Chapter 15
Fifteen
The day after Oaklin’s date with Lior—the day that their magical secret was revealed—Oaklin woke up ill. Fever, chills, body aches that felt like their bones were being slowly carved by hand, and so soul-deep tired they could barely leave the bed long enough to relieve themself.
It was stress, probably. A ridiculous, self-imposed stress sickness that Oaklin felt certain they should be able to power through… And yet, they languished in bed for three days, wringing their hands the whole time.
“I need to just get up,” they grumbled, throwing an arm over their eyes against the light of the third morning’s sun. “There’s so much to do out in the fields, and tomorrow’s market to prepare for still…”
Granny was not having it.
“What you need is more rest,” she snapped, hovering at the foot of Oaklin’s bed. “Your body has more to heal from than just the flu. The fields will keep. You have enough money to get you through ’til next week’s market.”
That got Oaklin’s attention. “Have you been peeking in my coin purse?”
“None of your business.”
“None of my—it’s my coin purse!”
Granny drifted to the doorway of the tiny single bedroom, growing hazy around the edges. “Sleep, Oaklin. Let your body and soul rest. Live to farm another day.”
So, Oaklin slept.
They slept for the better part of the weekend, right through the market and the first deep, soaking rain of the season.
In dreams and in hazy waking hours, their mind tumbled through an overgrown understory of memories, tangled and blurry and choked with bindweed.
Visions of the Enchantrix, the ambrosial atmosphere of Ryn’s bakery, and their first meeting with Lior, both cursed and blessed.
The bright, metallic pluck of Jules’s mandolin, the stuffy-yet-welcoming energy of the tavern, and Ms. Chanda’s no-nonsense acceptance. Sibling Kell’s flowers.
The way the gentle magic of this sweet countryside seemed to cup them in loving hands.
Their animals. Their crops.
Oaklin was needed here. The farm needed them. The people did too. The tangle slowly unraveled, bit by painstaking bit.
And when Oaklin finally did leave their bed, it was to pick up their arcane focus for the first time since moving to Mossley’s Rest.