Amelia poked at the wall the tool shed was built against. It was solid, just like the last time she checked. But if you went inside, there was a doorway that opened into the new pantry that should occupy the very space she was currently standing in.

When the kitchen had appeared, the cottage had noticeably grown. You could walk its circumference (the parts that were cleared of the undergrowth, at least), and see it was about double the size it had been. When Amelia had first arrived, it was just a roughly square, one-room building. The fireplace to the right as you entered the door. The small cupboard seemed to be inside the back wall, but it was hard to tell how thick that wall was, to begin with, so maybe that was okay.

Not that any of this bothered her. After she met Whisper, she knew that odd things would happen here. Meeting Alder, then Lark. The things that had appeared in the cottage when she asked for them. Clearly this wasn't a normal cottage.

She shrugged. It didn't seem to be hurting anything, and she did need the pantry space. Operation Berry JamFest had been a resounding success, and she had many jars of yummy goodness to store. Even after she gave away several jars to Sandy, Monty, and Maisie, there was too much to stack around the cottage safely.

So okay. Here was good evidence that the cottage could not just furnish itself and resize itself. It could ignore the laws of physics. Well, maybe the laws were just guidelines around here?

About then, Lark flew gracefully into the yard, warbling a cute little good morning tune. She circled Amelia, then landed on the thatched roof of the shed.

"Hi, Lark! How are you today?"

"I am well, young Caretaker! I see you have emerged from your labors with the berries, finally. Were you successful?" asked the bird. Her voice, as always, was high-pitched but each word crisp and melodic.

"It was, thanks!" replied Amelia. "I filled tons of jars and stacked them up. Then the cottage made me a new pantry that should be right here, but isn't!"

Lark eyed where Amelia was standing, which was right next to the shed. There obviously was no pantry there. She cocked her head to the other side to look with her other eye, then hopped along the edge of the roof to get a perspective from a different angle. Still no pantry.

Then the Lark let forth a strange trill, sounding somewhat similar to the music she had made to part the bushes several days ago. As then, she leaned into it, like she had to force the notes from her beak against some strong resistance.

After the music stopped, she cocked her head left-to-right, then right-to-left. She nodded in satisfaction.

"Yes, I see it now. The cottage is very clever in how it uses space. Very efficient."

Amelia looked where the bird seemed to be looking, but still saw nothing.

"Okay. If you say so. I'm not complaining, but it seems like magic to me!" she said.

Lark turned her left eye to face the young caretaker.

"Hmmm. Perhaps so. Were you not taught such things before being sent here?"

Amelia shook her head. "Gran taught me some gardening, and I guess you could call it groundskeeping. And canning and such. But I'm pretty sure she doesn't know any magic."

"Hmm. I see. You will need to know many things to be a successful Caretaker. I cannot teach you all you need, but will share what I know. If you are willing to study and practice hard."

"I finished school already! I thought I was done with studying!" Amelia pouted slightly. She loved learning -- it was the homework that she never particularly relished.

"One should always seek to learn, no matter what one has accomplished previously. The world is large, and there is more to know than any one person can master." said the bird.

"I guess so. But so much of school was boring! I want to do things! Can you teach me to do things?" asked Amelia.

Lark eyed her potential new student for a bit, then bobbed her head.

"I believe so. As I said before, as Caretaker, you will need certain skills to adequately perform your duties. I can show you some of what I know, and Alder can also teach you."

"Thank you!" squealed Amelia. "I really appreciate it! Can we start now?"

Lark again eyed Amelia with her left eye, then turned her head to see her with her right.

"Of course. No better time than the present."

The bird hopped along the edge of the roof to be closer to the girl.

"Magic, as you call it, is the knack of convincing the world that it should be different than it is. There are many ways to go about it. My way is with song. I have heard you whistle. You should be able to learn a few words in that language. It will get you started on the path."

"Whistling? Sure! That sounds way more fun than integration or verb conjugation!"

"Once you have learned the essentials to communicate, then comes the hard part--persuading reality to bend to your request. But one has to start somewhere."

Lark gave a short, rolling trill, followed by a high peep. "That is a polite greeting. Try it."

Amelia wet her lips and tried to imitate the sounds.

"Good! That was close. Listen and try again!" Lark nodded and repeated just the first few notes. Amelia whistled along, being corrected by the patient bird when she went wrong.

Amelia was so enraptured with the practice that she barely noticed the time fly by, and it wasn't until her tummy rumbled loudly that she realized they had been working for several hours. It was well past noon.

She felt something, like some sort of connection with the music, but it just didn't seem to click. Her mouth ached from all the whistling, and it was definitely time for a break.

"I'm sorry, Lark, but I need to stop for a bit. Is it okay if we stop for lunch?" she asked.

"Of course! This is not an easy thing to learn, but you are a very enthusiastic student. I am sure you will master this shortly. Let us break for now, and try again later."

Lark fluttered down from her perch to land on Amelia's shoulder. The pair went around to the front of the cottage and in through the front door, where they found Whisper hovering in front of the new pantry door, looking just a tinge guilty.

"Whisper! Have you been trying to get to the jam again? You know it made you sick after you ate that whole jar yesterday!" Amelia scolded.

The little wisp looked chastised but managed to convey through its glow that it was still hungry.

"I think I've been feeding you too much sugar, you little cutey. Maybe a salad or something healthy would be better." Amelia said. She hadn't been eating any vegetables herself, beyond the few tins she had found.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Most of the people that lived in the village nearby grew their own produce and shared between themselves. So Sandy rarely stocked much -- nobody needed it. Amelia had already purchased most of the canned vegetables that had been available, and they had long since been used up for pasties.

"I need to plant a garden. Although I don't know much about gardening. Gran taught me how to weed, pick, and process, but I never visited when she was planting. I don't think I know the first thing about it, actually! I'll have to ask someone in the village, I suppose" she thought out loud. "But if I'm gonna stay here, it'd be nice to have fresh veg."

"That is a fine idea, Caretaker. Forming connections with growing things is very much a part of your job here, and you could learn much from it." Lark twittered.

Amelia finished constructing her sandwich and put out a plate for Lark and Whisper to share from. As if on cue, Blue and Beige also popped in through the broken window pane, looking eagerly at the spread.

"Hey, you two! Come in, there is plenty!" the girl said. She sliced off another piece of bread from the loaf and crumbled it up on the plate.

It amused her as she watched the birds and Whisper gather around the tin plate, far larger than any of them, and shared the food. They were very polite to each other and took turns. They even made sure that no one took all the best bits, pointing out the choice morsels to each other as they ate.

Amelia demolished her jam sandwich. Homemade jam and fresh bread was a hard combination to beat!

Once everyone had had their fill, Amelia collected the tin plates and washed them in the sink, then propped them on the counter to dry. She didn't have a dish rack yet, but since she only had a few dishes, it didn't matter.

She worked her lips for a moment, pursing them and opening her mouth repeatedly. She was still sore from the lessons earlier. It would take a while to build up her whistling muscles if she wanted to be able to follow along with Lark for very long at all!

"Lark, I'm sorry, but I think I'm too sore to practice more for today. Can we continue tomorrow? I'm afraid my lips are going to fall off!" she said sheepishly.

"Of course! One can't expect mastery on the very first day. We will continue to practice as you perform your daily tasks. And we will take it a bit slower. A little bit done with consistency always beats a huge effort done sporadically."

"Good! I think if we do much more like this morning I might not be able to smile or talk, and that would be terrible!" said Amelia.

There was a knock at the front door, which surprised everyone.

Amelia went and opened it. Then had to look down to see the person that had knocked.

It was a tiny goblin lady, with pointy ears, pale skin, and pointy teeth. In a bad light, she might have looked scary, but in the bright daylight the little goblin was clearly friendly.

Of course, the apron, gardening gloves, and kerchief wrapped around her head made her look quite a bit like how Amelia's Gran had looked, which helped her to not look so threatening.

"Can I help you?" asked Amelia after a moment. She realized she had been staring.

The goblin wrung its gloved hands together, standing on one foot to rub the other foot on the back of her leg.

"Did somebody order a garden? Only, I was minding my own business, repotting one of my plants, when suddenly I'm here, instead of there, sort of thing. Wouldn't mind an explanation, now, if anyone had one?" The goblin's voice was a little gravelly, and had an odd little hiss and whistle as she spoke, like she was overinflated and the excess air was escaping.

"Oh! I said I wanted a garden! The cottage must have made it happen! It does that sometimes! I had no idea it would take someone else's! I'm so sorry!"

The goblin cocked her head at Amelia -- the gesture looked so much like Lark that Amelia had to stifle a giggle.

"The cottage did it you just say? The cottage? Okay, okay, that's a new one. Not a problem, not a problem as such. Not what I had on the schedule, not for today." the creature glanced around the clearing behind it, and peered into the cottage and at the group gathered there. She dug the big toe of her wide, flat, three-legged foot into the ground as she did.

"Seems like a nice place you got here, though! Tidy! I like that!" She nodded her head in approval.

"Well, come on! I'll show you around!"

The goblin turned and headed off to the side of the cottage. Amelia, Lark, Whisper, Blue, and Beige all came through the door and followed her.

Sure enough, in the corner of the yard near the well was now a fine little garden. It was fenced off with wattle panels that were about three feet high -- just about head height for the goblin. There was a little wooden gate, unpainted, which the goblin opened. She waited for Amelia to approach, then gestured her through.

"Come in! Come in! Let me show you around. By the way, names Briar, plants and gardening my specialty!" There was a proud and expectant look on her face as the group entered the garden.

Amelia gave a little curtsy, and said, "Hi Briar! Glad to meet you! I'm Amelia, the caretaker. This is Lark, my music teacher, and Whisper, the candy consumer extraordinaire. Those two over there are Blue and Beige. I don't know what they do, but they're nice. " Amelia pointed to each in turn as she named them. Whisper flashed slightly at the epithet, but seemed pleased nonetheless. Blue preened Beige's feathers.

"A pleasure, a pleasure indeed! Now watch where you walk. Stay on the path so we don't squish the soil around the plants. They don't like that."

The goblin pointed around the little garden area. Amelia immediately recognized cherry tomatoes, spring onions, and several other vegetables, all of which looked ripe and ready to pick. But the majority of the plants were unfamiliar. Some of them shimmered or sparkled slightly in the sunlight. One of them, looking vaguely like a large sunflower, slowly turned its eye-looking flower to track them as they wandered the garden. Several enormous furry bees hummed along while going about their business peacefully.

As Briar had indicated, there were several neat trails between the rows of plants, leading from the gate and throughout the area. Near the trail and next to each of the plants were small wooden stakes that had minuscule writing on them. Amelia stooped down to try to read one, but the letters were as alien as most of the plants were. The script was equally beautiful and organic looking, strangely enough, looking very much like twisting tendrils and vines drawn with ink.

Roughly in the center of the garden, but against one fence, was a low workbench shaded by a trellis that had several varieties of broad-leafed vines twined on it. The bench was quite cluttered and dirty, with an empty pot ready to receive a small blue flowering plant that was resting on some paper next to it.

"This is amazing! Did you do this all yourself?" Amelia asked.

The goblin hooked her thumbs in her apron and looked over the garden, beaming with pride. "Did at that, did at that! Gardenings one of my passions. I love to grow 'em, eat'em, and such".

She strode over and plucked a magnificent carrot out of the ground by its greens. She shook off the dirt, then broke it into pieces, offering the largest to Amelia, before passing the others to the birds and wisp.

There was the sound of crunching and chewing as everyone tried the treat.

"Wow! That is the best carrot I have ever had!" said Amelia in awe. She took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. It was great! Maybe not as wonderful as the berry from Lark's berry bush, but still one of the best vegetables she had ever eaten.

Whisper changed her glow from her usual pale green to a bright orange, flashing brightly. She seemed to enjoy the carrot, as well.

"Great aren't they! Most of the patch is herbs and medicinal plants, but everybody needs vegetables too. Feel free to help yourselves, just mind the paths, like I said" said Briar.

"I've gone some room left, haven't worked out what to plant yet. Want it to be something spectacular!" she indicated a parcel that had been prepped, but not yet sown.

"And that over there is my home. Lovely little spot, near my lovelies." The goblin pointed to a large bramble bush growing on a mound of dirt in the far corner. There was a burrow opening close to ground height, much too small for an adult human to enter, but just right for a small goblin to crawl in. The thorns had been carefully trimmed away around the entrance so they wouldn't snag or poke.

"Come take a peek! I tidied yesterday, so it isn't too much of a mess!" said the goblin as she walked over to the pile, bent down, and crawled in.

Lark flitted over to the entrance and landed, then hopped after Briar. Beige followed -- Blue seemed shy, and stayed on the fence. Whisper was next, buzzing in right after Beige, her glow still tinged with happy carrot orange.

Amelia knelt down carefully and poked her head in. She wasn't sure what to expect from a dirt burrow, but she was surprised at the inside.

The hole led into what looked like a mudroom. Spare aprons, boots, and tools were on pegs and shelves around the wood-paneled room. There was a ladder leading down through a goblin-sized hole which probably led to the living area.

"Oh! Oh my! I'm sorry, where is my head? There is no way you'll fit down here, young lady! I'm not used to guests your size. Maybe some other time, when you're smaller, hmmm?"

"Ok, sure!" said Amelia. She didn't plan on actually getting smaller in the future, but it seemed like the polite thing to agree to the offer.

"Why don't I nip down and put the kettle on, so we can have tea up in the garden? More room up there." suggested the gardener.

"Great! I'll wait out here!" Amelia said.

She carefully backed her head out of the hole, making sure not to catch her hoodie or hair on the brambles. A moment later, Lark and Whisper both flew out, while Beige stayed in to keep Briar company while she made the tea.

"A garden! Amazing! I didn't know the cottage could change things outside its walls! Well, I didn't know it could change things at all until recently, but wow!"

"It is indeed a very special cottage, Caretaker. It seems to have taken to you! You saw the state it was in after the last caretaker was here. They did not get along." the bird shuddered.

"Did you know that caretaker?"

"Yes. Best we do not dwell on that period of history. It is over now, and you are here. We are all much happier for it!"

Amelia blushed at the praise. She was glad to be here, and happy to find friends. A transforming cottage, talking birds and trees, and goblins in the garden were just icing on the cake!