On my second full day, someone came knocking at the front door before sunrise. At first, I hugged Happy’s teddy bear tightly, but eased when I could hear Happy’s voice echoing from the kitchen. I laid in bed for some time, listening to him speak of the beginnings of his farm to the stranger.

It was around noon when Happy took me and the stranger, an elderly farmer from a neighbouring village, out to the barn, with plans of shoveling animal bedding full of shit out to the bare soil, now that the snow and ice had melted away and marked the end of the frost. 

Though Happy assured me all the animals were out grazing, I waited outside the barn for him, refusing to believe his free roaming animals were forcefully herded out earlier. I’m not letting some ghastly beast ambush and trap me again, not after my run-in with Dominic the sheep. As he worked, he explained the benefits manure and inoculated beddings had for the soil to the farmer. I listened in to their conversation, finally understanding the intrigue Camilla and Eva had with his peculiar practices. That was, until I spotted some cows with massive horns. They were chasing each other, like children playing a game of tag. For just a moment, they seemed kind of cute, but the terrifying beasts turned their heads at the sound of Happy opening up the barn doors. In my eyes, they transformed into fearsome predators, charging at us immediately. 

My heart leapt, and my body followed suit, hopping behind Happy and using him as a shield. He tried to stifle a laugh from me as he welcomed the gigantic cows with open arms. They rubbed their faces against Happy’s, enthusiastically licking at his face and chewing on his hair. 

Realizing they weren’t out for blood, I stood up from my cowering position. Happy kissed their faces just as affectionately, and scratched behind their ears. “I missed you too,” he told them. They were like family, I suppose.

We walked all over the farm as Happy unloaded piles of manure, closely followed by the two cows. He was like a celebrity, catching the attention of other animals on his journey, and gathering a whole crowd of them. My unease grew to the point where I was stepping on Happy’s feet from standing too close, praying they would spare me if they realized I was a friend. Out of nowhere, Happy grabbed my cleft hand, and pulled me as he ran. At first, we hid behind trees, like it was a game of hide and seek. It escalated as we climbed rocks, and journeyed far into the forest, until we eventually lost them and we were alone. 

The two of us were breathing heavily from running, but burst into laughter at nothing in particular. He let go of my hand, and leaned against a white tree infested with fungi, shedding bark like autumn leaves.

Happy caught me staring at it, and looked up. “Usually I encourage decay, since it's a natural part of living, but this was my favorite tree, so I'm kind of sad to see it go.”

“What's wrong with it?”

“I'm not sure. It's been sick for a long time.”

“Can't you heal it?”

He shrugged and sighed. “It's okay, it carries new life now.”

He was right. There were many kinds of decomposers feeding on it, I could feel it teeming with life. It was so strong with life, I could just...

I put my hands on the peeling bark, offering a spell as a prayer to forewarn the living creature. The tree reacted with my own life energy, and regained its strength. Almost instantly, the bark flattened and became one with the trunk again. The fungi in turn started to wither, it's mycelium thinning out as I defiled its natural function.

“Leo,” Happy gasped, stepping back to marvel at the great tree like it were precious jewels. “Your magic is incredible!” He looked down at me with a sunshine smile not even magic could recreate.

“It really isn't.” I sat down on one of the tree stubs nearby.

“What are you talking about? You just brought a dying tree back to life, for at least another season! It's going to bloom for the first time in years all thanks to you.”

I shook my head. “I should be able to do better than one more season of life by now.” I hung my head, and tried my best to hide my face by guarding it with my arm. “I'm not good enough with earth magic.”

Happy sat down beside me, so I turned my head away from him. “Is that why you wanted to learn about farming?”

Suddenly, I exploded with words and tears, unable to stop the flow of either. Ranting about the pressure on me, all I’ve had to do to fake my talents, but still disappointing everyone in my life. My voice faded with my stamina, dropping my arms and letting him see what a mess I’ve become. “I'm supposed to be the best magician in Hirpus, but I can't even do what I was born to do.”

Happy waited for my sniffles to subside before speaking up. “I'm not good at taking care of trees.”

I turned my head to the side to look at him, rubbing my cheeks with one of my palms. “What?”

Happy continued, “I was hired by your family because I'm supposedly the best farmer in the country, but I wouldn't know how to help a diseased orchard if my life depended on it.” He leaned his head to the side, and admired his favorite tree. “But, I think there's value in our weak points, because it connects us with others.”

Finally, our eyes met.

“If you knew how to farm, we never would've met. Helping each other... humans have always been working together to survive. If we waited for a perfect human being to rely on, we never would've made it this far. So, I think it's okay to struggle with magic. You're human, and we aren't expecting you to be anything more than that.”

I couldn't help but think of Eva. We became friends because she excelled at earth magic, and I wanted to learn from her. Had it not been for my difficulties with magic...

“You’re enough as you are, Leo.”