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Stone in the shoe

When you were a kid, you lived with your grandmother in the small town of Silvertree, on the edge of a magical forest. Grandma is a witch, and she taught you how to use your magic to affect the natural world, too. “Magic is a part of you,” she always told you. “Learning how to use it means figuring out who you are.” Now you’re 19 and on your own. After years of living in the forest while you perfected your witchcraft, you’ve returned to take care of your grandmother’s house and crow-familiar while she’s gone. Figuring out who you are feels more important than ever - not to mention, figuring out what Silvertree is. A lot is just as you remembered: the friendly generous next-door neighbors with a kid just your age, the proud town council, the quaint little shops with quirky punny names, the gentle shadowy forest full of magic.

PlayerOliver · Kỳ huyễn
Không đủ số lượng người đọc
443 Chs

37

When you look at Tobias himself, you see him bite his lip before smiling shyly and waving in return.

"Hi, Rana," he says as he walks up to the colorful stand to greet the girl, wearing a pale blue headscarf, who's manning it. "I thought you were going away for the summer?"

"Oh, no, it was just a couple of weeks," Rana tells him with a small laugh. "I wish it was the whole summer. But, y'know, I have to start getting ready for college—and even if I could afford it, I really didn't want to be out of town with everything going on."

Now that your eyes have adjusted to the bright colors, you can see that the stand is covered with letters spelling out the phrase "Youth for the World!" On the stand itself, you see fliers about helping the environment, free packets of vegetable seeds, and what looks like some homemade bird feeders.

"I kind of thought you might have gone away somewhere, actually," Rana is saying to Tobias, who suddenly redirects his attention towards one of the fliers in front of him. "I don't think I've even seen you since graduation," she says, seeming genuinely sorry about it. "Did you join our class page? Everything's on there, all the parties and—"

"Yeah, um—I've seen it," Tobias says with a quick nod, seeming to want to avoid Rana's eyes. "Anyway, uh…oh yeah, Rana, this is my neighbor—I mean, my friend as well—Huknock. Huknock, this is Rana. We went to high school together."

Rana gives you a beaming smile.

"It's really nice to meet you, Huknock! Oh, sorry, I totally forgot—would you both like some free seeds? You don't need a lot of space to grow vegetables, and it can save you money as well as helping the environment! We're especially trying to get more younger people interested in gardening, so we're giving these away to help get people started. I know your mom has probably taught you everything already, Tobias, but—well, if you just feel like growing some squash, there you go!"

She hands you both a few packets of seeds and a very colorful information pack filled with tips about gardening and growing your own food. Tobias seems as if he's just being polite as he takes them, but he says thanks all the same.

"No problem!" Rana replies. "Oh, and—"

She quickly rummages around under the stand and comes up with a clipboard.

"I hope you don't mind, but I'm running a kind of survey right now. We really want to know how young people feel about the environment, especially with what's happening in the town right now. We're running a campaign to try and stop the Alberobello Developments from going ahead, and we're hoping to hear from as many young people as possible. You guys know about the developments, right?"

"Oh, yeah. It's all my parents have been talking about for about a week," Tobias scoffs. "They've even been fighting about it, kind of. I don't think Ma's a fan of the idea because of, y'know, all the environmental stuff, but Mom was saying it could be good for her business if they fix up the town. I guess I kind of don't see why it's that big a deal."