"Where does it all go?" The apprentice healer is just staring at me slack-jawed as I inhale the food.

"Hah." I snort. "If you think I'm bad, you should see these two when I bring out the sweets. Speaking of sweets." I add after spotting a pot of steaming brown liquid with a somewhat familiar scent. "Do you have any unroasted cocoa beans, preferably from an unopened pod."

"I do, but that horrid drink is far from sweet." Granville scrunches up his nose in distaste.

"That's just because you don't know how to prepare it." I explain, still steadily making my way through to proffered food. "It's a whole ordeal that takes weeks, and quite a bit of labor, but you end up with one of the best sweets in existence. I'm hoping to shorten all that time and effort with a judicious use of magic."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to share?" He looks hopeful.

"Actually, I could use your help." I admit. "I know how it's done, and have seen all the steps, but I've never done it myself."

"An experiment then?" The man has a wide smile on his face now. "We'll need to order some more beans though, I only have a few pods left."

"I can take care of that." I reply quickly. "I'll just need a bit of space to grow the tree."

"Ah, there you are." Amelia's parents and brother enter the kitchen just then. "Your father and I need to get to the warehouse. We'll see you at home tonight, yes?" She says it like a question, but it's not a question.

"Yes, mommy." Amelia pastes a smile on her face. "Sorrel is going to try and heal the rest of Myra's arm tonight. So, I may be late, but I will come home tonight."

"Does he always eat like that?" Turner asks his son in a whisper that we all hear.

"Daddy." Amelia sighs. "He's only eating like this because he fixed that little girl's hand."

"Yes, he did." Elise speaks up when she and Martin enter the kitchen. "We watched him do it and ran every test we could during and afterward. And, it's like she was never burned to begin with. I've never seen anything like it, his spell or whatever it is completely bypasses the body's natural resistance to foreign mana."

"Well, it doesn't do so without a cost." I gesture to the stack of empty plates.

"I've had an idea that might help with that." Martin steps forward, the light of fervor burning in his eyes. "See, I think it very likely that you might be able to use your healing sap as a conduit for other healing spells."

"That... would be nice." I set down my knife and fork. "I picked it up just in case of emergencies, but I've already had to heal three rather serious injuries in just over a week. And, that's not even counting Carmen's break and inner ear. She had scarring from an old infection that was causing balance issues." I add to the healers' twin raised eyebrows.

"You can restore old injuries too?" Elise seems very interested when I mention this.

"At a greatly increased cost." I stare her straight in the eye to make sure she understands. "Just healing those three little tubes took more out of me than fixing Roddy's arrow wound did."

"All the more reason to see if my hypothesis is true." Martin beams.

"I will keep you in mind." I nod and go back to my food. "But, today I plan to rest, and hopefully make some chocolate."

"Enough Martin. The lad's not going anywhere." Elise speaks up when he opens his mouth again. "So, take your apprentice and go about your day, I'll send word when he's feeling up to Healing Myra again."

"Yes, yes." He nods and gestures for Jana. "I'm sorry I let my enthusiasm get the better of me." They bow to us and leave.

"He's like a dog with a bone, that one." The remaining healer smiles ruefully.

"We should be going too." Turner leans in for a hug from Amelia. "You take care today, alright."

"Yes, daddy." I can tell she's fighting not to roll her eyes. "I'll see you both tonight." She receives a hug from her mom before they leave with a grinning Roddy in tow.

"Is this chocolate of yours going to take long?" Elise says after their footsteps can no longer be heard. "I know you need to rest, but there is another matter I would like to speak with you about."

"Well, it's going to be a bit of an experiment." I hesitate to agree to anything. "See, the roasting of the beans after they've been fermented -yes Mister Granville, that's first step- plays a big role in the final product. And, I'm unsure as to the best temperature and duration for making the best chocolate."

"You get me the beans, and I can handle all that for you." The chef offers. "It'll give me something to do while stocking up for your next healing." He laughs and hands over a cocoa pod.

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"Then I'll need thirty minutes, a corner of the garden, and some firewood to make a big tub." I still need to stock back up on that after using everything I had for the farmhouse.

"Half an hour works for me." Elise nods and turns away to leave. "I'll meet you back here then."

"Mira." Granville calls to a servant that was walking past the kitchen. "Take Sorrel to the firewood pile, and then tell Seymour to give him a spot to grow a tree."

"Yes, Sir." She bows sharply to the cook like she's afraid of him. "This way, please."

As we're heading to a large shed in the back, Mira detours towards a man who looks so much like a gardener that he can only be Seymour.

"He wants what?" Seymour's voice rings out over the yard.

"Sir." I raise my voice. "I can easily grow the tree in a pot, I just need enough space for it to grow. And, enough firewood to make the pot." I reach over to nearby flower bush and have it grow two blooms. Which I then pluck and stick behind Apricot and Amelia's ears.

"You should have told me he was a fellow plant mage." He looks me up and down, and I can feel some subtle magical probes directed at my greener parts.

Turning to Apricot I ask her a question. "Is that considered rude around these parts, or not?"

"Normally I'd say yes, but you are kinda invading his garden." She shrugs and waggles her hand in a 'so-so' gesture.

"I'm sorry, but what are you?"

"Okay, now that was rude." Apricot laughs.

"Hahah." I laugh along with her, and then drop my shapeshift for the first time in days. "I am Plantkin, but I was raised human which is why I prefer to look like this." I shift back and laugh again at their stunned looks.

"I'd almost forgotten you could do that." Amelia giggles nervously. "The extra ten centimeters is kinda nice."

"Yeah, but I'm skinny as a twig." She groans at my pun. "And, something tells me I'm going to be doing a lot of healing in the near future. So, the chances of me putting on weight are somewhat slim."

"Yeah." Apricot grumbles. "I didn't like that look Elise got when she learned you could heal scars."

"I hope that's not what she wants."

"I'm terribly sorry sir, that was incredibly rude of me." The other two finally snap out of it. "You can grow your tree wherever you want."

"I still need some firewood." I ignore his faux pas, and start walking towards the shed again.

Mira soon catches up and lets me take whatever I need. The shed is very full, so I don't feel bad about taking a little extra just in case I need it. Moving back to an open area, I make the pot for the tree only to realize that I don't have much spare soil.

"Mister Sorrel." The rude gardener addresses me. "If you need soil, I would be happy to help." He walks over and materializes a burlap sack of rich loam.

"Yes, please." I could grow and decompose a bunch of plants, but that would take a few minutes. "That should be good thank you."

Popping open the cocoa pod; I select the seed that feels the strongest and push it into the loose earth. Pushing magic into the seed, it soon sprouts and grows up and up. I know we're going to need a lot of beans, so I make it a good three meters tall before telling it to bloom.

"Is it supposed to be like that?" Seymour stares at the odd placement of the flowers. "I've never seen a plant that blooms in the same way."

"Yeah, this is normal." He's referring to how the trunk rather than the branches burst into little pink-and-white constellations of dime-sized starry blooms.

I first make a few more tubs and then use the tendrils on my arms to pollinate the flowers. Going from bottom to top, I encourage them to fruit and collect the ripe pods into the largest tub. Once it's full, I start opening the pods. Popping the beans into a second tub to be fermented, while everything else goes into a third to be decomposed.

"Are all Plantkin as good at nature magic as you?" The gardener is looking seriously jealous at how quickly and easily I'm doing this.

"From what I've read." I nod distractedly. "Never actually met another one before. Now, please let me focus, I haven't worked as much with yeast."

Pulling out the first pod again, I rub one of the pulpy seeds along its exterior. I don't have much control over something so small, but I know what yeast feels like. So, I home in on that feeling and guide the magic to just grow the wild yeasts.

Once my starter is good to go, it gets squeezed over the rest of the tub. Everything then gets stirred up as I drive the fermentation forward. This is a little more complex than making a loaf of bread, so I'm forced to rely on feelings and instinct to tell me when it's done.

"I think they're good." I pour the liquid off into another tub that gets stored away to kick start the next batch. "Amelia, can you help me dry these out? We're looking for just under seven percent moisture content."

"I can do that." She draws the excess water off while I stir the beans up.

"You're getting better." I compliment her spellcraft. "Those lessons with Apricot seem to be helping quite a bit."

"Thank you, but she deserves all the credit." Amelia smiles shyly.

"No, you're the one putting in the effort." Apricot shakes her head. "I'm just nudging you in the right direction."

"..." Amelia blushes. "The beans are ready."

"Thanks, that would have taken me much longer." I start storing everything, and then take a moment to top off my magic before tackling the tree. Just to be safe, I use the full incantation and somatic gestures. "Hmm? Thought it would be harder, storing that hog was much more difficult than this. Of course, I was in a rush to get away from the wolves at the time."

"That reminds me." Amelia speaks up as we start back to the kitchens, leaving Seymour and Mira dumbstruck in our wake. "We still need to sell the ones you caught and those furs."

"Hopefully, whatever Elise wants won't take all day. I know I need to take it easy, but I'd still like to explore the city a bit." I pause for a second and change course around the building. "Hold up for a bit, someone is playing with Blackthorne."

We walk around to the stables, but I don't sense Stormie, or see our wagon anywhere around. Even sending out a pulse of magic looking for a resonance in its planks gives me nothing. What I do see is a young stable hand goofing around with my staff.

"Amelia, your brother is a little shit. He stole our wagon." Apricot and I start laughing as she promises to enact a dire retribution on him. I then turn to the kid who still hasn't noticed us. "Boy! Did no one ever tell you that you should ask permission before playing with another man's staff?"

"Hah!" Apricot barks out and Temmie *Dings* when the kid jumps a mile and drops Blackthorne like it burnt him.

"S-s-sir." He drops to his knees. "I'm so sorry sir."

"Don't worry about it kid, I just didn't want you getting hurt." The staff jumps into my hand. "Blackie here has a bit of a mind of his own."

"That was mean." Amelia says, but the smile on her face puts the lie to her words.

***