Sophie felt the bond pulling, pulling, pulling at her mana as it tangled around her. She didn’t even know where to begin with unraveling it, and her thoughts felt slow and muddy in her head. Her knees grew weak and she felt herself falter.

“Oh!” Elowen gasped. She reached out her hand, just as Sophie began to slide to the ground, and for a split second, Sophie could have sworn she felt Elowen’s hand, cool and solid, brush up against her own.

But then she was sitting on the floor, and that terrible draining sensation had finally left her. Her head was absolutely spinning with mana loss to the point where the room itself seemed to sway back and forth. She was really low. She could tell now, with Mana Sense, that she was lower than she had been since she got the new ability.

Well, at least she hadn’t passed out.

“I’m so sorry!” Elowen cried. “Are you okay?”

Sophie glanced up at her, but it seemed that Elowen was back to her normal Faded state, almost as if nothing had happened. She looked awfully upset, but Sophie’s brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders and she couldn’t quite figure out why –

“I just couldn’t help myself,” Elowen continued. “It was simply wonderful, Sophie. I could feel all of this mana – just right within my reach. I haven’t felt that way in ages. In fact, I –”

So Elowen had been the reason the bond drained so much mana from Sophie? Sophie was about to ask… something – some sort of question if she could just get her mind to wrap around it the right way. But then Elowen’s face shuttered suddenly, and she shook her head as if trying to clear it. “I – well, that’s odd. I thought I could remember – but no. I suppose I don’t after all.”

“Remember what?” Sophie asked, finally, the words thick in her mouth. She tried to push herself up to her feet, and she nearly stumbled.

Crap, her mana was really, really low. Had it felt this bad previously when she had drained so much of it? Or was it because she had recently leveled up? But she was still only Level 5.

What would it be like if this happened at Level 10? Or higher?

She didn’t want to think about that.

Perhaps worse – it was still morning. And Sophie was pretty sure Briony was supposed to stop by today.

“I guess I better go make some more Magewort tea.”

She sighed, practically dragging herself out to the well to get water for tea. If only Elowen had regained her corporeal form, maybe Sophie could make her do this for once.

Oh well. Just another morning in the life of a shrine priestess.

***

Sophie didn’t feel as good as she had hoped she would after the Magewort tea. Her mana reserves felt just as full, or perhaps nearly so, as they had this morning, but she felt oddly foggy, almost like the aftereffects of a hangover. She definitely hadn’t felt like this yesterday, but yesterday she hadn’t been completely drained of her mana when she drank the tea. There was also the matter of the leaves themselves – the Magewort she had picked yesterday was already wilted today by the time she made tea with it. But she wasn’t sure that was the problem.

No, it felt almost like a side effect of sorts. Mabel hadn’t mentioned anything like that, but she probably also didn’t imagine Sophie would be draining her mana so soon after discovering the plants. She had, however, instructed Sophie on how to dry the Magewort out for proper storage. So just in case, Sophie decided she’d try that out today.

She chased the bitter flavor of the Magewort down with a cup of regular tea and some breakfast pastries first, and she went back out to the garden plot to pick as much Magewort as she dared to tie in bundles for drying. She also thought more about the problem of Elowen’s bond.

Her head was still a little foggy, but it was at least clearer than it had been earlier, and she had come to a realization. Elowen had been solid, even if just for a moment. Sophie was sure of it. So whatever Elowen’s Faded state was, it seemed like it could be reversed with enough mana. Although perhaps her solid form was not easily sustained?

The bond itself seemed like it could grow and change, as well. Somehow Elowen had done something to pull more mana through the bond when she had been connected to Sophie, but she was not able to do that to the shrine stone. Was it because Sophie was her priestess?

There was too much to consider and too much Sophie didn’t know. All she knew was that she had to try again. Perhaps if she could transfer Elowen’s bond to the stone from the garden, she would still only pull the limited amount of mana that she seemed to pull out of the shrine stone. Sophie patted one of the stones in the garden fondly and then collected her Magewort to take inside and dry.

Later that morning, Briony did, in fact, stop by to take a look at the greenhouse. She brought a cart full of glass panes with her, along with a ladder and several mysterious tools. Sophie showed her to the greenhouse and asked about her own ladder while she was at it.

“It looks usable,” Briony said, after rattling it a bit and then reinforcing it with some mana. In fact, to prove the point, she set it up against the side of the greenhouse to use instead of the one she had brought. Sophie held it for her as Briony climbed up to survey the damage, pulling off more vines as she went.

“I wish I could help somehow,” Sophie called up to her.

Briony peered over the edge of the roof with a grin. “Nah, you’d just get in the way,” she teased.

Sophie thought she was probably right. She at least made a pile with all of the vines and other debris from the roof and moved it back further into the surrounding forest and helped Briony carry a few panes of glass back and forth. But otherwise, she left Briony to her own devices until the other woman eventually climbed back down the ladder, wiping at her face with her sleeve.

“Did you ever find out anything more about all of these plants?” Briony asked cheerfully, waving towards the inside of the greenhouse.

Sophie glanced back at the rows of Dawnwood saplings. Right. She had originally asked Briony about them. “Um, yep. I did. Thanks for the recommendation, by the way. Mabel’s great.”

“She is,” Briony agreed amicably. “So, what are they then?”

Sophie blinked at Briony in a blank panic. “Um,” Sophie replied. “Just some trees, I guess.”

Briony gave her an odd look, but shrugged. “I suppose that is what they look like, huh?” She carried the ladder back into the greenhouse, setting it against the wall next to some of the other tools. Sophie couldn’t help but notice her glancing curiously at the saplings again on her way out. “Well, I think I’m all done here. You can settle up at the Guild.”

“Okay,” Sophie agreed. “Thanks!”

She felt relieved that Briony hadn’t asked any further questions about the trees. It wasn’t like she thought Briony would do anything unreasonable with the information – but now Sophie felt like she had this strange secret that she needed to protect. She stared at the trees for a while after Briony left. She really needed to figure out how to take care of them, other than Mabel’s basic instructions – water and the like.

Surely magical trees needed more than that. It sounded like what they could really use was mana, and Sophie was the only source of it in the area, currently.

Right. Today would be a good day to reinvestigate that bookshelf. But first… lunch.

After eating some of the leftover market food from yesterday, Sophie pulled down nearly all of the books off of the shelves and began leafing through them. Now that she knew what she was looking for, it felt like a far less hopeless task, and indeed, after a bit of digging, she found not one, but two promising looking volumes, including one about mana plants in general and another entirely on the topic of Magewood.

She put the rest of the books back on the shelf and glanced over at the writing desk, but it was a bit too stodgy for her – it made her feel like she was back in school, getting ready to study for exams or something. So instead, she gathered her discoveries, taking them back into the kitchen to sit at the table. She flipped through both of the volumes as she sipped on some now cool tea from earlier in the morning. She was delighted to find that the book on Magewood even had handwritten notes scribbled along the edges. Rosalie’s, perhaps?

“Look at this!” She pointed to a page describing the mana needs of Magewood trees.

Elowen eagerly peered over her shoulder. “So, you can channel mana into it?” she asked, curiously.

“I think so,” Sophie said, skimming over the page again. “It seems like it’s not the recommended method for raising them, but it will do in a pinch. Maybe I should try it on one of the Dawnwood first though, just in case.”

“That seems like a good idea,” Elowen agreed.

Sophie drained the rest of her tea, eager to try it out, and then led Elowen back out to the greenhouse.

When she opened the door, the rows of Dawnwood were now lit up by the clean, new windows, and she could even see the sky above them through the overhanging trees. There was nothing to be done about the fact that trees had seemed to grow in around the greenhouse over the years. It wasn’t like Sophie would cut them down or something. She hoped the saplings would get enough light, regardless, and she’d do her part to try to provide them with the mana they needed as well.

Sophie approached the first sapling, pressing her fingertips against its thin trunk. “I hope you don’t mind,” she whispered to the tree, feeling oddly like she was imposing on it. “I’m sorry I said you were probably dead.”

She had never channeled mana into something living before, and the idea felt awfully strange to her. The tree, of course, did not reply, and she felt a little silly for talking to it in the first place.

She closed her eyes then, trying to feel for a connection. It came to her slowly, like cold sap, but it was not unfriendly. The mana within the tree seemed to warm up a bit, even, as she tried pushing her own mana into the mix. She wasn’t sure how much mana to give the sapling, so after a few moments, she stopped and opened her eyes.

She nearly gasped aloud at the change in the sapling. No longer grey and dull, the bark was now a vibrant brown, and she thought maybe some of the branches seemed a bit longer, with the hint of the smallest leaf buds appearing here and there.

“It’s so much happier now!” Elowen exclaimed, clapping and spinning around the tree.

Sophie glanced over at the other saplings. They looked almost like entirely different types of trees – the change was that drastic. All with just a bit of mana, although perhaps the tree had been nearly dried up. But she also wondered…

“Do you think –” she glanced at the tree and then back at Elowen, who was blinking at her curiously. “I mean, is it possible that I could have a… uh, a tree affinity?”

Elowen laughed, a light airy sound, at the question. “Oh!” she said. “Oh, um, no. I don’t believe so. I’m sorry.”

Sophie tried not to scowl at Elowen poking fun at her. “Well, why not?”

“You’ll know when you find your affinity,” Elowen replied mysteriously.

“But, what’s left? Air? Maybe earth?”

Elowen shook her head. “There’s more than just the basic elements – people can have affinities to all sorts of things, although of course the basic elements are more common.”

Sophie frowned at the answer. All sorts of things?

“It’s also possible that you don’t have an affinity at all,” Elowen continued. “Even mages don’t always have one.”

“Like the Unspecialized?”

Elowen nodded. “Exactly like that.”

Sophie didn’t like that at all. She somehow wanted an affinity. She liked the idea that maybe something would finally come naturally to her. She supposed if she thought about it that way, she knew she didn’t have a tree affinity or a plant affinity or whatever. Although the sapling had responded well enough to her mana, she hadn’t felt any particular ease towards it, if she really thought about it. In fact, although the little tree seemed happy to receive her mana, it had started off feeling more cold and sluggish.

“What if I never figure it out?” she asked, feeling a little bummed at the idea.

“Oh, you will!” Elowen reassured her. “If you do have an affinity, it will only grow stronger as you level, until you’ll feel drawn to it.”

Sophie considered that for a moment, but she supposed it didn’t matter very much at the moment. She didn’t have a tree affinity, but she had a lot of trees in front of her that all needed mana. She might as well focus on the here and now, and she could figure out her affinity another time.

She scanned her mana, checking her reserves. She had enough mana to do at least another tree, or perhaps two, but she thought back to the tree in the shrine, instead. “Should we try the Magewood?” she asked.

Elowen nodded eagerly. “Yes!” she said.

Sophie felt a little nervous at the prospect. The Dawnwood trees responded okay to her mana, but what if the Magewood didn’t? Now, she was to face the real test.