46 A New Beginning (1/2)

Li shook his head, his mouth curling ever so faintly up at the edges in a smile. ”You're right, old man. I should've known you'd worry about me whether or not I could lift the heavens or not.” His smile faded as his jaw set with determination. ”But I promise you that I will still try to make sure you never worry anymore. You have so little time left to waste any of it worrying. Everything's been arranged now. The crown will never bother us, the stall is up and running, and soon, and our fields will be full and alive too. We can finally tend this earth for real”.

Old Thane laughed. ”Lad, I've still years and years left in me. A good twenty, I reckon. You sound as if I'll fall dead the very next day. Come now, no need to coddle me. I daresay I like this worry – it reminds me how much I yet live for. And what's this about our fields? You've found way to muster up something out of that barren earth?”

”That I have.” Li smiled and took out the seed pouch, sliding it right in front of Old Thane.

Old Thane palmed the bag, squishing it between his fingers as he felt through it. ”Are these seeds, lad?” His fingers pinched a few of the seeds between the bag's fabric. ”Form the size and shape, I reckon these be wheat seeds. But lad, growing season is over.”

”Those aren't ordinary seeds. Got them from the duchess as a sort of parting gift. According to her, you plant them, wait a couple of days, and you have a full crop.”

”That is madness.”

”That's what I thought too, so tomorrow, let's try planting them together. We can watch how they grow. Plus, it's been a few days since I've worked with you on the fields, so I figure it's a good chance for me to help you out again.”

Old Thane slid the seeds back to Li. ”Aye, I'd like that. Would be mighty nice to have you around again to spill all my old adventures to, but your stall, lad. It's been a mere day; you should tend to it. I am sure the adventurers will be crowding it in the morrow.”

Li shook his head. ”That's what I have an assistant for. She'll manage.”

”But lad-”

”Old man, I know you want what's best for me, but I'll tell you right now what's best for me is to be by your side at the fields, listening to your old stories, exchanging jokes, and helping you.” Li smiled. ”What? You can't take a little help every now and then?”

”Not at all, lad. Not at all. You're right – the fields did feel that much more lonesome without you, hah!”

________________

At dawn, a few hours before they usually started, they got to work.

One thing that Li noticed about Old Thane was despite the fields being barren for years, he never stopped tending to it, weeding it and planting in them every year. It was a tenacity that he admired, and finally, he would get to see the old man's efforts bear fruit.

They spent the morning getting down on the dirt and plucking out weeds, and when they had finished, they still had to tend to the fact that the earth had to be made ready to plant. It had to be upturned and furrowed.

”I'll get the plow, lad,” said Old Thane as he wiped sweat off forehead.

”No need.” Li stood at the center of the field and knelt down, placing a hand on the cool and soft dirt. There was no need to conceal his power from Old Thane anymore. Of course, he still couldn't be blatant about things and just cast [Wild Growth] all the time and pop up a forest of plants, but there were subtler ways to go about things.

Focusing, he felt the Myrmeke's presence rumbling just below the surface.

'Come, can you help me?'

He felt a surge of happiness from the Myrmeke as it responded in the affirmative.

'Good. Then start turning up the earth where I walk. Dig up some deep soil and replace the stuff above with it.'

Li took up a slow pace around the fields, and the earth behind his steps sunk before being replaced with a layer of fresh and moist soil untouched by the elements. He made sure to keep an eye around his surroundings, and thankfully nobody was around much during this time right before first light, which was the main reason why he had decided to work earlier today.

Eventually, the Myrmeke plowed the entire field, completely submerging the brown and barren soils and replacing them with fertile, nutrient rich darkness smelling of rain and littered with worms.

”Gods, lad, what's this?” said Old Thane as he took a few tentative steps into the field. ”You've skills to sway the earth?”

Li came up to Old Thane and grabbed his arm. He had already revealed his power, and at this point, he figured it was time for the old man to know about how his farm really worked. ”Touch the earth, old man, and you'll see.”

The two of them knelt down, and as Old Thane's wrinkled palm pressed flat on the dirt, the Myrmeke's antennae burst up, curling gently around his hand.

Old Thane shivered. ”My, that's a hairy worm, that is!”

Li laughed. ”Not at all. It's a giant ant called a Myrmeke. It's been living under the soil for a while now, and I figure it'll do its part on the farm as a plow.”

Old Thane patted the antennae with his other hand. ”Well then, thank you, little ant! You've saved many years of toil from my back.”

Li smiled. ”Oh if you could see it, you wouldn't be calling it little.”

Afterwards, the two spent an hour planting the seeds by hand. They dug out evenly spaced patches in the dirt. About ten centimeters apart for each patch and just a centimeter deep. Interestingly enough, the amount of seeds in the bag were almost exactly enough to cover the breadth of the fields, with just a few left behind for Li to use later for his forest spirit training exercises.

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Li and Old Thane took a break, sitting cross-legged beside the fields, their trousers and shirts stained with dirt. Dirt caked under their fingernails and smeared on their faces, but they did not mind. It was proof of hard work, proof that one had communed with the earth and planted life.

By this time, the sun was coming up. Today would be a beautiful day. The sun peaked up from the west, rising over the Winterwoods, driving away the gloomy shadows wreathing them. As the darkness melted, the green of the forest became visible.

Li could spot little patches of yellow and purple flowers as the light spread across the rolling meadows spanning between the woods and Riviera. When he looked up, he saw that birds fluttered across the sky as life began to awake, their little figures seeming so small in such a wide and blue sky that grew brighter by the moment.