"Good morning Rhea!" Ingrid the baker waved to me gleefully. I raised my head from looking at the produce behind me and wiggled my fingers at the beaming woman. Because I looked away It, I hadn't noticed Donatello turned slightly and I almost tripped over him. I barely managed to catch myself, now hanging over him slightly. I cursed under my breath red faced as the towns folk giggled. It wasn't an uncommon site to see me have a dtzy, clumsy moment. It had been about half a year since I came here. Spring had just broken out after a harsh winter. With a warm blooming spring came a new kind of warmth to me. I had become a cornerstone of the villiage, with Donatello by my side. I used to be nervous walking through the villiage, but now I was confident. I could raise my hand and wave to them when they called for me.
"Donnie!" I heard the pounding of little feet coming closer to us. I already knew the rascals before I could turn. It was the gaggle of villiage kids running towards Donatello with wide arms. He started almost dancing on the ground the way that an excited puppy does when it sees its master. He bounded over to them, falling to his stomach and sliding to them so they could get to him easily. I smiled down at them as they squealed, Donatello's tail waving violently from happiness. Everyone in town was smiling at the sight. Everyone was giggling and there was waves of positive energy on the market place. This was like my third home other than the library. It was soothing and kind. I wasn't hear to shop, just going to the orchards and farmers fields on the other side of the villiage from the monestary. I had promised the farmers during the winter that I would use my growing vegetation magic go help them grow crops quicker. I wasn't at the scale that I could fully grow them on my own in one go, I would go once a week to pour my mana into it to help in the process. It would make the growing go ten times faster, and we would be able to get multiple lines of crops done. It would solidify a storage amount for next winter, as well as feed the surrounding villages and bolster finances for the farmers. They wouldn't have to worry about bad crops, dirt or season. Insects wouldn't be a problem because the plants would be growing top fast for them to consume. Same thing with pest and animals. I told them to plant extras in case of that, but they would be too slow for my magic. All my hard work throughout the winter I managed to keep my mana going for a little over thirty three minutes. Gaining an extra ten seconds a day for six months really did wonders for me. Even though it wouldn't be good for battle and larger spells, it made using my empath and healing abilities even better since they used minimal mana. I smiled down at Donatello who was wriggling on the ground in happiness as the children loved on him.
"Meet me in the fields when you're done." I called out, sauntering through the main road of town. I could see the various farmers fields in the distance, nodding to various townspeople as I did. Velkov the jelwer, Roxana the portrait artist, Lucia the chef-- all if them gave me large smiles and doting looks. I basked in the warmth, feeling the sun on my skin through my dress. Meredith had custom dresses made for all the prietesses for their tastes and what she thought would be nice. She used floral lace a lot but each girl owned four custom dresses that didn't look like any other. It was a small monestary and there were only about fifteen women living them. Five were maids and the other then were mages. Similar numbers were for the men, although there was about twenty two with with fifteen of them just being the soldiers most of which were Theosian refugees like Ignis. It was the same with the priests as well at first, but many of them preferred getting their own clothes suited to their own needs. My dress was small and cute like a sundress but with a full length. It was baby blue, with floral embroidery, with short flowy sleeves. It wrapped around my dainty shoulders and met in the middle to almost look like wings. A large white bow tie in the middle tied it together. It was simple and cute, and I very much enjoyed it. My scarred arms and some dotting my back were visible but I didn't mind. I just wore a thin soft shawl to try and cover them, but I still got wandering looks from anyone who was top close to me. I stopped at each farm as they were each designated to grow a certain crop or two. I had eight to visit that grew in this climate well. Garlic, onions, potatoes, carrots, corn, beans, zucchini, basil, parsley and various other kinds of herbs were grown in the first five. The other three grew fruits. One grew grapes for wine, one grew oranges and peaches and the other grew apples. I got to the first farm, seeing the fields looking tilled and neat. It belonged to farmer John Jilt, who volunteered to grow the potatoes, onions and garlic. I gave him a small wave from the fields as be raised his head. He offered me a brilliant smile and raced over to me. I don't know what my luck was in the novel of meeting handsome men, but this was one of them. He was a lumberjack and farmer, so he was tall and well built. He had his shirt off from tilling the fields which showed off his tanned skin and build muscles. He was almost blindingly handsome, but his power bounced off of my defenses. Most women would have swooned over it, or his square jaw and short cropped brown hair. Instead I ignored it the best I could, a little flustered but attentive and calm. I had seem so many handsome men like the prince, Jayce and Tobias that now I was kind of used to it. Even some of the soldiers like Ignis and Niro were cute. It was like the novel was taunting me in some way so I stayed back. Maybe one day I could find love, but I waited quietly instead of pursing it. Plus, this man was completely oblivious to any swooning woman before him which I found vaguely amusing. The first time I met him a woman from a nearby villiage brought her younger brother to get his arm healed from me from falling out of a tree. John brought them to the monestary to see me and she was clinging her bosom to his arm openly trying to seduce him. The man was unfazed though, and brushed it off with a cheery smile and left. He had inhuman strength as well, I had seen him easily lift up a cow. But he was kind.
"It's nice to see you." I gave him a small wave as he stopped in front of me drenched in sweat. He beamed at me like the sun and nodded, his grey eyes sparking in the sun.
"I'm happy you came. I'm just about done here." He pointed to the fresh earth he had dug up, the hoe still sticking out of the ground. The entire field was almost done, and I was impressed.
"Are the seeds laid down?" He nodded, smiling brilliantly at me. I clapped my hands together with a grin.
"Perfect!" I stepped toward the field and rolled my head around to loosen the muscles around my head. I closed my eyes, drawing the magic circles in my mind. Intricate works of runes and circles with a sun in the middle shone in my head. When I opened my eyes, the circle was materialized in the air over the field. It made a thrumming noise, pouring a golden light over us. John was staring in awe at the flow of magic pouring over his field. The ground began to glow as the candle in my chest started to burn. It didn't burn me as quickly as it used to, just a flush of warmth. I saw the earth shuffle and shift, and as soon as I saw sprouts of buds raise from the ground I released the magic. The circle faded and the thrumming stopped.
"Wow! That's amazing!" John ran over to his field in joy, looking state the sprouts of his crops.
"This much would have taken two weeks for this much growth." He was like an excitable puppy, almost vibrating in excitement. It usually took around ninety days for the potatoes he mainly grew to be harevestable. I was confident that by the end of the month all the crops would be harvestable. We would be able to make a multitude of harvests before the autumn. John was still happy, racing over and shaking my tiny hands with his large ones with gratitude. He was talking to me quickly and gleefully, but his words sounded like I was underwater. Even though I should have been ecstatic, I had a sense of foreboding in my chest. I had sensed something in the air shortly after activating my magic. It was dark and disturbing. As John sung his praises to me, I turned my head to the monestary instinctively. Something wasn't right.