Atraeya fell into a routine by now. Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, do the dishes, and head outside. She made sure to grab the bag of seeds. Inside it were all kinds of different seeds. All in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Gramps must have really gotten the bottom of the barrel if they couldn't have even bothered to sort out the seeds.

She groaned. This was going to be much more work than she thought. Still, she worked. Gramps was here this time, so anyone who came looking for him, which was a lot, she could direct inside.

As such, it came as a surprise when a group of kids her age and younger timidly came up to her, and asked for her, specifically. "Are you Atraeya?" a brown haired, green-eyed, mousy looking boy asked. Most of them seemed to have basket in their hands.

"Yeah. Who are you guys?"

"I'm Poe. This is Menor, Firo, Sebena, and Caldrin. Let's go play! You haven't gone to the forest yet, right?" How those kids knew that escaped her. And she did need to go there to find some wood for her wand. But she also had seeds to plant.

Atraeya glanced down at the bag of seeds. It was about halfway empty but now, but only a third of the field had been sown. She frowned. "Can't we play tomorrow?"

"No way! Tomorrow will rain, we can't play them," Poe said.

"If it's gonna rain tomorrow, then I definitely need to plant these today," Atraeya frowned at her bag of seeds. She might be done early if she hurried up. It's not like there were a lot of seeds.

The kids all began to whisper to each other for a few moments. Then Poe turned to her again and placed his hands on his hips. "Alright. We'll help make the holes. That should make your job easier, right?"

If she didn't have to poke holes in the dirt for the seeds, her job would basically be cut in half. "Yeah! That would be a huge help!"

"OK everyone. Pick a row and let's dig." These kids got to work for her, each picking their own rows and making neat holes that all lined up in quick succession. All she had to do was sow the seeds. Five rows of seeds were all done in the blink of an eye.

Atraeya understood now why farming families tended to be rather large. "That's all the seeds. Thanks everyone! I'll put this away and be right back." She rushed inside to drop off the bag. Gramps was also there, carving some bits off a block of wood. He glanced up from his work, surprised she was inside and the sun was still up. "I'm done planting the seeds, gramps. Some kids from the village invited me to play with them in the forest."

He nodded with understanding of the situation. "I see. Don't stray too far from 'em. You don't know those woods like those kids do. And I want you back by dark."

Thoughts of wolves and coyotes coming out and chasing her through the woods sent a shiver down her spine. "Yes. Thanks gramps!" She ran out of the house before he could change his mind. After all those days of work, it was time for some fun! Once the kids saw her running out, they also began to ran towards the forest.

They took the dirt road north along the river , where a small, plain bridge allowed them to cross. The dirt road continued north, but there was a feint human-made path that went directly to the forest. Naturally, the tallest of the group was in the front, Poe. He was about her age, but he was already putting on muscle. He must have been helping out his parents. It's no fair. Why do boys always grow up first?

A few others from the group kept pace a few steps behind Poe, all still running. Even the youngest, a five year old, was able to keep up with everyone. Unfortunately for Atraeya, she grew up in the city, and had never had to run this far or this far for this long before. She kept trailing further and further behind until she stopped altogether, gasping for air, heart pouting in her ears. Her legs almost buckled the moment she stopped. Poe must have realized she had stopped, because the next thing she knew, his head popped in from under her face.

Startled, she stumbled back and on to her butt. He was also panting, as were the rest of the kids, but they didn't look nearly as tortured as she felt. They must have done this near every day. Judging by their confused stares, they must not have realized someone could be so weak.

Suddenly she could feel the embarrassment of inadequacy. She should be able to this much at least, right? Everyone else can, so she should too. Poe's hand shoved in her face interrupted her thoughts. "Sorry. We should have slowed down," he said after he helped pull her up.

"No, it's my fault. I should be faster." Atraeya expected them to agree with her but instead they looked uncomfortable. Ah, it must have been because she was so bad at running. "I promise I'll get better!"

Poe turned away. "Anyways, let's continue on. We have a spot in the forest and spread out from there." She followed them in towards their spot. Their speed was now a more manageable brisk walk. How embarrassing. The spot wasn't that deep in, and there was even a well trodden trail that led to a clearing, cooled under the shade of the canopy. A campfire sat in the center surrounded by logs large enough to sit on. She bee-lined straight to a seat. Her legs still ached and her heart continued to race.

Others sat around her on the logs and they began to form a plan. They were looking for things to eat, and had planned to split the area based on who had gone where previously. This was the perfect chance to find a worthy stick.

"Since Atraeya is new and doesn't know the area, she can stick with me," Poe said, proudly pointing a thumb at himself. The other kids nodded in agreement. Of course no one would want the girl who can't even run properly. "Stick close to the clearing. If you can't see it, you've gone too far. And give a shout if you need help," Poe gave out a set of warnings. The group seemed like they had heard them all before. With that, the group split up. Poe and her went to the east side of the camp. As they were talking, Atraeya review what she was told about wand making from her secret mentor back at the capitol.

A wand is required for any potion making. To make one, imbuing the potion mixture with mana is a requirement for all known potions. But it's extremely difficult and inefficient to do so without something to focus the mana through, like a wand. It acts as a funnel for mana into an object. How much mana a wand could take and channel efficiently is determined by the quality of the wand.

A wood wand is made from young, pliable wood, and should preferably be fresh off the tree branch. The wood is the main component, and should be carved no longer than the witch's forearm. The length of the wand can be straight or swirled, but swirled would make it more efficient, even if it's more difficult to carve. Under no circumstances should the wand length zig-zag.

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As the handle is for comfort only, it need only be sanded down, but common accessories are leather strips for a firm grip. More fanciful wands may include quartz crystals on the hilt for more mana, or copper, silver, or gold lined handle edges for more efficiency. Atraeya was too poor for any of that, so she would keep to simply sanding it down.

Once deep enough, Poe began to point at various things and teach her. "There are all kinds of plants and mushrooms in here that are edible. Take that bunch of leaves for instance. Those are actually wild leeks hidden in the dirt there." She couldn't even figure out what he was pointing at until he started digging. A few moments later and out came some pathetic looking leeks. "Well... better than nothing."

They smiled at each other and continued on. The forest was open enough for them to walk around freely, as long as they picked up their feet to avoid the raised roots. The only branches on the ground were thin and weak. More like twigs than proper branches. Atraeya had to keep her eyes above her to look for something more sturdy. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could spot Poe picking various greens, mushrooms, nuts, and berries.

He spoke up first. "So, where ya from?"

"The capitol. There's lots more people there than this place. But the air here is cleaner I guess."

"Whoa that's so cool! The capitol is so far away. Like, at least a week! My mom said you made it here all by yourself. How'd you do it?"

"Huh? Is your mom the one that gave me those extra clothes?"

"Yeah that's her. She wanted to sell them but gave them to you instead. You better show your thanks."

Her heart dropped. Did she make some blunder already? She was only a few days in and was already upsetting some people. She'll have to figure something out quickly. "I will, I will. Don't worry." Atraeya doubled her efforts to find a good branch. She could give Mira a potion as thanks. Clothes were expensive, so she must have lost out on a pretty penny. But what potion would she like?

That's when Atraeya saw it. The perfect branch. Baby leaves still budding. Thin and spindly. Once she took out it barks and shaved it down a bit, it would be the perfect size for her hand. The only problem was that it currently sat at almost twice her height. "Hey! Help me with that branch!"

Poe looked up to where she pointed. "Huh? But there's no food on that branch." It seemed this guy was motivated only by his stomach. Atraeya sighed.

"Not for food. I want it for something else. Lift me up already."

Poe continued to look at her dubiously, but nonetheless crouched down so she could sit on his shoulders. She hefted up her skirt -- "No peeking!" -- and climbed on. With a grunt and a heave, up they went. They were a bit wobbly at first but after a tipsy scare, got used to it. Her eyes met the branch at the perfect height. Up close, it looked even younger than she initially thought but it would have to do.

Taking a branch for a wand was a special process. Simply ripping it off the tree or cutting it off rendered it as a plain broken tree branch. Here, Atraeya needed to grip the ends of the branch as wide as her arms would allow, and pour mana into it. It would then "melt" off the tree and she would have the perfect branch to turn into a wand.

"Hey are you almost done already? You're kinda heavy," Poe grunted out. How rude.

"Just a bit longer... And... There!" It was quicker than last time, but the branch came away, and the excess fell to the floor. Poe shouted in surprise and nearly knocked her down. "Hey, watch it!"

The warning came too late. The pair came tumbling down. Atraeya landed on her back with a loud thump. Her stick flew out of her hands on impact. Pain shot throughout her body. She was sure she would be hurting tomorrow. She let out a pained groan as she got up. "Are you OK?" she asked.

Poe sat up, also with a groan. Bits of leaves and dirt stuck to his brown hair. "Yeah. You?"

She nodded, and got up to clean the sticks and dirt from her own wavy red hair. "Yeah. Wait. Where's my stick?"

"Don't tell me you lost it after all that?!" Poe jumped up and began looking around for it.

"I wouldn't have lost it if you hadn't dropped me." She also began to search. It certainly couldn't have gotten too far. Now that the stick had her mana in it, she would need to continuously add more of her mana into it until she finished carving it. If it were to run out of mana before then, it would simply be a normal stick and she would have to find a whole need stick.

It wasn't long until she heard some excited mumbling and leaves rustling. When she turned, Poe was gathering some plants. He caught her staring. "What? They're Stinging Nettles. Good for soup."

Atraeya rolled her eyes and continued the search on her own. She wandered up and down the trail where she fell until she spotted her branch half hidden amongst some dead leaves far enough away. Thankfully it hadn't snapped or anything. A quick glanced told her that the mana was still in tact and didn't interrupt its manaprint formation. But to be sure, she pumped a bit more mana into it. "OK. I found the-- What's that?"

Just beyond the trees she spotted another clearing. Except, this one had a house. Run down and covered with vines and cobwebs, but still a house. Poe gasped when he saw it. "Th-th-that's the witch's hut! Don't get any closer!" He clutched onto her arm, yanking her back and begging to her to get away.

"Why not? Does a witch live in there?" It would be nice if there was. She could learn a few potions from her.

"There used to be one. My mom said she used to make potions for the village. Then one random day, she cursed our Lord! Gave him boils all over his face and almost killed him! And to avoid being executed, she ran away." His voice dropped to a whisper, as if someone could hear them. "Some say she's still on the run to this day."

Her head tilted to one side. That didn't seem right. "She sounds like she was just minding her own business. Maybe the Lord did something to deserve it?"

Poe immediately clamped a hand over her mouth. "SHHH! What if someone hears you?"

She glared at him and yanked his hand off. "There no one here, dummy! I'm going in."

Poe refused to follow after her. He violently shook his head and shouted after her, "I'll just forage around here."

That suited her just fine. There was no telling what kind of things were inside that house. She might even be able to use some of it, but Poe might figure out she was a witch in the process. Judging by how they ran off the last one, she wanted to avoid that. She would have to learn by herself, now that she was sure there wasn't a witch to teach her.