Growing Lilies

Lily was feeling kind of down. On the plus side, it wasn't her usual panicky anxiety ridden depression. She just felt kind of empty.

The night before, after dinner things had been awkward. But not dangerous. They'd made small talk. Her, Sunica, and Flint. Just small talk. Lily had no idea how to talk to Flint. Why would she think she would be at all suited to this? Claiming to be a [Lady] was really a big mistake. How was she supposed to succeed at something so social?

She had saved Flint, yes. And temporarily bartered for his continued safety. But she couldn't even talk to him properly. She would have to learn. This was going to be her place in this world, and she would learn to do it right.

Before falling asleep she had felt determined! Fire in her heart. She was going to march into Veni, demand to see Adelina, and ask for lessons. Lessons on culture. Lessons on what would be expected of her going forward. Lessons on acting the part.

But now that morning was here, and she was slowly marching to Veni, her chest just felt empty. Maybe she should just give up and start looking for a way home. She could bring Sunica. Adelina would be invited, but she probably wouldn't come. And… then what?

Sunica could live with two slightly different Lily's and a dog on an abandoned world? Well, why not. Plus, it's not like they couldn't open a portal again if they wanted. Although with the time differential being weird…

There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind. She stopped walking for a second. Something was wrong with that thought. But, she was right, right? Even if they needed to be on both sides to open the portal, she could leave it in someone's care. Adelina was set on becoming a dragon and living forever, why not let her take care of it? Even if time went at a 2:1 ratio, it wouldn't matter.

Was that some kind of relativistic thing? Like, because of the way the two worlds traveled through space at different speeds, time was working differently? She wished she had paid more attention to subjects like that on youtube. She hadn't gotten that far in school.

Ugh, school. That was a bad thought. Whatever. If she ever had the internet again, it'd be one of the first things she looked up. If the worlds were moving, and they were moving closer together and further apart at different speeds…

Like, what if they were each a part of a galaxy, and those were stacked on top of each other on different planes of reality. Because they're orbiting at different places, sometimes they'd be moving closer together and sometimes further apart, right? Maybe that had something to do with it? If only she could consult an astronomer, or a physicist.

This was all wild speculation, and founded on her junk ideas of science that she only sort of remembered. It was probably all stupid. Besides, galaxies took like, billions of years to orbit right?

The truth was, and she knew it, that she was just trying to distract herself. Her shoes were crunching through the snow, bringing her ever closer to her destination, and she was dreading it.

All the more because she was alone. Sunica had stayed behind to keep an eye on Flint. Well, Lily had convinced her to stay behind and keep an eye on Flint. In the end, she was pretty sure the girl had only agreed because she didn't really want to talk to Adelina.

Fortunately, Lily was pretty sure she was going in the right direction these days. She was starting to feel more comfortable with directions around here. Everything still looked really similar to her, but there was definitely a slight gap in the trees that made a path all the way to Veni. And if she got lost, she could track the tracking circle she'd left in Sunica's house.

Lily wished Sunica had been here to help her find her way. She could figure it out without the other girl's help now. But, that must be what the empty feeling was. Her footsteps came to a stop.

She missed Sunica? She'd left like, ten minutes ago. That was a stupid thought. But the more she thought it, the more she realized it was true. A lonely snowflake landed on her nose. Lily winced at the sudden cold, and then it melted away. The trees around her suddenly felt a lot less inviting. She shivered.

But, then she kept walking.

"Don't rely on her more than you have to."

She spoke to herself. It was a little refreshing to break the silence. But, she filled that gap in her heart as best she could. She was remembering a face that she hadn't thought of in a long time.

"No. This is different. I can rely on Sunica. But I'll keep it to things I really need. If I can do it myself and not die, I will. And I'm not going to die of loneliness from being apart from her for a day."

Resolve. Yeah. That's what she needed. She was going to nail this. She was going to march into Veni, and talk to Adelina. She was going to ask for lessons. No, negotiate for lessons! She would just– stop in her tracks.

Lily stared ahead. Two figures were walking towards her along the road. She hadn't noticed because they both had white scales and blended in.

Should she hide? What if they were bandits or something? They were still far enough away she couldn't see them well. Wait, they've probably already spotted her. In her brown furs. Unless they thought she was a tree? No, that was stupid. She'd just have to act natural. It'd be fine.

She started forward again. Why did her steps feel so stiff all of a sudden? She felt like she was walking like a robot. At least until she heard the laughter. She recognized that voice. And then it called out to her.

"Hey! Miss Flamewalker! You alright?"

Avea's voice reached her ears at about the same time as her blush. Of course it would be him. And as the smaller figure next to him elbowed him in the side, and he corrected himself, she recognized Adelina.

"Sorry, [Lady] Flamewalker."

Lily rolled her eyes and continued forward before calling out herself. She knew she couldn't make her voice carry like his.

"I'm fine!"

"What?"

She hurried forward a few steps, tripped and faceplanted into the snow. She could hear Adelina cackling. Maybe she'd just stay here, face first in the snow. She was so embarrassed.

It was too cold. She stood up and shook herself off. Then yelped and jumped back. Adelina was right in front of her, hand outstretched to pull her out of the snow. That girl was fast. Was that just a product of being higher level?

"Sorry. You were just so funny. Are you alright?"

Lily sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Forget it. Anyway, why are you two out here?"

Adelina's smile faltered a little.

"Actually, I was feeling a little bad for fighting with Sunica yesterday. And for saying I'd bring some supplies and failing. I still don't think I was wrong talking to her. But… I probably could have been more gentle about it."

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Oh. That's considerate."

Although, something about that rubbed Lily the wrong way. The issue was deeper than not being sufficiently diplomatic about it. They needed to work on understanding each other. But, Lily wasn't sure how to say that without being out of place, so she kept her mouth shut.

Adelina noticed Lily shiver.

"Uh, you cold?"

Lily was cold. Her heating spell was pretty imperfect. She could only turn it up so high with ambient mana, and didn't want it to use her personal stores. She was afraid she might accidentally burst into flame if she turned it up too high.

"Yeah. My heating spell is uh… it needs work, and I haven't had a chance to really figure it out yet. It works for warmer times around here, but the colder times don't quite cut it. Even with the warm clothes. Honestly, I need to just–"

Adelina was nodding along for a bit, before she finally just rolled her eyes and reached out.

"[Resist Cold]"

Instantly, Lily felt the chill leave her body. It wasn't a gradual warming like if she entered a warm room. The cold was just… not affecting her.

"Wow. That's… Really useful. You might have to teach me that one haha. Assuming that I can learn your spells."

"Mmm. I don't know. But I can probably hook you up with a tutor in Avezare if nothing else. Anyway, what are you doing out here?"

Oh, right. Adelina wouldn't know.

"I was coming to find you. I wanted to… Uh."

What? Her words were suddenly gone. Ask for help? No. That framed it as an unequal gift. Although, wasn't it that? Still, she wanted to learn how she should act. Was it okay to ask for something like this?

"Uh, Lily?"

"Sorry. I wanted to ask you to teach me. About politics and culture. And my role. I've got to get prepared for Avezare, and you're the only one I can rely on for this."

Did Adelina's eyes light up for a second? Lily was probably imagining it. Avea was yawning, leaning on his spear and picking his teeth with a fingernail. Lily supposed this was pretty boring for him. Although, manning the gates was probably not much better. Why did he like being a guard again?

"Yes! I mean. Sure. I'd be happy to show you the ropes. Um. One second."

She turned to Avea, and started digging through her pouch. Lily took the moment to ask a question that was on her mind.

"Why'd you come out anyway? Doesn't the city need guarding?"

Avea huffed and stood a little straighter.

"I got a temporary promotion. 'Cause I'm the only one who's dealt with the whole goblin situation, I'm on personal guard duty for Miss Nor until she heads home."

He did not seem particularly pleased. Lily gave him a placating smile.

"Ah. Sorry about that–"

He gave her a more genuine smile in return.

"You wanna know something about politics Miss Flamewalker? Somethin' even I know?"

Oh. Had she made a mistake? She couldn't think of what kind of faux pas she might have missed.

"Uh… Yeah?"

"When someone does something that helps ya, they'd rather hear one thank you than a hundred sorrys."

"Oh, I'm s–"

He gave her a meaningful look. Lily giggled a little, and grinned back at him.

"Thank you. I'll try to take that to heart."

"Finally! Found it!"

Adelina held up a small bottle to the air. Lily glanced back at her, as she was handing it to Avea and giving him instructions.

"Please take this to the cabin. I'll return to Veni with Lily. We're not far out, and we're two mages. We can keep ourselves safe just fine."

"Um, what's that?"

Adelina turned back to her, confused look on her face.

"A healing potion, obviously. Don't tell me you don't have those either?"

Lily blinked at her, trying to tell if she was joking or not.

"...Really?"

"If you're worried I'm trying to poison it or something, I'm offended."

"What? No! I just. We don't have anything like a healing potion. How do they work? Are they like a healing spell? Just zoop and everything is fine? Can they cure diseases? How does the potion know the difference between good bacteria and bad bacteria, for example? Are they carcinogenic? Can they make you younger? Or– Or do they make you older? I could see it going either way depending on the mechanism…"

She trailed off as Adelina buried her face in her hands. Right. She should shut up. There'd be plenty of time to learn about this later. Still, healing potions? Why didn't everyone carry them at all times? They were probably expensive.

"You really can't turn it off, can you?"

Lily felt her cheeks flushing.

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Right. Avea? Take this to the cabin, like I said."

He took the bottle from her, and left with a wave. Adelina turned back to Lily.

"We can talk about healing potions if you want. But I think your other thing was more important, don't you?"

"Um. Yes. Definitely. Ugh! I have so much to learn. You know, I thought my life was gonna be all foraging for food and learning how to clean water and grow crops. But it feels like all I've done for the last hundred years is learn as fast as I can, and all I've learned is how much I still have to learn!"

That came out with a little more venom than Lily had intended. It's not like she hated learning new things. Hell, she loved it! But, sometimes it did feel like being on a treadmill and not going anywhere. Adelina put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I'll do my best to teach you the most important stuff first! Just leave everything to big sis Adelina!"

Lily stared at her for a long second. She didn't look a day older than 18. Shrugging, she decided to go with it.

"In that case, I guess I'm in your hands."

Sunica and Flint stared at each other, while they both ate a plate of scrambled eggs. There wasn't much to do. She was watching him. He was watching her with equal suspicion.

"Sooo. You ever talk to someone who's not a goblin before?"

"No."

They each took another bite of awkward eggs.

"You ever talk to a goblin before?"

"Uh… No. Honestly, I don't think anyone even knows you can talk."

"That's stupid."

"...why?"

He rolled his eyes at her.

"We can't understand you, but we know you talk to each other. Why? Because you have teamwork. Towns. Clothes. Cooked food. Shelters. You go out in groups."

"Yeah…?"

"We do too. But you don't know we talk? That's stupid."

"Oh."

Sunica had to admit, that was kind of stupid. Although, it's not like she knew a lot about goblin lifestyles. It's not as if she'd never seen a goblin before. But it was only ever at a distance, and when there was some kind of raid going on. She guessed that teamwork should have been a clue. But, the common wisdom was that goblins just didn't see each other as enemies and were predators of opportunity.

"Wait, towns? Goblins have towns?"

Flint's eyes widened, and then he carefully schooled his expression.

"What? No. It was an example."

"No it wasn't! You're clearly lying!"

"I just meant our camping area!"

"Where is a goblin town? I've never heard of something like that."

Flint suddenly yelled.

"As if I'd tell you! You'd just go murder them all!"

Silence crept over the cabin again. He winced, and groaned in a bit of pain, holding the place he was bandaged up.

This. This could be going better.