"Amelia is that you?" The lone gate guard calls out once we enter the small clearing set around the walls. "Leo sent a bird about what happened, you didn't have any more trouble on the way up?" He eyes me suspiciously.

"Hi, George." She waves to him and gets off the horse. "No, we didn't have any trouble. This is Sorrel and Apricot, the ones who saved us. Sorrel's a healer and came with me to fix Aunt Carmen's wrist. How's she doing?"

"Drunk off her ass, last I heard." He chuckles. "For someone who gets injured so often, you'd think she'd be better at dealing with pain. Nice to meet you Sorrel, Apricot, thank you for saving Amelia and her brother. And, thank you for taking care of Carmen before she drinks the town dry."

"Uh... Nice to meet you, but weren't you..."

"That's Georgie, I'm George." He laughs again, likely used to being mixed up. "We're cousins named for the same grandfather."

"You could be twins." If it weren't for George's longer hair, I would have sworn they were the same person.

"Yeah, we get that a lot." He says with a rueful smile. "Used to drive us nuts, but we've gotten used to it over the years."

"Nice seeing you again George, but we should go take care of Carmen." Amelia's worry for her aunt is evident.

"Of course, of course." He waves us through.

The town is much smaller than Southwood, but the walls only cover the front.

While the back is open onto a beautiful enclosed valley that's filled with rich mana.

"Mmm, I smell mana stones." Apricot licks her lips like she's just been presented with her favorite treat. "You think they would notice if a few went missing? These are common, but they should still be tasty."

"You eat them?" Amelia looks up incredulously at the pixie who's still sitting on storm.

"Oh, yeah, they're like candy to us." Apricot explains. "A clan of Fae could scour a valley like this clean in a week."

"Nnh, please don't." The blonde looks worried. "These may only be the lowest grade, but the town relies on them, and regulates the harvest carefully."

"Sorrel." Apricot gives me the puppy-dog eyes. "Could you buy me some? Just a couple is fine, I'll make it worth your while."

"How much can I get for half a gold?" I immediately ask the blonde merchant.

"They're usually ten silver a piece if you aren't buying bulk." She grins up at Apricot. "But, I can probably get you a discount. If, it's worth my while, that is."

"Oh, it will be." Apricot purrs back.

"I'll look forward to it, but we're here." She stops, and ties Storm up to a fence outside a small cottage. "Now, you be a good horse and I'll give you a bag of oats when I take you to the stables later. No, don't eat her flowers. Stupid Stormie."

"Hahaha." I laugh and pat Storm on the neck after helping Apricot down. "Don't worry, I'll grow them back for her later."

"Ugh, whatever." She walks up onto the small porch and knocks on the door before opening it. "Aunt Carmen, its Amelia. Are you awake?" I follow her in after leaving my staff at the door.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Amy-girl." A slurred voice comes from the left, which looks to be a combined kitchen/dining area. To the right is a small sitting room, and there's a couple rooms off a short hallway to the rear. "Be a dear and help me find that jug of plum wine your father sent me."

"Looks like you already drank it." Amelia bends over and picks up a clay jug that was sitting on its side next to a table leg. "But, I've got something even better for you. I brought my friend Sorrel up to heal your wrist."

"Did you finally snag yourself a man?" Her aunt blinks at me like she can't quite focus. "And, he's a looker too. What are you doing with our little Amy-girl?" I can see 'Amy-girl' clench her jaw, and fists, so I decide to do something about it.

"Helping her aunt... go to Sleep!" I step forward and catch the rude woman before she can fall and hurt herself worse. "Is she always like that, or just when she's drunk?"

"It's worse when she's drunk." Amelia heaves out a relieved sigh when her aunt starts snoring. "I don't know what it is, but she seems to hate me more every time we meet. She didn't used to be that way either, she even used to be my favorite aunt when I was little."

"Isn't it obvious?" I say while laying Carmen on her couch. "She's jealous. I bet you're everything that she wishes she could be."

"What? No!" She waves my comment away like its ridiculous.

"I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss him." Apricot says. "Look at her, I mean she's not unattractive... not unless you compare her to you. Then, there's just no contest."

"Let me guess, she only starting getting mean after you hit puberty?" I give her plump breasts a pointed look, and not just because I wanted to stare at her cleavage again.

"No, that's... Shit, you're right." She curses and gives her aunt a pitying look. "Can you just fix her wrist? And... maybe keep her asleep until we leave in the morning. I'll just leave her a note or something."

"Sure." I pull up a chair and start trickling healing sap off my finger into the drunk woman's open mouth. "So, you wanna have sex on her bed to get back at her?" I ask Amelia after making sure her aunt's wrist was set, and would, therefore heal properly.

"You know what? I think I do." Amelia laughs and sits in my lap while I fuse Carmen's bones back together. "Oh, Aunt Carmen. I always thought you were so pretty too."

"Don't pay her attitude any mind." I wrap my vines and free arm around Amelia. "She's just a tired old woman... who's broken a lot of bones." I add after letting my nature magic check on the rest of her body. "I... think I know why too." I focus my attention on her ears after feeling something off. "Yeah, there's something wrong with her inner ear, it must have been messing with her sense of balance."

"She's always been clumsy, but how is that connected to her ears?"

"Oh, umm... the ears have these fluid-filled canals filled with tiny hair-like sensors that move about as that fluid gets jostled about." I take a piece of firewood out of storage and build a cut-away model of the ear. "See, these loops handle balance while this spiral lets you hear. Your aunt's look to have been damaged slightly, probably by an infection when she was young."

"Can you fix her?" I get the feeling that she only asked because she felt she should, rather than because she wanted to.

"One way to find out." I don't really have a lot of control over what the spell does. I just push vitality into it, and guide it into the right area. Luckily this seems to be enough to fix Carmen's ear. "It's taking a lot of vitality, but fortunately it's a small area. Apricot? Mind handing me a couple of those cookies before you eat them all."

The orange-haired terror was doing her usual check-out-all-the-things routine when she found a cookie jar. This didn't stop her routine, but the cookie jar went with her as she snooped. Begrudgingly, she hands some over to me on her way into the back.

"All done?" Amelia asks when I pull my hand away from her Aunt. "Thank you. I know she probably doesn't deserve it, but she's still family."

"It's alright." I stand us up and turn her around so I can kiss her. "Now, if Apricot's done snooping? Maybe we can go get her shoes and 'snacks' before it gets dark."

"Yeah, she didn't have anything interesting anyway. Well, not unless you count this." The pixie comes walking out of Carmen's room with the cookie jar in one hand and a hand-carved wooden dildo in the other.

"Would you put that back?" I cringe and then laugh at the confused look on Amelia's face.

"What? Wait... ewwwwww. Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew." She covers her face with her hands and storms outside.

"Hahahah. Oh, she is so precious." Apricot sets both the toy and now empty cookie jar next to the couch. "Ooh, almost forgot the wine." She scoops up the old jug and adds it to the set dressing.

"If you're done goofing around?" I say and follow after Amelia, scooping up Blackthorne on my way out.

***