Branches of Fire

Part Eighteen

I stared at the shopkeeper, mouth hanging open a little at her sudden declaration. "Wha- catastrophic? What's going to be catastrophic? What do you mean?" I asked.

Captain Strykar had stepped closer when the woman had grabbed me, face full of suspicion. "What are you trying to-"

With a strength that belied her slight frame, the woman began to push me towards the front door. "Keep it with you," she said. She was staring straight into my eyes as she spoke. "Never go without it. Keep it with you always."

The Captain reached for the woman, possibly intending to stop her from pushing me backwards, but she deftly swatted his arm away and spun him around, setting a hand against his back and shoving us both out the door. We both stumbled back onto the street, swinging around to confront the shopkeeper, only to find the door shut and locked tight. The Captain pounded on the door for a moment, demanding she open up, but no response came.

I looked around the street, feeling stunned from the interaction. What had that been about? People still strolled along the shopfronts, some chatting amongst themselves, and all the other stores seemed peaceful. The sun had sunk a little in the sky, and I thought it may have been my imagination, but it seemed to have moved further than it should have during our time in the shop. I spotted my basket of seedlings and seeds sitting at the end of the display stands in front of the shop, and picked it up and hung the handle over my arm.

When had that gotten here?

Captain Strykar gave up banging on the door, turning away from it while running his hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh. He looked over at me, brows lowered in a frown.

"Have you met that woman before today?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, today was the first time I'd ever seen her."

He huffed out another sigh, propping his hands on his hips. "So, what did she give you?"

Oh right, how had I forgotten?

I opened my hand that had still been clenched into a fist around the object the shopkeeper had given me. In my palm sat a smooth oval of a rich dark brown swirled with a pale cream colour, large enough to span half of my hand and so shiny it seemed as though it had been polished. I rolled it over with my hand, seeing the pattern of light swirls shimmer faintly in the light of the sun. I gently stroked it with my thumb, feeling the steady pulse of dormant potential within.

"It's a seed," I said softly, studying the patterns on its shell.

Captain Strykar stared at me flatly. "A seed?" he said. "The woman gave you a seed?"

I shrugged, holding the seed up between my thumb and finger to watch how it shimmered. "Apparently so," I responded.

"Ok," he said, brows still furrowed and voice sounding confused. "What kind of seed is it?"

I hesitated, rolling the seed back onto my palm. I didn't know. I didn't recognise it by sight, and when I prodded it with my magic I didn't get any response from it.

"I'm...not sure. It's not something I've come across before, and it's not responding to my magic either. It's old though," I tilted my head, staring down at the smooth seed. "At least fifty years, but maybe more. It's hard to tell exactly. It seems to be dormant, and probably requires something specific to wake it back up"

The Captain rubbed his neck and stared at the seed in my hand. "So it isn't dangerous?" he asked me.

"No," I said, giving the seed a little shake to show it wouldn't react. "It doesn't feel like it's been tampered with at all."