#07

Amelia is still on the ground, staring up at the towering cherry tree while absentmindedly rubbing her bottom. "Showoff." Is all she says.

"Are you alright?" I lean over to help her up.

"I'll be fine." She says. Squinting her eyes at me. "But, you won't be once I get you back for that."

*Ding* System-chan sends out a chime of laughter.

"Oh, no." I pretend to shiver in fright. "How will I ever be able to finish the wagon with such a threat hanging over my head."

"Oh, shut up." She smacks me lightly on the shoulder. "And, you might want to hurry. We seem to be gathering a crowd."

The people from Charlie's caravan start filtering over, along with a few yard workers. Though, none seem eager to get too close.

"Yes Ma'am." I breathe out before giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.

My newly increased stats allow me to make short work of the next step. Using Plantshape, I remove the top branches, each the size of a regular cherry tree, and lower them to the ground. Peeling away the top bark and a thin layer of sapwood in order to ease them down. Revealing The tree's smooth interior. Then, using a mix of Water and Nature magics, I remove the excess moisture. Allowing the whole trunk to shrink evenly without warping.

"Now, for the hard part." I take a deep breath to prepare for the upcoming effort.

Walking up to the now denuded tree I place my right hand on its side, the staff clenched in my left. Closing my eyes and focusing my magic in on the small part where my palm lies. I talk to the fibers, showing them what I want. 'I need you all to grab onto each other, then pull together just like this. That's it guys, just. a. little. twist.' Sensing that it's starting to work, I push my magic throughout the trunk.

Beads of sweat start pouring off my skin as I struggle to encompass the whole of the tree. Knowing that if it isn't all done together, in sync, that there will be weaknesses in the wood. It could even tear itself apart. Finally sensing the entirety of it falling under my control. I squeeze.

*Ding**Ding**Ding*

I barely even hear the notifications from System-chan. The process of transforming the wood is my entire world right now. It starts slow, but the wood begins to shrink once more. Groans can be heard from the base as it tears itself from the roots. I drop to one knee as the speed picks up, and. Clang!!! The log suddenly snaps together, it's height and diameter almost half what they were before I started.

"Sorrel!" Amelia shouts out as I begin to tip over. "Look out! Flow!" I hear rushing water, a loud thud right next to me. And then, distantly, the echoes of some bells ringing.

"Oh! Oh my." Amelia breathes out as I lay there panting. "Oh, Sorrel, are you okay? Mmm. Why didn't you tell me it felt like this."

"Haaah. Haah." I pant. "I'll.. Haah. Be fine. Just." A deep breath. "Need a minute. Haa. Take it you leveled?"

"Yeah, you dummy." She pulls me to her. "Don't you scare me like that." She squeezes tighter. "Had to take all the water in the area and slam it into that log to stop it from squashing you. You idiot!" She looks like she wants to smack me again, but is afraid to actually hurt me.

"I'm sorry." My breathing starts to come under control again. "I didn't mean to scare you. Wasn't expecting that surge at the end, there it kinda got away from me." Hugging her back, I reach up to wipe away a tear from the corner of her eye.

"It almost squished you flat, is what it did."

"Thank you for saving me. Sorry again." I try to soothe her. "And, I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere. Not with you here to save me from my own stupidity. My hero." I say with a big smirk on my face.

"Jackass." She curses before kissing me, and then pushes me down on the ground again. "I was really worried you know." She looks down at me.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I promise I'll be more careful in the future." My gratitude is clear on my face. "But, first I need to know what happened."

"I think I know." She reaches over to pick up a slim piece of wood, about the size of a cane. "When you dropped to one knee your staff touched the tree..." She trails off. Holding out my, now much smaller staff.

"Oh... Oh!" I exclaim. "It incorporated the spell and must have set up some sort of amplifying resonance." I say inspecting the staff in my hands.

"If you say so."

"Hah." I rub the back of my head sheepishly. "Probably should have expected something like that."

"So, you're saying that you're not a jackass. Just a dumbass."

"Yeah. But, I'm your dumbass." I smile up at her. "Now help me up, please. I want to check the lumber."

"It better be fine." She tells me. "If you screwed up my wagon, I'll drop that on you again, and make sure it squishes you flat this time."

Then, from the far side of the yard, a loud shout rings out. "What in the blazes was that noise? I heard it from way down the street." The merchant, Charlie, comes charging forwards. "What are you all looking at over there? Lia?" The man pauses. "Lia girl? Are you alright? And what is this mess?" He gestures to the pile of branches and mud splattered log.

"Hi uncle Charlie." Amelia says a bit sheepishly. "Everything's okay. And sorry about the mess. Sorrel will take care of it in a minute. And the racket was him being a dumbass."

"Hey." I grumble under my breath.

"Well... Okay.. I'm glad you're okay. But, what exactly is going on?"

I step forward. "Remember how I said we'd have a wagon by today? Well, what I meant was I'd be making one today. I'm an awakened, sir."

"And a showoff idiot!" Amelia adds.

"...And a showoff idiot." I confirm.

"A mage!" The man's jaw drops. "I saw your hands last night, but I didn't realize."

"Um... He's not the only one." Amelia interjects. Condensing an orb of water in front of her with a gesture.

Charlie's mouth hangs even lower. "Lia? Little Lia, you've got magic? When? How?"

"On our way down from Southwood." She explains. "Sorrel was able to sense the magic in me and Awaken it."

A light shines in his eyes. "Can you this for anyone Lad?"

"Haha." I laugh awkwardly. "Sorry. But, no. The person needs to have the magic inside them already. I even gained an ability, after Awakening Amelia, to tell if those around me can be Awakened. But haven't come across even a single person with the potential."

"Ah, sorry lad." He chuckles ruefully. "Some boyhood dreams die harder than others. And well, who hasn't dreamt of having magic." The light in his eyes fades a bit, leaving him with a more wistful expression. "So, you did some magic and made all this mess, then?"

"Uh, yeah. I needed some wood for the wagon. So, I grew a tree. And then. Well..." I trail off.

"You decided to be a dumbass and nearly got yourself squished." Amelia chimes in helpfully. *Ding* Followed by System-chan with a disappointed tone.

"Well, Luckily I had my hero here to save me." I try to give her a big hug but she just huffs and blocks my efforts.

"Hah." Charlie barks out. "I'm glad you're okay boy, but please tell me you can clean up this mess."

"Oh, not a problem. Decompose! Earthshift! Flow!" The leftover wood and roots quickly rot away, mixing into the soil before compacting down. While Flow pushes the water deeper into the soil in order to dry out the mud.

"Thank you for that." He sighs in relief. Likely worried about what the damages might have cost to repair. "But you've got still got that giant log sitting there."

"And I still don't have my wagon." She huffs again in annoyance. But I can still see the signs of worry one her face.

"No rest for the weary." I breath out. Walking over to said log, I send my mana inside to check for defects. Thankfully, despite the magical mishap, it is in perfect condition. I send Amelia a smile and a nod. She loosens up a little, but I can tell I really scared her. 'I really need to make this up to her.' I think to myself. 'She loves the model. So, I'll just have to make the real thing even better'

Sitting cross-legged with my foreshortened staff in my lap. I close my eyes and reach out with my magic once more. Plantshaping is my most used spell. So much so, that I don't even need to verbalize it anymore.

Slowly, to make sure that everything, down to the last wood fiber, is perfect. I shape our new home. Some ooh's and ahh's float over from the crowd behind Charlie as the wood seems to flow like water. Four wheels roll themselves into place, the rear wheels taller by a third. Starting at the hub and running down the spokes are relief carvings of tiny flowering vines. These carvings, modeled after the tattoos on my arms, are just the first hint of what I have planned.

The axles, and underpinnings come next. Thin poles of the ultra-strong wood fold out of the log and float into place between the wheels. The wheels snug onto these axles. The ends of which, flare out into flower shapes to hold everything in place. Four bow shaped suspension springs then free themselves from the log and fuse onto the axles. A small platform containing the pivot mechanism is added to the front wheels, and the brake rod too the back.

All the moving parts done. I form the floor of one solid plank and lock it into place on the axles. Then, I begin to shape the walls. Starting with the lip that comes up behind and flows over the wheels. Keeping it hollow to reduce weight, and mirroring the design on both sides. I shape the wall to look like a row of trees, their branches reaching out to form the lip. There's even a few playful squirrels hopping around between branches.

For the main part of the wall, I recreate an image of the brook where I first tested Amelia for magic. Incorporating the tops of the lower trees, making them look like bushes in the upper scene. Everything is as detailed, and as real to life as I can make it, and the seams for the big side windows are cleverly hidden by the landscape. The front wall is mostly covered by the driver's seat and window. So, it only gets a few floral embellishments. And, the rear wall has the door in the middle. So I just add some flowering sorrel to the sides and a copy of Amelia's water droplet tattoo on the bottom half of the door. Finally, making the eaves of the roof look like grape vines. And, I am done.

Several notifications pull my focus back into my body. Where the first thing I see is that I haven't used nearly as much wood as I thought I'd need. Then, I look up to see that the sun is nearly overhead. And, that the small crowd from before has ballooned to nearly fill the yard. Looking around to see Amelia standing slightly behind me with tears leaking from her eyes as she examines the prize I've made for her. Reaching up, I take her hand and, after she looks at me, I tell her those three magical words again.

I then pull her closer, and say. "I'm so sorry, Amelia. I didn't mean to scare you." She kneels down and, after moving my staff out of the way, I twist around to hug her tight. "I never want to do anything that could hurt you in any way. I hope that this can make up for it, at least a little."

"Of course I forgive you, you idiot." She clings to me, tears still flowing freely.

I shift her to sit in my lap and we just stay that way, holding each other, for a few moments. The noise of the crowd barely even registers to us, lost in our own little world, as we are. After an indeterminate amount of time, the crowd begins to thin and Charlie finds his way over to us.

"I thought you were making a wagon, not a piece of art." The merchant jokes. "That scene on the side... If not for the color, I'd swear it were real."

"It is based on a real place." I explain before turning back to Amelia. "Do you remember where we stopped for lunch on that first day?"

"When you first discovered I had magic. Of course I remember." Looking from me to the relief on the wagon. "I don't remember it being that beautiful though."

"If you ask me, I left out the most beautiful part."

"Hah." Charlie barks out. "No need to lay it on so thick boy. I think she's already impressed." This earns a chuckle from both of us. "Come on, I'll treat you to lunch while the rest of this lot clears off."

The gurgle from my stomach agrees whole-heartedly with his plan. "That sounds like a fantastic plan." Amelia nods in agreement. I then try rise, only to flop back down. "Uh. Amelia, dear. Think you could be my hero again, and help me up?"

In the end it takes both of them to pull me to my feet. I'm unsteady for a couple minutes but steadily firm up as we walk to a nearby restaurant that, he assures Amelia, has excellent sweets. On the way there we hear almost everyone we pass talking about the 'Magic Wagon'. It was kinda funny at first, but now, I'm just glad we'll be leaving tomorrow.

After a hearty lunch, and far too many sweets, we return to the yard. Most of the crowd has drifted off, but there's still a steady trickle of people coming to marvel at the carvings.

As we approach the vardo Charlie speaks up. "Just what is this wood? I've never seen anything like it. The pattern of the grain is so strange."

"Well, it was cherry when I started." I explain the process I went through to grow and modify the tree.

"Well, she is a beaut' lad. But aren't you worried about the weight? Cherry's not a light wood to begin with, and all those carvings must add a ton to the walls. Lia seems to have picked out a good solid horse, but even a great horse can be overburdened." Charlie says with a look of concern.

"Not a problem. I actually made the walls hollow with a honeycomb infill to reinforce them." I tap on the wall to demonstrate. "And while the wood itself may be heavy, it's strength is several fold higher than regular cherry wood. Allowing me to use much thinner planks."

We walk up to the back and I Plantshift a ladder from the mostly unused log. Earning a few gasps from the nearby people. Letting Amelia enter first, I continue chatting with Charlie. "Add in the fact that we now have System provided Inventories to hold everything we want. And, we're likely lighter than whatever burden it's used to hauling."

"Ahh. I still can't believe little Lia got herself magic." He sighs. "She used to be such a terror before. I can't imagine what she'll be like now."

"I'm sensing a good story there." A smile widening my face.

"Oh? Telling stories, are we?" Amelia interrupts from the doorway. "Why, I remember this one time with a mule-"

"Ahem." The merchant clears his throat. "No time for stories now. I still haven't seen the inside of this amazing wagon yet."

"Well, if somebody..." She sends a pointed look in my direction. "..would finish bragging already. You could. Not that there's much to see yet. Since he needs to finish the interior and the roof." She teases.

"I wanted us to decorate together. I'm sure that now we can see it full size there'll be some changes from the model." I explain. "And, I still need to grow some flax for the tarp."

"Giving up on cotton already?" Amelia fakes a gasp. "And, after all it's done for you. How heartless can you be?"

"Heartless enough to forget about a certain dress." I tease back as Charlie and I enter the wagon.

"You'd better not, mister. I can still squish you with that log. You know?"

"No squishing, please." I beg playfully. "I was actually hoping to extract the linseed oil."

"Like you mentioned this morning?"

"Yes, I had originally planned to use Nature magic, but it should be possible with just using Water. Though, we may need to press them using ice first."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Amelia pushes past me and Charlie and jumps straight to the ground, ignoring the ladder. "Hurry up, I want to try this out."

"Looks like you've got some work to do." Charlie pipes in. "I'll let you two get to it. You've got to give me the grand tour tonight though."

"Promise." I say, following him down the ladder.

Tossing down a hand full of seeds after he walks off. I quickly grow a small patch of tall skinny plants. They bud with tiny blue flowers and go to seed in seconds. Harvesting the fibers and seeds, I Decompose the rest before repeating myself. After several rounds of this, the plants cover a good portion of the yard, much to the delight of the spectators. I pump extra magic into the flowers this time to get the biggest seeds possible. Before harvesting everything I want and Decomposing the rest.

After restoring the ground with Earthshift, Amelia and I get to work extracting the oil. To my surprise, she manages it first. I manage to extract some using only Water magic, earning a Skill level to Flow. But swiftly switch to Nature magic to speed up the process.

"Cheater." Amelia says.

"I've got a whole month to practice my other magics." I counter. "But, I've only got an afternoon to finish our wagon."

"I'll allow it. This time." She says. Still pulling oil from her pile of seeds.

Taking a jug of oil and a bundle of flax fibers. I infuse the fibers before weaving everything into a tight tarp. After attaching it to the roof Amelia makes me watch as she coats the wood of the wagon herself.

Weatherproofing done. I grab a few planks off the log, and we head inside to decorate. We spend the rest of the afternoon making small changes here and there. And basically, just making the place home.

Charlie stops by after dark with a box of sweet rolls and we invite him to stay for dinner. Cooked on a small cast iron stove that Amelia picked up yesterday, and whose position in the wagon she had me shift over a dozen times while decorating.

Charlie is delighted by the way I make bread but declares that it is missing that yeasty flavor. Amelia agrees, and has commented on the same before, but was willing to live with it because we were walking. I vow to work hard until I can master yeast production. I have been relying a bit too much on my Plankin bonuses and neglecting the rest of my magics.

After eating, we sit and chat for a while before Charlie excuses himself. Leaving Amelia and myself to snuggle closer. One thing leads to another and we wind up christening the new wagon, several times. And, while I'm not thinking about much else during the act, afterwards I am quite glad we're parked on the far side of the yard. Looks like the first spell I'm gonna have to work on is some kind of magical soundproofing.