Chapter 5

The Theandor family enjoyed the day after the playdate greatly, relishing in the relief that Daelyn wasn’t just accepted by the community at large, he had also made some new friends! The little boy would be the topic of conversation for days to come, as nobody had expected such a small child to orchestrate such a show.

Lyvia was still beaming with pride, accounting the show to all the times they had read the story to him, doing everything they could to make it come to life, yet most of all, she was proud of Daelyn, and that motherly pride showed.

She walked through the market splurging a bit here and there to make breakfast just a little more special for her own little orchestrator, and being asked the same story by the baker, the greenery attendant, the butcherer and even the smith.

Surprisingly, the smith had the most to tell, as he had gotten an unexpectedly detailed and lengthy description from his daughter, Caeda, who played the lightning sage.

“I don’t know why, but she seemed to remember almost every part of the play. When I pressed for why she knew so much, she suddenly clamped up, not willing to talk anymore. I’m just happy she’s a bit more grown-up about everything now, next summer is gonna be her eighteenth one for crying out loud!”

“They grow up so fast don’t they?”

“They sure do, how old is yours now? He looked to be around 10 to 12 summers, close to thirteen at least.”

“He’s only 5 summers old actually, dinol age a lot faster than we do. When your little Caeda is going to be leaving home she might very well be close to 40 summers old, but Daelyn could leave home when he turns 16! I can’t bear the thought!”

“I don’t even know if we’re going to reach 40 summers, she is an adventurous little brat, and there isn’t much to do, much less explore, in this backwater village.”

“I wish I could say the same for Daelyn, but he is more of a bookworm. He likes to play with others, but he isn’t very explorative, so I can’t help but wonder what his path in life will be! I would love for him to go out and explore the world, but I don’t know if he wants that, I don’t even know how he could become strong enough to leave home!”

The smith looked at her sympathetically, pondering over his own child’s tendencies, and how her powers would develop.

“I can’t really help you with that. No offense, but I don’t think he is strong enough to pick up my hammer, let alone forge ironwood. But if he is smart, he might be able to become a mage! Even if he fails that, he can still become a scribe!”

“And where do you think we would find an affordable tutor? We don’t have the money to buy decent weapons, let alone pay for tuition at some mage school. It would bankrupt us!”

“What about a private tutor? There must be someone willing to teach the little bookworm.”

“That might be a good idea, but Elrieden can only really teach Daelyn curse magic. I mean, what if he has some kind of element? How will he cultivate that by learning long slurs of text?”

“Elrieden isn’t the only mage close by. Hell, I would say he is inferior to the other.”

Lyvia paused for a moment, cupping her chin in her hand.

“You mean that reclusive old man under the coal tree? What would he be able to teach Daelyn, and why would he?”

The smith shrugged.

“I don’t know, but I do know that he can teach more than ‘long slurs of text’. Either way, you’re going to have to find a teacher, and why not do one that is close by? You wouldn’t want Daelyn to be send off to some distant sorcerer, only to have him be his librarian. You can monitor this one, and I would bet my right hand on him being more learned than Elrieden.”

Lyvia raised her eyebrows.

“Are you sure about that? I mean, it’s a bit weird coming from you, with being so close through him and all through your business.”

“Well, it’s the truth. I have only seen that man once myself, but he is a dinol, and a pretty old one at that. So, unless he has been wasting a few decades, he’s guaranteed to know more than Elrieden. Besides, I work for Elrieden, he is my boss, not my wife.”

Lyvia smirked.

“Make sure Sana doesn’t hear that!”

She quickly sped off, waving at the smith while her smile broadened. His elated expression suggested that he enjoyed the discourse, and that he took pride in the joy Lyvia showed, until he heard a curt ‘Ahem’ from behind him.

Lyvia sped away, grinning as the sound of a grown man being scolded reached her ears.

She left the confines of the village, running through the foliage of the forest floor, preferring the quicker route to their home instead of the winding pathways hanging overhead.

It didn’t take long to spot their home, as the white smoke coming from the downstairs chimney betrayed its location to anyone with a keen eye. Grey had begun early today, yet he still couldn’t hope to match Lyvia’s morning routine.

She entered the house with a light step, choosing the more difficult route along the trunk towards the living room instead of entering through the workshop. She quietly made her way down, making sure not to wake Daelyn in the process. She progressed smoothly down the stairwell, creating almost no sound.

She expected to find her drowsy husband preparing the multitude of alchemical contraptions and filters for the day, only to be surprised by an energetic Daelyn and a clear and attentive Grey working scuffling around in the atelier.

Lyvia, struck by surprise, shifted her weight slightly, causing the stairwell to creak.

The sensitive and trained ears of Grey didn’t miss a heartbeat, as he swung around with three strange looking vials in one hand and another reaching towards Daelyn.

His expression visibly calmed as he realized it was Lyvia, before it hardened again.

“Lyvia, for the umpteenth time, stop sneaking down the workshop to scare me! You know what can go wrong if I drop one of these vials, the scorch marks from last time are still visible!”

Grey pointed at the dry patches on the sealing with clear anger, as he could vividly remember the trouble he had to go through to get all of his alchemical equipment back. The merchants at the guild had made him a laughing stock, as he was basically forced to buy all of the equipment from the human countries at a premium because of the shortage in Eleanor.

Lyvia smiled awkwardly, failing to hide her surprise and her disappointment.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to have a bit of fun, I hadn’t expected you to be brewing already! You’re normally still busy setting everything up! Never mind that, how are you so clear in the morning?! Usually, you would need the dust of a dream fairy to get you up before noon, never mind getting up before the sun is out!”

Grey’s anger faded, and was replaced by a bright and slightly off-putting smile.

“That’s all thanks to this wonder brew! I found the ingredients on my walk last night, and I couldn’t believe the aroma that was coming from them! So, I dried them into some workable herbs and drank them. Let me tell you, they’re mysticism!”

Lyvia’s playful expression faded.

“Grey, what do you mean ‘found’?”

The energized alchemist suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, fumbling with his expression, trying to remain as innocuous as possible.

“You know, at the side of the road, or maybe a little off, but nothing strange.”

Lyva’s expression hardened once more.

“Grey, where did you find them?”

Her quiet voice echoed through the room, making even the cheerful Daelyn stop and pause for a moment.

The room remained quiet for several more moments, until an unfamiliar voice could be heard from just outside.

“I think I can answer that question, Miss Theandor.”

The voice was accompanied by a creaking of wood and an unsettling amount of rustling of plants. The creaking was quickly followed by a loud snap as the wall directly to their left gave out, revealing a writhing plant mass carrying an elderly man.

“Goodday!”

The old man had a calm and gentle voice, greeting the three family members as if they were friends passing by. The smile he carried seemed oddly relaxed for the situation, especially considering the monster he was standing on.

The writhing mass of green carried him towards the hole in the wall, gently placing him down before retreating outside again, content with surrounding the small atelier from outside.

Daelyn looked at the man with fascination, as he had never seen someone like him nor seen something like the mass of plants that had carried him here.

The man didn’t have a dark skin, he had a pale face filled up with a few scars and a gentle expression. He carried himself with confidence as he walked towards the two dark elves that awaited him with drawn weapons.

“Now, now there is no need for such precautions. I just came here to get an explanation as to why some of my produce has gone missing, and a little flower told me I would be able to find it here.”

Both Grey and Lyvia’s face blanched. Grey quickly threw a glance at the cup of black brew standing on the counter, only to widen in exasperation as he didn’t see it.

The old man followed the dark elf’s glance, smirking as he saw the surprise on his face.

“Well, if you can’t tell me..”. The old man welled up, rising up from his hunched back position like a growing vine as the writhing mass of green behind him stirred.

“Mister”, Daelyn interrupted from behind his parents, ”We have your beans here, but they’re not really beans anymore. I’m sorry that we made them into juice, but dad said it would taste really nice and that it helps with morning sickness.”

The old man paused finally noticing the small child standing in front of him. He was at a loss for words as the small child stepped closer and held the cup up to him, showing him the black brew. His mind couldn’t keep up with the intentions of the small child, yet the flora behind him had already seen something else entirely, a threat.

Several tentacle like protrusions shot into the room, grabbing Daelyn by the arms and legs before lifting him into the air.

Grey and Lyvia didn’t wait for an explanation as they stepped charged in. Grey downing another one of his concoctions and slashing at the tentacles with his dagger, while Lyvia went for the old man, seeking to end the brain behind the monster on her doorstep.

The old man was pulled out of the room with nought by a thought, leaving the house and the three family members behind.

Unfortunately for the old man, Lyvia had an old nickname from her adventuring days.

‘The ravenous Hare’

Lyvia charged out, following the old man into the open air and destroying another part of the wall in the process. The scowl on her face couldn’t make her intentions more clear.

This time, the writhing mass of thorns and vines made the right conclusion. Several vines tangled together, creating several tight ropes which launched themselves at Lyvia in an attempt to slow her pace.

The unguided attempt failed as Lyvia used the vines as foothold.

The old man didn’t wait for death however. He quickly gathered his thoughts and began orchestrating an attack of anther dust, vines, and thorns. Lyvia received several nicks, yet she undauntedly continued. She had her target in mind and she wouldn’t relent even if the sky came falling down.

She would protect her child as a mother boar would do, tusks raised and ready to charge at the enemy.

And so, she did.

She used her kitchen appliances and her basket as weapons, empowering them with the energy radiating from her inner core. She coated herself in this energy, using it as a flexible yet durable armour and an enhancement of her strength.

The amber energy turned her skin to bronze, allowing her to shave off the nicks that came her way, as the thorns couldn’t penetrate the magical armour.

The amber energy focused around her feet, coalescing on the surfaces the landed on before sending her back off into the air, giving her an immense mobility in the forest filled with trees high as a mountain.

She bounced from place to place, cutting through vines in the process. The plant creature couldn’t regenerate its lost limbs quickly enough, creating more and more holes in the green bulwark that surrounded the intruder.

The old man changed tactic. The writhing mass of vines lowered itself to the ground, before burrowing into it, and taking the old man with it. The old man threw out one device before he disappeared underground, creating a soft *thump* as the writhing mass of greens closed off the hole by grabbing earth from all sides and mushing it together in a dense clump. Lyvia impacted the clump with enough force to create a sizeable dent in an iron gate, yet the condensed dirt didn’t collapse, as it was packed tightly together by a weave of interwoven vines.

Lyvia stood in a crater, fuming at the audacity of the coward to run.

‘Next time I see him, I will gut him alive. Who the hell does he think he is, attacking my child?!’

She turned around, stomping off in a fit of rage. She walked over towards the device the old man dropped, mustering every ounce of willpower to stop her from crushing the damned thing the moment she picked it up.

‘We stole your beans, and now we have your magical thingamajig. Hope you’re happy.’

The device was an orb cut off at the top, creating a smooth surface with small engravings along the edge. The runes started to glow, turning white as energy was siphoned into the orb from an unknown source.

“Hello?”, the device ran in a raspy and distorted version of the old man’s voice, “Can you hear me?”.

“What do you want, you lousy paedophilic gardener?”, she said in a threatening voice.

“I want to talk.”