I play the flute from morning.
“This thing’s draining my magic like crazy… Is that supposed to happen?”
Selina snorts. “You’re just not controlling your magic properly. You’re wasting it by pouring in too much. If you’ve got that much to spare, why not go grow a garden or something?”
“Does that mean you’ll teach me earth magic?”
I’m thrilled since Selina rarely teaches me magic. She always says it’s because I’m too naïve, but I think she just can’t be bothered.
“Yeah, we’ve got to plant vegetable seeds for spring.”
Oh, right. Spring is planting season. Maggie was sowing seeds in her backyard garden too.
“Grab a hoe and follow me.”
“Can’t I just make the rows with magic?”
Selina sighs, looking exasperated.
“If you were some earth magic expert, maybe you wouldn’t need a hoe. Are you saying you’re that good already?”
Ugh, how mean!
It’s my first time learning earth magic, so of course I’m not advanced.
Selina really is a mean old witch!
“Might as well boil some nail scrapings from that kind old apothecary in Carlton and make her drink it. Might put some kindness in her…” I mutter, grabbing the hoe and heading to the backyard.
“How about planting around here?” Selina suggests.
Yeah, it’s close to the well so watering would be easy, but... it’s also close to the goat pen, so they might eat everything.
“Won’t Merry and Ben eat it all?”
Yikes, Selina might just tell me to give up.
“We could build a fence around it!” I blurt out.
Selina lets out a big sigh. “Do I have to teach you how to build a fence too?”
Well… yeah.
“Please, Selina! If they eat all the sprouts, it’ll be a disaster! Teach me how to build a fence!”
When I bow my head, she sighs heavily again with a “good grief.”
First, I mark the spot for the garden with the hoe.
“Isn’t that a bit small?” Says Selina, who’s never farmed a day in her life.
“It’s about half the size of Maggie’s garden, so it’s fine!”
It’s actually more like a quarter, but I doubt she knows that.
“Hm. Well, I guess that’s about right for a first try.”
Knew it! Selina doesn’t know the first thing about farming.
“Okay, so next I need to till the soil and make some planting rows.”
Selina tilts her head at that.
Yep, I’ll probably have to do that part myself with the hoe.
But then Selina says, “I think I can till the soil with magic. Uh… what was the Empire word for ‘till’ again? Oh yeah—Culeré!”
So she did forget. Or maybe she’s just never used it?
Still, Selina’s definitely a proper witch. With a wave of her hand, the soil inside the marked area got all churned up.
“Hm. But this might not be enough.”
It’s been tilled, but since the ground was hard to begin with, there are clumps of dirt everywhere. Maggie’s garden wasn’t full of clumps like this.
“Zoe, just treat it as practice. Till it a few more times. That’s enough for today.”
With that, Selina heads back to the cottage.
“Wait, that’s it? What about the fence?”
“We’ll do that after the tilling’s done. And if you’re stuck, just try singing.”
And off she went, leaving me behind. Honestly, she’s really not cut out to be a teacher.
“I’ll use magic while I work with the hoe! That oughta help.”
It’ll be good practice using the hoe.
Besides, since Selina doesn’t even know about furrows, I don’t think she knows magic for making them either. Just remembering the tilling spell was already pretty good for her.
“Hmm? She said it was Imperial language, didn’t she?”
I’d always thought magic spells sounded a bit different from our regular speech… so they’re actually in Imperial?
Anyways. I do just what Matthew taught me—lower the hoe bit by bit into the soil and chant, “Culeré♪” with each swing.
“Yeah, this is faster than just hoeing.”
Though Maggie could probably do this much without magic. Still, not bad for a beginner, right?
By noon, I’d finished tilling.
Phew! That used up a ton of strength and magic.
Lunch is simple rice porridge. Selina looks like she wants to complain, but I’m too exhausted to care.
I probably should’ve started making rows in the afternoon… but let’s save that for tomorrow!
Besides, I wanna practice the flute. I finally bought it, after all!
It’s not a recorder like in my old life—it’s a transverse flute. But you still gotta use your fingers to cover the holes and change the notes.
Once I figure out the scale, I start playing all the songs I remembered.
I still mess up the fingering sometimes and get a few wonky notes, but it’s heaps of fun!
“You should practice the harp too,” Selina advises.
Yeah, I know… but I never played the harp in my old life.
I did learn the flute back in school, though, so I already know lots of songs.
“You’d better learn to play it properly. I went out of my way to buy it for you. And if you play this harp while channeling magic, it could become a real magical instrument—a Troubadour’s tool.”
That makes sense. The harp has a wider range, so if it did become a magic tool, it might be easier to use.
“Got it! I’ll practice after I’m done with the flute! I’m just so into the flute right now. I was worried it wouldn’t work as an instrument since it’s magical, but it totally does!”
Last night, Selina had tried to scare me about that, but I guess she was exaggerating.
“Zoe, listen. Right now you’ve burned through a lot of magic, so the flute isn’t reacting as a magical item. But if you play it like that in Lang Village, and your magic’s full again… you might run into trouble.”
Ugh, she always has to say something ominous!
But… yeah, that would be a problem.
I guess I’ll have to test it when my magic’s back at full strength—just to make sure it doesn’t go doing anything weird on its own.