Fanfic:A Friendly Chat
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"Good morning, Solider Dreyric." Came the kindly voice Dreyric had become accustomed to greeting him each morning when he went outside to watch the sun raise. He had always done this as a boy each morning and it had helped him clear his head then and it still had that effect now, which was very beneficial to him these days. Dreyric turned his head though, looking towards Mistress Eria Manted. Her voice was as pleasant as it always was, but something about it was much more downtrodden then usual. Mistress Eria, or Eria, as she insisted he call her, had worked at the Grey Tower for the past forty five years as a gardener, and truly loved her work. He could see it, in the care she took with her plants, and the time she spent making sure they would yield results. When he had first met her a couple of months ago, he hadn't wanted to bother her, but she'd spoken to him even that first morning, and since then, they spoke daily, exchanging pleasantries and sometimes Dreyric would tell her about how he was doing without too much detail. It was nice to speak to someone he knew wouldn't judge him, and it helped that this woman reminded him of a caring grandmother. It wasn't like her to sound so sad though, and it concerned him, because he considered Eria a friend. "Good morning, Eria." He said with a smile, looking at the slightly hunched over figure with a white bun in her hair with concern in his eyes. "How are you this morning?"
"Oh, fair." She responded, looking towards him with a smile that looked a little forced. Dreyric walked over to her, his attention off the horizon for a moment. "Are you sure about that, Eria? You seem stressed." Before she could deny it as she didn't want to worry him with the foolishness of an old woman, his eyes darted down to the plants she had been tending, and he noticed that most of them looked withered and really not healthy at all. Eria had a lot of experience gardening, and Dreyric was surprised and distressed to see this, something he'd never seen before as she had always seemed proficient at her job. Since Dreyric had noticed the cause of her distress, Eria saw no reason in trying to deny it now. "I've tried everything. I just don't know what is going on with this section of the garden, but it's been getting worse. "I just hope it isn't a curse or worse." She said, not wanting to mention the touch of the dark one, but she believed in these things, having claimed to have seen it before, and had told Dreyric about it once. "I have spent many a year with these kinds of plants, and I have never had this bad of luck with them. It's like nothing I try will work." She told him, and then she shook her head. "It's nothing for you to worry about though, Dreyric. Light knows you already have enough of your own worries with your classes and learning the sword." She said, waving one small, weather worn hand in his direction, as if assuring him not to worry about this.
Dreyric had no intention of not worrying about this, though. He was fond of this woman, and as he listened to her plight, he slowly become determined to help her. He knew she would help him if it was in her power to, and he knew it was in his. If only he could harness enough of the Power to do it. He'd been struggling with this in class, finding it difficult to tap into the power unless he was extremely emotionally charged. This was a problem, as he needed to be able to do it without being in a state like that. So far when he was calm, he'd only been able to channel a trickle, and it was very frustrating. He looked back down at the plants, and started to think about the times they had interacted, and his feelings towards her. They were not romantic, but they were fond in a platonic way. She had helped him feel less homesick as he could talk to her about his home, about his family, about everything he would have felt strange if he had done so with any of his friends because he was sure they wouldn't want to listen to all that. He could and would do this for her. He concentrated on this line of thought and took a slow breath, feeling a few beads of sweat run down his brow. "Solider Dreyric! Are you alright? Do I need to fetch a brother or sister of the Yellow?" She asked, and Dreyric shook his head, giving her a reassuring smile. "No, Eria, I'll be fine, I promise.. and so will you and your plants." He told her with a bright smile.
Dreyric knew he had work to do, but this situation gave him the determination he was going to need to do it, he had a feeling. He assured Eria again that he had an idea of how to help her, but he was going to need two weeks. The older lady was a little confused, but seemed optimistic and nodded, telling him to take all the time he needed and not to worry about her. Dreyric was concerned about his friend though, and kept this in his mind for the following days. He worked hard, thinking about his friend's plight and how he knew he would be able to help her if he just put his mind to it. The first couple of days he just didn't know if it was going to be able to be done or not, but then he delved back into the thought of Eria's face and felt even more driven. The next two days passed and he made a little progress, but nothing too great. The next day he began losing a little hope because it just seemed as though it was an impassable blockade. There was no progress for the next two days after that. He kept visiting Eria every morning, and on the morning of the third day, he witnessed the old woman crying over some of her now dead crops. He was struck by that, and his emotions flared as he stepped back, not wanting to be seen by her that morning, not in that kind of state. He quickly ran off that morning and kept that image in his mind because he just couldn't forget it.
He couldn't concentrate on his lessons that morning until he got to his channeling lesson. His instructor was surprised when Dreyric went into this lesson with all of his heart. He opened himself to the source that day and was amazed by the power that seized him, it was like a storm that threatened to blow him away with it if he didn't focus. Not even caring that he would probably be disciplined for this, with this feeling, he ran out of the classroom and headed for Mistress Eria's garden. Everything was so bright and vibrant. Before this he'd only been able to feel this for very brief increments, so this was amazing for him. He rushed into the garden and laid his hands on the ground and focused. It just seemed to come together as he started doing it. He'd done it to a small degree when he'd ate lunch with Talithia, but this was when he was able to have full access to the Power, something which was still a novelty to him. He started it off with Earth, knowing he needed that to help wake the soil up. He used several strands of earth and then took one strand of air and one of water and wove them together. Then he took the combination of the air and water weave and weaved that with the earth weave, and then to add the vitality her crops needed, he finished off with shooting spirals of spirit strands throughout the combined weave and let that sink into the ground. His eyes held an expectant look as he then watched to see what would happen then. This was the first time he'd attempted such of a thing. The old woman watched with widened eyes as the crops seemed to glow the color of the fruit they beared and it seemed that they just bloomed back to life. They regained their vibrancy and color and even the soil seemed to look healthier. "Dreyric!" She gasped, running to him and the young man shifted up quickly, throwing his arms around her triumphantly as he reluctantly let go of the source. "I've done it, my friend! I helped your garden regain itself!" He said to her with a wide smile. Mistress Eria was so moved there appeared to be tears in her eyes as she took his arm gently and said, "Let us go inside. I'll brew up some tea and you need to tell me all about it."
