Aiela baffled Venza. It went without saying, really, but more than the peculiarities of her upbringing and her prodigious affinity for magic, which at least seemed to go hand-in-hand, Venza wondered about the girl's seemingly paradoxical view of people.

The girl clearly harbored distrust if not outright disdain for the ruling class of Odolenia, citing that lords seldom actually took care of the people they governed. On the other hand, she didn't seem to get along with the common people, either. She didn't seem to hate commoners. She just sort of… didn't acknowledge their presence aside from the helpers at the house.

"That's a little unfair, don't you think?" Aiela asked when Venza brought it up one afternoon after another failed magic lesson. They were seated in the back garden, shielded from the scorching sun by the shade of a large, deciduous tree.

"How so?" Venza asked, doing her best not to be distracted by what she was seeing.

Aiela was in the middle of 'playing with her magic' as she termed it, manipulating a bit of garden soil into the shape of a minute horse without touching it. Apparently, her Oma had taught her that using her magic every day regardless of why would enhance her control over it. Neither Venza nor her mother had heard such a thing, but if the greatest witch of all time told you something about magic, you didn't just ignore it.

"You say I don't acknowledge people outside the manor, but you can't even remember the staff's names," Aiela pointed out as she fiddled with the horse head. Her tone was flat, not quite annoyed, but confident she was correct.

"But the few times we've gone out, you haven't so much as greeted the people we meet!" Venza protested. "Also I think the snout should be longer."

"Because I do not know them, and they do not know me," Aiela countered, though she seemed to acknowledge the horse's snout needed work, adjusting it with her magic. "You can greet them because you are the daughter of their lord."

Oh. Right. That made sense. Venza grinned. "Well, we can fix that right now."

"How?" Aiela asked, deadpan, leaving her mud horse alone for a moment. "Are you going to parade me around town and introduce me as your new servant?"

"No, silly. I'm going to parade you around town as my new friend."

"Semantics." Aiela closed her eyes, seemingly deep in thought, and then she exhaled. "Fine. Where to?"

"Was there anywhere you wanted to go?" Venza asked. "I haven't really shown you around."

"Well, there are a few places."

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Aiela wanted to grab a bite at the local pub. Aiela wanted to see the view from atop the wall surrounding Verdeholm. Aiela wished to visit the large Oak tree in the middle of the town that served as the only site of cultural or historic significance in all of Verdeholm.

These were all ideas Venza could have wrapped her head around, but instead Aiela had asked Venza, heir of House Greyfield which ruled Astamarr and its constituent lands, to bring her to a farm.

And so, Venza escorted her to the first farm outside the town walls. It was modest, with golden wheat fields protected by thin wooden fences short enough that an adult could climb over them with effort.

Of course, they'd had to leave via the gate, which meant one of the guards, upon recognizing Venza, insisted on tagging along as an escort.

"You really didn't have to come," Venza told him as they approached the farm.

"If he didn't and something happened to you, your father would kill him," Aiela said casually.

The guard coughed to cover up his nerves, but simply said, "Nonsense, Miss Venza. It's no trouble at all."

"Can't blame him, really," Aiela added, smirking. "Last time you wandered off on your own, you met and brought home a witch."

Venza rolled her eyes, but gave no response. Instead, she asked the guard with them if he'd be willing to make introductions, since he probably knew the farmers better than anyone else in their little party.

"Of course," he said, waving to the male farmer. "Hey, Tony!"

The man, who'd been bent over inspecting his crops stood at hearing his name. He wore simple cloth garbs suited for hard labor, Venza could see. He waved at the guard. "Hey, Kevin! I didn't know you had kids."

"Oh, uh, these aren't mine, actually," the guard said. "This is, uh-"

"I'm Venza," Venza provided. "And this is my friend, Aiela."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Venza?" the farmer repeated. "Venza. Where have I heard that name before? Well, pleased to meet ya, young lady."

“She’s-” the guard, Kevin began but Venza cut him off by gesturing for him not to say. He nodded.

"Is Marie around?" Kevin asked instead.

"Yeah, she's over in the shed. Why?"

Venza didn't have an answer to that. She didn't really know why they were here in the first place. Aiela hadn't deigned to enlighten her yet.

"I was hoping to get a look at your plants," Aiela answered. There wasn't a hint of shyness in her voice. "And I think it's best if you were both present."

"What's going on here, Kevin?" Tony asked. "This some kinda prank to get me back after that night at the pub?"

"If it is, I'm as clueless as you are," Kevin answered, deadpan.

"Why do you-" Venza started to ask, but Aiela had already started to answer.

"I'm a Nature mage, you see," Aiela spoke.

She was also several other kinds of mage, but if Aiela didn't feel like sharing, Venza wouldn't, either.

As if to emphasize, Aiela waved her hand, and a patch of grass grew at her feet with an alarming speed. "I wanted to see if I could help out a bit."

Tony and Kevin both stared at the brown-haired girl with wide eyes. Venza counted a full ten seconds before Tony spoke again. "I'll- I'll go get my wife."

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Aiela had them guide her to a patch of turnips they'd planted that morning. "It's easier to influence the growth of seeds and plants still growing," she explained, to a mystified crowd consisting of Tony, his wife Marie, Kevin the guardsman, and Venza.

"And you can really make them grow bigger, Miss Aiela?" Marie asked. She was a stocky woman with pretty features and hands calloused by a life of hard work.

"Bigger, taller, just producing more food in general," Aiela muttered as she knelt over the turnips. "All possible."

There was a pause as Aiela closed her eyes, and Venza guessed she was using her imagination to trigger her magic. Then, shortly after, Aiela spoke the spell's name to invoke it: "Modify Gene."

A cloud of green mist seemingly seeped out of Aiela's outstretched palm, embedding itself into the soil beneath.

"Was that it?" Venza asked. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't that.

"They're seeds," Aiela said flatly. "I'll check up on them in a few weeks, when they've grown. If this batch is a success, we can take their seeds and start producing these enhanced turnips all over Astamarr."

"If?" Venza echoed.

"Gene modification isn't an exact science," Aiela answered. "Not yet."

"I don't know half the words you just said."

"Er, just trust me on this," Aiela said. "And if it turns out poorly, you can compensate Tony and Marie for their loss."

"Wait, what?"

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Aiela visited two more farmsteads after that, repeating the process of explaining her work before casting "Modify Gene" on any freshly-planted crops the owners consented to.

"You know, it's rare for me to hear you say a spell's name out loud," Venza observed. They'd returned to Astamarr proper, walking the path back to the manor.

Aiela glanced at her with a confused expression and simply answered, "I can do the most basic spells without uttering a word. For anything stronger, not so much."

"But you still didn't chant an incantation," Venza pointed out.

Aiela favored her with a look that said 'Ah, you're more perceptive than I thought.'

"I can omit the incantation, but still need the spell's name to trigger it at the end for the majority of non-basic spells," she explained. "I'll probably get better with time, but I kind of like the limitation."

"Why's that?"

Aiela's face was impassive. "It gives me a second to stop myself from doing things I might regret. With the kind of power I have, it's hard to say what's right or wrong sometimes. When I've fully grown into my power, I could kill a grown man with a thought."

Venza considered her words. "Well, my grandpa always said you can never really say what's right or wrong. But if you listen to your heart, you'll get there, one way or another."

That drew a chuckle from the mage girl's mouth. "Pretty words, but are they true?"

"I think so," Venza said. "Why'd you want to use your spell on those farms, anyhow?"

"I used to work on Oma's garden," Aiela explained.

"The manor has gardens," Venza suggested. "Maybe we could clear out a plot you could use."

"Maybe," Aiela replied, noncommittal, though Venza could have sworn there was a gleam in her eyes. She wondered what kind of plants Aiela would grow. Perhaps she could have a plot in the back garden since Venza spent a lot of time there, anyway.

Actually, she was pretty sure she could convince her parents to give permission. It would probably make Aiela happy.

As they entered the main hall of Greyfield Manor, Venza spotted a familiar, gray-haired figure at the foot of the stairs with his back turned to them. Venza grinned, focused her mind, and called upon the spell Reach. She made a light tapping gesture with her hand, giving the man a gentle nudge from several meters away.

The figure turned his head, hand going to the hilt of his blade. He relaxed as he saw her. "Little Venza, is that you?"

Venza beamed. "Grandpa!”