“Och, yes, the all-knowin’ census,” said Hannah with a sigh.
“I was just offering it,” said Alfric. “And I had said that I would help to track down a druid for Isra to speak with, so we could get some confirmation one way or another, and she could work on her abilities.”
“Good next steps, I suppose,” said Hannah. “And it’ll be vital in the dungeons.”
“It will?” asked Isra.
“Oh certainly,” said Hannah. “The dungeons have all kinds of beasts and plants in them, and if you can hone your skills a bit more, you’ll be able to tell which of them are any good. All that talk of unique books in the dungeons? Well, what about unique plants? Tomatoes are famously a dungeon plant.”
“They are?” asked Mizuki.
“They’re thought to be,” said Alfric. He sounded skeptical. “And it’s illegal to bring anything that can replicate out of a dungeon unless it’s very securely contained. Illegal, and also a bad idea.”
“We’ve got the book, don’t we?” asked Hannah. “Shouldn’t be too hard to set up a grow box, should it? Not that we’ll get the next tomato, but it’s somethin’ to keep an eye out for.” She turned to Isra. “Meat and skins are the other big things. Normally you’d have no idea what any of the beast parts could be used for, but that’s somethin’ a druid might know, if the skill is honed.”
Isra looked between Alfric and Hannah. “The skill is… about money?”
“No,” said Mizuki. “A woods witch is about helping people. That’s her main job, or, I guess, role, since usually she gets paid in goodwill or being loved. Pucklechurch had a woods witch back when my grandpa moved into town, and she helped him get settled and clear this land.”
“How?” asked Isra. She was frowning. “I wouldn’t be able to do that.”
“She told the trees to move,” said Mizuki.
“And they listened?” asked Isra.
“It took a long time, but yes,” said Mizuki. “You’ve got to be pretty patient with trees, he said. Over a couple of months though, they started ambling out of the way.”
“But why wouldn’t he just cut them down?” asked Hannah. “There’s lots of wood used in this house.”
“Grandpa had a cart,” said Mizuki. “It was a magical one. He had filled it with timbers, stones, and tiles from Kiromo, and this place was meant to be a piece of his homeland, which I guess it did end up being, until he moved back. As for why he wouldn’t cut the trees, that’s an old Kiromo superstition. If you start your foundation with the death of trees, they’ll haunt your house.”
They were all looking at her.
“It’s true,” she said. “Or, it’s not true that you’ll get ghost trees, but it’s true that it’s a superstition.”
“But what would a ghost tree even be?” asked Hannah.
“Well, ghosts live in the elsewhere and then appear for brief moments, right?” asked Mizuki. “So I guess you’d be walking through your house in the middle of the night, and the ghost tree would be real and solid for half a second, just long enough that you run smack into it.”
“You’ve got some
“Anyway,” said Mizuki. “The woods witch died some three decades back, and Pucklechurch hasn’t had another since. We’ve been borrowing one from Liberfell, when we have need, I think.”
“Which is where?” asked Isra.
“Two hexes southwest,” said Alfric. “It’s the size of Tarchwood, maybe a touch larger.”
“We can send a letter out, if you’d like,” said Mizuki. “We have a cartier servicing Pucklechurch, and you’d get a response back in, oh, two or three days? Or I could talk with some guildmates I have there.”
Isra nodded. “And she would help me understand?”
“Better than we can, that’s for sure,” said Mizuki. “Though I’m sure that Alfric and Hannah both consider themselves to be experts.”
“I don’t,” said Alfric, holding up a hand. “And I already said as much.”
“I
“You’re saying I’ll be able to speak with trees,” said Isra, looking at Mizuki.
“Oh, woods witches are quite useful,” said Mizuki. “Especially the most powerful ones. When the woods witch comes to town, she tells all the weeds in the fields to die, she tells the birds to stop poaching seeds, she tells the insects to bugger off, all kinds of things, then goes on her way. They naturally stop listening to her instructions after a bit, but it’s always a more pleasant week or two.”
“She tells the weeds… to die?” asked Isra, frowning.
“Pretty sure she does, yeah,” said Mizuki. “Oh, and druids have some weather control, so it’s always a nice balmy set of days when she’s in town and then usually rain afterward to make sure the crops get their water.”
Isra looked at the three of them. “You’re saying that you have no control over what the weather does?”
Mizuki laughed. “No, none at all. Wow. I wonder what else you thought was completely normal?”
