"You're lucky we came along when we did." Amelia says staring at the mountain of lumber that used to be a copse of trees. She did all the drying after I 'chopped' everything down. Of course, I harvested all the nuts and fruits first.

"I still can't believe you felled the mother of all chocolate trees." Apricot has been crying over the body of her lost love for some time now.

"I told you, I'd never actually seen the wood from a cocoa tree before." I fight not to roll my eyes are her melodrama. "I've still got the potted one, and I harvested enough pods for a dozen large batches of chocolate."

"I think I can see why you've never seen it before." Amelia says while toeing one of the boards. "The grain is nice, but those grey splotches... not so much."

"Maybe I can stain it?" I'm not too hopeful, though. "At least Blackie seems to like it." My staff has been eating little bits off of every different type of lumber it can get a hold of.

"Yeah... your staff is weird." She eyes Blackthorne as it dips down to take another 'bite' out of the cocoa lumber.

"Blackthorne is a perfectly normal Livingwood staff." I can't even keep a straight face as I say that. "Sure, I've never heard of one before, but still. Perfectly normal."

"Uh-huh." For some reason, she has an incredulous look on her face. "Well, I hope he's not going to eat the house after you build it."

"I doubt it, aside from the cocoa he only took a nibble from everything else." I give it a pat, like one would for a good pet. "I wonder if it's because it's a tropical tree, or if there's just some residual magic in the wood. All I can sense is what I used to grow the tree."

"There might be." Apricot drops her act. "I can feel a bit of a tingle when I eat chocolate, it feels good."

"Huh? I wonder if we can do something with that." Regular chocolate makes people feel good, I can't help but wonder what magical chocolate would do. "I'll have to add it to the list, but first. It's time to build a house."

I left the two largest oaks for me to recharge from, and just because they look nice. Much like I did for Myra's house, I drill compressed wood into the earth sinking it deep for the foundations. I'm using cedar this time, but I'll still need to learn earth magic and coat the pylons with stone so they don't rot.

The house itself is a fairly simple storybook cottage, with a mostly square outline. The first floor has an open layout, a small covered patio in the center leads into a small foyer. Immediately to the left of the front door are the stairs leading to the second story. Just past those is what was the master bedroom and a full bath in mom's design.

To the right is the breakfast area, past that is the kitchen, and then the dining area. To the left of that is the living room, and the entire back of the house is one large screened off porch. The porch looks out towards the river where I plan to plant some willow trees, once I find some. I may need to build a boat and head upstream into the woods again.

The upstairs was originally going to be two bedrooms and a single bath, but I turned it into one giant bedroom. The stairs lead into a small landing that is basically just a door into our room, and a linen closet.

The exterior of the first floor is covered in over-sized cedar shingles set in an asymmetric pattern. These were dyed dark green and charred slightly to bring out the grain, and the way the wood twists when I modify it gives it a very interesting grain.

The walls of the second story are a pseudo wattle and daub made up of Holly infused with cotton to brighten it even more and Black Walnut stained even darker. The walls, floors, and ceiling are all insulated with cellulose fibers mainly for the sound dampening quality.

Smaller shingles set in a wave pattern adorn the roof. These got charred completely black to protect them from the elements, and I will probably treat them with Tung oil. Once I get my hands on some that is.

Cherry hardwood covers the floors throughout, and the kitchen is mostly maple and the cotton/Holly mix, but there are various other woods used as accents throughout the house. Including one wall of the living room which is made from randomly sized wooden tiles made from every type of wood I have access to. This wall will also house the fireplace, once we get someone out here to build one, or I learn to manipulate stone. But, right now it just has a wooden imitation shaped and colored to look like stone.

"It's done." My voice croaks when I speak and my joints ache as I finally start moving again. I've been sitting cross-legged in front of the house as it builds itself with magic for almost the entire afternoon. "Well, it's still empty inside, but I'm done."

"It's beautiful." Amelia is sitting on a blanket next to me with Apricot resting on her lap. "Your mom would have loved it." Her voice starts to crack from emotion rather than a lack of moisture.

"Oh, baby." I flop over to her on legs that are full of pins and needles right now. "Don't start crying again, you haven't even seen the inside yet. And, I need you to tell me what color to paint the walls."

"Sorry, I always get emotional this time of the month, and it's just so sad." The tears start leaking from her eyes despite my best efforts to calm her.

"It's alright Amelia, just let it out." I rub her back and wait for her to get centered again.

"Uhm, quick question." Apricot says looking somewhat confused. "But, what does the time of the month have to do with anything?"

"I'm guessing pixies don't have periods." She just looks even more confused. "Menses? Monthly cycles? Amelia, can you explain this, please?"

"Oh, I think you're doing alright." The blonde laughs at the flustered look on my face. "Hehehe. Sorry babe, she's just messing with you. We were talking earlier while you were building, and she knows about it, but none of the Fae have to deal with this."

"That might change if she stays big long enough." I warn. "She gets her size from you, what's to say she won't get anything else?" I put a vine on the pixie and try to scan her, but she's just too magical, and I can't really make anything out. "Nnh, you're too bright, I can't see anything."

"Note to self: shrink back down at least once a week." Apricot laughs and does just that for a second.

"Cheater." Amelia scoffs, but is happy to get a good eyeful of the now naked pixie.

"I know a trick that will make it so you won't have to deal with it for nine months." I waggle my eyebrows at them.

"Oh no." My cute little merchant shakes her head vehemently. "I am not ready for babies."

"...same here." Apricot adds in a quiet voice. I don't know if she's just agreeing with Amelia to make her more comfortable, or if this has something to do with her exile.

"Well, we'll just have to keep having worry-free sex thanks to the contraceptive spell." I laugh it off and decide to change the subject. "Now, let's head inside. I want to show the place off while there's still some light. I really do need help deciding what to paint the walls. The bare wood looks nice, but I'd like a bit of color."

"I vote for apricot." The pixie bounces up and rushes over to the door, not bothering to get dressed.

"Remind me to add some privacy hedges." I tell Amelia as we follow after our lover. "I doubt this is the last time we'll be naked out here."

"Amelia!" Apricot's voice interrupts whatever the blonde was going to say. "You have to see this place, it's amazing."

"It still needs a lot of work." I say as we enter the foyer. "Plumbing, glass for the windows, an actual fireplace, enchanted lights, though my glow spell on some houseplants should help with that. And, don't even get me started on the kitchen..."

"Sorrel, shut up." Amelia smacks me on the arm and then kisses the spot she hit. "The house is wonderful."

"Wait until you see the bathroom upstairs." Apricot calls down the stairs. "There's this massive tub, all three of us could fit and not even touch each other. Hells, you could swim in this thing if you wanted to."

"Everyone likes a good bath." I shrug and push Amelia up the stairs ahead of me.

"Did you make this entire floor our bedroom?" She pauses in the doorway.

"There's a linen closet over there too." I smirk. "There would have been two rooms up here with the master bedroom downstairs, but this way we can have a giant bathroom and huge closets."

"There's still a lot of room to fill."

"We're going to have a big bed." I smile. "But, yeah. I was planning to put a little reading nook with a bunch of bookcases... Shit, I forgot about Frankenstein again. I don't suppose you want to read a children's book." I whip up a third copy of the Seuss book.

"What's this?" She flips it open and smiles at the silly illustrations.

"I was working on your book in the carriage and Willow wanted to know what I was doing." I relate the whole tale. "...and then we ended up flying kites for a bit before Erick had to leave. I got caught up with the trees after that and completely forgot."

"That's fine baby." Amelia walks over to a window so she can read easier. "I just wish I had your memory. All those songs, and now these books."

"About that." I take a deep breath. "Apricot, you should hear this too."

"What's up?" She quits bouncing around the room, so I set out three big cushions for us to sit on. "You're acting all serious."

"This is Serious. See, I haven't exactly told you two the whole truth about how I came to be in the middle of the woods..."

End Volume One!