Ryn of Avonside

From the Perspective of Catherine

I watched in abject defeat as my latest spell plant failed. The frustrating part was that I think I was beginning to make real progress, but the complexity of the spell was too much. Every time I tried to visualise the spell plant in order to create a seed, I'd forget an aspect of it in the moment. Even with Ryn's plant visualiser spell, I was struggling.

The truth was, as versatile as the magic of the Nameless Garden was, it simply couldn't do this. This wasn't energy conversion or simple matter manipulation — this was specific, controlled cellular-level engineering.

“I don't have enough brain space to visualise the plant,” I said to the ferret that was perched on my shoulder. “No visualisation means no seed. No seed, no spell. This sucks.”

The ferret tilted its head at me, then licked my cheek affectionately.

I sighed. “You're not too bright yet, are you?”

Another lick.

Well. If I wasn't going to get anywhere with this, I might as well find something else to do. Or, perhaps I could take a different tack while trying to wrangle this blasted problem. Esra and I had studied mage fruit before, but I hadn't made one yet. Maybe I could learn something by doing so?

A part of me immediately pumped the brakes on that idea, and I had to step back and negotiate. My subconscious was telling me to be cautious… but why?

I sat down and thought about it for five minutes. There were a lot of angles to examine it from, but in the end, I recognised what was happening in my wacky, silly brain. I was feeling cautious because I felt like this choice, this action, should be done after spending an arbitrary amount of time weighing the options.

Since the only thing keeping me from making a fruit was some mega-vague feeling, I stood up shifted myself back onto the Ring. I appeared in the room that used to house Ryn and her friends — it was the usual spot for transferring between realms. Nobody was around, so I immediately got to work and reached into myself. Esra said the process was instinctual, but I didn't want to just pop the thing out like a chicken. I wanted to really feel the process — suss it out.

I could feel my grove there just beyond the bounds of my mind, like a comforting pillow fort around me. Well, it felt like that until I reached out to it, and then it became malleable — which like, pillow forts had a habit of collapsing if you bumped them too hard.

Anyway, when I made proper mental contact with my grove, I thought about what the point of a mage fruit was. I wanted to sorta… solidify my hold on the magic granted to me by my connection to this extra-realmic bubble. To my surprise, the mental image of my grove moved into me — into the core of my personal power reserves. As it did so, the container for those reserves stretched and stretched.

That's when the really strange shit happened. It was barely perceptible, but there was something else inside me. It felt like… if my regular magic was a glass of fruit juice, then this was a tiny thimble of the most pure water. That tiny thimble bubbled and popped out a miniscule droplet, and it flew right into the expanding centre of my Nameless Garden power reservoir. All of a sudden, the container hardened and grew solid again, while my grove was ejected back to its normal spot in my mind’s eye.

The reaction wasn't done, however. A small burst of juice and water flowed through my hafornsu. Strange, arcane pathways lit up with the passage of the mixed power, and a small, green branch sprouted abruptly from my chest. Wide eyed, I watched as a bronze flower bloomed on the tip. As quickly as it appeared, the petals fell away and a berry grew from the centre.

That berry popped off and fell to the floor, but as it hit the ground, the flesh of the berry faded to dust, leaving only a seed. Sucking in oxygen with a series of gasping breaths, I bent and picked the seed up. It hummed with complex, alien power.

Wow. That was certainly an experience! I mean, god damn, the mage fruit was made using some strange, pure and innate magic! It wasn't entirely formed from the Nameless Garden! No wonder it could interface with the human body more easily, the damn thing was cheating.

What was that pure water-like power anyway? I couldn't feel it anymore. Whatever it had been, it was gone or hidden now.@@novelbin@@

The seed quivered in my grasp, reminding me that I now had to plant the seed to finish the process. Dang it. Who was I going to give this thing to?

Actually… I knew which group should get it. I just hoped that the rest of my Order didn't get annoyed that I gave out a fruit without consulting them. I wouldn't blame them if they did

How did I salvage this, though? I could go somewhere out in the forest and hide the fruit? That seemed a little risky, but perhaps if I was quick, I could minimise that risk.

With a nod of resolve, I clutched the seed tight in my fist and headed out.

Avonside was currently bustling with activity. A harvest was being brought in, and people were everywhere.

As I made my way through the random alleys and pedestrian streets of the old university, I stepped out into the Patten Memorial Courtyard and spotted a cluster of council members at the same time that they saw me. Dr. Richards waved, trying to usher me closer, and I gritted my teeth in frustration. I didn't have time for this prick’s bullshit.

Nevertheless, I turned and made my way over the pavement towards them.

“Catherine, my dear!” He said good-naturedly, as if he hadn't tried to jack the last mage fruit we made.

“Hi, what's up?” I asked, then added, “I don't have too much time, though.”

“In a rush, eh?” He smiled, although his eyes darted with interest to my clenched fist. “Well, I'll try not to keep you too long. I just wanted to discuss some ideas we had?”

The way he raised his tone into a question at the end implied I had a choice, but it didn't feel like it. With a sigh of resignation that I didn't bother to hide, I nodded.

Ignoring my sigh, he grinned widely. “Now, as you know, we're beginning to see our electronic infrastructure degrade. Not by much, mind you, but our computers are finite. With that in mind, we wondered if it would be possible to use magic to sterilise an environment?”

I blinked, and had to stop to consider the question. Plants were pretty good at isolating and filtering toxins, that much was true… but you'd have to account for any contaminants the plants themselves created—

“Ah, my apologies, the intended use would be to create a clean environment where we could begin making new microchips — new semiconductors,” he clarified needlessly.

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, waving my hand dismissively. “I know what you'd need the clean room for. I'm thinking.”

It would need to lean heavily into the magic side of things, but honestly, unlike my dreams of creating a series of magical transitioning surgeries, this was entirely within the wheelhouse of Nameless Garden magic.

“I think I could work it,” I said after a few more seconds. “If you get me the specs and some gear to test how clean an environment is, I can work on it.”

“Excellent, I'm sure we can arrange that,” he said, nodding gratefully.

Without bothering to say goodbye, I turned to leave — far too cognisant of how little time I had, but the old Santa-looking man cleared his throat.

When I turned to glare at him, he said, “Sorry to keep you. I figured you might want to tell Rynadria that the xenology department is looking for her. They've made some sort of progress on the computers.”

“Ryn is out on the diplomatic mission,” I reminded him. “But I can go see what they've found.”

He didn't stop me from leaving after that, and I rushed off into the forest to find somewhere to hide the fruit for a couple of hours.

As I was stepping across the boundary back into town, I noticed Mer waiting for me. She waved and flashed one of her perfect, handsome smiles at me. My stomach leapt up to cuddle my heart whenever I saw that smile. God fucking damn but she was… you know, hot.

“Catherine!” She said when I was closer. “I heard some of the Avonsiders talking about you, so I came to say hello.”

The way she grew to fill my vision as I approached — it made me feel very small. This tall obrec woman was definitely an imposing figure. She wore a sleeveless vest and tight leather pants today, and it made the muscles of her arms stand out in a very intriguing way. I was totally fascinated and like, oh my god, did I want to touch them. I couldn't though, that would be weird.

“Hello, Mer,” I said, looking up at her. “Nice to, uh… see you.”

“Likewise,” she winked. “I enjoy gazing upon you, too. You're very pretty.”

Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I scowled to try and cover for the embarrassment. Mer’s happy expression dimmed a bit, and I felt really bad, so I got rid of the frown and patted her hand. Except, wow but that action made things so much more awkward.

“Catherine, friend, if my playful and, I admit, flirtatious comments make you uncomfortable, please tell me. I don't wish to upset you,” she said earnestly.

My stomach, which was still hugging my heart, erupted with butterflies. Oh boy, she was too good. Like, she was literally a knight in shining armour sometimes.

My inability to think any thoughts, let alone speak them, gave someone nearby the perfect opportunity to clear their throat.

It was a voice I knew well, and suddenly the pleasant feelings I was getting from Mer evaporated. I turned and met the gaze of my once-best friend.

“Hi, Rhea. What do you need?”