It slurps up my tools just fine, but those handles are narrow enough to drop into the void. A bed is…well…a bed.
“You all right, hon?” Kaolin, the general store shopkeep, asks from the front counter.
My heart jerks up my throat because that right there is not Kaolin’s stock dialogue for greeting the new farmer. That right there requires a reply.
Adding insult to injury, no clear-cut options appear to float in front of me.
I am on my own.
So I blubber, “I, um, I’m the new farmer. Hello.”
Kaolin pushes aside a few loose black strands of hair that escaped from the bun atop her head. “It’s nice to meet you, dear.Lord Lazul did say something about finding a confused traveler at the south road yesterday. I’m Kaolin. My husband, Muskov, and I run the store with some help from our son, Cobalt, who should be at his studies with Slate, our local teacher, right now.” She sets a hand against her lips. “My, it’s been ages since I’ve seen the old farm. I can only imagine the disrepair the storm left it in. You poor dear.”
I am. I really am a poor dear. My social anxiety has sent my heart to my esophagus, and hunger plagues my tummy.
Why must trickles of reality pollute my perfect delusion?
Screw the realism mod.
“Tell you what,” she begins, smiling, “local produce is worlds cheaper than ordering it from the city, and I’m sure everyone would appreciate not having to pay the extra transportation costs. Why don’t I give you some things for free along with some seeds to get you started, then you can bring back what you harvest. The land in the Ridge is brimming with mystical properties that fuel everything that grows here. It can be exhausting to maintain the wild of an ever-changing terrain, but it’s a blessing and a gift to know the ground will heal itself after what we’ve just been through.”
I sniffle, overwhelmed by the kindness. “Are you sure that’s okay? We’ve only just met, and I don’t even know how to farm yet.”
Her head shakes. “Don’t worry. I trust that you’ll figure it out. We’re all family here, and family takes care of each other, so if you’ve found your way to us, that means we’ll take care of you.”
In my experience, family does not take care of one another at all, so the very idea lodges in my throat until I’m at risk of watering the seeds Kaolin gives me with my tears. Since I have got to stop making that a staple of my careers, I suck it up.
~ ~
InVale of Gemsthere’s a magic system that divides people into three categories: those capable of using stones and minerals to conduct certain spells, those capable of imbuing stones and minerals with spells that can then be triggered under certain circumstances by anyone, and those who can do neither. Respectively, thegifted, theblessed, and—what the fandom has decided to call—thenormies. According to many game quotes, being blessed is rare, but within Gem Ridge Aurelia, twin sister of my least favorite character Austin the blacksmith; Neptun, the tavern cook who blesses the minerals in food with healing properties;andPeri, the medic, possess the coveted title.
Out of twenty-three people, that is a shocking thirteen percent.Thirteenpercent of the town is in possession ofsuper rare magical powers.
Nonsense, I know.
But, stay with me, the magic saturation around here gets even crazier.
Pyro, the local adventurer; Ines, the local clothier; Lazul, who is…Lazul; andtechnicallythe player are gifted, with hints that one of the town children—Peggy or Cobalt—might come into gifts. It’s never confirmed who it is or if it happens, but there are a number of fanfictions that suggest Cobalt joins Pyro on an adventurer campaign, coming back years later as a wounded warrior with only Peggy on his mind.
V cute.
V “we wanted this story from SAMSON” coded.
Tonsof dialogue suggest that this amount of magic isn’t normalelsewherein theVale of Gemsworld, butelsewhereis not discussed much. Amecrest, the city Lazul mentioned my first day here, is the first I’ve even heard of a monikeredelsewhere. And, trust me, I have studied the forums and source content extensively.
Why am I bothering to explain any of this?
Because. There is a raging potential that roughly thirty percent of this town is super magical—including myself, out of delusion—and yet nothing is more wonderful than the kindness I have experienced over the past few hours.
After Kaolin volunteered her husband to help me bring all the basic necessities she gave me home, Muskov took one solid look at where I was living and presented the singularly most aghast expression I have ever seen.
He set a heavy, fatherly hand on my shoulder, took a breath, and shook his head.
For a solid moment, I felt explicit solidarity, and, naturally, started tearing up again.
He left me with a foreboding,I’ll be back, and then…he was. He was back.
With Pyro, Gabbro, and Aurelia.
