"Mom says I have to be kind to my models so I made you prettier. Do you like it?" Shargein asked, while in the Blood Desert, Salaark covered her face with her hand.
"Very." Jirni chuckled, caressing the Wyrmling's head. "Can you do one for my husband and daughter as well?"
The Orion miniature ca out amazing. It had a heroic bearing and the wrinkles on its face gave an impression of a wise and powerful Mage Knight.
Dripha's figurine, however, looked like a goblin. Shargein captured her oversized head, short limbs, sparse hair, and plump wrinkly face to perfection.
"Thank you, Shargein." It pained Jirni's heart noticing how accurate the miniature was and how it shattered the illusion with which the love for her daughter had clouded her eyes until that mont.
"Mom! Mom!" Dhiral Marth conjured a vine from the ground and used it to pull at Ryssa's leg.
"What's the matter, baby? Is anything w- Great Mother almighty!"
Under the stupefied eyes of the Dryad, the baby boy used his powers to stimulate the growth of a plant. The seedling grew in size at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly growing into a thin sapling.
It would have been nothing special for soone with the bloodline abilities of a plant folk if not for the fact that the sapling stopped growing in height and expanded to about ten centiters (four inches) in width.
Then, it bent and deford into smooth, soft curves. The small branches covered in foliage took the shape of wavy hair while the crevices in the wood resembled the delicate features of Ryssa's face.
Before she could call Marth, the seedling was gone, replaced by a bonsai version of the Dryad.
"Mom. You." Dhiral plucked the bonsai from the ground and offered it to Ryssa with both hands and a proud smile on his small face.
"It's beautiful, sweetie. Thank you." She lifted the baby boy, peppering him with kisses and showering him with complints. "Mommy is going to treasure your gift forever."
"What's the matter, Ryssa? Is everyth- Good gods!" Marth saw the bonsai and his jaw dropped to the floor. "When? How? Why?"
Everyone could tell that the Headmaster was neither proud nor happy of his son's skill, but Jirni could see those sa feelings on Ryssa's face. The Dryad had just had more ti to recover from the shock.
"Daddy!" The fact that the boy considered Marth's reaction normal and took it like a complint also told Jirni that such a feat was just a drop in the ocean. "Daddy, you!"
Dhiral raised his short arms while still in Ryssa's embrace and another seedling sprouted from the ground. The distance from his creation made things harder for Dhiral but he took it like a challenge.
His chubby face turned into a mask of focus as a second bonsai, this ti bearing a striking resemblance to Marth, blood. It was as big as the previous bonsai, but the level of details was higher.
Marth could see the pins on the lapel of the mage robe of his bonsai version and a knur in its wood hands shaped like his headmaster ring.
"Daddy like?" Marth's expression was still of shock and worry, making Dhiral think his father was displeased with his work.
"I love it." Marth saw his son's eyes welling with tears and composed his face into a happy smile. "You're amazing, Dhiral. Daddy is proud of you."
"Daddy!" Marth opened his arms, and Dhiral sprouted wings that he used to fly into his father's arms. "Love you, Daddy."
"Wait." The family mont was tender and moving, but Jirni couldn't help getting a major headache at such a sight. "Since when do Dryads fly without magic? How can a baby less than one year old speak like that and understand what you say?"
"Dryads aren't supposed to fly without magic." Ryssa said without breaking her fake smile. "Nor are they usually that smart at Dhiral's age. Even that is a shocking ability of our little genius."
She pointed at the bonsais.
"It is?" Jirni and Elina said in unison, the latter with enough shock to make the baby boy look at his father for reassurance again.
"Don't worry, Dhiral, the pretty lady is just impressed by your skills." Marth said while gently embracing the boy. "She admires your talent."
Dhiral giggled with joy and gave Elina a small bow, making her freeze on the spot.
"Go play with your friends but don't get too far." Marth loosened his hold and used one hand to put his finger in Dhiral's face to stress the importance of the last concept.
"Yes, Daddy." The boy looked sad as he sprouted wings again and flew where Elysia, Valeron, and Shargein were playing in their Divine Beast forms and Solkar in his hybrid form.
"When did he learn to do that?" Marth Hushed the area and bent down to pick up his bonsai.
"A literal minute ago." Ryssa sighed with worry. "Dhiral saw Shargein carve a figurine of Elina and sohow used his powers to emulate him without any tool."
"Gods, why?" Marth plunged on the nearest chair, every new detail he noticed on the bonsai was another stab at his heart.
"What's the matter, Duke?" Lith could recognize a troubled father from a kiloter away and went to the rescue.
"Look at this." Marth handed Lith the bonsai. "Plant folk can stimulate the growth of plants and even make them move a little, but they can't do sothing like this. Turning a tree branch into a whip just alters its flexibility and length, this is sothing else.
"After a plant folk stops injecting mana, the altered plants return to their original state, whereas what Dhiral did is permanent. He altered the shape of this sapling and then its life force, turning the changes of his choosing in the tree's natural state."
"That's monstrous!" Lith's voice expressed every drop of his shock in a very unpolite way. "I an, a monstrous talent. Your son took from you Duke. You must be proud."
"From ." Marth echoed, clicking his tongue. "Yeah, right. The best I could do at his age was soil myself and say a few babble words. I was nowhere as intelligent as Dhiral."
"Ryssa?" Elina asked.
"Dryads are born as adults but we too are quite dumb and naïve until we live long enough to learn our lessons." She replied, her worried expression mirroring Marth's. "And I've never seen any plant folk or even a Fae do that as an adult, let alone an infant."
"Since no one is willing to say it out loud I will." Jirni stood up from her chair to study the bonsais. "You suspect this is Manohar's, and I ant Manohar the First, doing."
"Yes." Marth clenched his head. "If Ryssa got pregnant after I fused with the White Griffon, I would have believed that a spark of his genius had beco a part of and been passed on to our son but that's not the case."
"Please, believe , Duke. I've never cheated on you." Ryssa was hurt and upset.
Plant folk had a terrible reputation as partners due to their promiscuous nature and Ryssa was afraid Marth would co to the most logical and simple explanation for his son's genius.
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