Page 4

Jasmine

A thick morning fog hung over the village but that didn't stop anyone from getting up and starting their daily work, including me. There was only so much daylight in winter, and we needed to make the most of it. We had electricity thanks to the lightning witches and electric mages who lived and worked here, but we tried to be sensible with where that power was used, with most of it going to the infirmary after dark.

I held back a yawn as I arrived at the town hall. I needed to appear nice and alert for when I met with the Grower's Cove delegation, especially if I didn't want to spend the entire day being distracted by Ryburn again. My head wasn't usually so easily turned, and I wasn't sure what was different this time. Maybe it was the combination of him being handsome, a newcomer, and having a hint of power that wasn't necessarily unlike my own.

Katie wasn't there when I arrived, but her arrival was soon announced by Banjo bouncing up to me. His pink tongue hung out of his mouth, and his tail wagged faster than it had any right to.

"Hello," I greeted the black and white dog. "Where's your ward?"

Katie appeared a moment later, looking just as tired as I felt, but with a satisfied grin. That better not be because she spent the night with my brother. As cute as I found it that they were now a couple, I didn't want to know what they got up to.

"Ready for today?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Still planning the divide and conquer strategy?"

"Yes."

"Let's hope they're all right with the fact my family aren't dryads."

I shrugged. "They already know that. And wool is one of the things they specifically said they wanted, and you've got plenty of experience with sheep."

"True." She smiled at me. "Then we go ahead as planned."

I nodded. This was one of the advantages of the Four Families working together. My family had more experience with tea, Katie's with wool. The Steepers were also tea witches, but the Millers were nymphs who ran the water mills that made most of the village's flour. There was trust and respect between all of the families, and that meant that we could do things like this.

The two of us entered the town hall and I was pleasantly surprised that the Grower's Cove delegation was already up and in the dining area having breakfast.

Ryburn stood up when he saw us. "Good morning." He flashed me a charming smile that was enough to make anyone go weak at the knees.

Though a quick glance at Katie suggested she wasn't having the same problem. Maybe that was just because she was so taken with my brother.

"Morning all," I said with a nod, instantly reminded of my mother again. I really was turning into her, complete with her mannerisms and tone of voice. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about that, but right now wasn't the time to have a complete crisis of confidence in myself. "Ready for the tour? I'll take two of you to the tea garden, and Katie will show the other two of you around the farms. But it's up to you who you want to go with."

"I'd like to see the tea gardens," Ryburn said, holding my gaze for a fraction longer than he needed to. "Ford will come with me." He nodded to the other man, who was quietly eating breakfast and didn't seem interested in much of what was going on around him.

A giddy feeling filled me at the prospect of getting to spend some more time with Ryburn, especially when it was also with someone who didn't seem that engaged. It would be smart of me to insist that he went with Katie so that I wasn't distracted, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, especially as she was already chatting with Mallory and Aster about their plans for the day.

"We'll leave as soon as you're done with breakfast," I told him.

"I'm done," he said. "Ford?"

"Yes?" He looked up.

"Are you ready to see the tea garden?" Ryburn asked.

"I suppose." Ford wiped his fingers on a napkin and got to his feet. I couldn't say that was a glowing endorsement of my plans for the day, but Ryburn didn't seem too worried about it, which could mean that this was normal for Ford.

I waited for the two of them to put their coats on and led them outside. The cold air hit my face, and I had to hope that was enough to calm the racing thoughts I had about Ryburn, which definitely weren't appropriate to think about someone who I was supposed to be creating a trade alliance with.

It was only a short walk to the tea garden, and I mostly fielded some basic questions about the village on the way. My hands shook as I used my keys to let us inside, a little nervous about inviting strangers into the sanctum. Luckily, some of the other tea witches were here to keep an eye on us in case things went south, not that I foresaw that happening. I had to remember that the planned alliance wasn't a one-sided thing. Grower's Cove wanted this just as much as we did.

"This way," I said, directing them to the small field we used for tea, though calling it that was a little bit of a stretch, it was more of a glorified large garden. I spotted Earl in the corner at his desk, which was also reassuring. Earl wasn't exactly a brawler, but he would protect me and the tea plants if necessary.

He got up when he saw us approaching and came to join us with a serious expression on his face. Ryburn and Ford studied the row of tea plants in front of us with unreadable expressions on their faces, which only made my nerves worse.

"That's it?" Ford voiced with a frown. "I don't know much about tea plants but even I can tell this is all wrong. The soil, the temperature, the spacing. You're not doing a good job here."

His unexpected harshness surprised me, and anger sprung up inside. Maybe we weren't managing to grow them, but we'd put a lot of effort and care into this.

Before I could lash out, Ryburn nudged Ford in the side. "That's a little too honest, mate."

Ford cast his gaze down. "Sorry."

The smile on Ryburn's face was more like a grimace. "I'm sorry. Ford can be a bit blunt."

His friend shrugged off Ryburn's comment.

"It's fine," I responded, not really knowing what else I could say.

"He's not wrong, though. I'm sure you tried your best, but I don't think any of these plants will see maturity. And I'm not a tea plant expert either."

I grimaced. That was tough to hear. There was a part of me that wanted to resist against what they were saying, but I had to concede that they were probably right. It would be better if either of them were tea plant dryads, but considering this wasn't something we mentioned wanting in any of our letters, it made sense that Grower's Cove hadn't actually sent one.

Earl cleared his throat. "What are the first changes we should make to the tea crops and when do you think they'll reach maturity?"

I was proud of him for asking. I was still reeling from the revelation, whereas he was already thinking about the tea plants and what they needed. This was why my brother was the one in charge of the tea garden and not me.

Ford crouched down and pushed his fingers into the soil. "I don't think these will reach maturity under these conditions. This field isn't draining properly, so you're drowning your plants. And I think the direct sunlight is an issue too."

Ah. Even with my limited knowledge of agriculture, I knew both of those things were bad. Maybe we should have asked one of the Millers to keep a closer eye on these. They weren't dryads, but their farm had a lot of wheat, and they knew just how to cultivate it.

One look at Earl broke my heart. He was clearly taking this hard, and if the members of the delegation hadn't been here, then I would have pulled him into a hug. That would have to wait for later.

Unaware or uncaring about the devastation he was dealing, Ford continued. "The plants are also too close together. They'll interfere with each other as they grow. No, none of this is right."

Ryburn hummed. "You're going to want experienced workers to get the results you're looking for."

That sounded about right. And potentially problematic. I'd already been expecting a high price for the exchange of knowledge about the plants we were trying to grow, labour was going to need a trade even more extreme. They might not even want to give it if they thought it might damage our reliance on them.

"I'll have to discuss this with the others," I said, not wanting to commit to anything prematurely. Maybe the others wouldn't think hiring workers from Grower's Cove would be a good use of our resources. Not that there was really anything to discuss when we didn't know the terms that Grower's Cove was going to place on us.

"Of course," Ryburn said with a nod. "I'd have to check with someone more knowledgeable before we can tell you what's needed to...start from scratch, basically." He gave us an apologetic smile. At least it was reassuring to know that he wasn't really enjoying telling us all of this.

I noticed Earl's expression falling even more and I hated that my little brother was so upset. We were aware that our tea crops were falling short, but starting over was worse than expected.

It would be better to leave it here for now and deal with it when Earl could recover from the shock.

"Why don't I show you some of our equipment?" I suggested to Ryburn and Ford. "And then afterwards, we can meet up with Katie and the rest of your group when they're done looking at the fields and orchards."

"You have orchards?" Ford asked in a completely different voice than before. There was an actual spark in it.

I nodded. "We have lots of fruit trees. There isn't much on them at the moment, but they're bountiful in summer."

"Like apple trees?"

"Of course."

Ford's eyes lit up. "Can I see them?"

"Umm... I mean, Katie will be showing the others the orchard. We have other things to see."

Ryburn cleared his throat. "If it's not a problem, we can continue the tour with just the two of us? Then Ford can look at the orchard. Apple trees are his speciality."

While I didn't think being alone with Ryburn was a good idea, I also didn't want to deny a request. Especially because this was the most engaged Ford had been since he arrived. Hopefully, he wasn't about to give the orchard workers a list of things they were doing wrong too. Though I supposed it wouldn't matter if it meant our yield improved.

I gulped and nodded. "Yeah, we can do the rest of the tour with just us."

Luckily, most of the fluster Ryburn was causing seemed to be on the inside, and I could certainly keep it there a little bit longer. I hoped.