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The warm glow of the afternoon sun makes the Wizard City Commons the perfect place for Stella to relax and read. Normally she’d take such business somewhere in Unicorn Way, closer to home, but having just come out of class made her usual patch of grass by the pond a much quicker and more convenient choice.
She’d barely been able to get more than a few pages in before something, or rather someone appeared behind her, their shadow looming over her.
“Hey, that sunlight is more important for my reading than you might— Oh hi Sabrina.” Stella had said their name and softened her expression before she’d even fully turned around to face her classmate.
“Hi, Stella?” Hadn’t even got the chance to say anything yet and already they’ve been thrown off by Stella and her uncanny ability to read and recognise auras. “You’re… way too good at reading energies.”
“I know! Thanks!” She replied, either unaware or unbothered by Sabrina’s slight discomfort.
“Uh, that aside. I really didn’t want to interrupt you after such a busy day in class, but I have a gardening project and I think you might be the only person who can help me.”
“Huh?” Stella blurted out, tilting her head. “But you’re a pretty high rank in the gardening club, right? Aren’t there a tonne of people you could ask?”
“Stella we don’t have a ranking system—”
“But you’ve been there longer than most people! And that makes you a beacon of hope for all your gardener underlings.”
“Well. That’s one way to phrase it…” They’ll take the compliment at least. They think that was a compliment anyway. “But that’s kind of the problem. None of the other gardeners think my project will really work. Then I remembered the garden in front of your house is always so beautifully maintained, and if there was any life wizard willing to help me do something wild and crazy…”
“Oh, you say all the right things. Do go on…”
“Basically, I want to try growing something in the haunted cave. I know a lot of the plants there are kinda… dead. I figure it’ll be a challenge to get anything to grow, but that’s kind of the point. There aren’t exactly a whole lot of ways to test your skills as a gardener, you know?”
“And so you’ve come to me, the theurgist with very little experience in gardening. I like the way you think, I like your style. Your hair is very nice.”
Stella finally stood up, tucking her book away in the worn leather satchel at her side.
“Shall we go now? Best get this done quickly. You know at night, the haunted cave gets… more haunted.”
“I’ll meet you there. I have to get my supplies ready, but I shouldn’t be far behind you.”
“Got it! Don’t worry about me, I’m prepared for a ghost encounter.”
Stella spent about ten minutes waiting in the haunted cave. No vengeful spirits or ghouls had come to assail her, so she stood on guard. Staff in her left hand, a stick in her right, drawing what looked to be lightning bolts and leaves intersecting in the dirt. Though given how squiggly and crude they were, they could really be just about anything.
Sabrina appeared through the mouth of the cave before long, a small bag, presumably full of the gardening supplies over one shoulder and a large watering can over the other.
“Sorry I’m late! I underestimated how heavy this would be!”
“It’s okay! The air is super heavy in here but I’m great at breathing!”
“Stella— the watering can.”
“Oh right. I can take that for you.”
Stella lifted the watering can from Sabrina’s shoulder and very quickly realised her mistake as her arms started shaking just trying to keep it off the ground. Who would have thought a schedule consisting of mostly classwork, reading, cooking and sleeping would leave her without a lot of muscle?
“H-How much water did you bring?! How many plants are we planting!?”
“That thing can hold about ten litres. We’re actually only here to try with one for now, I just brought a bunch of extra in case of an accident or an emergency. I do dabble in storm magic, you know?”
Rather than subject herself to further weight lifting torture, Stella simply set the watering can on the ground. And Sabrina had just been carrying that thing on her shoulder like it was nothing…?
“Right…” Stella spoke between huffs. “Storm… water…”
“Come on, Stella! I already checked out a good patch of dirt last time I was here.”
Sabrina ran ahead, leaving Stella behind to trail behind with the dreaded heavy watering can. Somehow she both survived carrying it alone and caught up to them.
“It’s right here, what do you think?”
Stella looked down at the tiny patch of dirt that sat between the aged cobblestone that lined the ground of the haunted cave. It looked drier and more cracked than the stone itself…
“I think we’d have better luck planting the seed on my head.”
“Are you volunteering?”
“Keep your devilish seeds away from my beautiful orange head you—” She can’t call Sabrina something mean. They don’t deserve that. “You… respectable upperclassman?”
“For someone who hangs around so many necromancers, you sure are bad at insulting people.”
“Most necromancers are actually bad at that too…”
“That aside.” Sabrina cut in before Stella could get lost in thought or say something crazy again. “Could you dig a little hole for our seed while I prepare a rejuvenation spell?”
It was phrased as a question, but it ended up being more of a command. Sabrina handed Stella a gardening trowel from her bag and got to work threading her spell. Stella took it without question.
Actually digging the hole proved to be a lot harder than she thought it would be. She could swear she’d have an easier time digging through rock. Of course, that’s when her first idea hit her. She grabbed the watering can again and spilled some water out onto the ground below, hoping that would do anything to soften it up.
It was then, as she dug through the earth with a bit more ease than before that she realised Sabrina hadn’t brought so much water just because she’d been practicing storm magic, it was also to account for any Stella-based incidents.
“Okay, now that we’ve got our foundation…” Still tending to the spell, a golden-yellow orb of light in her right hand, Sabrina dug around another pocket of her bag with her left and took out a tiny pod-like seed. She tossed it in the newly dug hole and let the light wash over both it and the dirt would be calling home.
“Now—”
“Now!” Stella interrupted. “Since we’re dealing with necromantic energies, a whole bunch of dry soil and no sunlight. We need a little extra oomph to keep this thing going. Don’t worry, I have just the thing.”
Stella dug around in her satchel for a moment and pulled out the chocolate chip cookie she’d been keeping for a situation just like this. She broke off a small piece and threw it in the hole with the seed.
“Uh… Stella that’s not— I’m beginning to think you don’t actually know anything about gardening.”
“Pshhh! Okay. Like you’ve never been buried and desperate for a snack before.”
“Um. Right. Why don’t we just cover it up and give it a bit more water for now?”
Once again, phrased like a question but Stella found herself listening without protest for a second time. And her abilities with auras was supposed to be the unsettling thing here…?
The seed and the cookie were covered by a layer of wet dirt. Stella, glad to make the watering can just a bit lighter sprinkled the dirt with a bit extra for good measure.
“Okay, so… this isn’t much of a test if we have to wait at least a few days for it to grow.”
“Have some patience, Stella. Patience is one of the core pillars of gardening.”
“I have patience! It’s just… going in a different direction.”
“Well maybe you could have the patience to—”
“Wait!” Stella interrupted again. “Couldn’t we make it grow way faster if we just flooded it with life magic?! I can overpower the death energy of the cave and you can use a spell to produce light that’s basically the same as sunlight, right?”
“Uh, well I can, but? Stella—”
“You didn’t hire me for this job to get sane, practical ideas! You hired me because you needed something different. Something out there. Something you couldn’t get from your usual gardening minions! And because you love me!”
“Stella, I didn't hire you at all! I’m not paying you—”
“That’s right! And for my payment of zero gold, I’m offering you an idea! A new way to push your plants to their limits! Ethically of course, I wouldn’t actually wanna hurt them… Now! Are you in, are you going to listen to every reasonable, rational thought in your brain!?”
Stella apparently has her own ways of being convincing. Whether to simply satisfy Stella and her crazy idea, or because they actually believed her, Sabrina prepared another spell, this time bathing the spot where they’d buried the plant in a yellow-orange light.
“Alright Stella, I can do this all day, but whatever you’re gonna do… try to make it quick.”
“Yes ma’am!” Stella raised her hand in mock salute, then got back on her knees and gently placed her hands over the dirt.
Really, she should probably be using her staff to channel this much life energy, but something tells her having a living, natural as can be conduit is going to help their little seed grow. It’s hard work, clearing away the heavy amount of death energy in the soil and the air. It clings to everything like leeches, trying to sap away any life energy it comes into contact with. Unfiltered life and death energies are always like this, it’s likely why the myth school was placed between the two, to ground the both of them.
Stella fell backwards with a gasp as she finished creating a small pocket around both the soil and the air to keep their soon-to-be flower safe. Her hands stung from using up that much mana without a wand, but the end result will be worth it… she hopes.
“Stella!” Sabrina rushed to kneel at her side as she fell. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, yeah! I’m fine, just… lot of mana usage, ya know? Just tired and… ow my hands.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think your idea worked… but it was a good try.”
“Don’t be so sure about that! Get your sunlight spell ready again.”
“Huh? Sure, but…” She did as instructed, not expecting anything to really come of it.
It took a few seconds, but they both could swear they saw a tiny sprout appear from the ground, then a whole stem, a few leaves and finally the makings of a large bloom. In the end it looked not too different from a sunflower, though the floret bulged outward a bit and looked a little more solid than it probably should have.
“Great tree… Stella, you did it!?”
“We did it, thank you very much. It wouldn’t have worked without your various lights and commanding presence.”
“R-Right!” Sabrina spoke, words still laced with disbelief. “I have to write this process down, the gardening club isn’t gonna believe this!”
“Make sure you include the part about the cookie! That one’s very important.”
“Of course! Everything in meticulous detail. I’ll be sure to credit you too.”
“I mean it. I put mana into all the food I make. Gives it an extra boost. Once the seed got its roots out, it probably got ahold of that.”
“That makes absolutely no sense! It’s brilliant! This is gonna be revolutionary for gardening in places like this. You’re gonna make a great assistant, Stella!”
“W-Wait! That wasn’t in my contract!”
“You don’t have a contract, Stella!” Sabrina bounced over to her, excitedly placing their hands on her shoulders. “I’m making the terms here.”
“You’ll— You’ll never make a gardener out of me!” Stella backed away, afraid and shoving Sabrina’s hands from her shoulders. “You’ll have to catch me first, which is impossible!”
True to her words, Stella turned in the opposite direction and bolted out of the cave, faster than Sabrina had even seen another human being run.
They’ll have to get her next time. For now she needs to focus on moving this flower from the cave before it becomes invasive to the natural ecosystem.
It’s as simple as scooping it and all the dirt it has settled into up and— Is that a chocolate chip where its floret should be?