Wraithwood Botanist

The trading came after breakfast. No bullshit. All energy.

The harvesters were jazzed up because I fed them soul-cleansed meat the night before, preceded by some grim demonstrations and visuals that I regretted showing my parents in hindsight.

It started out well-meaning. We had a lot of fresh meat but nothing that the harvesters could eat, so the lurvine trotted into the forest to bring back a strong second ev for the camp while I skinned and butchered the third evs for myself.

It was routine.

Simple.

Comfortable.

'Till the lurvine dragged a lion-sized creature right into the Mouth under the harvesters' watching glares, leaving huge skidmarks of blood through my campsite.

My parents panicked, so I panicked and cleaned the gore. To do that, I used Separate to pull all the blood out of the ground and grass and add it to a cool, gyrating levisphere of blood. I did this routinely to drain quarry of blood before butchering, so I did it without thinking, draining the fresh kill as I had from the third evs stacked up the day before.

The blood drained from the massive creature like a horror movie scene, and by the time I looked up, people were lively and laughing about something. I was confused about what they were on about, so I turned and saw this hypnotic hurricane of blood, twice the size of a beach ball in width—and my parents were staring at it like greenhorns on a crabbing ship, all white-faced and ready to puke.

So, of course, I panicked and threw that sucker right into the forest, meaning for, you know, it to just splash somewhere and create a little puddle or something.

No.

I wasn't thinking, so this thing hit a tree, and something like twenty gallons of blood between all these various beasts exploded, turning the first third of this tree into Carrie White from the Black Prom.

So… yeah.

After that fiasco, I yelled, "Food's on me tonight!" in a cracky voice, and the harvesters started cheering. Hadrian made a comment, and I wanted to punch him. Brexton lingered and said some things, and I wanted to ignore him. Soon, I was swarmed by people who hid my shame.

It turned out to be in my favor because I realized how high these people got from the meat, so I drugged 'em up the next morning, preparing to negotiate prices and curry favor with them while they were hopped up on magical smack and already grateful to me.

I was ready to run a fire sale on these drugged-up schmucks, but the first person to visit my tent of herbs and treasures was the person who I seemed to dread most for unknown reasons that weren't linked to fear or apprehension.

"It's been a year," Hadrian said with his arrogant smirk.

"Indeed it…" I stopped speaking when I noticed his soul core. It had expanded to twice its size, and it was brighter. "So you've evolved?"

He smirked. "I have."

"Been threading soul cores?"

"A few. But for the most part… no."

"So what did you do?"

He shrugged and stayed silent, his arrogant smirk withstanding.

"So?" I glanced at about two hundred preservation chambers of different plants. Then I glanced at a bag and pulled out a few more. "I didn't find anything particularly rare this year," I said. "I stayed close to home and focused on my food and shelter. But what I do have is plants you cannot get during the harvest. Spring and summer annuals. I've separated them by effects."

"That's hard to believe," Hadrian said.

"Excuse me what?" I looked up and saw him holding a box similar to the one that Kira was inside, tattooed with complex arrays everywhere, only it was larger. "What's…"

"Hmmm?" He raised an eyebrow and smiled in a gotcha pose.

"If you didn't find anything sweet, then why would an alchemy god send you something?" he mused. "I don't believe I've ever known a god to send us anything."

I sharpened my gaze on him.

"Don't worry, we're business partners," Hadrian said.

"You're obligated to my family—not me."

"It seems you remember this time."

He offered me the package. I grabbed at it, but he pulled it back. Then he finally handed it to me.

I'll never understand why people felt the need to do that, but it pissed me off.

"What do you want?" I asked coldly.

"My alchemist will shop for me," Hadrian said. "But I would like to buy your quarry. I doubt we'll find anything that strong this year."

"Do you have something to offer? 'Cause if you want it cleansed, it'll cost ya."

His smirk curved into a grin. "Just the meat. I'll take care of that myself."

I looked at his core again. "So you've learned the secret, huh?"

"How to get stronger killing, cleansing, and eating?" Hadrian mused. "Yes. I didn't know there was so much value in servant's work."

He turned and opened the flap to the tent.

"Wait."

He turned back.

"I'm taking a ride with my family tomorrow. We're going to tour my home, and I don't want your people to disclose where it is. Will you make the deal we talked about?"

His eyes flickered with interest.

"Of course," he said. "As long as your wording is the same. We do plan to lay all your secrets bare. We might as well begin with the… basics…" He suddenly paused, and his eyes glided to the left.

"What?" I asked.

"It's just… I get this strange feeling…"

I swallowed. "That what?"

"It's just… Your pact's wording is very nuanced. Yes? 'While you may disclose information about my daily habits, lifestyle, and things that I teach you, and recount your own experiences to your own benefit, you must maintain absolute silence, both in words and actions, regarding information of significant magnitude, that can have an obvious negative impact on my life, or that I ask you keep secret with a reasonable argument about how it could do so.' That is what you said, yes?"

I nodded. "Yep. Pretty much covers everything."

"Everything…" He pointed at me and smiled. "Everything indeed. Humor me, Mira. Why do I get the premonition that my men will return begging exception to interrogation out of fear that they will die speaking of even the most mundane of inquiries?"

My heart kicked, and Hadrian's grin grew, but I kept my face calm—an ideal model for sculptors.

"You might be right," I said. "There could be a full settlement outside these walls, filled with past harvesters who actually survived the winter but chose not to return because they found the Fountain of Youth. And amongst them could be a powerful mage who has dedicated his life to passing his legacy down to me before he passes. And in such a case, you likely won't hear anything from your guards. Or…" I smirked mockingly. "It could be that everything in this forest is worth extravagant amounts of money, so most things they say could be bad for my health."

He frowned.

"Trust me, there will be plenty to learn. But considering I have a patron god and deal in multi-million hawk resources, you should expect large holes."

He smiled mockingly.

"I believe we should test it. I'll send one man with you on your tour. We'll see how little he can tell. Is that acceptable?"

I thought this news would overjoy me. I was almost begging the Dantes to drop their guards from my excursion, but now that there was only one, I had a twisting feeling wrenching at my guts.

"Hoh?" he mused. "Do you not feel confident in protecting them? You were so eager to bring Felio this year—I assumed you were ready."

"Not against legacies," I said.

"No legacies will harm you," Hadrian said. "I'll give you a one-day reprieve where no legacy leaves this Mouth—and returns on the same day. Do you still not feel confident?"

I didn't. But I nodded and said: "That'll be enough."

"Good." Hadrian left, leaving the room empty and cold.

It was hard to explain what I felt at that point and how the negative emotions—anxiety, fear, apprehension—mixed and marbled with excitement, anticipation, and ambition. Then, it all disappeared in a snap when Felio nervously entered my tent with a female guard.

Once I saw her, I couldn't help but laugh away my hesitations. She walked in like a child on their first day of school, eyes flitting to me, wondering if it was still okay to be friends.

"Felio!" I said brightly, giggling and offering a hug.

"Mira!" she called back, accepting it. "I didn't want to impose."

"Oh nonsense," I said dismissively. "Come look what I found."

Twenty minutes later, my dad walked into the tent and paused my and Felio's enthusiastic conversation about ingredients to say:

"Hey angel. There's a long line out here. People are getting restless."

I blushed. "Oh, thanks, Dad. Give me five minutes."

He nodded.

Then I reached into my backpack and pulled out two containers of the plant she requested last year and said, "I brought these for you. Now feel free to take anything you want."

Her eyes twinkled. "You didn't!"

"I did. Now pick your poison. I'm pretty much handing out things this year."

Felio giggled and reached for something and then paused and looked up at me. "Wait. You did reconcile with Reasan, right?"

"I did."

"Then… well… it may not be necessary. With the Melhans out… upon proper assurances… my family has permitted me to join you… if you will have me."

"Really?" I asked with a bright smile.

Felio nodded. "I have eight guards… all female… um… can you accommodate them?"

"The more the merrier," I said. "They do know about the pact?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Great! Then let's pack you up some plants in case you change your mind, but you can practically forget about them. There's millions of plants in the spring. This place looks like a graveyard right now."

Her eyes sparkled, and her humorless guard said: "Mistress. You must contain yourself. We have not agreed yet."

Felio's face flitted into a rueful smile. "Forgive me. Please give us anything you see fit. We will discuss it once you finish your trading."

I did, and she left, leaving me with a massive line of families trading alchemic treasures, gear, and tempering resources for plants. With the exception of the Claustra and Dante's alchemists, I chose to give each family two types of ingredients I wouldn't give to the others, giving quasi-exclusivity, something they all appreciated. And as the midafternoon hit, and all bundled up as a fall wind storm shook the trees, Reasan finally came in.

"You didn't need to come in last," I said.

"You may not think it, but honor is important to us," Reasan said.

"Oh, I believe it," I said. "But I'm also mildly convinced you wanted to see how much I saved for you."

"I will not be offended if you only left me a scrap," he said. "But yes. I am curious."

"Well…" I pulled out a preservation chamber with pink tri-leaved herbs. "I only gave some of these to the Dante. They're teraniskicus. Known soul cleansers—to help build your soul cores. I was was hesitant to give them to anyone, but Hadrian's evolution's already driving demand for next year. Might as well make a fortune this one. Yeah?"

He smiled and pulled out a tiny elixir in a vial. I got no popup, so I stared at it hesitantly.

"Open it," he said. "Your Guide will be able to tell you what this is."

I accepted it and then created a domain to isolate my environment.

"As expected from an alchemist god's disciple," he said with a strange smile.

I opened up the bottle and Lithco walked into the tent behind Reasan, lifting a copy of it and smelling it as my eye twitched. "That's Reaina, alright."

What is it? I asked with my thoughts.

"Just as the soul cleansing elixirs you made cleansed your soul, and the Lumidra Elixir cleansed your mana channels, Reaina Elixir cleanses the human brain."

But it's not nearan, I said, staring at it with Soul Sight. It wasn't shining purple.

"It's not," Lithco confirmed. "This is a vessel supplement. Just as mana channels flow through your physical body, and they will be disrupted if your body is hurt, nearan channels move through your physical brain. By building the brain and body directly, you improve the environment your channels move through."

I held up a "one-moment" finger to Reasan, who seemed amused.

How much is this worth? I asked Lithco.

"That's relative, isn't it?" he asked. "How much are those preservation chambers worth? They're one of the cheapest gifts you've gotten, but you cherish them the most because you need them."

I looked at the large stacks of high quality preservation chambers that I got from trading with the Dante. I had about two hundred total from last year, and now I had about five hundred more—and they were all of remarkable quality. And Lithco was right—they were the thing I cherished most because they were the thing I needed most.

"Like your plants, you can't get this anywhere in the first domain, but…" LIthco grinned malevolently—the type of grin I liked. "Just as there's alternatives, you need to prove the same's true the other way around. Otherwise, he'll feel you owe him."

"Oh…" I smiled and then handed Reasan the vial and said, "That's a bit too valuable for plants that have alternatives," I said. "So… how about I add some of these to the trade?"

I pulled out an arm hammock of multi-colored bottles and small preservation chambers. Experience more on empire

"I have some serious tempers here," I said. "And some health balms, but I think that the thing you guys need are these…" I put down the elixirs and plucked a dozen vials off the ground. "Anti-toxins, anti-venoms, anti-inflammatories—and some Diktyo Water. Things that'll let you survive a harvest."

I looked up and saw Reasan's face shift, his expression tightening as if he was suffering from severe constipation.

"Please remember that I'm an alchemist god's scion," I said. "So let's be equals, yeah?"

Twenty minutes later, I crashed onto my bed, staring at the small vial with an evil grin, thinking about Reasan's priceless reaction to learning that his priceless treasures weren't as priceless as he once thought. Sure, none of my elixirs were of equal quality, but what I proved was that I could make something substitutable.

What? You have a brain builder? Next year, I'll make one. And who knows, with the ingredients I have, it might be eight times more powerful.

That was the idea.

I sighed, gripping it against my chest. Work was finally over. My role was finally done, and my family and Felio both agreed to come back to my little village. Everything was ready, but now the part I was struggling most with was knocking on my door.

Better get back to my family, I thought. I've barely seen them… I took a deep breath. Just a few more minutes…

2.

Brexton left a clone in his tent and walked into the forest under the guise of absolute invisibility, traveling a few miles until he heard a bird whistle. He turned and followed the sound, walking mere inches away from Graka, the leader of the Cackling Kings, the mercenary troop hired by Leeka Melhan to kill Mira Hill, before suddenly materializing and saying, "Boo."