After Alistair decided that he'll be staying in the bakery for the ti being, he went back ho to get the things that he needed. lina in the anwhile nervously ran from room to room, cleaning up whatever seed out of place for her.
"Will you calm down? Everything's already clean," Gilbert grumbled as she ran past him for the tenth ti, carrying a dust rag with her.
The old baker was lounging in the living room armchair, reading a book of so sort. Although with his glance he kept following lina, growing increasingly more annoyed with her nervousness.
Much to his relief, Alistair returned fairly quickly, and lina was forced to do her last minute cleaning. She, on the other hand, wasn't even sure what to do. All she could think of was that Alistair, who was officially her lover, was staying the night over at her ho. Her mind definitely wandered in the direction it shouldn't, but wouldn't any other woman have similar thoughts in her shoes.
Despite having lived almost until the age of 40, she never really had a serious relationship before. There wasn't really ti for it, not to ntion that most of the ti, n sought her because of her status. So those ended the mont lina discovered their true intentions.
But it was completely different with Alistair. She knew that he wasn't trying to exploit her. They knew each other for a long ti, and she'd trust him with her life. But the change in their relationship had co so quickly, she wasn't sure whether she was even ready for it.
"I got all the stuff I need," Alistair said, setting his things on the coach.
He then looked at lina curiously. "Is sothing wrong? You look nervous."
She almost felt like a fool, since he didn't seem bothered by the fact in the slightest.
"No, it's nothing," she said in a chilly tone. "Should I prepare you a bath?"
"Sure. As long as it doesn't involve you hauling those heavy pots," he said firmly.
"No, a bit of magic is all I need," she said casually and hurried away.
As she left the living room, she heard Alistair ask. "Did I do sothing wrong? She looks a bit mad."
"You'll have to figure that one out on your own, lad," Gilbert replied.
Alistair's stay was rather uneventful. After taking a bath and bidding goodnight, he went to sleep in the living room, which made lina feel like even more of a fool for worrying. So she decided to focus on things she'd need to do. Naly, her new pastries and the mission to the Monster Realm.
It was planned for Wednesday to give Sienna enough ti to recover. The Guildmaster didn't want to risk going without her, since she was crucial in protecting the adventurers last two tis. Alistair also explained that this ti, the group will be smaller and split into two—supply group and battle group. On its own, lina wouldn't have minded the change. But what worried her was the fact that Elowen was the one who suggested it, and he also seed quite against her going along.
What are you planning, Elowen?
She couldn't imagine him trying to turn on them—their goals were aligned, even if they didn't trust each other. But why wouldn't Elowen try to keep her away from the Monster Realm. It certainly couldn't be out of concern for her, but she just couldn't figure it out. She was missing so crucial information. lina mulled it over for a long ti before falling asleep.
"Good morning," Alistair greeted a soft voice as the curtains of her room were pulled back.
"Huh?" She asked, sleeping peering from underneath her blankets.
"You wouldn't wake, so Master Gilbert sent up here to wake up," he said with a teasing smile.
He was wearing a simple shirt and pants, instead of his usual armor or the fancy clothes he wore when off-duty. lina was surprised how much they suited him. Then again, with a face like that, he'd look good even in a potato sack.
"I might have fallen asleep late," she mumbled, not quite wanting to leave the comforts of her bed.
"What were you doing?"
"Thinking about Elowen."
Alistair frowned. "You know it is very displeasing for a man to hear that his beloved has been thinking about another man."
lina opened her eyes fully and sat up. "No, no, not like that! I'm just worried about what he'll do. That's it!"
Alistair turned away hurriedly. "Oh, yes! That is quite concerning. In either case, you should co down for breakfast."
Then he left the room without a second glance.
"What was that about?" lina asked Sienna, who had been observing the situation from the ceiling.
She chittered at lina, forcing her to look at herself. Only then did she realize that her nightgown didn't really leave much to the imagination.
"It's his own fault for coming in without knocking," she grumbled.
After getting dressed, lina and Alistair ate the breakfast in relative silence, both too embarrassed to address the incident in the morning. Just as she gathered courage to say sothing, there was a knock on the back door.
"I'll get it," lina said, rushing to her feet, but Alistair took hold of her hand.
"Wait. What if it's the man in black," he said.
lina paused. "It would be odd for him to knock first, but alright. Let's be safe."
They went to open the door and were surprised to see Leliana. She looked equally surprised to see lina and Alistair both at the door.
"Good morning, Leliana," lina greeted her with an awkward smile.
"Good morning, Miss Leliana," Alistair said.
"Good morning," she drawled out looking at lina and Alistair in turn. "You two sure are moving fast…"
"No, this—"
"Can't have other n hanging around here," Alistair said cheekily.
She glared at him. "Alistair!"
"Yes, yes, you two are very in love with each other. Everyone can see that. Could I ask for your help with sothing, lina?" Leliana grumbled.
lina blushed, while Alistair returned inside with a satisfied shrug.
"What is it?" lina asked, when he was gone.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not ant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"I am nervous! So nervous! Elowen is coming over today to help with the seedlings but I don't know what to do," Leliana said, flailing her arms around as if she were drowning.
"I never expected you to be so nervous about eting soone. You're the social butterfly of Sunglow," lina noted in surprise.
"Yes, but this man is on a whole different level. I doubt he cares about so human girl. Elves are all beautiful, I must be barely above average by their standards."
"Why do you even care about Elowen so much? You barely know him," lina asked, then frowned. "This isn't just about his looks."
"I don't want to hear anything about looks from you, girl with the handso nobleman lover! But there's more to it than that… I just don't know. But I want to get to know him better," Leliana insisted.
"Okay, fine, but how can I help? Unless you want to go with you."
"No, not that. But can you tell sothing more about him? Sothing that could help get closer to him," Leliana looked almost desperate.
It was odd seeing this confident woman so frazzled. But she couldn't exactly reveal too much since her knowledge about Elowen ca from her past life.
"I don't really know him all that well. He hasn't been here for long and I haven't interacted with him much."
"What about Lord Sinclair?"
"I don't think they're close either…"
"Drat."
lina thought about it for a mont, then stepped aside. "Why don't you co inside? I can make so pastry that you could offer to him. Everyone can appreciate so good food."
"Oh, that's genius! Better yet—could you teach how to make sothing?" Leliana asked eagerly.
"Yeah, I don't see why not," lina said.
It was her day off, and after yesterday it was doubtful that Alistair would let her grind her skills so more. She will take it easy for the day, maybe work on Sienna's enclosure in the evening. It was close to being finished.
But lina didn't realize what sort of trouble she was signing up for. Only a few hours later did she find out that Leliana was hopelessly bad at cooking.
Elowen was standing in front of a large wooden house, not too far from the bakery. It was the house of the farr girl, Leliana. It felt odd to be worried about plants when there was the whole future of the world at stake. He should have been preparing for the mission to the Monster Realm, but lina and Alistair both were suspicious of him.
If he would only have to deal with one of them, then he probably could have been bolder. But together they were a formidable team. There was a reason why they were always sent to missions together. They covered each other's weaknesses. What might slip by one, the other will definitely catch.
So with both of them on high alert, Elowen had no choice but do sothing mundane and unrelated. It might as well be sothing useful. He was curious to see exactly how far the human girl had advanced with her experints.
Elowen knocked on the door of the house which was promptly swung open. Before him stood two human children, girls which looked exactly like one another.
"Hello! I'm Lara!" Said the girl on the left.
"I'm Sarah!" Said the girl on the right.
They were both smiling from ear to ear, looking excited at his arrival.
"Hello. Is Miss Leliana at ho?" He asked politely.
"Yes, she is!"
"She's been waiting for you."
A mont later, Leliana ca to the door, looking exasperated at her sisters.
"Don't you two have to feed the chicken?" She growled at them.
"Yes, sister!" They said in unison and left in an unhurried pace while glancing at Elowen.
"Sorry about that. They are ever so curious," Leliana said, and motioned inside. "Please, co in."
Elowen inclined his head and stepped inside, glancing around the ho. It had simple decor, much simpler than the one in the Guild. There weren't any adornnt around, but there were plenty of plants and greenery which instantly brought life to an otherwise poor place.
"So where are the seedlings you've been trying to grow?" Elowen asked.
"They are in the backyard. Would you like to see them right away?" She asked.
"Yes, that is the reason I ca here."
The young redhead seed a bit disappointed by his answer, but he couldn't quite understand why. Had he done sothing that humans found rude? He was about to ask when the woman gestured towards a hallway. On the other side, he could see a door that led outside.
Walking through it, Elowen was surprised at the greenery growing behind the house. Flowerbeds, fruit trees and vegetables of various varieties growing in neatly organized rows. Behind the garden were larger fields filled with wheat growing in healthy stalks.
"The seedlings are in the greenhouse," Leliana said, pointing at a rather old-looking building.
It was nothing like the greenhouses in Euroa. The wood was rooting in places and there were even holes in so of the glass panes. It was in painful need of maintenance.
"This greenhouse seems quite old," he noted, making sure not to show his distaste in his expression or voice.
"Yeah, we've wanted to upgrade it for a while, but it's been hard since Father died," Leliana noted, twinge of bitterness in her voice.
"My condolences…" he said awkwardly.
Elowen didn't know how to address such a heavy topic. Elves had extrely long lifespans. His own parents were still alive despite having him when they were around 700 years old. Who knew? Maybe he had another sibling. It's been a while since he'd seen them
"It's alright. It happened so while ago. In either case, here they are," Leliana said and motioned towards four plant boxes sitting right in the center of the greenhouse. Three of them looked barren while one had a few tiny sprouts peeking out.
Elowen leaned down and gently touched one seedling. He could feel the faintest hint of mana flowing through it. "Is this feyfruit?"
"Yes. It didn't grow well initially when I kept the seeds inside, but they sprouted once I took them to the greenhouse. I suspect they prefer the sunlight," she explained, then pointed towards the two boxes closest to her. "These two are zephyr root and scorchpepper. I planted them just a week ago, so it's too early to tell whether they like it here or not."
Then she pointed towards the box closest to Elowen.
"But this lon is no good. Shade, sun, dry or wet, but nothing seems to get them to sprout. Not to ntion that the feyfruit aren't growing much either. They've stayed about the sa for a week now. I would have expected more leaves to sprout by now."
"lon? What lon is exactly growing here?"
"Ugh… What were they called again? lina told the na, but I've forgotten. The lons that ooze nasty goop everywhere," she said scrunching up her face.
"Weeping saplons?" Elowen asked in shock.
"Yeah, those," Leliana confird, then furrowed her brows. "Is there sothing wrong with them? Aside from the obvious… ooziness."
"They are notoriously hard to obtain. Weeping saplons grow only in places rich with corpses and decay," he explained, and the woman paled.
"Corpses?!"
"Monster corpses. Not human. I suspect they found a monster's lair," he hurriedly corrected.
"I don't think I want to drag monster corpses into the greenhouse…" she muttered.
"No, I suspect not. I suggest focusing on the feyfruit. We elves have managed to cultivate feyberries in the Human Realm and feyfruit isn't as different, just more demanding."
"What does it need to grow?"
"Mana. A lots of it. That's why it's so hard to grow here—Human Realm just doesn't have enough ambient mana to sustain its growth," Elowen explained.
"There must be sothing I can do," Leliana said stubbornly.
"If you have mana, you could try supplenting the feyfruit with it. Like this," Elowen reached out for one of the seedlings, touching it gently. He then sent a little bit of mana into it. "You need to use just the smallest amount or it'll overwhelm the seedling."
"I'm not a mage, I can't do that," she said dejectedly.
"I'm not a mage either. Everyone has mana. You just need to guide a little bit of it into the plant," he said and took Leliana's hand.
She flinched a little but didn't pull away. He guided her hand to another seedling and let the mana gently flow into it. Leliana's eyes widened in shock.
"I can do that too?"
"Yes. You just have to imagine guiding your mana into the seedling just like I just did," he said.
"You say it as if it's so simple," she frowned.
Suddenly a vision appeared before Elowen. It's been a while since he had one of these intrusive visions. After lina told him the truth a lot of his mories returned. But he was seeing sothing different now.
Leliana and Elowen were standing side by side before a large withered tree. Leliana looked older and more mature, but her expression was filled with pain as she gazed at the tree.
"Even the mighty willow couldn't survive…" she muttered, tears rushing down her cheeks. "I hoped to see it bloom one last ti."
Elowen wrapped his arms around her as she wept. Anger and helplessness rose within him as he felt her sobs and watched the withered tree creak in the wind.
"We'll find a way. I promise, Leliana," he whispered, the faint sll of flowers still lingering in her hair.
"Leliana!" Elowen gasped and looked at the young woman next to him. The sa sll of flowers ca from her, only much stronger. He knew her.
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