as those pyrfae you showed us.” Camille pointed out the obvious.
“Yeah, it was probably theirs. I don’t remember any other fire users in the fight.” Which also explained the sheer power and heat the tree was emitting. Those suckers had been strong. Moving to the next tree, she chose a pocket of red blood that felt different, and she didn’t have much of it based on the density.
Studying the magic as she grew it, the dark bark blossomed into blood red flowers with lime centers and equally vibrant green leaves. “Tree just for me!” Carl quietly exclaimed as he led the charge to the new growth. She supposed that answered that.
“What kind of monster had blood and healing?” The princess seemed confused, and Jade couldn’t help but wonder if she was having fun trying to sleuth out what monsters she’d faced.
Pondering, she honestly couldn’t think of what might have contributed. That was, until a face filled with teeth, feasting on the flesh of a child, came to mind. Clenching her fist in anger, she took a deep breath to school her expression before she finally answered, “That was probably the vantyr.”
“Vantyr? What’s that?” Hunter asked curiously.
Letting out a small sigh, she explained, “The books, and even my world, called them vampires. But the system named them vantyr, so that’s probably the actual name.” Wearily, she waved her hand, pulling up an illusion of the one she’d run into very briefly, quickly dismissing it once she confirmed they’d seen it. Grumbling, she muttered darkly, “Nasty creatures. That was the only one I ran into by itself. I don’t think I even noticed them in the square.”
To be fair, there had been a lot of monsters and she hadn’t exactly had time to study them individually. Especially if they’d been moving in stealth among the rest and using their bulk to hide. Glancing around, she searched her ring and came up short, so she pushed her intent into the ground, feeling the drain ratchet as she worked without a base. Vibrant dark green grass sprouted a few inches from the ground, covering the nearby area and creating a nice little noll that she promptly lay down on, making sure her face was shaded by the tree as her body basked in the sunlight that she started absorbing.
“Tired?” Hunter asked in worry as he sat next to her, then got distracted by the grass. “Oh, this is nice. What is it?”
“Just plain ol’ grass.” She responded absently, nodding after the fact to answer his tired inquiry. He seemed to get the point, because he didn’t push her. Camille settled down next to them, her hands running through the grass as Eris returned to climb on her bonded. Gaara and Rasu were playing with her fellacai in the trees, curiously exploring them. Eris watched with envy, and she realized Hunter had probably forbidden her from ascending them because he didn’t want her to tear them up with her ridiculously sharp claws in the attempt.
Nudging her, the princess admonished, “Eat something.” Jade rolled her eyes, but obediently pulled out one of the smoothie barrels and some meat she’d gotten earlier. Eris made a soft mewling sound, and she laughed softly, pulling out another plate and handing it to Hunter so he could feed the little glutton. She refused to get up from her lazy lie-down, instead making a crazy straw for the smoothie and picking at the meat from its spot on stomach. It was almost like a picnic.
Camille studied her contraption as she shook her head. “I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to that, but it’s certainly convenient. Delicious while also providing a ton of nutrition in one convenient liquid. Imagine what you could do if you included some of the magical herbs.”
Jade bolted upright, barely keeping hold of her plate as she stared wide-eyed at the princess. “Say that again.”
“What?” The girl seemed confused, but Jade was shaking her head.
“Never mind. Let me think for a second.” Her brain was churning out ideas that the casual remark spawned. Most of her levels in herbology had been either stolen or trained during her class with Ren before it merged into provider. Likewise, alchemy was a skill entirely borrowed from others before combining into crafter. She knew a lot of the crops were grown using magic, and the fellacai preferred her magically grown varieties. The peaches had been particularly potent.
But what about herbs? She’d been consuming regular fruit and vegetables, but hadn’t even considered the plants that might have their own special properties.
Nodding to herself, she informed them, “I need a crash course in alchemy. As soon as is humanly possible.” While crafter might be at advanced 5, it didn’t just give her the necessary knowledge. Any effort she exerted would be magnified, but she still had to actually do it.
Neither of the royals had followed her train of thought, but Camille still nodded and replied, “We can probably arrange that, but can I ask why the sudden interest?”
Giving her a cheshire grin, Jade said, “Because of healing potions.” Seeing that they still looked confused, she continued, “I honestly don’t know how things work here, but while alchemy wasn’t really a thing on Earth, theories and stories were. So I’ve got a bunch of ideas to try out, and if they work how I think they might…it could be the answer to my problem.”
Rather than beat her head against a wall, this was a new path forward. If she could make a concoction to treat her spirit, it could change everything. Even a generalist healing potion would be vastly useful to alleviate the strain on healers. She couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t seen them before.
Camille looked a little more hesitant as she explained, “True alchemy is notoriously difficult. To be honest, the best alchemists create infusions, like the tea the Saibreh delegation served. At best, it just enhances the effect of whatever herbs they use.”
To be fair, that sounded like an accurate description of what she knew. It was just that in processing and mixing, they could create something more. Curiously, she asked, “What magic do they usually use?”
Hunter answered, “Nature, water, and fire. But those just help, they’re not actually required.” She nodded, considering the implications.
She still wanted to learn what she could about the normal usage before she started experimenting, but it was likely she’d go down an entirely different path. After all, she didn’t know any other humans with creation magic. And she expected that to change everything.
Or at least she hoped so. Only time and experience would tell.
“So, who do we need to call?” She finally asked. The sooner she got started, the better.
Laughing, Camille told her, “Well, let’s start with mom. She is the principal.”
As much as Jade was loathe to disturb their parents, she didn’t have a better solution. It’s not like alchemy had been on her list of professors she was in contact with. However, she couldn’t help but smirk at Hunter. “If I’m going to call her, you might want to have Eris play elsewhere.”
Gaara and Rasu were off playing, but it seemed to dawn on him that he could give the game away if he was feeding his bonded when they called his parents. Eyes widening, he nodded. “You know what, I think we’ll just be over there.” Picking her up along with the plate she’d given him, he beat a hasty retreat to the entrance and out of immediate sight as she pulled out her mirror.
Sighing, she prepared to bother the queen to see if she could find her yet another private tutor. Her needs were never-ending.