The hiring process was straightforward as far as contracts went. Ahron was in his office making the finishing touches on the contract itself as we arrived. He was listed as the witness, and after a read through to understand the clauses, both Bahruun and I were quite pleased with the thing. “Only one amendment is needed. He’ll begin working, starting…” my voice trailed off as I looked at Bahruun. “Four days. It’s all I need to finish the current batch of items.” He finished for me, and I gave him a nod. “Well, there you have it.”

  Ahron nodded quietly as the ink reformed on the contract itself. After reading over the altered part, I nodded and both Bahruun and I signed as well. The moment we did, the contract gave off a burst of tiny sparks and flew out of the room. Meleri looked at it as it zoomed past, mild confusion clear on her face. Ahron gave her a gentle smile when he saw her reaction. “It’s heading to the Halls’ archive for safekeeping. Both your sister and Bahruun will receive a copy each once you leave. It’s standard procedure for hiring Hall practitioners.”

  With the contract signed, Bahruun excused himself, eager to finish up his current dig, no doubt. I thanked Ahron for his help and fished out the gate stone. “Mind if I borrow your teleportation circle?” He shook his head. “I expected you’d use it to get back home as well. Soot is taking care of that on your end, I take it?” I nodded. “He can lift far more than his size would make you believe, including the rune stones needed to accept the cipher. I just need to borrow your mirror for a minute to tell him we’re heading home.”

  Ten minutes later, we stepped out of the circle, back inside the hut. “Well, that takes care of that. Wanna help me with lunch, or should I just magic up something to eat?” Meleri pondered for a moment. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to practice releasing mana safely. Bahruun helped me last time, after all.” Fair enough. “Alright then. I’ll just whip up a simple lunch for us all. Since this is your first time solo, may I request you do it on the porch, I really don’t want any of the rooms singed.”

  Meleri opened her mouth to respond, then paused for a moment. “Alright then, care to join me Irenji?” The little wolf’s tail began to wag. “Sure!” he pushed his head into Meleri’s palm as the two walked outside, while I headed for the kitchen. Back in the living room, I paused for a moment to thank my little trio for watching the house. “So, any wishes about lunch?” Ivy immediately chimed in. “Pancakes!” I shook my head. "That’s far too heavy for lunch." After some discussion, it was settled with some ham sandwiches for me and Meleri, a small berry salad for Ivy and Meat Mix for the familiars and Irenji. Which was different ground meats mixed into unspiced meatballs, cooked on low heat and served up hot.

  The reason I didn’t add any spices was because of Irenji, as I didn’t know if there was anything among them that he couldn’t eat, and I learned my lesson with Winter on that one. Since the weather was pristine, I served lunch on the porch. The sun was shining high in the sky, with not a cloud to be seen. The sound of crickets was all around, and a slight breeze made the temperature perfect. You couldn’t ask for a better setting for an outdoor lunch.

  Once everyone got their full plates, I leaned back in my chair. “So should I-” a resounding “YES” from everyone before I could even finish made it clear. It was story time. “Alright then, let’s see, right. So…”

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  It took a while before Jaira acclimated with living with us. It must have been quite the culture shock. Not to mention going from effectively privileged noble to normal kid with chores. Yet despite the changes to her life, she didn’t complain once, and it didn’t take that many months, she integrated seamlessly into the norm. She did not handle the first winter that well though, spending most of her time cooped up in her room and refused to go outside as her Reimmeith was not made to handle such extreme temperatures. Below freezing? Sure, deserts could get that cold at night, after all. But under -40 was too much for the thing. Even after I improved the enchantments on it, she was still not comfortable going outside until the snow began to melt.

  The following spring, early in the afternoon, my brewing was interrupted as she poked her head through the door to the potion room. “Mom, I finished cleaning my room. Can we go pick berries now?” Midnight passed through the crack. “I can confirm, Meowstress, that her room is spotless.” I looked at the two for a moment, then glanced out the window to the beautiful late-spring afternoon outside. “Just give me time to finish this batch, and we can go.” It was strange to be called “Mom” and not “Ms. Morgana” but… I didn’t mind it as much as I thought I would.

  An hour later, the five of us were heading out the door. Midnight in Jaira’s arms, Soot was perched atop my hat and Ivy was sitting on his head. “So, what berries was it you wanted?” I glanced down at Jaira. “Those blue ones, the ones whose color require magic to get out of the fabric.” Aha. “The blueberries? Alright then. This way.” I led the way into the forest in the opposite direction from Nettledale. While there was a large blueberry patch between my house and Nettledale proper, it was also frequented by the pixies this time of year. A rather different growth period from good old Ireland, but I wasn’t complaining. The blueberries were tasty, after all.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  As we walked through the trees, Ivy was humming a merry tune to herself, no doubt looking forward to eating blueberries without competition from her fellow Pixies. “Ivy, I do hope you will save enough berries so I can make blueberry jam of it later, so you can some have on your beloved pancakes.” There was a trilling noise from above. “You can make jam out of blueberries? Alright then, I will only eat a few, as I want to taste blueberry jam!”

  As we reached the clearing where the blueberries grew, I noticed we weren’t alone. “Why hello, Allen, what brings you this far out from Appleridge?” The faun looked up from where he was picking a few berries. “Oh, just enjoying a small walk as we are between harvests. It’s nice with some alone-time now and then.” He then noticed Jaira. “And who is this young lady?” Jaira seemed uncomfortable, no doubt unsure if Allen was a Fey or not. I put a reassuring hand on Jaira’s shoulder. “This is my adopted daughter, Jaira. Jaira, this is Allen, his family is the ones whose been providing all those fruits you enjoy.” Jaira lit up as she heard that. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Allen.” She gave a polite bow.

  Allen blinked a few times, then gave a good-natures chuckle. “The pleasure is mine, young miss, and it warms my heart to hear you enjoy the fruits of my family’s labors, literally in this case, speaking off…” His voice trailed off as he reached into his bag and pulled out a little something. “We received this from a wandering wizard who visited our farm the other day. He claimed it was edible, but I wanted to confer with you before we planted it, just in case.” I approached and looked at what he was holding. “Is… that a kiwi?”

  Allen seemed unsure for a moment before he shrugged. “It’s not what he called it, but I suppose the same name isn’t used by everyone.” He pulled out a knife and cut the fruit in half. It was a kiwi. “He said that these grow in the wetter regions of the southlands, and since your adopted daughter is wearing a Reimmeith, I figured she might have tasted them before.” He held out half of it to Jaira whose smile widened in recognition.

  She took the piece and gobbled it up, leaving only the hairy skin behind. “I have tasted these before, Melonettes we call them, though I like Mom’s name better, faster to say.” Allen’s face lit up. “That was what the wizard called them, too. I shall cultivate these then and add them to the usual deliveries, since the little miss likes them.” Jaira seemed pleased about the prospect, and I didn’t mind either. “If you can get them to grow, I would not say no to that suggestion. Just make sure you don’t overwork yourselves.”

  Allen just waved me off. “Oh, don’t worry, we pace ourselves just fine. Hmm, speaking of pace, if I want to make it home before dinner without running, I should probably head back. See you around, Lady Morgana, little Miss, do come to visit us soon. I am sure the kids would be happy having a new playmate.” He pocketed the other half of the kiwi and headed back towards Appleridge at a brisk, and energic pace, looking delighted as he did.

  As he left, Jaira looked down at the remains of the kiwi in her hands. “You think he will succeed?” I looked after where he disappeared. “Considering he has grown every other cultivar he and his family have tried their hands on, I rate the chances pretty high. And on that note, shall we?” Jaira blinked a few times as she gathered her thoughts. “Right!” We scattered around the clearing and began to pick berries into the buckets I brought along.

  About an hour later, we were carrying four large buckets full of berries back to the house. Two from me, one from Jaira and one from Midnight, Ivy and Soot working in tandem. True to her word, Ivy didn’t eat as many berries as she usually would, which helped the trio in filling their bucket. As we were walking back, Jaira paused. “Mom, mom, look!” she pointed at something underneath a tree.

  A small nest, and if its state was anything to go by, a recently raided one. White feathers were scattered around it and the ground had gashes in it as from a struggle, along with what was unmistakingly dried blood. She approached carefully. All the eggs in the nest were smashed to pieces, all except one. Jaira leaned down and picked it up before I could stop her. “It’s still warm. Mom, can we raise it? It won’t survive without us.” She gave me doe eyes as she asked.

  I glanced over at Soot, who was perched on my shoulder, this time. “Is it viable?” He looked at it… “There is something alive within, barely.” I took a deep breath. “Fine, we’ll take it in.” I held out my hand, and Jaira carefully handed me the egg. A quick spell later and the buckets began to levitate beside me. “We need to hurry back now, so no stopping for breaks, and we will be holding a brisk pace.” Jaira nodded, a determined expression on her face. “No problem.”

  We arrived back at the hut in record time and while I enchanted a spare pillow, so the egg would have the perfect temperature it needed to hatch, I looked through my bestiary for information about what kind of egg that was in my possession. It didn’t take too long before I found the answer. Although, that opened up another question. Snow owls didn’t nest in this region, so why did one put a nest here, of all places? Well, there was nothing to it now. All I could do was to hatch and raise the little thing.

  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

  Meleri reached over and patted Winter’ white feathers. “There is one thing I am wondering, sis. Aren’t female snowy owls supposed to be dusky brown to help with camouflage?” Winter gave a confused hoot, while I shook my head. “Back on earth, that might be the case, but here snow owls, both male and female, are white. You see, they are native to the eternally winter locked Northlands. Since there is snow there year around, the female needs to be white as well. Which is why I was so confused when I learned what kind of egg I was dealing with, as they seldom, if ever, travel south and decidedly not to the center of the midlands.”

  Meleri looked thoughtful as she kept scratching Winter and Irenji, much to both’s delight. When they saw the two get scratches like that, Midnight and Soot headed over to me for much the same, and soon their noises of delight mixed with the crickets in the late afternoon sun.