Page 10

Ryburn

Travelling in the winter months was always difficult. It wasn't just the cold that posed a problem, but the fact that the nights came in fast, meaning the travelling days were shorter than they could be in summer. But at least we were at the tail end of the season, and the weather had stayed surprisingly good for us, making it possible. I wouldn't have liked to do a longer journey than this one, but a few days wasn't so bad.

Night was already starting to fall as we approached the flat clearing we'd used to make camp on the way to Purple Oak. It was a good thing Jasmine's cousin and her healing caravan had already gone their own way, or we would've had to find somewhere different to spend the night. Or a few people might've had to sleep on a slope.

I gestured for everyone to set things down for the night. We still had to pitch tents and build a fire before we could even face the possibility of relaxing and eating.

I let my bags fall down, grimacing at the relief. A pained groan escaped me as my shoulder pulsed, the burning sensation was making it hard to focus on getting camp set up.

Jasmine came my way, looking understandably worn. If she wasn't used to travelling like this, it would have been a long journey already, and it wasn't over yet.

"Do you want to divide duties or is it every man for themselves?" Jasmine asked, looking a bit unsure of herself.

"Since this is hopefully the start of an alliance, we could work together to make camp." I looked up at the sky. "I'm no weather witch, but that looks like it might rain."

"I agree." Jasmine dropped her bag. "I have some firewood on me."

"You've been lugging around firewood?" I asked, even more impressed with her than I already was. She might not travel very much, but it was clear to me that she didn't want to slack on her responsibilities.

"Is that not right? I wasn't sure if you would be okay cutting down trees since you're dryads so..." She conjured a bunch of logs and dropped them on the ground.

How endearing, even if it was misguided.

"Cutting down the right trees can help a forest flourish. And I don't think you have enough for a fire that'll last the night," I said eventually, gesturing vaguely at Ford. "He usually takes care of the firewood situation. If you have one or two people to spare who won't mind following his lead, we can get that going as soon as possible."

Jasmine looked a bit embarrassed, which only made her cuter. "Yeah, of course. Wow, I feel dumb."

"Don't, I think it's very thoughtful and I appreciate it. But being part of nature doesn't mean not interacting with it. At least, not for me. There are some purists who refuse to cut down trees or plants, but you won't find many of them making treaties with other settlements."

She sighed. "Reese is going to pay for this when we get back, it was her idea to bring all this with me. My back is killing me so I really need a cup of tea."

"For magic?"

She nodded. "I'm not the greatest at healing magic, but it will replenish me. And the basics on other people if they need it."

"Ah. Well, there's a stream just down the hill. That's why we camped here last time. We need water for dinner, as well as tea."

"Then we can send some people to fetch water while others set up tents. Once we have a fire going, we can cook up something hot."

I nodded in agreement with her suggestion, and we got to work. There was a lot to do and a lot of people who had never worked together before. I delegated the dryads on my side, sending them off for firewood while Jasmine got her people moving on setting up tents and doing a perimeter check.

It was something we hadn't done last time we camped, which was definitely an oversight on our part. Just the fact that we travelled without guards wasn't great, and something to talk to my brother about. We shouldn't have come across on such an important mission without thinking about security. Seeing the way the guards from Purple Oak interacted with one another only drove that home. They were taking instructions from both Jasmine, and the woman she'd introduced to me as Taz Miller, but were also working in a way that suggested they were used to being a unit.

It was just one of the many things in which Grower's Cove would benefit from this alliance. They were really well organised and there was an abundance and togetherness there that I didn't see at home. If we didn't need the mill more, then I might have been suggesting that we tried to get Purple Oak to train some guards for us, though I could entirely understand why they wouldn't want to do that in case we became hostile.

The main thing that had become clear to me during my brief visit to Purple Oak was that they had a lot of things we could benefit from, and I was sure there was still more we could learn. It wasn't that I believed Grower's Cove had nothing to offer, we clearly had plenty, especially when it came to the cultivation of crops, something it seemed that Purple Oak was struggling with.

As apprehensive as I'd been about being the one to make the alliance, there was a part of me that wondered whether it wouldn't be terrible to be one of the people going back and forth. There was lots I liked about Purple Oak, and it wasn't as if I really had anything tying me to Grower's Cove other than my brother. And with his baby on the way, his attention was going to be on his family, not on me.

My gaze slipped to Jasmine where she was putting up her tent with surprising confidence. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but from the way she'd been talking, I'd have thought she'd struggle on the journey, but that was far from the case.

A strand of her dark hair fell out of the plait she currently had it in and she pushed it out of her face. She looked up, catching me watching her. For a moment, I considered looking away and pretending I hadn't been, but then she gave me a small wave.

I returned it, a smile coming to my lips as I did. It would be foolish of me to lie and say that my desire to be a liaison between Grower's Cove and Purple Oak had nothing to do with her. She was smart, fierce, and seemed to get more beautiful with each passing day.

She went back to setting up her tent, which made me break out of my trance. I'd been attracted to people before, and I could have sworn that it had never been this distracting.

I focused on getting my tent set up, although my tarp didn't look as waterproof or efficient as the ones made from animal hides that Jasmine was pitching. Maybe something else that we might eventually trade for because it would definitely improve travel. Leather had been on the list for us to trade tea for, but I imagined most of what we had coming would go towards making shoes.

Once Ford returned with lots of wood, it didn't take long to start the fire and get people cooking. Just in time because the darkness fell unexpectedly quickly and made everything disappear but a handful of tents and the fire roaring in the middle. The large pot of stew bubbling in it was emitting the most delicious aroma, and even though we all gathered around it to eat, I could tell there was a divide between the two groups.

It made sense, but I was hopeful that would be different in the future.

Jasmine filled a metal kettle with water and tea and set it on the fire to bring it to the boil. Once it was done, she distributed it to her people before settling down with a cup of her own. She did a double take and got back up, bringing the kettle over to our side of the fire.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked Ford.

He looked startled. "Erm, I don't have anything to trade for it."

"No trade needed," Jasmine assured him. "Just allies sharing a drink."

To my surprise, my friend nodded and held out his cup. Even though he didn't look Jasmine in the eye, I was fairly certain he was warming up to her.

She gave Mallory and Aster some tea too, before stopping in front of me. "Tea, Ryburn?"

I met her gaze, feeling like I could get lost there. "That would be nice."

She smiled and poured some into my cup.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." For a moment, I thought she was going to say more, but she just smiled and headed back over to her seat, setting the kettle back down in the fire.

She picked up her cup and drank some of it down before rubbing her neck. Her hand glowed with green magic. Illuminating her features in the darkness. It was only when I saw that a couple of the other people in her party were doing the same that the pieces clicked into place.

I knew tea witches could heal with tea but it wasn't until this moment that it really dawned on me how important of a resource it was to them. No wonder they were willing to trade with Grower's Cove and how lucky we were that we'd started growing our own tea.

Otherwise, none of this might be happening.