“Sis! What did you do to my garden!?”

  While speaking, Talia rushes over to the table where I’m standing.

  “Uhm, why do you believe that I’m responsible for anything there? It is your garden, after all.”

  What I did yesterday shouldn’t have caused any btantly obvious effects.At least, none that I intended.Please don’t let there be man-eating pnts behind our home.Or fairy-eating, for that matter.

  “Because I don’t know of any pnts that grow ripe fruit on them overnight, especially before they flower! Also, while I have been getting better at tending to my crops, they now look as if I’m the best farmer in the world! What did you do!?”

  At least that doesn’t sound too bad.

  “I merely caused them to grow a little healthier, a little greener.”

  “A little! Come look out your bedroom window, Sis!”

  “Can’t it wait, Talia? There is an overdue story I need to tell.”

  “No, it can’t. Would you mind waiting a short while longer, Garen?”

  “I suppose, but perhaps I’ll take a look as well.”

  “Hey! Even if I’m like this now, that’s still my bedroom.”

  “I meant that I’ll go around outside.”

  “Ah.”

  Hence, he exits through the front door as we move to my bedroom window, which Talia quickly opens.Through it we can, of course, see her garden.Her small field of crops extends from directly near the back of our home up to roughly fifteen meters away, forming a patch of greenery, as well as other various colors of growing food.All of which appear to be completely ordinary, albeit lush and healthy.

  “Well, do you see the problem now?”

  “Uhm, no, I don’t. You know growing pnts has never been a strong point of mine. Everything appears to be normal to me.”

  “Mhm, except for the fact that my sunmarbles, which were struggling a few days ago, seem to have recovered from the pests eating them and even the holes left in the fruit have vanished. My redroots as well seem to have regrown their leaves even though they were dying, but those may perhaps go unnoticed. On the other hand, why don’t you try taking a look below yourself?”

  From where I’m standing in the center of the windowsill, I can’t see the pnts growing directly beneath me along the wall of our home.So after a quick look around to ensure there is no one nearby, with the exception of Garen who just rounded the corner, I walk to the window’s edge and look down.

  Last year, Garen and I assisted Talia with building a trellis that is partly supported by the wall of the house.She then pnted a few seeds along the base of it, saying they would be a surprise when they finally grew.All I knew about them, as of yesterday, was that they were climbing vines of some type, and the two pnts not immediately beneath me are roughly the same as I remember, green runners only a half meter long with a few rge, green leaves.Yet, the bush directly under me is made up of white vines that must be nearly ten times as long, spreading out and winding around the trellis and each other!And in one particur pce, where multiple vines gather and twine together, there is a rge, white orb, roughly three times my height, hanging from a dry stem.

  A sweetice fruit!But those are a rare delicacy!The st one I had was a gift, and even then I only received a small portion.How could it be here!?Yeah, sure, from speaking with others in the vilge, I know that it is possible to cultivate these in our region, yet they are not commonly pnted as they dislike the summer heat, even from ones as mild as ours.Difficult to tend, and incredibly slow growing, they naturally are found gripping the side of mountain cliffs.For Talia to acquire even a few seeds, she must have had aid, as she surely wouldn’t have been able to find them on her own.

  But the part about this situation that I find most astonishing is that, while I may be a terrible farmer, even I know these are a winter crop!The fruit being white is supposed to indicate that it’s ready to harvest, yet they simply do not ripen in the middle of summer!Not to mention that I was told it takes several years to grow a bush this size, then a couple more to form a single fruit.And that is assuming Talia could manage to keep it properly.Yet an evidently ripe orb is clearly hanging from the vines directly beneath me, ready to be harvested.

  “Do you still suppose everything is normal, Sis?”

  “Obviously not! But how did this happen? How were you even able to obtain seeds to grow these pnts? And why is this one so much rger!?”

  “Maline bought them from a vilge during her travels. Apparently, an adventurer collected one of these fruits in the great mountains and traded the seeds in exchange for a potion. She told me I could try growing these three as long as I give her a portion when they ripen. But that shouldn’t have happened for at least another four years, sis! They ought to have ripened near my sixteenth birthday!”

  By this time Garen has walked around to where I’m standing.

  “That is certainly unusual. I assume you’re going to say fairy magic is responsible for this?”

  “Well, I don’t see any other reason this could possibly have happened. But this is a good example of what I have been concerned with, as I don’t precisely know how I could have done this. Unless…Nibi, did you have anything to do with this?”

  “No.”

  “Then it must have been me, I suppose. Yet all I did was heal the pnts and bance my energies yesterday morning.”

  “Bancing energies?”

  “She has to keep her colors banced in some way, or she’ll become strange in the head like she was earlier. However, she leaves behind some awful dust when she does that.”

  “Talia!”

  “It’s true! But, uh, speaking of which, what color did you release out here, Sis?”

  “Uhm, green, I think.”

  “And let me guess, directly beneath your window?”

  I look down at where I had nded the morning prior, now covered by white vines.

  “…Uh huh.”

  “I’m starting to think your fairy magic sense may be broken. With what happened to me and now this, that dust is obviously magical. There’s no mundane fertilizer that would cause years of growth overnight.”

  Clearly, she has a point.Something about it causes the dust to feel normal to me.Yet, that is apparently not the case.And it’s not the only thing I have trouble sensing the magic of.

  “Yeah, sure, you may be right. That peculiar needle is also almost certainly magical, yet I can’t seem to feel anything from it either.”

  Garen speaks up again from outside.

  “You have a magical fairy needle?”

  “I think so? I’ll expin about it with the all the rest that I think I ought to tell.”

  “Well, in that case, would you like me to do anything while I’m out here, Talia?”

  “Yes, could you pluck that fruit for me? We can’t leave it there as it would simply rot on the vine. Also, this pnt will need to be torn up as well, as it’s too noticeable for anyone who may look into our yard. At least they only produce one fruit, so it isn’t truly a loss, as the bush would merely wither from now on.”

  “I may be able to do that part for you, Sis. And once we get new seeds from the fruit, I could try growing a new one till it matches the others. Although, I haven’t tried growing a pnt before, so I can’t promise it will match exactly.”

  “I suppose you may as well try, as long as you don’t affect anything else. I would like to be able to tell Maline that I kept all three of them alive till they matured. And while you do whatever it is you’re going to do, I’ll collect some other fruit for us to share.”

  So once Garen collects the white orb and begins walking back to the front of the house, I fly down to drain the white vines of their essence.However, I’m nearly full of energy and don’t wish to let any more dust fall in Talia’s garden.But I may have a solution for that.

  “Nibi, would you like some water essence? I can’t take in anymore and I need to make room.”

  “Yah. Sur.”

  What?Oh, that’s just wonderful.Now even Nibi is teasing me about my speech.

  Yet, after a moment, I change my mind.Judging by her expression, I believe she thought to simply answer me.Though I’m not certain if I feel any better about that.

  “Uh, Nibi, you truly don’t need to copy me in that way.”

  “Miep? Ak’ri.”

  “Yeah, sure, I know I speak this way, but that doesn’t mean you need to.”

  “Miep! *ditiditi*”

  Well, I tried.Considering her attachment to me, I suppose it isn’t odd that she’s learning my manner of speech.Talia also did so for a time, till she found that some people would tease her about it.Hopefully, Nibi won’t have that problem, as people may think twice about teasing a fairy.With the exception of Talia, I suppose.

  But for now, I have another hurdle to overcome.How, exactly, am I supposed to transfer my magic to Nibi?I may be able to simply form a ball of water and throw it at her, yet based on my earlier attempts at spending magic, I could accidently flood this portion of the garden with that amount.There must be a better way to pass it to her.Preferably, as pure essence and in a far greater quantity than what I could manage with a ball of water.

  Hence, as I currently don’t wish the essence to do anything other than move into an orb, I will it to do just that.Roughly half of my water energy leaves me and forms a rge, glowing, blue sphere in front of my hands.With this amount of magic, it feels as if it’s bouncing around slightly within my grasp, but thankfully, I still don’t feel in any danger of losing control over it.Then, trusting that she’ll know what to do from here, I simply hold it out to Nibi, who takes it between her own hands.A moment ter, there’s a small fre of blue light, and I feel it flow into her.

  “Miep!”

  “Thanks, Nibi.”

  That was easier than I had expected.

  Since I now have space, I turn my attention to the vines, absorbing the nature essence and causing them to turn to dust.Surprisingly, considering their size, there was only a minimal amount of green energy in them, not much more than several flowers.I suppose Talia did mention they wouldn’t live long past the time they bore a fruit.After I’ve finished, I fly back inside to find Garen seated at the table once more, having stowed away the sweetice orb for the time being, and Talia entering the house with a basket of fruit.

  As long as there are no more interruptions, it should finally be time to tell Garen my story.