A New Beginning

Li shook his head, his mouth curling ever so faintly up at the edges in a smile. "You're right, old man. I should've known you'd worry about me whether or not I could lift the heavens or not." His smile faded as his jaw set with determination. "But I promise you that I will still try to make sure you never worry anymore. You have so little time left to waste any of it worrying. Everything's been arranged now. The crown will never bother us, the stall is up and running, and soon, and our fields will be full and alive too. We can finally tend this earth for real".

Old Thane laughed. "Lad, I've still years and years left in me. A good twenty, I reckon. You sound as if I'll fall dead the very next day. Come now, no need to coddle me. I daresay I like this worry – it reminds me how much I yet live for. And what's this about our fields? You've found way to muster up something out of that barren earth?"

"That I have." Li smiled and took out the seed pouch, sliding it right in front of Old Thane.

Old Thane palmed the bag, squishing it between his fingers as he felt through it. "Are these seeds, lad?" His fingers pinched a few of the seeds between the bag's fabric. "Form the size and shape, I reckon these be wheat seeds. But lad, growing season is over."

"Those aren't ordinary seeds. Got them from the duchess as a sort of parting gift. According to her, you plant them, wait a couple of days, and you have a full crop."

"That is madness."

"That's what I thought too, so tomorrow, let's try planting them together. We can watch how they grow. Plus, it's been a few days since I've worked with you on the fields, so I figure it's a good chance for me to help you out again."

Old Thane slid the seeds back to Li. "Aye, I'd like that. Would be mighty nice to have you around again to spill all my old adventures to, but your stall, lad. It's been a mere day; you should tend to it. I am sure the adventurers will be crowding it in the morrow."

Li shook his head. "That's what I have an assistant for. She'll manage."

"But lad-"

"Old man, I know you want what's best for me, but I'll tell you right now what's best for me is to be by your side at the fields, listening to your old stories, exchanging jokes, and helping you." Li smiled. "What? You can't take a little help every now and then?"

"Not at all, lad. Not at all. You're right – the fields did feel that much more lonesome without you, hah!"

________________

At dawn, a few hours before they usually started, they got to work.

One thing that Li noticed about Old Thane was despite the fields being barren for years, he never stopped tending to it, weeding it and planting in them every year. It was a tenacity that he admired, and finally, he would get to see the old man's efforts bear fruit.

They spent the morning getting down on the dirt and plucking out weeds, and when they had finished, they still had to tend to the fact that the earth had to be made ready to plant. It had to be upturned and furrowed.

"I'll get the plow, lad," said Old Thane as he wiped sweat off forehead.

"No need." Li stood at the center of the field and knelt down, placing a hand on the cool and soft dirt. There was no need to conceal his power from Old Thane anymore. Of course, he still couldn't be blatant about things and just cast [Wild Growth] all the time and pop up a forest of plants, but there were subtler ways to go about things.

Focusing, he felt the Myrmeke's presence rumbling just below the surface.

'Come, can you help me?'

He felt a surge of happiness from the Myrmeke as it responded in the affirmative.

'Good. Then start turning up the earth where I walk. Dig up some deep soil and replace the stuff above with it.'

Li took up a slow pace around the fields, and the earth behind his steps sunk before being replaced with a layer of fresh and moist soil untouched by the elements. He made sure to keep an eye around his surroundings, and thankfully nobody was around much during this time right before first light, which was the main reason why he had decided to work earlier today.

Eventually, the Myrmeke plowed the entire field, completely submerging the brown and barren soils and replacing them with fertile, nutrient rich darkness smelling of rain and littered with worms.

"Gods, lad, what's this?" said Old Thane as he took a few tentative steps into the field. "You've skills to sway the earth?"

Li came up to Old Thane and grabbed his arm. He had already revealed his power, and at this point, he figured it was time for the old man to know about how his farm really worked. "Touch the earth, old man, and you'll see."

The two of them knelt down, and as Old Thane's wrinkled palm pressed flat on the dirt, the Myrmeke's antennae burst up, curling gently around his hand.

Old Thane shivered. "My, that's a hairy worm, that is!"

Li laughed. "Not at all. It's a giant ant called a Myrmeke. It's been living under the soil for a while now, and I figure it'll do its part on the farm as a plow."

Old Thane patted the antennae with his other hand. "Well then, thank you, little ant! You've saved many years of toil from my back."

Li smiled. "Oh if you could see it, you wouldn't be calling it little."

Afterwards, the two spent an hour planting the seeds by hand. They dug out evenly spaced patches in the dirt. About ten centimeters apart for each patch and just a centimeter deep. Interestingly enough, the amount of seeds in the bag were almost exactly enough to cover the breadth of the fields, with just a few left behind for Li to use later for his forest spirit training exercises.

-----

Li and Old Thane took a break, sitting cross-legged beside the fields, their trousers and shirts stained with dirt. Dirt caked under their fingernails and smeared on their faces, but they did not mind. It was proof of hard work, proof that one had communed with the earth and planted life.

By this time, the sun was coming up. Today would be a beautiful day. The sun peaked up from the west, rising over the Winterwoods, driving away the gloomy shadows wreathing them. As the darkness melted, the green of the forest became visible.

Li could spot little patches of yellow and purple flowers as the light spread across the rolling meadows spanning between the woods and Riviera. When he looked up, he saw that birds fluttered across the sky as life began to awake, their little figures seeming so small in such a wide and blue sky that grew brighter by the moment.

"Life's been so fast-paced these days," said Li. There was so much he had done since he had come to this world, despite starting out just to be a farmer. He had fought bandits, met vampire counts, drank with adventurers, and defied royalty. And there would be much more to face in the future as well with his fading humanity and everything that came with it.

For now, though, he lived in the present, unburdened by past or future.

"But I'll always remember that it's moments like this, looking up at this wonderful world right after tending to earth that pulses with life, that I live for. And the only one I can thank for that is you, old man."

"You're the one that's made something of this land," said Old Thane as he patted Li's back. "But it does brighten my heart to see you happy, especially after the serious streak that recently landed upon you."

"Serious streak, huh?" Li knew that the old man was talking about the times he wasn't quite himself, when he spoke harshly and acted differently because his eldritch powers bled into his mannerisms. That was when he also realized Old Thane still did not suspect his divinity.

But that was still a secret he had to keep.

He looked at Old Thane with a wistful smile. How long would these simple and happy days last? How long did his humanity have? But he shook his head and cleared his thoughts, remembering Old Thane's advice about holding onto the past.

Li knew his past, his humanity, was destined to fade, but he would cherish it while it lasted, and hopefully, it would last until the old man's passing.

No, it had to.

When he had asked that question to Old Thane a while back, his humanity was only his to consider, something he could discard or try to preserve at his own whim and desire. But now his humanity had a responsibility to Old Thane, to keep him company throughout the rest of his years – god knows he'd suffered too many alone already.

It would be selfish to let it fade away when it still had a duty to fulfill.

Old Thane sensed that Li had finished reflecting and broke the silence. "Gods, lad, a few days for these seeds to bear harvest? I've known no such wizardry, and I've seen my fair share of magic. Perhaps an invention of those nearsighted scholars in the Arcana?"

"Beats me, but you know, if it does work, we'll have an incredibly bountiful harvest. We can take the seeds again and keep planting them too, because the Myrmeke will just replace the fallow soil with planting ready dirt from deep underground." Li nodded his head slowly, thinking. "Say, that's more grain than we'll ever need. What do you figure you want to do with it?"

Old Thane scratched his beard. "I suppose I should give the crown what's due to them in taxes."

"Ignoring the crown. If you could do anything with that grain, what would you do?"

"Well then, lad, I would send it to the orphanages. That is what Aine and I did when my fields yet bore fruit, before my sight fled me."

Li nodded. "Then we'll keep doing that."

Old Thane smiled. "Aye, that does sound good, and my, look who it is!"

Zagan trotted up towards them and laid down between them, placing his head on his paws and closing his eyes as he began his daily series of naps.

"Tell me, demon, where did you fight in the war? I myself fought in the western fronts, sweating my stones off in the Hinterlands!" said Old Thane, not even caring that this was a demon, the very kind of monster he had fought against.

It was like he was talking to a veteran that stood against him so many years ago that their differences no longer mattered, scattered away under the breath of time.

Zagan opened an eye, glancing it towards Li. Li nodded, letting the demon understand that it was fine to talk to Old Thane, that the old man now knew.

"Hm." Zagan closed his eyes again. "The northern front. My personage led the breach through the Stonespire mountains, spreading great misery among the beastmen beyond."

"Aye, so we never had the fortune to meet."

"Truly opportune, for you would not have escaped me alive, and my personage would not have had the honor of serving by my master's side. It is quaint how the gears of fate work."

"I don't know about that," laughed Old Thane. "I had strength within me then. I beat senseless one of your Hellknights, though he was a mighty fiercesome foe."

Zagan scoffed. "A Hellknight? To compare my great personage to a mere knight is foolery. But I shall cede that for a mortal, that is quite the accomplishment. But that is nothing to me – my personage slew Gantrimenth, draconic guardian of the Stonespire mountains."

Old Thane nodded respectfully. "Aye, that is impressive. I myself have never seen proper drakes, but I know very well their might is in the realm of myth. I should say, though, that my real fight was the waiting. Gods, so much waiting between battles when the thick of it was all I looked forward to."

Zagan sighed. "Indeed. The lull between slaughters always did bore me."

"On that end, we are kindred spirits, hah!"

"Hm." Zagan closed his eyes, but his presence was amiable. He did not close Old Thane off, keeping the conversation flowing. "You are a mortal special to the master, so I shall allow you to pair yourself with me."

Li kept quiet as he watched the two interact. They continued to exchange war stories, and he only now felt that the farm was a little complete. There was so much to manage now. The fields, the gardens, and the stall, but it was back to some semblance of the glory it must have had when Old Thane was young and strong and Aine alive and well.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the farm felt complete because Old Thane was finally a full part of it. He was no longer a stranger in his own farm, not knowing what Li did and surrounded by beings he did not know.

Li hoped that every day after this would be just the same. This was the life he had dreamed of, and he couldn't imagine anything better for Old Thane - the man who had made it all possible.