As we strode over grass and between trunks, a slight breeze rustled the canopy above us. The scents of earth and decaying leaf litter drifted on the air, dulling the edges of my troubled thoughts.
Maria gazed up at the gaps of blue sky filtering through the trees. “Sothing about the forest here always makes feel... calm.”
I looked up, focusing on the leaves’ hypnotic movent. “I know what you an.”
A powerful gust blew, making the scene chaotic for a few seconds. A soft roar ca from the canopy as thousands of leaves shifted, sounding almost like a crashing wave. The sharp edge of my worries dulled further as Maria squeezed my hand, giving a smile that was oh-so beautiful.
“So.” She swung our arms comically high with each step, not once breaking eye contact. “What’s up?”
I faced forward, my gaze going distant as the words ford. “Okay, so let preface this by saying it’s probably ridiculous.”
She stopped walking, holding firmly in place and giving a knowing smile. “You know you don’t need to diminish your feelings like that, right?”
I opened my mouth to respond, then pressed my lips into a line, making a cute giggle co from Maria.
“Don’t give that look,” she said. “Tell what you’re feeling. I’m not going to judge you or call it ridiculous, so you don’t need the disclair attached.”
Walking once more, I tried again.
“So... seeing Sue and Sturgill’s reactions kind of made realize everyone has probably had a similar experience. There’s no easy way to let soone know that there’s an entire group of people that have beco cultivators.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. There’s probably no good way of doing it.”
“The thing is, though, they’re the lucky ones. Anyone being recruited by Barry and that bunch of well-intentioned maniacs has a support system to ease them into the whole cultivator thing. Now that Sturgill awakened just by creating so bloody danishes... well, it stands to reason that other people are going to awaken. People who have no support network and are going to be terrified of what it ans for them. Worse, what happens if immoral people awaken? I trust every single person in the church inherently, and we were lucky that it was Sturgill that awakened of his own accord. What happens when a sociopath becos a cultivator? Or that dickhead noble, Osnan or whatever, that took a swing at the other week? If he was a cultivator and I was a commoner, he’d have slapped my head clean off.”
We stepped from the thick canopy into the sparsely occupied sky of Lemon’s clearing. The pollinators sward the citrus trees above us, buzzing around from flower to flower. It was a beautiful sight. Despite how much Maria loved to watch their movent, her eyes were focused on , appearing a light blue in the sunlight beaming down from above.
“Do you feel responsible for all those people that might ascend?” she asked.
“I do.”
“That’s a lot of weight to shoulder, Fischer.”
“It is,” I agreed. “As much as I want to spend my days fishing with you, though, I’m not sure I can ignore it. We know what happens when I bottle things up and pretend they don’t exist.”
She gave a wry smile. “Yeah—you obliterate trees. Worse, you alienate —a cri most foul.”
I laughed at the jab, knowing there was no malice hidden in her words.
“Do you want to hear my opinion?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“Okay. Well, as per usual, you’re being too hard on yourself. But,” she added before I could protest, “that doesn’t an you should ignore it. If you feel responsible, trying to do sothing about it is probably the right move.”
As I thought about that, we both sat down at the base of Lemon’s trunk. I ran my hands through the grass there, taking solace in the lingering cold of the night gone. Lieutenant Colonel Lemony Thicket extended thick roots from the ground beside Maria and I. I rested a hand on one, soaking in the love I felt radiating from Lemon.
“Oh! Good morning, Lemon!” Maria said, giggling at a leaf tickling her leg.
“Where do I even begin doing sothing about an entire world’s worth of people that could be becoming cultivators?” I asked.
“One step at a ti,” she replied easily.
I grabbed a few blades of grass, weaving them together as I glanced Maria’s way. “You know, it’s infuriating that you’re always right.”
“The sooner you get used to it, the better.” She winked. “We’ve got a whole life of being right about everything ahead of us.”
I rolled my eyes, causing her grin to broaden.
“What’s the first step, though?” I asked.
“Well, what usually helps you think?”
I thought for only a mont. “Honestly? When I have sothing to do. If my hands aren’t busy, it’s like I get paralyzed by negativity.”
She nodded. “Then that’s your first step—finding sothing to do that gives you purpose.”
“Sothing to do...” I mused, looking around the clearing. Half sunlight and half shadow, it never failed to take my breath away. The bees flying between branches lit up when they flew into the sun, fading once more when they reached the next flower. It was almost like the tiny embers dancing above a campfire, burning bright before disappearing.
Sothing that gives purpose...
“Oh!” I sat up straight, eyes widening as I stared at the patches of sun. “I think I know what to do!”
“Oooh, what is it?”
“Well, it kind of depends.” I swiveled to face Lemon’s trunk. “How do you feel about having so more life in your clearing?”
With my hand held to the root she’d extended, I felt an odd mix of emotions coming from her. Then, with absolutely no warning, she shook her entire trunk forward and back, nodding her tree body like it was a head.
Maria’s answering laugh skipped across the clearing, as natural as the wind. “Call crazy, but I think she likes the idea...”
I turned toward Maria. She spun to et , her eyes filled with curiosity.
“How do you feel about going on a trip?” I asked.
“A trip? You don’t even need to ask, Fischer. Of course I’ll go on a trip with you. Where to, though?”
“The capital city of Gormona.”
The curiosity on her face only grew, then her brow rose in realization.
“More life in the clearing? Don’t tell ...”
I grinned. “If lemons can grow here... why can’t passiona fruit?”
Mischief and possibilities danced in her eyes, just as they did in mine.
***
Two hours later, with the sun cresting its peak in the sky, the construction had begun.
Maria and I picked up a wooden plank each. We put the corners together as I hamred large nails into place. We added more planks of differing sizes until the planter box was complete. It was about knee height, a half ter wide, and three ters long.
Sowhere along the line, Claws had joined us. I’d once told her about construction sights back on Earth—a conversation she’d apparently taken to heart. She stood atop one of Lemon’s branches with an empty shell on her head, acting as a hardhat. She chirped and cooed incoherent orders at us, having an infectious amount of fun.
Maria and I were a blur of wood and nails as we constructed another three boxes and set them on the forest floor around Lemon’s trunk. They were each positioned in the sunny gaps between trees—the perfect position for berry bushes.
“Okay,” I said as we placed the last planter. “Ti for so substrate.”
“Substrate?” Maria asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Yeah! Do you ever mix straw into the soil? You can do the sa with branches.”
“Oh, right! Wait, branches?” She frowned. “You’re sure you can use branches? They’re a bit... big, aren’t they?”
“You can!” I rubbed my chin. “Well, you could on Earth, anyway. I don’t see why it should be any different here. They’re big, yeah, but that just ans they’ll break down slower and provide more fuel for the passiona.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” she asked, brushing dirt from her hands. “Let’s go find so branches!”
It didn’t take us long. What must have been ten minutes later, we strode back toward the clearing with armloads of wood. Honestly, armloads might have been an understatent. My branches were piled so high that I could barely see.
“You sure you’re all right with that, Fischer?” Maria asked, peering from behind her own stack.
“You doubt ? The venerable Fischer? Liege Lord of these lands? Master of the waves? Benevolen—oh no.” Lost in my tirade, I hadn’t noticed my stack of branches hit the low-hanging canopy. No matter how fast I was, there was no ti to recover, and all I could do was watch as my pile ca raining down around .
Maria, her arms filled with half as many branches, completely lost it. She leaned against a trunk so she wouldn’t fall over with her laughter. I gave her a flat look, only causing tears of laughter to stream down her face.
I eyed a particularly large branch at the base of her pile, a devious plan forming.
“You can’t say you didn’t deserve that, Fischer. Wait, what are you doing? No, don’t you dare! Fischer!”
I pushed the branch, throwing her entire stack off balance. She tried to save it, tried to keep it in one piece. Focused as she was on keeping herself upright, she didn’t pay attention to Claws crouching down behind her, a devious grin on her face. Maria tripped over her, letting out an oof as her mountain of branches ca crumbling down.
“Are you,” I squeaked out between laughter. “Are you okay?” My vision swam with tears as she whirled around.
“Claws! Traitor!”
The look of sheer delight on Claws’s face was too much for . I fell down, joining them on the ground as my legs gave out under the onslaught of my laughter.
“Co on,” I eventually said, wiping my eyes and getting to my feet. I helped her up, and after one last giggle for good asure, we began rebuilding our stacks with the help of Claws.
As I threw the last branch into the fourth planter box, I let out a contented sigh, gazing down at the layer of sticks. Each planter had an even amount of the organic material. It would make the perfect foundation for... what the?
Power began ebbing around us, chi flowing from the very earth itself. It went toward all four planters, as well as... us? Rather than watch the transformation to co, I watched her. It was as if she moved in slow motion, her eyebrows shooting high as the chi crashed into her core and flowed out, as it did mine. Euphoria washed over , sending a shiver all the way up my spine.
The light flowed away, dissipating into nothingness as the euphoria faded.
“Whoa...” Maria said, breathing heavily. “That was... oh.”
Her eyes went distant as she read the System-sent notification. Figuring there was no harm in checking because I’d hear it from Maria anyway, I willed the notification to show.
You have learned horticulture!
You have advanced to horticulture 2!
You have advanced to horticulture 3!
You have advanced to horticulture 4!
Neat.
I went to dismiss it, but the System shoved another notification through.
You have learned Chi Manipulation.
“Oi, you cheeky prick. I didn’t ask for you to show the alert from the other da—”
Another one was thrown through, assaulting my visual field.
You have advanced to fishing 63!
I slamd my will into the notifications, forcefully cutting them off for good. I let out a string of expletives and bent to pick up a stick—yeeting it through the forest might make feel better. There were no longer any branches in the planters, however. I blinked at the bare earth where the layer of sticks had been.
“Fischer...?” Maria asked, face lined with worry.
“What’s up?”
“What’s up? You just used a string of words I’m pretty sure were horrifically offensive where you co from.”
Claws held a paw to her mouth, taking an indignant gasp.
“Yeah, it was justified, though. I let the System show that ssage about learning horticulture, but it snuck in a couple more. I’m pretty sure it would have kept going if I didn’t slam the door closed, the cheeky little fracker.”
Maria gave an unreadable look as she reached out and touched my hand. “You know we’re going to have to unbox that one day, right?”
Claws nodded sagely, but I was pretty sure she had no idea what Maria ant either.
“Unbox what?” I asked.
“Why you don’t like reading the System notifications.”
I sighed, not walking to confront it. “One existential crisis at a ti.”
“When we get back from our trip,” she pushed. “We’re going to talk about it.”
I pouted. “Fine.”
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse , we have so brand new planter boxes to inspect.”
She let go of , leaning over the closest one. Her eyes went distant, so I looked down too, expecting it to draw in—it didn’t.
“Huh…?” Maria asked. “We can’t I inspect it?”
I shook my head. “You can’t inspect everything.”
“... why?”
I shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea. Couldn’t do so with the beehive, either.” I pointed down at the planters. “It’s definitely changed, just not enough to be considered a magical item or whatever, I guess.”
The grains of wood had tightened and condensed, making it much less cumberso. At the corners where we’d nailed the planks together, tal brackets now lined the outside, secured with way more nails than I had actually used.
“If only we had so sort of generated text ssages from the System...” Maria trailed off aningfully. “Maybe they could have explained why...”
I gave her a flat glare, but couldn’t keep it up for long as her lips curled. “Yeah, yeah. Point taken.”
She patted on the shoulder. “Like you said—one crisis at a ti, my love.”
The statent, so easily voiced, made birds take flight in my core. It must have shown on my face, because Maria leaned in close.
“Oooh, you liked that.”
My face heating, I nodded.
Claws jumped up onto my shoulder, leaning in with a look that said she sensed weakness.
“Well, then,” Maria said, sweeping in toward . She got up on her tiptoes and planted a peck on my lips, pulling back to stare into my eyes. “Let’s go get so soil, my love.”
Claws let out another gasp, scandalized.
I grabbed Maria around the waist with one arm and pulled her close, using the other to cover Claws’s eyes. Maria and I lted into each other, heat blooming everywhere our bodies made contact. All too soon, we separated, both left taking heavy breaths.
Claws jumped to the ground and mid being sick.
I ignored her; my eyes were only for Maria. “Co on. Let's get that soil.”
She scrunched her face up at . “Tease.”
“You started it,” I said, ssing up her hair. “I have a fun idea for transporting the dirt that might cheer you up...”
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