Venza screamed, her arms burning from exertion. They were outside the Manor, in the back garden, with one notable thing different: A brass, equal-arm weighing scale stood on one of the stone benches, its arms undulating up and down. One arm held three apples, while the opposite seemingly held nothing.

It was on this empty arm that Venza concentrated her Reach spell, trying to push the arm down with enough force to match the weight of the three apples. She let out a sigh of exasperation as the apple-bearing arm fell back down.

"I can hold two. Why can't I do one more!?!?" she yelled.

Aiela tossed her a towel, hitting her in the face. "You're simply not strong enough."

Venza nearly screeched, but managed to to contain it to a frustrated groan. "It's three apples! I could probably carry a whole sack!"

Well, maybe not a full sack. But definitely more than three apples. Despite her annoyance, she accepted the towel and wiped herself off.

"I meant the strength of your spell," Aiela said. "It seems you can only use a third of your strength, maybe less. And you can't really hold the spell steady."

Venza grunted. Even two apples had been hard to keep stable, but she could tell she was physically strong enough for that. The issue had been stopping the scale arms from tossing around like a ship in a storm long enough for them to observe.

"Is this even worth using?" Venza asked. "I feel I could just hit someone with a long stick to better effect."

"Actually, since you've discovered this rather barbaric application of Reach," Aiela began. "There is something I want to try. You remember that strength-enhancing spell I used?"

"To chop the apple?" Venza asked, then nodded. "I remember. You said you'd try it on me."

"Good a time as any," Aiela said. She pointed at a sack of grain nearby. "Can you lift that?"

"Yes, with effort," Venza admitted.

Aiela nodded. "Pick it up. I just want you to be able to compare the difference with and without the spell."

Venza did as asked, carefully squatting down and placing her hands on either side of the burlap sack. With a mighty effort, she slowly lifted the sack off the floor, rising from her squat in the process.

"Good," Aiela said. "Hold it steady while I cast the spell."

Venza nodded, arms starting to feel the strain. The mage girl placed a hand on her shoulder and a green light flowed from her to Venza. Suddenly, her arms didn't feel so heavy, and neither did the sack of grain.

"Now, remember," Aiela said, looking short of breath. "This is a botched version of this spell. The normal one strengthens you more and lasts longer."

Venza nodded. If this was weak, she couldn't wait to see how much the real thing strengthened her. "Can I put this down and try on the scales again?"

"Go. You only have three minutes. Best I can do right now."

She quickly (but carefully) put the sack back down, and refocused her mind on the empty arm of the scale. With renewed confidence, she prepared to move the arm with her power.

The arm moved down despite the absence of physical touch, pulling up the opposite arm that held three apples. Just as the two arms were about to even out, the apple-bearing arm suddenly fell back down.

Groaning, she tried again. And again. And again. Until she felt the magical strength leaving her arms after three minutes had passed.

"Interesting," Aiela said, looking thoughtful.

"I'm so glad you find my failure interesting," Venza jabbed at her.

"Well, specifically, I find the failure of the spell to affect Reach in any meaningful way interesting," Aiela said. "Reach should scale with your physical strength but clearly this spell has no effect on it. But which part is causing the failure?"

"Meaning?" Venza asked. She was pretty sure she was keeping up, but it didn't hurt to make sure.

"I can't tell if it's because I'm not casting the spell properly or if the nature of the spell itself is why it doesn't work." Aiela shrugged. "We'll need to try again in the future. I'm willing to bet it's the latter, though. Bear Strength, the spell I'm casting, grants you strength directly. Reach is likely not counting it as your own strength."

"So you mean another spell might work?" Venza asked.

"If the spell boosted your strength indirectly," Aiela said, nodding. "Like by making you larger or having more muscle mass."

"Is there any other way I can make it stronger?"

"You'll get better with practice," Aiela assured her. "The more you use a spell the better you get at it. It might be a pain, but you can't tell me you don't see the merit in being able to strike stealthily from a distance."

"I suppose you're right," Venza grumbled. "Plant the seed now and wait for it to blossom in a few years."

"That reminds me," Aiela said. "Were you serious about that?"

Venza quirked a brow at her brown-haired companion. "Serious about what?"

"That I could get a plot in the garden to myself," Aiela answered.

"Of course you can," Venza answered. Not that she'd cleared the matter with her parents yet, but she was sure space for a flowerbed or a few plants wouldn't be out of the question.

"You promise?" Aiela asked with an uncharacteristically bright expression.

Venza couldn't say no to that. "Of course!"

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Aiela said, grinning brighter than Venza had ever seen.

"It's no problem. What are you going to plant?" she asked, returning the girl's smile.

"A tree," Aiela answered, maintaining her tone and expression.

Venza's expression fell as she noticed the mischievous glint in the girl's eyes. Had she just gotten played? "O-oh, that's uh-"

"It'll be pretty wide," Aiela continued. "Though I don't think it will grow too high."

A knot formed in Venza's stomach. What had Aiela gotten her to agree to? Actually, worse. Aiela had gotten her to promise. Gods help her.

She didn't know much about trees, or plants in general, for that matter. "What kind of tree?"

Aiela took a moment to answer her question. "That's a bit difficult to explain."

That piqued her interest. "Why? I thought you would know all about plants, considering everything I've seen from you so far."

"I should clarify," Aiela answered. "I think it would be difficult to explain to you."

She was about to ask if Aiela thought she was dumb, then remembered how she'd worked unknown magic on the plants at the farm. "Is this related to what you did before?"

"For Kevin and Marie's farm, yes," Aiela confirmed. "The rest, too."

It bothered her that Aiela could remember their names when she couldn't. She'd long given up on being able to remember every person she met, but clearly Aiela had a knack for it.

"Do you think you could try to explain it to me?" Venza asked, since no doubt her mother and father would at the very least be curious. More likely, they'd ask for a lot of details Venza wasn't sure she could provide.

Aiela considered, then shrugged. "In the simplest terms, it'll be a tree that grows other plants."

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"I- what? How does that even work?"

"I don't have perfect control over my spell yet," Aiela answered. "It'll take plenty of trial and error to hone my technique, but it would take too long if I had to wait for crops to grow normally whenever I make adjustments."

Venza kind of understood that, she supposed, but something sounded fishy. "But you can make this special tree?"

"I think so, maybe. Probably," Aiela answered. "I've been tinkering with the design for a while now. I've probably been working on this for a year. I was going to plant it in Oma's garden, but-" she trailed off.

There was an accusing look in her eyes, as if it was Venza's fault she was here instead of her Oma's hut. Venza recognized the attempt at manipulation quite easily, having used it herself once or twice. She wouldn't fall for it.

"In the unlikely case you mess up," Venza began, trying to be careful. "We wouldn't have some kind of walking monster tree on our hands, would we?"

"Oh that's not possible," Aiela said. "For one, a monster is an animal with magical affinity, so by definition, a tree can't be a monster."

"Aiela-"

Aiela ignored her, continuing. "And getting a plant, let alone a tree, to walk would require so much altering I wouldn't be able to achieve that for many years."

Venza groaned. "Alright, alright. I'll go talk to my parents about it, whenever father comes back."

Lucius was off on an errand for the Emperor and Venza didn't fancy her chances of getting anywhere with just her mother to talk to.

"Thank you, again," Aiela said, no longer as unnaturally chipper as she had been.

"I knew it!" Venza exclaimed. "You were faking the big-eyed happy act."

"I'm hurt, Venza," Aiela answered, smirking. "I really am happy you've promised to let me plant my tree in the back."

Venza sighed. Whatever. It was likely Aiela's project would benefit Astamarr anyway.

----------------------------------------

The next morning, at breakfast, Venza found only herself, Aiela, and a healthy spread of bread and sliced ham.

"Just us?" Aiela asked.

"Mother apparently left instructions that she wished to sleep in," Venza explained. She'd just heard the same thing from one of the maids not five minutes before.

"Ah," Aiela responded.

A surprising silence spread over the table as they ate their breakfast. Perhaps it was because they'd spent so much time together recently, but Venza couldn't think of anything to talk about. She wasn't particularly fond of discussing the weather.

"What kind of climate does Astamarr have?" Aiela suddenly asked.

"Seriously?" Venza responded.

"Yes," Aiela said. "I'm growing a tree. I need to know."

"We've only got two seasons," Venza answered, sighing. "It's either hot as heck or raining like there's no tomorrow."

"So just like Rantori," Aiela mused to herself. “If a bit warmer.”

"I'm surprised you're so interested in plants," Venza said. "I mean you're a very talented mage. I would have thought you'd mostly be interested in magic."

"I'm definitely interested in learning more magic," Aiela admitted. "But that doesn't mean I can't have other interests. Besides, my interest in plants and animals is related to my interest in magic. I mean, what about you?"

"What about me?" Venza asked, having an inkling she knew where this line of questioning was headed.

"You can't only be interested in things that would make you a great warrior someday," Aiela said.

"Well, yeah," Venza answered, finding herself very interested in her breakfast all of a sudden.

"Indulge me, then," Aiela pressed. "What would Venza Greyfield like to do, if she wasn't so focused on becoming a worthy Heir to her father?"

Venza considered. Did she really have anything she was interested in besides learning her father's work? She continued pretending to find her breakfast fascinating as she thought.

Then she realized she wasn't pretending. Not really. "Bread."

"What?" Aiela asked, her turn to be confused for once.

"I've always kind of been interested in bread. Baking it, I mean," Venza said. "I guess if I wasn't so focused on statecraft and the art of war, I'd have liked to open my own bakery."

"And yet you've never been to the kitchen," Aiela said evenly.

"I have!" Venza protested.

"Not before that day you brought me there," Aiela responded. "It was pretty obvious."

"I'm just too busy," Venza said. "I have to focus."

"Having a goal's all well and good, but you need to do things you like, too."

Venza considered that. It didn't sound wrong, but- "Things aren't that simple. I've got my work cut out for me. I'm a girl, after all. A woman being in charge of the Odolenian military is unheard of. Unless-" Venza trailed off. There was one way a woman could command soldiers in Odolenia, but that seemed to be a path she couldn't walk.

"Ah," Aiela said, nodding in understanding. "Unless you were a powerful mage like your mother."

Venza nodded. "Powerful mages can have positions in the military regardless of gender, due to how rare powerful mages are. I've never heard of one being Lord Marshall but in theory it's possible."

Aiela seemed to be in deep thought, because she took nearly twenty seconds to answer. "Why go to all the trouble then? Why walk such a difficult path? You’re a noblewoman. You could just marry a military man and have him lead."

"It's what I want to do with my life," Venza said without hesitation. "To serve and protect the people who've trusted my family for generations. It wouldn’t be the same."

"But your goal borders on unattainable," Aiela said matter-of-factually, which hit Venza like a knife in the chest. "Why not pick a more achievable goal? Even Oma knows to pick her battles, despite all her power."

"It's my dream," Venza answered honestly. "The thing I want to pursue most in life. People always tell me I only get one life so I should do what I want with it, so why not go for what I really want, you know?"

Aiela's mouth opened, then closed before she opened it again to answer. "Sometimes I feel like I'm living a dream already."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Venza asked.

"I don't remember my life before Oma," Aiela stated.

"Well, you would've been a baby," Venza pointed out.

"But I get flashes," Aiela continued. "Sometimes, of the place I think I came from."

"What's it like?" Venza asked. She'd long concluded Aiela probably hadn't been born in Oma Mala's care, but she kept that to herself.

Aiela seemed to hesitate, then said, "I remember water."

"Like a lake? Or near an ocean?" Venza asked. Odolenia was largely inland, but its northwest edge touched the ocean.

"Not like that," Aiela said. "I was submerged in it."

"So you dreamed you were swimming?"

"No. It's hard to explain," Aiela said, taking her glass of water and placing it between them. "It felt like I was trapped in a giant glass of water."

"A recurring nightmare where you're drowning?" Venza asked, concerned.

"I don't know," Aiela admitted. "I don't think so, but whenever I see it, I feel like I'm just lucky to be here, and not in there. Though at the same time I feel like I'm living on borrowed time."

"Maybe you should learn to swim," Venza suggested. "There's a pond nearby. Maybe it'll make the dreams go away if you can move around in water."

To her surprise, Aiela smiled. "Alright. It's not a bad idea. I've got one to solve your problem, too."

"You do?"

"It's pretty simple. If your parents won't give you the opportunity to prove yourself, go find it on your own. You just need to make people see you're worthy of leading them," Aiela suggested. "I can help with that."

"How? Like you said, Father won't give me a chance to prove myself."

Aiela's eyes went to her own hands, which she opened and closed for emphasis. "Once we've grown a bit, we can make chances ourselves. I've kind of already started."

Venza considered that. "You mean by helping the people of Astamarr?"

Aiela nodded. "Prove to the people you'll govern that you can aid and protect them."

Venza's eyes lit up. "You're right! You're a genius!"

Aiela inclined her head gracefully, accepting the compliment without a word.

Venza's brows furrowed. "Are you really the same girl I met in Ren- Rantori?"

"Of course I am," Aiela said, giving Venza a look that seemed to wonder if she was deranged. "Who else would I be? I just have a goal now."

"What goal?"

Aiela smirked. "That's for me to know." Maintaining her smirk, she picked up her mug of hot chocolate and raised it. "To the future defenders of Astamarr."

Venza blinked, then grinned back at her, taking her own cup of orange juice. "To the future defenders of Astamarr!"