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The overgrown dilapidated cottage might have looked beautiful once upon a time, but the snaking vines and chipped away paint and lack of any conventional lawn maintenance gave the building a look of wildness that conformed into the woods it was in.
The cottage belonged to the arcane botanist Camellia. The woman had not always lived on the property. It was her laboratory slash garden slash storage of sorts that she rarely visited unless she was running out of supplies or needed to do the yearly checkup on.
The inside was lined with shelves of glass jars and tomes of nature magic. Some of the jars contained dirts and dried up plants. Projects of old that she had given up on but did not want to throw away. They would be fertiliser for her other endeavours in time.
Other jars were terrariums. But unlike the open ones that were taken by the elements, these were sealed. Self sustainaning. They lined an island counter where the sun hit through the windows at different parts of the day to ensure the plants inside were getting enough light.
Her prized works were in the gardens, however. She had been learning druidcraft and alchemy in the township many miles away. And what she had learned she had applied here. Her garden was vast, and ever expanding. She had invested in an arcane automated moisture sensor that helped divert water into the soil from the rain catchment tank above the cottage.
Sections were dedicated entirely to root vegetables, fruit bushes and fragrant herbs like rosemary and mint and parsley. Some of the mint grew in other sections as well, to ward off aphids and other small pests until she could find a magical way to ward them off for long periods of time.
Not many people knew of the cottage. The property originally belonged to her grandmother, who was an adventurer of some renown. When she retired she built this cottage and lived part of her remaining days here. She was hopeless in the upkeep of what was essentially a large multistorey cabin deep in the woods away from civilization, so she gave it to Camellia, her sweet granddaughter and built another cottage to live out her days in the coast.
Camellia landed in the small clearing outside the cottage, skidding across the undergrowth on her broom. She carried many bags, and underestimated the weight of them as she landed heavily and tumbled off the broom. She gasped as she rolled a few feet on the ground, kicking up leaves and eating dirt.
She got up to her feet hazily and looked at her broom. She had heard the crack when she had fallen off, and saw that her broom indeed got the brunt of the impact. It was almost broken in two, held together by the edges of splintered wood. Her fingers immediately danced a pattern in he air and she spoke arcane words, and her fears became realised.
Her broom had lost its enchantment. What was an expensive magical means of transport seconds ago was now just a broken broom. Typical. She sighed, walking to pick up her bags and enter the cottage. She would have to spend a whole day traversing through the woods on foot if she wanted to reach the nearest town.
The cottage smelled of stale mildew and the damp earth. It had been a while since she last came here. Almost a year. Her instruments laid where she left them, and the sunlight revealed glistening strands of spiderwebs covering most of the inside.
She danced another pattern in the air, spoke another arcane word, and summoned a gust of wind that tore through the cottage and pushed the webs aside. It would take most of the day to clear out the critters that had moved in, the moss and plants that had taken root in the floorboards and the walls. It was a scary reminder of the eventuality of nature reclaiming all.
It was a relief to come here. She could take a break from the bustling township. From the pressures of working in a corporate alchemical supplies empire where she was one understudy researcher among many trying to concoct cosmetic potions and such in an dauntingly competitive work environment.
Here she could use her botanical knowledge to do the simpler magics. To watch plants grow, to meet their needs, ensure their vitality. Of course she would use the fruits or flowers or whatever they bear for her potions and her magic, but the act of nurturing her floral companions was fulfilling enough.
She, as she had predicted, spent most of the morning and afternoon clearing the rats and wasps out of her house. She cleaned the rain catchment filter and magicked away the stale water. She then poured over her countless jars, checking the growth within them against the list she had made for each individual terrarium.
By late afternoon she approached her gardens, ready to pick some mushrooms and bell peppers for a stew for dinner. And saw that her lemon tree was missing. Her whole fifteen foot tall tree was gone. She walked to the empty space where it once stood, planted by both her and her grandmother when she was still alive.
There was only grass and dirt there now. She racked her mind, trying to remember if she had done something to it but simply forgot. But no. She did not recall uprooting one of her healthiest trees. She took her basket of fresh produce and went back to the cottage, dumbstruck.
She needed that tree. The sentimental value of it was one thing and outweighed all other reasons, but she needed lemon leaves as material component in her spell to mend the broom. How did a tree simply vanish?
The next day she gathered her books of the arcane. Old tomes she inherited from her grandmother, arcana from her travels and research notes from her work. She poured over them, looking for summoning magic. Supposedly a quick means to acquire what she needed.
She found a list of spells and their descriptions in a time of her grandmother's. The language was dated and a little confusing, but she understood it well enough. And in those spells she found what she was looking for. A summoning spell. The description for it looked to be a general base spell. And she would have to include in her wording and her circle what exactly she wanted to summon.
Seemed easy enough. She drew the circle in the middle of the floor, overlooking the fact that she was summoning a whole tree in here. No, she was in a frenzy. Smiling to herself as she took the salts she needed and referring to her tome for the ritual.
It took the better part of the hour, but in the end she sat in front of the circle, her face stained with salt and clay. She turned the tome, gestured the gestures inscribed in the pages, and spoke the arcane words to summon the lemon tree.
As she ended the her phrase, the cottage seemed to grow darker, and the circle began to glow. Winds she could not place the origin of began swirling around her, and her notes and other loose objects began to fly across the room. Camellia looked at the centre of the circle, squinting and shielding her eyes as the glow became stronger, blinding.
And then the winds ceased, the light of the circle vanished, and a warmth emanated from the circle. As her eyes adjusted to the dim room, she made out a figure standing in the middle of the circle.
It was a woman. Larger than any she had seen. Muscular, with horns and a tail. She was pale, her complexion unlike any she knew. Of grey clay and full ivory. Her peculiar clothing left her arms and belly bare, and she could see the abdominal muscle tensing as she rose to her full height. On her arms she wore bands of gold, that glinted in what little light there was now in the cottage. She wore a tattered yellow skirt that went to just above her knees, and some kind of latticework covered her legs the rest of the way down.
She was stunningly beautiful. Her silken black hair fell loose but straight to her hips, and one of her long ears twitched as she met the gaze of Camellia. And then, she smiled.
_________
She smirked at the tiny, trembling woman before her. She was dressed in an olive workshirt with rolled up sleeves, tucked into a dull brown high waisted skirt. Her hair was a large unruly bush, tumbling past her shoulders all the way to her waist. At least that part seemed to fit the description of a witch. But her face did not.
She had a childish face with fine features. Thick bordered spectacles covered her small, almond shaped eyes that looked at her, wide and afraid. Her snubbed nose perked as she breathed heavily. Her full, trembling lips parted slightly as if to speak, but closed.
Odessa the Demoness of the Shifting Flames rose from the circle to her full height, and the woman staggered away from her. "I, am Odessa. Known in the under realms as the Demoness of the Shifting Flames. To have summoned me you must have known the price."
The little woman only stared at her at first, terrified beyond words. When she gathered herself she squeaked out, "There's a mistake. I'm sorry. I was summoning a tree."
Odessa regarded the witch before her, and then looked at the abode in which she was summoned. And then laughed. "Free me of your summons. You do not know the weight of the forces you've stumbled upon. I'll forgive this transgression."
"Of course, of course." The witch said hurriedly, picking up the tome by her side, thumbing through the pages to look for the means to break the summon. But her brow furrowed.
"Can I.. Ask something of you? Can you summon a lemon tree for me?"
"You wish to make use of my service to summon a lemon tree?"
"Oh! And I want to be able to speak to plants, too. I need to know what happened to my original lemon tree."
"Listen, young one," Odessa's voice was gentle, as if speaking to a toddler, "return me to my plane. Don't use dark forces to meet your goals. You are fortunate to have summoned me instead of other demons of my type. They would seek to exploit and consume you the moment your control over them weakens."
"Please. I need the leaves from the lemon tree to fix my broom."
Odessa was getting tired of the nonsense the woman was sprouting. At least her words resembled the ramblings of a conventional witch where her appearance did not.
"Are you certain you wish to enlist my service?" Odessa asked icily. The woman before her hesitated, as if weighing heavy dispositions in her mind, and then nodded.
"I just want one lemon tree and the ability to talk to plants. Nothing big. And then I'll free you."
Odessa sighed, thinking of the fun she could have with the oblivious mortal before her if she were like the others of her ilk. But Odessa was not an evil of that kind.
"A lemon tree and the ability to converse with plants. And then you'll free me." She spoke aloud, realising the ridiculousness of the demand made of her. No, not demand. The woman cowering before her truly summoned her by accident. Making actual demands did not even come across her little mind. It was a hilarious predicament for the both of them, if either chose to see the humour in the situation.
The bushy haired woman nodded, a little vigorously. Odessa thought about summoning the tree right there in the confines of the room they were in. Commanding the roots of the tree to snake and twist their way through the floorboards and the branches to burst and break through the wooden ceiling. Destroy her home. Ruin the tree that was to be summoned. A more vile demon would have done that, fulfilling the summoner's desires in malicious ways.
But Odessa only asked permission to step out of the summoning circle so she could summon the lemon tree out in the garden. The woman granted the permission immediately, which made Odessa balk at the naïvety and just plain stupidity of the woman before her.
Never let the demon out of its cirlce. Any practicioner of the dark arts knew this. In fact, days of thorough preparations were spent ensuring the circle was in the right place, the demands were worded carefully, countermeasures and counter-countermeasures were in place before the summoning even took place.
This clueless mortal was… Adorable.
She took a tentative step out of the circle, knowing her demonic peers would have been grinning ear to ear to have fooled their summoner and were granted permission to leave the circle. She felt the cool smooth wood of the cottage floor, and the shimmering barrier to keep her in the confines of the ritual circle allowing her to continue past it as she felt the musty, earthy air of the cottage.
She was out of the circle, free to wreak havoc while complying to the wishes of her summoner to some degree. But she did not want to. Odessa was a little startled when she realised she did not want to.
"That was stupid. Allowing me to leave this circle." Odessa told the woman.
"I, uh. How else can I show you where to summon the tree? Ah, follow me." The woman said before awkwardly trying to move past her to the front door. She was giving her a wide berth at the cost of accidentally bumping into the counter and knocking over a jar of what looked to be dirt. She looked at the mess, eyes wide, but quickly chose to ignore it and continue to the door.
"The garden's this way." She muttered, opening the door and letting the warm sunlight come through. Odessa could not help but smile as she followed the woman out. She had never been under the sun of this plane. At least not without some grave purpose where she could not stop to enjoy it, to feel it, revel in it.
She stepped out after the woman, into the garden surrounded by woods. The woman stood by an empty patch of grass near the edges of the garden, away from the neat rows of various plants. She was looking at her, less fearful now, more curious. She was looking at her with a penetrating gaze, undressing her with her eyes.
Odessa smirked. "Don't get used to it. The next time you see someone from my plane you won't have a head to gawk with."
The woman quickly turned, her shoulders stiffening at the remark. She looked down at the patch and said, "Summon it here. Uh, please."
Odessa absentmindedly twirled her fingers and muttered a phrase in her root tongue, and the earth broke apart to make way for a seedling. The woman gasped and immediately fell on all fours, looking keenly at the newly sprouted plant.
"You weren't expecting a whole tree, were you?" Odessa asked smugly, looking at the woman as she examined the plant, shocked. But the shock did not seem to stem from the demoness intentionally giving the woman a seedling instead of the whole tree that she had obviously implied she had wanted. She seemed shocked just at the fact that Odessa had summoned a plant.
"I mean, I don't know what I was expecting." The woman muttered, tugging softly at the seedling. She turned to look back at Odessa.
"Thank you. This is all I need." She said.
Odessa only stared. Wow, the woman was stupid.
"That's all you need? Then, I take it you rescind your demand for the ability to converse with plants. And since those are the only two things I was summoned for, my duty to you is completed. I will take my leave." Odessa said, paused, then added, "Count yourself lucky I do not wish to have my way with you."
The other woman turned red. And only after returning to her plane did Odesaa realise why the woman made that reaction to her words.