The Raven changes.

Chapter 2) Setting up

      As she walked through the kingdom's streets, she saw her home in sight. The warm abode with lighted windows that seemed much more inviting than the rest of the places she has been. The sun was setting, putting an ambient orange and purple in the sky, she was much more content entering this lovely building than talking to 'her' group of acquaintances. She entered the side gate to her back garden, her sanctuary.

       In her garden, there were so many blossoming flowers and bushes. Her doe she admires so was laying down behind some tall flowers mostly hiding her from the majority of eyes, except Alyssums. Her clever eyes have memorized every inch of her garden.

      "I suppose I should get started on setting up pots and plants for the festival huh?" She asked her animal companion, to which it responded with a huff of excitement for the realization Alyssum was back home. The doe popped up and made her way to the young girl.

       Alyssum started taking apart different plants and placing them ever so carefully into pots she hoarded for different occasions. Most of the time she would only take a small branch or piece of the flower so as to not damage her own. Without her magic those pieces and branches would not grow into a flower on their own, so with each transplant she practiced her healing magic to heighten the growth of the plant. She sat above the pots for a few minutes each. She was waving her hands around them, green seemingly-tentacles emanated from her hands caressing the plants she worked on, in front of her eyes the piece she worked on became a fully mature plant. Some of them created fruits and some blossoming flowers the same as their parent plant.

     After over ten plants she realized the sky was darkened only lightened by the moon and the stars, she stared in amazement for a few minutes, Only to be interrupted by her own father.

     "Aly! Are you out there?" he called out to her not being able to see her.

     "Dad! I'm out here! Im fixing plants for the festival, About a dozen I've gotten so far" she called back out to him

     "I would head inside soon hon, the night is nigh and you should watch out for the mother taking you!" he said warningly

     "I'm not a kid anymore dad! I don't believe in the mother taking me away! I'm sure there are much larger tasks at hand for her than stealing away people out at night!" she said frustrated as she headed inside.

      The small house was lit with warm light and covered everywhere with pictures of their family. Pictures showed a family of three, two parents and an only daughter, but the mother was nowhere in sight, for she had passed years ago in the massacre of the Crows. That's what drove Alyssum greatly into becoming the most powerful healer she could achieve to be. Her mother was the gentlest person she knew, looking exactly like her mother she was trying her best to live up to her shoes. Many knew her as only the daughter of the said woman. 'Child of Alison Ceating' she was called so many times it almost infuriated her except for the fact it filled her with grief and guilt every time she heard it.

      The father and daughter ate supper in silence, her contempt for her situation boiling inside her, for she hated every aspect of her life other than her home. Schooling felt like it would never end, she didn't feel a connection to any of her peers (except for Agnes who has seemed to care for her when others skimmed over her existence entirely) and she didn't see her end goal in sight. The food itself was very good, it was a regular bunch of assorted vegetables from the garden and some pieces of meat they had bought from the market last week.

      After dinner she did not do much but read herself to sleep, she read magic textbooks and how to further her potential, not much was in there that she did not know.

      Eventually she fell asleep.

      When she awoke it was a new day, only one day away from the festival, so she could start to set up her booth at the kingdom's celebration after the rest of her plants were set to go, only about twenty to do left and she was set. She wanted to make a few more shrubs and small trees to sell, but they were more magic energy to regenerate. No schooling today meant she had all of daylight to work as she wanted.

      She scoured the house for more pots to use, they were in the lower level of the household, her father inquired for what she was using them for even though she had told him many times what she was doing for the festival and how she was going about it. He offered his help to her as it was a large quantity so she accepted.

      As they were working together he seemed to be making more plants faster, he was skilled in his magic in the same way she was but he had many more years experience than her he had much more skill than her. With him helping she made many more potted plants than she thought she would, they filled over four wagon baskets to bring to the festival by mid-day.

      So they set off to the market where this would take place and started to set up their designated booth, she sat each plant in order of what they were and how large they were, painting the price on each clay pot. Her father set up decorations to set their booth apart and seem eye-catching, maybe they would attract more customers. Tonight they were planning on camping behind their plants so to make sure no bandits would come to steal their goods.

      "With the money we raise from this booth may we buy more property for the garden? We could plant more and maybe set up a shed for the doe?" Alyssum asked her Father as they then pitched a tent to sleep in for the night.

      "We can buy lumber to build a shed for the doe but I cant promise more land, it is very expensive dear, not so sure we would afford it, and you know I have to still pay for your schooling that you are so set upon." he whispered back to her

     Her father was never so supportive of her decision to be a cleric, he didn't want her to meet the same fate her mother had. He always reluctantly agreed to meet her requests at the cost of her help for chores and small tasks he asked. She never knew what had happened to her mom and why over half of the Crows were killed alongside her, but theorizing why would only hurt her mentality.

      As she laid down to sleep, she watched the sun set and wondered about her mother's road and what came before the killing.