"Hey, Flicker. Did you miss me?" Amelia goes to greet her horse after we leave everyone with a warning not to eat too many sweets. "Oh, I bet you did. I bet that mean ol' Ren-Ren didn't even brush you down properly."

"I know how to take care of horses." Lauren snorts in annoyance. "And, that is by paying someone else to do it for me."

"Heheh." I chuckle and hop up into the driver's seat on the carriage. "Don't worry, Amelia, Flicker is fine. But, I'm not sure we will be if Apricot is kept from her sweets for much longer." The pixie is practically vibrating in her seat in anticipation of the non-yucky licorice I'm going to make for her.

"It's not fair that you guys get candy that I can't have." She says with a pout.

"But, you get to eat mana stones when we can't." I counter. "How about I grow you a couple when we get home? I know you like how the ones I make taste."

"And, here I thought Amelia had expensive tastes." Lauren earns herself a swat on the arm from Amelia as they settle into the carriage.

"If you're done beating on your friend, can I borrow that magic book with the spark spell in it?" I ask after telling Flicker to take us into town. "Mel wants some glassware and that means I need a better fire."

"Ooh, we should have used that one on you last night." She hands the book over and laughs when I jump from the shock that hits me when our hands touch. "And, don't think that a little candy gets you off the hook for all the teasing you did to me yesterday." She conjures a small ball of water that quickly sinks into my pants without a trace only to start massaging my manhood.

"You've been practicing." I say with a cough. "I barely felt anything before you conjured that spark." As opposed to all that I'm feeling now.

"Oh, Apricot's a great tutor." She replies with a smile that is all 'cat that ate the canary'.

"Yes, yes she is." I swallow and open the magic book, knowing that I earned this for going overboard yesterday.

Despite trying my best, it took me until after we reached the market to learn the simple spell. With Apricot helping her, Amelia was able to keep me right on the edge for the whole trip. And, it was all I could do not to start groaning while the two of them were chatting with Lauren.

"This is the place we want." Amelia finally eases up, but doesn't stop entirely. fortunately, her control is good enough now, so that it doesn't look like I've wet myself. "They should have everything you need to make the candies."

"I don't see how you two aren't fat living with him." Lauren laughs as we all disembark from the carriage. Though, I do so rather stiffly while trying to hide my erection. "You nearly ate as much as Lianna did last night."

"Just a little trick that Apricot taught me." Amelia replies with a smile. "I can eat all I want now and just turn the excess into magic."

"Nnh, that is just not fair." Lauren whimpers. "I don't suppose you have a brother?" The elf looks at the pixie with hope in her eyes.

"Several, but you won't find them anywhere around here." She replies with a sad smile. "I'm only able to survive this close to the Deadlands thanks to the bond with Amelia. Though all of Sorrel's magic-filled food certainly doesn't hurt."

"And, we all had to have sex before the bond formed between them." I add only to regret it a second later when Amelia uses her magic to squeeze me tight.

"True, so feel free to head up to the teeth and offer yourself to any or all of my brothers." Apricot adds with a low laugh. "I'm sure they would love you."

"I think I'll have to pass on that." Lauren says with a blush on her face.

"Would you quit teasing her?" Amelia rolls her eyes. "Or, do we need to leave here without getting the extract?" That shut the pixie up.

"Oh, remind me to make some parchment paper when we get home." I tell Apricot while Amelia is haggling for the fruit extracts. "I didn't feel like messing around with it earlier, but I could use some if I'm going to be making a lot of licorice."

"Parchment paper?" Lauren raises an artfully sculpted eyebrow.

"Baking paper?" I ask to see if she's heard of that name for it. "Oh. Well, it's just like regular paper, but you melt the cellulose with acid a little before forming it into sheets. This makes it nonstick just like waxed paper, but doesn't require wax, which I only have a little bit of right now."

"Weren't you going to start raising bees?" Apricot asks while the elf mulls over my words. "I want some honey."

"Yeah, I need to buy a hive from a local beekeeper." I nod. "It's that or run all the way up to that one I found in the woods and collect them. Do you think I'll be able to keep them in storage? I've been able to store plants and simple life, but bees are pretty intelligent."

"If it were anyone else, I'd say no; it would just cost too much mana." she says after thinking it over for a second. "But, the way you can bypass the body's natural resistance, combined with the way you recharge from the sun means you shouldn't have any problem."

"Huh. Well, if I have trouble, I can always try feeding them some watered down healing sap." That lets me slip right past the resistance like it doesn't even exist.

"I seriously doubt that you'll need it." Apricot shakes her head. "Not unless you have to pull in several hives all at once. Hells, I'd be surprised if you needed it for anything short of a mammal. And, even then you could probably handle something small."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Well, I don't want to mess around with anything more intelligent than insects." Just the idea of keeping a menagerie of living creatures in storage creeps me out. "How would you feel if you were just going about your day and some crazy mage kidnapped you."

"Depends on the mage." She purrs.

"If you two are done scaring Lauren and the shop clerk with talk of insane magic." Amelia teases. "I've got the extracts, and I want to see what you can make out of them just as much as Apricot."

"What? It's not like I could put a person in there." I smirk right up until she starts getting a little rough with the magic water.

"Just make the candy already." She rolls her eyes and leads the way out of the shop.

"Yes, Ma'am." I follow her back outside and am about to climb back into the driver's seat when she takes it and points to the back.

"I'll guide us, you make that candy." She reiterates her words with one last squeeze before dropping her devilish spell.

"I think you'd better do as she says." Apricot says with a sly smile as tiny sparks dance along her fingers.

"Why did I have to take up with the two most sweets obsessed women in the country?" I bemoan my fate all while mixing up a batch of strawberry flavored licorice.

"It would seem that you're just lucky." Lauren answers with a laugh.

...

I get a few different batches made by the time we get to the Rialta's warehouse. Amelia even got me a bottle of licorice extract, but I didn't want to bother Apricot's nose again right away, so it just got stored away for later.

"Alright, I really do have to get those bees soon; I am officially out of honey." I start putting everything away as we pull up to the warehouse. "I'll try a few different syrups later, including ones made from the fruit juice itself. Though, I'll probably have to use less extract in those batches."

"Mhm." Apricot tries to reply, but her teeth are stuck together because she just stuck a piece of each different flavor into her mouth at once.

"I'm pretty sure that was a 'good idea'." Amelia translates with a laugh before turning around to greet her parents. "Mommy, Daddy." She cries out and rushes her them to pull them both into a big hug.

"Hahaha. Amy-girl, what's the special occasion?" Turner laughs and messes up his little girl's hair.

"What, can I just want to see my family? Look, we even brought snacks." She dances back over to pry the candy out of Apricot's arms.

"Yes, and you definitely don't have that 'I want something' look on your face." Roddy teases and snatches up a couple of licorice chews before his sister can pull the tray away. "Speaking of wanting something, I wanted to grease the wheels on that wagon, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to get at the hub."

"That's because Sorrel made it as one piece, you little thief." Amelia swats him on the arm.

"You told us that she said it was alright to take." Kaitlyn hits him on the other arm.

"Don't worry about it, it gave me the chance to make an upgrade. And... there." I reached out with my magic to reshape the wood of our old wagon; it's holding up pretty well, but Roddy was right, it does need to be greased. "You can remove the wheels from the wagon now."

"Thank you." Amelia's mom smiles up at me. "But, come on in to the office, you too, Lauren. Oh, these are delicious." She adds after trying a cherry-flavored chew. "Then maybe Amelia will tell us what she really wants." We chuckle a bit at the pout that forms on her daughter's face.

"I think she did just want to see you guys again, but I was hoping you might be able to direct me to a property agent or know of someone who is trying to sell inside the city." I explain as we all head up to their office. "Someone tried to break into the alchemy lab last night and I want to get it off of the farm."

"Don't worry, everyone is fine." Amelia jumps to reassure them. "Apricot spotted him as soon as he got close and Sorrel wrapped him up tight for the guard to drag away."

"And, Amelia slept through the whole thing." Apricot, who has just gotten her teeth unstuck, decides to tease her lover.

"That sounds like our Amy-girl." Turner laughs it off, but I can still see the worry in his eyes. "I'm sorry, we don't know anyone who's selling right now, but I can give you introductory letters for a few middlemen in that field."

"Thank you." I nod my head to the man. "It was this, or we just start walking around, looking for 'for sale' signs."

"You could always just ask the Baron." Roddy interjects. "I sure he would be able to point you to the perfect place."

"True, but I didn't want to impose." I shrug. "Erick and his family have already done so much to help me out since I got here. That, and I'm a little afraid that he'd just try to gift it to me like he did the farm."

"Heh. That does sound like something he would do." Turner chuckles. "So, how is the rubber business going?"

"Good, we should be able to ramp up production soon. Melanie has been running all the tests we need; at least she was until we started branching out into pseudo silk production." I take the spool of thread from earlier and weave it into a simple square of cloth. "That's why Lauren is with us today, she's going to show me around the clothing district."

"S-silk?" Kaitlyn's eyes light up as she fingers with the smooth fabric. "I was going to ask about the chocolate, but..." She trails off and just gestures to the cloth.

"Oh, I still need to set up a partnership with some dairy farmers before I can expand the chocolate production." It's been on my to-do list but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. "And, this isn't true silk. It's just made from cotton with a bit of alchemy."

"Are you going to trip over a rock and stumble into a gold mine next?" Roddy lets out an exasperated sigh. "You sure do know how to pick them, Amy."

"Well, I planning to head into the grasslands to gather up some stone soon, so anything's possible." I reply with a laugh. "And speaking of picking people, how are things going with Ashley?"

"What's that? Someone's calling for me on the floor, I'd better go." He ducks out of the office to the sound of our laughter.

"Oh, that boy." Kaitlyn shakes her head with a sigh. "But, enough about him. Tell me everything about this." She waves the cloth around like a flag.

"Oh, it's called Rayon back home." I start explaining about the reconstituted fiber. "To make it you just melt down cellulose and force it out of a spinneret. We're using cotton to simplify things, but you could get the same stuff from wood with some extra steps."

"You can melt down trees and turn them into this?" Amelia's mother looks at me askance. "I know alchemists can do some wild stuff, but that's a new one for me."

"Oh, I'm no alchemist, I just know a few tricks from back home." I smile ruefully. "This is practically child's play compared to some of the stuff they could do."

"And, how long until this child's play is in full production." Turner asks with coins in his eyes.

"Depends how long it takes me to find a new spot for the lab and a weaver and seamstress to partner with." I shrug my shoulders again, not able to give any more concrete of an answer than that. "Then there's everything that needs to be built and enchanted. Ugh. I just wanted Apricot and Amelia to have some nice clothes, now I have a whole other business to build."

"That's how it works sometimes." Amelia's father says with a chuckle. "One day you just want to do something nice for your girl and then, before you know it, you're running a business with them." He puts an arm around his wife.

"Mmm." She smiles up at him. "Alright, as much as I want to spend time with my little Amy, but we've got a client coming soon and you've got a property and partners to find... Just, uh, leave a few of these candies behind."

"I thought you'd say that." I bring out a hinge top jar I made along the way and fill it with an assortment of different flavors. "Don't worry, Apricot, I'll make plenty more for you." I add when she starts to pout.

"You'd better." She warns with her most serious face.

***