I felt like I was falling, endlessly, through a black void. Eventually, my senses started returning one by one, settling into my body with a light buzz. First came touch, with the air whistling past, seemingly blowing all over me as I fell. It danced on my skin, swirling, and eddying about. It faded into the background with time, though how long is unknowable. Next came sound, bringing what I could feel into a greater clarity, as I could hear the wind. Yet, it wasn’t the only sound around me. I could hear a roaring fire, though at a bit of a remove, the crashing of water as if from a torrential storm, yet none touched me. There was also a faint sound of what could only be rocks grinding together, mixed with the roar of leaves rustling in the flowing wind.

Hearing the sounds was almost soothing, lulling me into a sense of rest. The sense of smell was faint, only coming in gradually. The woody scent of the forest, a hint of smoke, fresh rain, and damp soil. It was all coming closer, at least by the ever-increasing scents, and with them the volume of the sounds increased as well. The last sense I remember coming into focus was my sight, color bleeding into the world at every angle. With the return of sight came my sense of self. I was myself again, a puzzle made whole.

I came to realize that I wasn’t falling, not anymore. Maybe not ever. I was lying flat on the ground, with the faint touch of grass. Just basking in the sensation was pleasant. I breathed deep and stretched for what felt like the first time in an eternity.

“How long do you plan on there? Some of us have things to do.” The voice rang out with shifting tones, both familiar and utterly alien. Greyson.

“Well, now that I know you are here, a couple more minutes.” I was more than a bit irritated at them, and while it was childish and a bit petulant, it was the answer that sprang forth.

“Best rise soon, we don’t have all the time in the world.” If it were anyone else, I would think that the tone that they said it in was a mix of both concern and pride. Even the thought of Greyson being concerned about something was a bucket of cold water.

Abruptly sitting upright, I could see that my surroundings was my clearing. My home, now. Confusion bubbled to the surface, and yet I felt at peace. I knew I was home intrinsically, and with my whole being. Nothing had power here without my say, not even Greyson.

“Let’s stop that train of thought right now, how about. While you might have more control here, it is not infinite.” Again, he was either reading me, or my thoughts directly.

“What do you want, Greyson?” Even saying that, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge childish once again.

“You have moved a few steps ahead of what I had planned, and while that is excellent, you do not have the support that I planned for. At this instant, you are being cared for by those that are essentially strangers to you, and if they had been anyone else, you likely wouldn’t have received much help at all. Do you make a habit of breaking plans, Davin?” I felt greater clarity than I ever had when talking with Greyson before, yet their words were still difficult to parse. The realization that either I was not currently in my body, or that I was hallucinating quite vividly was worrying.

“It might be better to start from the top then. Where are we, and why do we have limited time?” The concern for my own wellbeing, as well as Alexander and Bella were overriding whatever enjoyment I had found.

“You have at least achieved the desired mental state. Very well. We are currently inside your domain. Your soul, your personal void, your inner planet. Metaphysical terms more than accurate descriptors. I would personally prefer domain because it is your authority within that is near absolute. I once again stress the near in that sentence. We have limited time, because you will eventually wake up, and once you wake, I will be ejected. Now that you have a domain, it is harder to… guide, yes, let’s go with guide, you.” They paused as if for a breath, but their physical form gave no breath. “You merged with the core much sooner than I thought you would, by instinct alone. Maybe. There is always the chance that another is pulling some strings as I have been doing.” While informative, it felt like it wasn’t information that was new to me. My domain was mine, and I was inside it. Easy enough. More wannabe gods plucking at ‘fate’ had me worried.

“Rude, but not entirely inaccurate. Now, for the real meat of things. My geas is weakening and will shatter soon. As you have a domain, you are much more resistant to the guiding of those such as me, but not impervious to them. You have opened paths many never get the chance to even know about. Put them to good use.”

I could feel a pool of something within, abounding with potential, just out of reach. I took a breath to steady myself, but internally I was both amazed and giddy as hell. Magic. It was in my grasp. “How- “

“Do not rush into this. You will need to experiment yourself because it is at least slightly different for everyone. Ah, even now you cannot keep it down.” With that, and a shake of their head, I could feel my domain undulating. It was a strange experience, almost as if everything was willing to bend to my will, all I had to do was reach-

“Davin.” The voice was imbued with some force, and it felt like my whole being down to the bone had been stilled. The forces receded, seemingly at the same pace. The pool of potential was still there, but instead of raging waves across its surface, it was a still reflecting pool.

“As you have seen firsthand, emotion goes hand in hand with your personal magic at least. You will need to keep a grip, or you will burst out of control. That is not to say that you can’t take advantage of this, but it needs to be directed constructively, lest you break something you care about.” That was regret in their voice. Best not to dwell here now.

“Yes, a story for another time perhaps.” Another pause, collecting their thoughts. “Not all answers can be given, Davin. Lessons need to be learned, oftentimes by the person themselves.”

“What can I do? What should I do?” My own existential nightmares began coming to the fore, as I wondered just what power I now have.

“The first is up to you to discover, and the second up to you to decide. Remember, if you can survive an experience, you can grow from it. Death is a tad less forgiving.”

Another tremble rocks the world, though this time it feels like it comes more from without than within. Greyson looks about, a gives an exaggerated sigh, “Ahhh, your own emotions stirred the pot more than I predicted. You can and should return to this space with diligent meditations. Eventually coming here will be as easy as taking a breath, but not at first. At the very least, your teacher will be able to help you soon enough. Your experimental value may have dropped, but I would still like to gather the data that you can provide. Do try to stay alive.” Glad to know that they care.

With a slight roll of my eyes, I say, “You still didn’t mention what I can do. At this point it’s obvious you aren’t going to. Goodbye, Greyson.” The slight tug at the corner of their mouth was just annoying enough as I said that to send me out, and into the waking world.

Something was weighing me down quite heavily as I came into consciousness. Quite literally at that, at what was probably forty pounds of wolf. Her eyes were open, probably awoken from me shifting as I woke up. The glimmering bit of a connection broken as she took that time to lick me across the face and up my nose.

With a thud, I rolled out of a bed that I had been placed in, instead of my usual hammock. Though, as soon as I landed, it sent the rest of the house up in arms, with at least two shouts and another panicked gasp. The first to get to me was none other than Tanner, who came to lean right over top of me, with quite the look of concern. “You all right lad? Gave us all a good scare.”

My hand had been wiping up dog slobber off my face, and when I went to speak back, came down to cover my mouth as I finally realized how horse my throat was. A cough later I was able to croak out “Water…”, as cliché as that is.

Tanner gave a nod at that, seemingly happy enough that I was awake even if I was a bit battered from the fall. As I sat up, he helped me lean back against the bed, and stopped me from rising any further with a stern look.

Alexander came next, apparently having been close enough to hear my cry for water, as he held out a cup. He looked just about over the moon to see me awake, probably afraid to have almost lost me so soon after finding me in the first place. I took the cup carefully, and drained it dry not but five seconds later, my throat all the more thankful for it.

I cleared my throat once before saying, “Thank you all for helping me. What happened?”

Mabel, Katherine, and Lukas had all gathered behind Tanner now, seemingly content with not speaking first. Tanner had been looking at Alexander, and gave a light nod, who in turn started saying, “Well, not last night but the night before that, I woke up cause you were out in the yard screaming like nothing I had ever heard. By the time I had gotten to the doorway, Mr. Tanner had already made it to you.”

He looked back to Tanner again, receiving another nod in turn, before continuing, “After that, Mr. Tanner checked you to make sure nothing had bitten your or anything, and brought you back inside. He put you in my bed cause yours is higher off the ground and we didn’t want you to fall. And… And Mr. Tanner didn’t see it, but I think your chest was glowing after he laid you down. Right here…” He tapped right the upper part of my sternum with a shaking finger.

“It’s okay, Alexander, I am doing better now.” I gave him a small pat on the back as he latched onto Bella, who had shifted down to sit next to him. I looked to Tanner, who looked ready to speak now.

“It’s as the boys says, aside from the glowing. Not calling him a liar, just that I didn’t see it. You were out for around a day and a half, just after breakfast time now. We managed to get a bit of vegetable broth down, but we made plenty of breakfast foods, though we did dig into your stores a bit.” He looked a bit contrite at that, but continued, “I just thank Yr Un Llwyd, he had just led us to you and we were beside ourselves for a bit.” He took a breath, “Do you know what happened before you fell over in the yard yelling?”

I nodded, “It is a bit fuzzy now, but I think the most of it is that I... connected... with the magic in this place. I don’t know how I did it but I think Gre- I mean Yr Un Llwyd had something to do with it.” If he thought anything of my slip up in the name, he didn’t show it.

Though, he did give a grave nod at that. “We can’t know what he has in store for us, but as a God of Order I am sure that it will all come together in the end.” He closed one hand into a fist, before covering it with his other hand, before bowing over it, while muttering something that I couldn’t make out, though it sounded like a prayer. Mabel followed soon after, though Lukas and Katherine did not.

“Well... I am at a loss for words really. I don’t think I can thank you enough for helping me, and I am sorry for the distress I caused, to all of you.” I made sure to catch Alexander’s eyes as I said that. He seemed relieved, though tired. My stomach took that time to make an announcement to the world, as everyone in the cabin heard it groan. It started out small, but I gave a chuckle at it, before everyone else joined in one by one. “I think my stomach wants breakfast now,” and with another laugh, Tanner reached out to me and helped me to my feet.

“I would sure say so, there is plenty to go around.” Giving a shake to his head, he helped me over to my seat at the table. We made some more small talk around breakfast, and Alexander stuck right next to me like a second shadow, with Bella being his own.

Breakfast turned out to be a nice hash brown with what looked to be cheese mixed in with spices added on top. Plenty savoury, and probably one of the best meals that I have had since I had come to this world. How much of that being based on how starving I was is up in the air. After breakfast, Tanner went to go get crops in the ground, while Lukas and Alexander helped as best they could. Mostly that meant lugging about sacks and rocks. Bella took to running laps around the growing field area, while Mabel and Katherine and I cleaned up the the dishes and cabin. It had taken a bit of a toll with one less set of hands. Not that I could blame them after taking care of me in that condition.

I rested lightly against the outside of the cabin facing towards the path out of the clearing, roughly south. I was told to take it a bit easy to recover my strength, and I wasn’t going to argue about that. While I sat, the sun crept overhead, though the roof managed to provide just enough shade for me to sit under. It was peaceful. Some calm after the hectic pace that had been set before. I was under no illusions that the world wasn’t changing all around us, however. Many people had seen Alexander and I enter into Miss Hannah’s shop, and I don’t doubt that it eventually made its way back to his uncle.

It’s something that has been eating away at me this whole time - what kind of person would even do such a thing is beyond me. I don’t know how far the concept of evil personified goes in this world, but he had to be up there. What I don’t understand is why he didn’t just kill Alexander and be done with it; what is the point of the needless suffering? Left on the streets with seemingly nothing, his parents brutally murdered at the direction of his own flesh and blood.

I don’t think it will ever make sense to me.

When it happened, I can’t say, but I eventually slipped deeper down into my own mind. My thoughts were still going a mile a minute, but it seemed like they mattered less and less. I eventually came to rest within what could only be my domain, unless I had slept the whole day away and it was already dusk. I still sat up against my house, in the same position as before, but I was able to see the glowing ball of magic hanging in the air. Right where it had been before.

I could feel the thrum of power, as it recognized me somehow. The feeling of power rose with the beat of my heart, and as I glanced down, my chest was glowing almost exactly where Alexander had given me a poke earlier.

Last time, I had been ejected rather roughly after losing control of my thoughts, but... That didn’t seem to be happening this time. Did I have a firmer grasp? Were there other factors at play? I would answer the first with a shrug, and the second with a definative yes. I had some feelings on what to do, and it felt like I was coming to a turning point. My breath was becoming tighter, but the potential within was only rising.

I closed my eyes, this time with purpose. Feeling more than knowing, conduits ran from my chest to my navel and up to my skull. Pushing the potential down only one felt wrong, but there was also something distinctly wrong with only those two paths. Gasping, I went off of instinct alone to send some behind, in a metaphorical sense, and met a pathway running straight between my skull and navel, and as soon as the potential touched it, it raced up and down it like lightning down a rod.

This time I was waking up with my face already on the ground, though I am unable to say how long it has been. It felt immediate, and the sun has barely moved across the sky, and the only one worried is Bella, who was around five feet away holding a stick. Seeing me move again sent a shake down her, and a strangled yelp slipped past the branch. I shook my head as I sat up, the taste of grass still on my tongue. Bella approached closer, wagging her tail all the way, who was I to not oblige her?

The stick sailed clear across the clearing, nearing close to the treeline, given the distance, I don’t think I should have been able to throw it that far. Bella didn’t seem to mind, and was off like a shot, tearing through the swaying grass. The slighest twinge impacted both my stomach and my chest at the same time, though I felt it be alleviated by a smooth flow from my skull. Which probably meant that I had just used magic.

For the first time.

To throw a stick.

Great.

Since I had been feeling better, better than I think I ever had, I joined Tanner and the boys in working the field a bit after lunch. It had been a small affair, some hard biscuits with a bit of cured meat stuffed into it. Wasn’t the worst, but definetly gave the jaw a workout.

If anything, the work we were doing was barely tiring, at least to me. The ground had been cleared mostly this morning and yesterday, with Promise now trailing behind Tanner, hooked up to a small plough that he had brought with him. I was behind, mostly picking up rocks that were uncovered, and mostly joking about with the boys, where I managed to throw a small stone so fast it punched a pretty smooth hole clean through a bit of the nearby canopy. I eased off after that, just incase I hurt something.

After a few rows of ploughing, we set to hoeing out rows which came out to around a hundred feet long, and was promising to be just about as wide by the time we were finished. The two boys begged off after not too long, and I just kept going. I could feel something diffusing into my limbs from both my chest and navel, keeping me going probably long after I should have been able.

Which was probably noticed not too long later when Tanner yelled out, “Hey, you were supposed to be taking it easy!” He looked a bit disappointed, though I couldn’t blame him.

“I’m just fine, feel much better than this morning at any rate. C’mon, lets get some more work done before dinner.” I turned back to the work, and apparently it had been later than I had imagined, as I heard the call for just that ring across the clearing. That set the boys into a new burst of energy, and they shot off to the small lake to wash off, with Bella just a bit behind. I looked back up at Tanner, and said, “Fine, I get your point.”

He gave a laugh at that, before setting the plough so it wouldn’t dig by what looked like a lever, and lead the horse out with him back towards their shelter. It looks like he switched out the horse at some point, because the horse he was leading back was Al, and not Promise. At any rate, I headed over to wash off myself, a bit further up than the boys so as to not catch their filth.

Alexander hung back, leaving Lukas to rush back off towards the house. As I finished washing off he said, “Are you going to be ok?” The look of concern having come back over him with a vengeance.

I reached out, and put a hand on his shoulder, saying, “Better than ever. Still have to figure out what happened, but I don’t think it will happen again.” It saddened me to see him so fearful still, but he slowly nodded.

“Just be safe, please...” It came out as more a whisper than anything else, but the phrase gripped my heart more than I had felt since I had lost my legs, or at least their use in my past life.

“We will be safe, together. And with those that will come here. I swear it, Alexander.” He pushed forward and gave me a hug at that, and we stayed like that for as long as he needed. Hell, I probably needed it just as much as he did.

Eventually, we did make our way back to the house, where Mabel and Katherine had prepared an excellent stew, with hunks of rehydrated deer, corn, peas, and potatos. Some of the harder biscuits had been situated half submerged in the bowls, softening them so we didn’t chip a tooth. The whole thing had been spiced with the rosemary, thyme, as well as the salt and pepper. It was a perfect meal for a hard days work, though I only really did half a days worth.

Alexander always had a little more on his plate or in his bowl. I think that Mabel realized how much he needed it, and gave him more without a second thought. He was certainly recovering, no longer looking like his was a few hungry nights away from death. I don’t know if he saw how these people already cared for him, but I think he was aware of it on at least some level. They had been kind to us, and it was clear to tell that they were that way inherently. It was good to know what kind of people Greyson was sending us, it would certainly help me sleep better at night.

I was knocked out of my musings when I noticed that talk had stopped around the table, and everyone was looking at me. “Sorry, can you repeat that?” Frantically trying to look like I even knew who said something to start with.

Katherine gave a small chuckle, and then Mabel said, “Are you sure you didn’t push yourself too hard today? Rest as long as you need, the boys can take care of the farming.”

Her concern was touching, “Better than ever. I will try not to exert myself too much tomorrow, and get some more rest if it would make you all feel better.”

She sighed, saying, “The kind of person willing to open their house to the stray are too good to be working themselves to the bone. Just be careful.”

Tanner took that point to jump in, saying, “You raised so many beds that I think we can plant near half of the seed stock we have. Should be a bit less stressful of a job to manage tomorrow, and the boys can help with that. Right you two?” He gave a look towards them, situated at opposite sides of the table.

They both straightened up and said something along the lines of, “Yes sir!”.

He continued, “After we do the planting, we can mix up the fertilizer that the horses are making, though that will be a bit of an ongoing process. As much as they make, it won’t be enough to cover the whole thing for a while yet. After we do all the planting of course. That should take care of just about everything, once we get it going, all it should take is weeding and checking for pests, and shoveling in more fresh fertilizer-“

He looked like he was going to keep going before Mabel smacked him on the arm saying, “Hush now, some of us are trying to eat here.” All the while giving him a glare.

He bowed his head a bit at that, saying, “Sorry dear. Won’t happen again, probably.”

She shook her head, muttering, “We all know it will…”

Dinner was a bit quiet after that, but not in a bad way. Everyone enjoyed the food that had been made, and it was a companionable atmosphere. After dinner, I once again helped to wash up, roping in Alexander as well, while Tanner went to see that the horses would be settled in, and Lukas went to help him.

We all settled in for the night, and I sat down to catch up in my writing. I still didn’t have a concrete date, but I made sure to include how much time had approximately passed, as well as some of my thoughts on magic.

I was still unsure of what I could do, besides enhance myself physically, but maybe the locations of the cores had something to do with it all. The one near my heart seemingly worked all around. Sending ripples of magic out and up my spine as well as down my arms and even to my legs. The core near my navel was sending out stronger pulses across my body, but it barely reached any higher than my neck. It was harder to feel the sensations happening inside my head, but it felt like the inverse of the navel core, sending out waves down my spine, and in very limited corridors across my body, in what I could only assume was my nervous system.

The heart core seemed to be, for lack of better words, indiscriminate in where it settled, but it seemed to get there via my circulatory system, before seeping out into whatever was near, be it muscle, bone, or nerve. If one were to connect all the lines, it would almost look like a triangle, with the heart core being at the center, and connecting off to the mind and the body, which in turn connected to each other behind the heart. Turning the triangle sideways revealed the true shape, more than looking at it head on, which makes sense when you think about it in a certain manner. The body and the mind are both originating from the same physical form, and whether or not I think there are more components, is still up in the air.

According to Greyson, my whole being was essentially factory new when my mind and maybe soul came to inhabit it. If you had told me that I had a soul not but half a year ago, there is a fair chance that I would have blown you off, and yet here I sit, with my mind supposedly inhabiting a body that had not been shaped by my experiences in life up until that point. By the time I finished writing down all my musings, everyone else had already went to sleep for the night, so, I snuffed my light, and made my way to bed as well. Sleep eluded me for longer than I could know.

The next morning, I felt just fine, and I was awake before anyone else as the first rays of the rising sun struck the wall. Each beat of my heart sent a bolt of energy through me, not unlike a burst of caffeine. Even though I was a college student before coming to this world, I could just never get into coffee, or most sodas, but come finals week I was just about living off energy drinks, as were most students.

It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, but it would certainly take some getting used to. Slipping out of my hammock, I made my way outside. The morning dew was heavy on the grass, and the sun set the whole clearing to sparkling. It was a truly beautiful sight, and probably not something that I would be forgetting anytime soon.

I felt a tug, coming from near my heart to go towards the center of the clearing, so I listened. The world around me in near perfect harmony. The peace was near absolute, with only a handful of birds flittering about the trees.

The feeling was like a natural amplification of what I had felt within my domain, so I knelt below where the core resided, I could feel it roiling in the air, drawing in power from the morning. The veil between the real world and my domain was paper thin at that moment, allowing me to step right in. My domain seemed to be acting as a snapshot in time, as it was the same near dusk light of before. Something within told me it could be whatever I wanted, so I imagined the clearing as it currently was.

A ripple spread forth, with me at the center. The grass covered itself in dew, while the sun rapidly moved overhead, backwards across the sky. As I looked, I could even see the changes that we had wrought to the land in the garden plot. I could feel the nascent life held within the seeds in the house, so much potential in such a small package. One thing I noticed is that no animals were included, be it the birds around the edge, the horses, Bella, or Alexander and the other humans within the house.

There was the slightest of distortions where they were, but it was ever so faint, and the smallest thing I could find with that method was Bella. It was like seeing the shadows of something that was hovering above. It was the strangest thing because I knew they were there. At a basic level, I think it was because this was my domain, and not theirs. It would make it even more odd that Greyson was able to come and go as he pleased, but nothing was ever simple with him.

The changes brought about to my domain drained something from me. There wasn’t the same energy coursing through my veins. It was still there, just less. I could tell that it was returning, bit by bit. When I focused on the flow, I was able to see the pattern emerge. From the heart to the head, from the head to the navel, from the navel to the heart. Then it reversed. Looping, seemingly endlessly. Watching the pattern, when it had gone through at least a dozen times, I waited for the start of the next sequence, and then pushed.

With an expenditure of will, I was able to grab more potential, or mana, or whatever, and push it with the same loop. Heart. Brain. Navel. Heart. Reverse. As I pushed, I could feel myself grabbing just a little bit more every time. It was small gains, but it felt almost like I was widening the pathways between the cores. As I did this, I realized that the pathway between the brain and the navel was the smallest in diameter. Why?

It was something to ponder while I continued the cycles, one… two… three…

Thirty-three… Thirty-four… Thirty-five…

Then it came to me. It was probably smaller because it wasn’t connected to the heart. For whatever reason, that seemed to be the main core for me, while the other two were, not lesser, but diminished, dimmer. They had the same potential as the heart core, but they weren’t on the same level. If my heart core was a size one, the two others were like two thirds the size. I wonder if that ratio was important. Ah, I had kept doing the cycling, but I had lost count. Shit.

One… Two… Three…

I had just gotten to one seventy-eight, when I was shaken. I had just barely finished that cycle, which is good, because I had no idea what would happen if one was interrupted. I was immediately brought into the waking world, with Alexander standing to my left. The sun had risen a good way up, to what I would probably put at about nine? Alexander was holding a plate, with what looked like fresh biscuits, as well as a good-sized venison steak. A thin white gravy was poured over the biscuits and a bit over the venison.

I realized that this probably meant that I had missed breakfast. “Oh. Shit. Sorry Alexander. Thank you for bringing it to me.” He looked a bit relieved that I was all good, but was very much curious as to what I had been doing.

Which he was more than willing to voice, saying, “Doing anything special? You’ve been sitting out here for like, two hours at least! Mr. Tanner and Ms. Mabel said you were fine, but couldn’t really say why. I think Mr. Tanner said something about seeing mages doing that in the army, but he was mumbling so I didn’t catch all of it. Does this mean you can do magic too? Can you lift the horses with your bare hands? How about light a fire with just your mind? Can you-“

I raised my hands pleadingly, saying, “Alexander, please. Slow down just a bit.” I took a second for us both to catch a breath, and then a second, before continuing, “I don’t really know what I can do. I was able to throw those rocks yesterday further than I could ever before, but that is the most I got right now. Supposedly, I have a teacher coming, but I don’t know how reliable the source is on that information, so how about we just wait and see. Deal?”

He nodded profusely at that, happy to have been kept in the loop, and not just told to buzz off. I gently rose to my feet, which, for kneeling for what was probably closer to four hours and not two, were doing pretty good. My left calf was a bit sore, but that was probably from the rock I kneeled down on, and somehow didn’t notice.

I gingerly took the plate from Alexander, and turned back towards the house, with him right on my heels. When we had gotten about halfway back to the house, he wasn’t able to contain the question any longer, saying, “Can you teach me magic when you learn it?” That gave me a bit of pause, but I regained my stride but a second later.

“I don’t see why not.” Those five words were probably enough to make his whole year by the smile on his face.

After I had made my way back, and ate my breakfast alone, I set out to apologize to Mabel, but she wouldn’t hear it. She said that I was doing something important, she could feel it. Not wanting to get into a discussion about that, I left it alone from there. It was genuinely good food.

I went out to join Tanner in working the field, sowing seeds in the beds that we had made. Potatoes, corn, onions, peppers. Those came from the seeds that I had brought, while Tanner had brought some more roots in carrots and yams, and some green beans and tomatoes that we would have to carve runners for soon enough.

It wasn’t necessarily the hardest work that I had done, but it took time. Tanner had been working from breakfast proper, and though I was slow to join him, we managed to finish out the beds, as well as put seeds in the ground for about two thirds of them. It was a considerable amount of work, and we had a bit of a helping hand from Alexander and Lukas. Katherine did bring out some water to us, starting with Tanner, then myself, and then Alexander and Lukas. Whatever Lukas said to her was apparently the wrong thing to say, because he had his cup tipped over his head. We all had a good laugh at that.

Washing off for the day was a small joy, one that Bella decided to partake in, sailing straight past me into the lake, throwing up a huge amount of water over just about everyone. Alexander took the initiative to throw the next blow, and splashed both Lukas and Tanner, and while the former splashed back right away, the latter decided that he would up the game. He waded over behind Alexander, and heaved him up and forward, deeper into the lake. He of course was screaming the whole way, while I had about collapsed in the shallows with laughter.

Mabel and Katherine had come out to see what all the fuss was about, and upon seeing the water fight, Katherine jumped right in. She just about tackled her brother into the lake, both going under. Tanner just shook his head at me now that they were all playing about, and waded out to go stand with Mabel, who held out a hand in warning to the dripping giant. He grinned mischievously at that, and they were off. Tanner chasing Mabel, while Mabel put up a valiant effort at keeping dry. In the end, dinner was a bit late, but I don’t think anyone minded.

Writing about the day took a bit of time, as I spent a bit of effort to write down my thoughts from the morning so that I could go over the questions that I had at a later date. Writing about the day was a bit less needed, but I think it was good to remember and note the good times down. We were all coming a bit closer together, and while I don’t know if I truly believed Greyson was a god, I sent a small prayer of thanks to him for sending these people to us. Sending these friends to us. It was something that I missed dearly.

Sleep came easy tonight, and as I drifted away under the gentle sway of the hammock, I could feel a buzz of anticipation for what the next day would bring.