Chapter 7 The Village Welcomes
Mira arrives while I'm checking the bean plant Nella fixed.
The bean plant stands straight against its new stick. I loosen one tie and leave the rest alone. Nella did good work.
Mira stops at the garden wall and surveys the herbs with proprietary satisfaction. "Looking healthy. You're finally learning to weed."
"The mint tried to take over again." I straighten up and brush dirt from my knees. "I had words with it."
She sets a basket on the wall. More bread, because apparently she thinks we survive on baked goods alone. "I want to meet your guests properly. Think they'd be comfortable with a small dinner?"
I consider the question. Luca has been moving through the house more easily, talking to Suki, even laughing at Cali's complaints. Nella is quieter, but she's been working in the garden every morning without being asked.
"Small?" I pick up the basket before she can add more rolls to it. "How small?"
"A dozen people. Maybe fifteen." Mira folds her arms. "Everyone brings something. We set up here, beside your garden. Nothing formal."
Fifteen people around Luca and Nella, asking questions, wanting their attention. My protective instinct flares, then settles. I'm not their keeper. They get to decide.
"Let me ask them first." I tuck the basket under my arm. "If they say yes, then you can spread the word."
Mira's eyebrows rise. "You're learning diplomacy."
I lift the basket away from Cali's approaching nose. "I learned it from watching you terrify the village council."
Her laugh follows me inside.
Luca is at the kitchen table with a seed packet from my shelf, studying the instructions with intense concentration. Nella sits across from him, mending a tear in her sleeve with neat stitches.
"Mira wants to organize a welcome dinner." I set the basket on the counter. "Here, beside the garden. A small group, everyone brings food. But only if you both want to."
Luca looks up from his seeds. "How many people?"
I lean against the counter instead of crowding the table. "Fifteen or so. You can leave whenever you want."
Nella's needle pauses mid-stitch. "We wouldn't have to explain anything?"
I hold the bread basket out to her. "Nothing. You can sit and eat pie all night."
She considers this. Her needle resumes its steady movement through the fabric.
"Fine." She ties off the thread and bites it clean. "But if someone asks about my abilities, I'm walking away."
"Walking away is always allowed." I turn to Luca. "What about you?"
He looks at Nella, some silent communication passing between them. Then he nods. "We'll try."
I go back outside and tell Mira. Her smile has the look of someone who's already planning the seating arrangements.
By the time the benches arrive for dinner, Luca has cleared space for them himself.
People start arriving as the sun drops toward the treeline. They come carrying dishes and bottles, baskets of bread and jars of preserves. Marcus the carpenter brings a chicken he roasted himself. Elena from the bakery contributes two apple pies.
Luca stands near the garden wall, watching everyone set up. His shield is on his back, but his hands hang loose at his sides. Nervous, but not panicked.
Nella has claimed a spot near the workshop door. Cali sits beside her, allowing her fur to be stroked with regal tolerance.
"She gives good scratches," Cali informs me when I pass. "I'm supervising her technique."
The makeshift table fills with food. Mira directs traffic with the efficiency of a field commander, moving dishes and people with equal authority.
I find Lyra near the herb bed, arranging cups on a flat stone.
"How are they doing?" She tilts her head toward our guests.
"Luca's talking to Marcus about woodworking. Nella hasn't fled yet." I slide my arm around her waist. "Better than I expected."
She leans into me for a moment, warm and solid. "The pepper dispute is about to start."
I glance at the bowl she's watching. "The what?"
But she's already moving toward the food table, where Luca and Nella are examining a bowl of roasted vegetables.
Nella holds the serving spoon over a bowl of roasted peppers. "Want one?"
Luca picks a red slice from the edge. "How hot?"
She takes a bite of her own and keeps chewing. "Fine for me."
He watches her, then tries his. His eyes water almost at once.
Luca grabs his cup. "How are you eating that?"
Nella lowers the spoon before she drops it laughing. "Years of practice. You asked how hot after you picked it up."
Elena passes him the bread basket. "Try some of this."
He takes a piece and points the crust at Nella. "You can have the rest. All of them."
Cali sniffs his abandoned plate and steps away. "For once, keep your dinner."
Luca laughs with his mouth still full. I nearly spill my drink. There he is, arguing over dinner with everyone else. How badly did he need a night like this?
The evening continues. People eat and talk and drift between conversations.
Old Tam tells a story about a goat that escaped from his yard six times before he realized it was unlocking the gate itself.
Sarah from the fabric shop demonstrates a card trick that goes wrong in a way that's funnier than if it had worked.
Luca ends up teaching Marcus how to hold a shield properly, demonstrating the grip with his battered metal one while Marcus mimics the motion with empty hands. Nella allows three different people to bring her plates without retreating to the workshop.
[Barrier Projection: Still limited.Useful advice: Keep practicing with something that cannot hit back.The carpenter seems impressed anyway.]
I catch Lyra's eye across the crowded garden and raise my cup in a small toast. She smiles back, and something warm settles in my chest.
Mira finds me near the apple basket as the evening winds down.
"There's a strip of land past the Wall." She gestures toward the edge of the property, where weeds have taken over an unused section. "Nobody's worked it in years. The village uses it for overflow when we need extra growing space."
I follow her gaze. The strip is small, maybe twenty feet by thirty, choked with wild growth. "What about it?"
"Your guests seem to like gardening." Mira picks an apple from the basket and polishes it on her sleeve. "They could have it. A row of their own to tend."
I think about Luca's seed packets, Nella's careful work with the bean plant. How they both keep finding excuses to help in my garden.
I look from the empty row to Luca. "That's generous."
"It's practical." She bites into the apple. "People with something to grow tend to stick around."
I find Luca first, catching him between conversations.
"Mira has an offer." I point toward the weedy strip. "That unused section. A garden plot, if you want it."
Luca goes very still. "For us?"
I stand beside him so we can both see it. "Yours to work. The village owns the land, but you'd decide what to plant."
His eyes move to the overgrown patch, and I watch him see possibility where there's only chaos now.
"Can I choose?" His voice has gone quiet. "The seeds?"
I can't help smiling at him. "Every seed. Your choice."
Nella appears at my elbow. She must have been listening.
"I want beans." She's looking at the weedy strip with calculating eyes. "I like beans."
Luca turns to her, something like excitement breaking through his careful reserve. "I want peppers."
"Mild ones this time." Her mouth twitches. "Your tolerance needs work."
Luca wipes the last tear from his cheek. "I'm buying the packet myself."
Nella points to the far end of the row. "Fine. Put them there. Away from my beans."
They're still deciding where to plant when Suki appears at the edge of the garden.
Her expression makes my stomach tighten.
"Gregori." She keeps her voice low, but her fox ears are flat against her head. "I found something."
I excuse myself and follow her toward the treeline. She stops where the Wall's vines grow thickest, pointing toward the dark trees beyond.
"Tracks. Leading from the forest edge toward that rise." She indicates a small hill with good sightlines to the house. "Someone stood there for a while. The grass is pressed down."
I look toward the observation point. From there, you could see the workshop windows, the kitchen door, most of the garden.
I hold a vine aside to see the flattened patch. "How long ago?"
"Hard to tell. Within the last day, probably." Suki's jaw is tight. "They left when they heard me coming. I found where they pushed through the brush to retreat."
The Wall rustles uneasily. Through our bond, I feel its awareness of the intrusion. It let the watcher pass because they stayed outside the boundary, never tried to enter. By the time it understood the threat, they were already withdrawing.
Someone was watching us. Watching them.
"Keep checking the perimeter." I look back toward the garden, where Luca and Nella are examining their new plot while Marcus offers advice about drainage. "Don't alarm the guests."
Suki nods and melts back into the shadows.
I return to the dinner with my worry carefully hidden. The evening winds down naturally, people drifting away, carrying empty dishes, calling goodbyes across the garden.
Luca and Nella are still standing at the edge of their new plot, planning rows by torchlight.
Someone out there had a clear view of them. Of everyone who came to Royal Health.
The question is why.