“Sleeping?”
“Yep. It’s taken too long of a nap, and it needs to wake back up.”
“I have no clue what that means.”
I nod toward the start of the first row, and our footsteps crunch against the leaves that’ve fallen.
“Ellian’s received multiple requests about this field, so he came on out and gave it a good checking over. Sometimes, what happens with fruit-bearing trees that come back naturally on their own yearly, is they’ll sort of put themselves into a sleep, so to speak, if the season prior they weren’t tended to enough.”
“So the person who owns this orchard didn’t pick enough fruit last year?”
“Basically. Usually, if it’s a case of neglect on the god’s part, Ellian will deny their request because they shouldn’t be fucking slack. The god who owns this, though…”
“What?”
I sigh. “His son was an Obliraguard at the stronghold. Killed in the Abandon last year. They maintained this together. He’s not doing so well mentally this year. No need to punish him and leave him to figure it out on his own.”
My eyes stay facing the trees as I call my Harmony forward and lay my palm to the cracking bark.
“So what are you about to do?” she asks in a whisper as though her speaking may break something.
“Pretty much everything in Godsden has power and a pulse. My Harmony is going to travel through the root system and find that lethargic power. Then it’s going to coax it awake.”
My heart pounds as she looks at me in awe.
Not the reaction I was expecting, but I’ll take it.
I release my Harmony and command it through the soil to find the source it needs to wrap around.
Her and my shoulders relax with our exhales as my power cocoons us in a wave of calm. I don’t let the small tinge of annoyance show on my face.
I’m trying really freaking hard here to accept this side of me fully.
For her.
“Show time,” I say as soon as I sense the faint pulse of power buried deep in the roots.
My Harmony latches right onto it and spreads.
Thayla’s gasp pulls a smile to my lips when she takes a few steps forward and watches the branches twitch and shake off some leaves that are actually dead.
She whirls around, eyes widening at the sound of the water getting sucked out of the troughs placed around different areas of the field.
“Fuck. Are they drinking the water on their own?”
“There’s an irrigation system, angel. They’re pretty quenched.”
She barks out a surprised laugh that has the tension in my chest easing and my belly swirling.
I ignore the butterflies she gives me and focus on finishing the task at hand, except the swirling doesn’t stop.
A giggle slips through my lips as soon as I lay my palm against my stomach and she slowly pivots back around to face me.
“Riven…”
“Uh-oh.”
My Chaos rushes through my fingertips and I swear to fuck, my Harmony snaps the leash I wrap around my favored power. It’s as though those two little shits are working together. Against my command.
