You could sooner kill a pride of lions than pry the pride I had for myself, but Camilla would try.

There was a flashing neon sign made of light magic that read “earth mage extrodinare” hanging over my head when my family and Eva stepped off their carriage from the Festival of Mages. Camilla rudely pointed and laughed at me, like I was wearing a dunce hat. At me, the mage who will one day dawn a crown.

“You done?”

Camilla brushed the tears off her lower lashes, and sighed contently. “You should do a comedy act at the next festival.”

“Ha ha.” The lights above me extinguished. “Let me show you what I learned,” I said to the disbeliever, before grabbing her arm and dragging her out to the field of decomposing matter.

I plucked a dried flower from the pile of mulch, and felt it's dull pulse like a weak heartbeat. Though the land here feel dry and devoid of life, the feeling of the energy was familiar enough to find, now that I've connected with it.

I used my newfound powers (and old spells) to bring it completely back to life, with roots and all.

Camilla gasped loudly, and touched the flower delicately. “No way, you actually learned to do that in one week?”

I squinted at her. “What do you mean 'actually'?”

“Nevermind that, teach me how to do that too!”

The corner of my eye caught my parents walking towards the castle, unimpressed with th low level magic. I'm supposed to be better. 

Before I could dwell, I noticed Eva making her way to the two of us, and my heart promptly raced in anticipation. She's going to be so proud of me.

But she wasn't looking at me. “Happy!” she called out, and waved high to catch his attention. Oh, right. A week away, and I forgot what Happy meant to her. I forgot who he was to me, too. I couldn't find the contempt within me anymore, as if I traded it off to feel the energy of the earth. 

“Welcome back!” Happy shouted back, from across the field. He gently placed the box of sapplings he was carrying on the ground before walking over. Eva and Happy met where Camilla and I stood, and dove into conversation. “How was your week?”

Though he didn't point the question to her, Camilla jumped into a dramatic retelling of an affair that occured during the festival. She leapt from story to story, explaining the various games and competitions between mages across the country, while Eva stood by silently, in favor of admiring Happy.

It's funny, a few months ago Happy couldn't handle a being around Eva, flustered beyond belief. Maybe his feelings for her have dimmed? Then again, he was nervous to be around any of us for the longest time, and now look at him, chatting away with Camilla. The only time he'll retreat from us is when my father is in his line of sight; he's got the skill honed down to such a degree that we rely on his behaviour to know when father's around.

Now that I think about it, it all started after that day in the dining room. At the time I was so focused on myself, I didn't even care how it affected him...

“Leo?” Camilla called out, waving her hand in front of my face to get my attention.

“Yes? Yeah, what?”

She pouted. “I was talking about the last festival.”

“Oh, sorry,” I rested a hand on the back of my neck. “What about it?”

Eva started to explain in her place, of the marriage proposals each of us had recieved and rejected, but my mind unwillingly drifted again. My eyes followed Happy as he returned to work, digging the soil with his fingers before gently placing a sappling into it's designated place.

I want to apologize. My mind raced through all I'd have to apologize for, but the list carried on and on. It left me wondering if beneath the smile, he was harbouring a deep hatred for me.

Camilla must've been squinting at me for quite some time before I noticed, because she shook her head and sighed when I did. “If you want to talk to him, just do so.”

Not wanting to fess up to my internal dialogue, I latched onto an excuse.  “What? No, I just-” I cleared my throated and pointed to the sapplings. "I was just wondering if my magic was strong enough to work on those."

I stiffly walked deeper into the field before dropping to my knees letting the magic from my fingers mingle with the magic in the dirt. The freshly planted sapplings bloomed right in front of our eyes, transforming the fragile stems into the signature gnarly trunks of olive trees. The field transformed, as if I had cut a piece of the forest, and transplanted it here.

Happy's eyes caught the trees as they grew, and watched with his mouth open in awe. He leapt around between the trees as if in worship, admiring the healthy leaves and formation of the bark. “Leo,” he said in a breathless way. “You're remarkable!”

A warmth bubbled up in my chest.

Camilla mouthed my name, and stared at me with her hand on her chin, as if she were studying me. Of course she would be studying me instead of my magic. This is true magic, Camilla! Not some party trick!

Happy brushed his hand across silver leaves and feathery flowers. “We'll get fruit this year.”

Compared to Happy, Eva's delight was more reserved, with a graceful smile and encouraging words that felt of a familiar warmth, instead of something new and bursting. “You've made a phenomenal amount of progress with your earth magic, Leo. I'm so proud of you.”

It was only a matter of time before the excitement attracted the attention of others. I didn't even notice their presence until Happy clammed up and my father placed a firm hand on my shoulder. I initally cringed at the touch, but harsh words failed to follow his action. I peeked back at him, and saw that he was smiling down at me like never before. “It's about time,” was all he said, before clapping my shoulders and walking off.

It was a strange moment of unfamiliar approval, my heart was unsure of brushing it off, or rolling into it like a good dog.

The dizzying stir of emotions broke when Happy called my name. “Leo,” he called again.”Would you be able to help me with your magic?” he asked innocently, but just as quickly, he took it back. “Oh- oh wait, that's a lot to ask of you, please ignore what I said!”

I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face. “I would love to help, if I can.”

Eva nervously, but boldly interjected with, “I-I would like to help as well!” Happy giggled with joy, truly emboding his name. “What could we help you with?”

“Well, I was thinking if you two can grow and manipulate trees quickly, we can trellis grapes and other kinds of vines off of them. We call this kind of companion planting vite maritata, and it'll allow adequate air circulation, to prevent certain infections and rotting.”

“Hey! I want to help too!” Camilla pouted, then mumbled beneath her breath, “I can still use magic, even if I'm not great with earth magic.”

Happy's smile softened into something more serene, his gratitude showing with his eyes more than his lips.

“First,” Happy started, setting down a sheet of paper on the desk in the library. “We'll need to make charcoal. I'll gather twigs and fallen wood in the forest-”

“We'll help!” I volunteered. Eva nodded along enthusiastically, whereas Camilla just stared at me.

“Okay, then we'll gather wood, and pile it up. Then you, Princess Camilla, will remove the majority of oxygen surrounding it while Leo and Lady Eva keep the fire going-”

“Wait,” Eva interupted. “When did you start dropping the formalities with Leo?”

Happy shot me a look, with eyebrows tight and tainted with fear, reminiscent of the time he was questioned by my father.

“What? We're all friends now, no need to keep titles,” I commented non-chalantly, but Camilla responded by lifting an eyebrow.

“Ah, you're right! Please just call me Eva from now on.”

“And you can drop the 'princess' with me. Continue with what you were saying, Happy.”

“O-okay? Um,” Happy nervously accepted, and paused to remember where the conversation was going. “Um, well with magic, we should be able to produce charcoal a lot quicker than normal. Once the volatile componds have been burned off-”

“Volatile componds?”

“Oh, the chemicals that evaporate. Um, the smoke, basically.”

Camilla's quill was scribbling down notes as he talked.

“Then we'll use urine to fertilize the charcoal, so it'll be more available to the microbes in the soil. This way, you'll be able to draw energy from the charcoal instead of directly from the soil. O-or, at least, that's how I understand the way your magic works, from how Leo explained it to me before.”

Eva and I looked to each other, shrugging and nodding. “Should work.”

“Alright. For growing the trees,” he paused, to doodle a diagram. The doodled trees looked unnatural. Not as in poorly drawn, but their shape was distorted, remaining short, with branches parallel to the ground instead of a bushy overgrowth. “Instead of pruning trees as they grow, you'll have to encourage growth like this, so it'll be easy to harvest from.”

Eva and Camilla looked at the diagram in awe, seeing something I clearly wasn't. Though I didn't really understand, I nodded along nonetheless.

-

When I was a child, my father took Camilla and I out onto a boat in a lovely little lake. Then, he pushed us in, and rowed away. The two of us learned to swim in a desperate attempt to survive. Though we lived, I can never forget the initial panic, frantically trying to stay afloat but inhaling water.

I didn't know that feeling could be replicated, but the gods have proven me wrong. Executing Happy's plans required a lot more assistance than either of us had anticipated. He'd animate the growth he'd sketched out yesterday with his body, turning the task into a one-man theatre performance.

Still, the sun set on the grove of trees we'd pulled up from the earth. The golden hue looked like fire on the loamy soil, but the sapplings surrounding us found it relaxing, as they folded up for the night. After the long day of hard work, I was ready to sleep as well.

Aside from Happy, who seemed to have an endless amount of energy, we all sat on the ground, leaning against the trees and vines in a circle.

“Thank you so much for your help,” Happy expressed, taking his straw hat off and holding it to his chest. “Because of your efforts, this farm is a decade ahead of where it would've been.” He sighed contently, touching a creeping vine with his free hand. “In just a year or two, you won't need to import food anymore.”

“Isn't that a bad thing, though?” Eva questioned. We all looked to her, waiting for her to offer her thoughts on the subject. “Won't your village lose it's source of income?”

Happy crouched down beside me, in front of Eva. “Money is nice for luxurious products, but... we don't need it to survive, you know? Villagers need their food, though. They need free time to focus on other important aspects of the community. We need leisure time, instead of harvesting more that needs to be shipped out.”

“What?” Camilla sprung up, suddenly finding the energy burning inside of her. “People need money to survive! What if their crops fail? Without money, they'd starve in an emergency situation!”

Our eyes snapped back to Happy. “From what I've learned from other farmers, it doesn't work that way... Okay, for example, my grandparents knew how to hunt. They knew which plants they could forage during a drought or fire that destroyed their crops. But our traditional knowledge is being forgotten because of dependence on conventional crops and money. If their crops fail now, they can't earn money, and they don't have the knowledge to survive. They end up starving, anyways.”

The memory of Happy's acorn bread danced on my tongue.

Eva's voice was nowhere near as strong as Camilla's, a whisper in comparison. “But if people didn't have money, where would they live? You can't own property without money.”

“Private property has always been kind of...” Happy sighed. He stood up, and dusted his hands off on his pants. “That's a long conversation for another time, I think we should head back for now.”

He offered his hand to me immediately, and I took it, heaving myself up with his help. I stumbled onto him, bumping my chest against him like the oaf that I am, and burning up in embarassment.

The heated Camilla, who stood behind Happy, had a glint in her eyes. She chuckled evily, and I could envision the beastly canines growing out of her mouth like a tumor.

I squinted at her in return, and watched her closely as we headed back to the castle. She's a petty person, likely to do something the the farm because of the conversation, like sap moisture out of the Earth with water magic, or swipe away the layer of compost from the surface with air magic- gods, I was an asshole.

In turn, Camilla watched me, and followed me into my bedroom. She slammed the door shut, and guarded it with her body, blocking me from my escape route. I sat down on my bed, accepting this fate.

“So,” Camilla dragged out as she wiggled her eyebrows. “Happy, huh?”

“What?”

She raised her fist up to signify strength, and boldly exclaimed, “I will support you no matter what!”

Suddenly, my cheeks began to burn. “What?!”

“Oh come on,” she breathed, pushing herself off the door, and plopping herself on my bed. “It's so obvious that you like him.”

“I do not!” I denied agressively, kicking her with the side of my foot.

She punctated her mocking with the use of hand quotations, “'We're all friends now so drop the formalities'.”

“We are friends!”

“'I just want to practice my magic where Happy is instead of literally anywhere else'.”

“The farm has the best concentration of energy!”

“'I'm going to ignore Eva, the supposed love of my life, to smile like an idiot at Happy'.”

“I- wh- I didn't- I wasn't- you know what, you're being ridiculous, just get out of my room!”

She chucked menacingly again as she approached the door. “Okay, but just know that I support you,” she repeated as she opened the door. “And your forbidden love,” she finished as she shut the door.

Like? Love? Me, with Happy? As if!

I thought she had disappeared from my life, but the demon of love resurrected to torture me. Camilla stared at me knowingly during the entire dinner, setting my frustration on fire. I couldn't fall asleep, as her ridiculous and incorrect insinuations haunted my mind. I attempted to strangle them out with a pillow over my face, but it wasn't until the sun was rising that I managed to fall asleep.