[Cally's] Growth

[Faith Augustin]

50th Ymiden, 717

"So, this is the new land," Faith said, pointing to the map on the wall. Her ability to read maps was bad to an almost legendary level and yet she was very confident in where she pointed to. Of course, why was obvious and she explained it also. "Old is orange, new is blue." She'd added two more acres to their land and there was a small building project in progress, providing somewhere for the trainees to live. "There's enough now for us to provide accommodation to eight of the trainees. I'm going to increase the number to that, put four in the restaurant, four on the land."

The small space which was Faith's office in the restaurant was, of course, meticulously organized and she looked at Padraig with a quizzical expression. "I want to keep livestock, Paul is helping with that. He's very good." He was, although he was also an outrageous flirt, which Faith didn't notice. Strangely, though, she very much did notice Trudi the waitress' persistent flinging herself at Padraig.

"I'd like to go and have a look at what we've already got in terms of the crops and see if there's anything that you can do to help?" The restaurant had been very successful thus far and she was pleased with how much revenue it had produced and how the trainees were doing, as well as the staff. "Amaris is going to be helping with the livestock. Kali is providing the fresh meat that she hunts. Even when we've got our own livestock, I want to maintain that." As she spoke, she was distracted, focused on the map and the plan and she glanced at him and then smiled.

"I love you. Why didn't I start by telling you that?" Ignoring the map, forgetting the livestock, she stood up and moved into his arms to kiss him. "I'm sorry, I was concentrating on what I was doing, not on what's important." Faith's silver eyes looked up into his amber ones and she gave a contented sigh.

"I had something I wanted to ask you, actually." Faith held out her hands, showing the now twin tattoos on her wrists, the sign that Famula had marked her again. He already knew that, but she had been learning what the abilities were which went alongside it. "I can put a mark on someone I work with or for." She'd been meditating on it, praying to consider what it was that she could do. "If I put this on you, then whilst we're closer together, I'll be able to sense what you're thinking. Not, completely, but like snippets of ideas, that kind of thing." With a smile Faith considered that they'd have had a much easier time of it in the beginning of their relationship if she had been able to do that. "I'll always be able to find you, no matter how far apart we are and I can take illness or disease from you." She rather thought that bit would be something that he didn't like, but she went on to explain, "Because I'm much more resistant to that kind of thing. I won't, not without your permission. But there's one exception to that."

He knew, because she'd told him previously, that she could now put herself into a sort of 'death trance', thanks to the mark of Vri. If he was dying, she said, then she would want to take whatever it was from him and fall immediately into that trance, thus buying them time. "It combines with something else I want to tell you, but that one first." She watched his reaction with a serious gaze, "what do you think?"

[Padraig]

"And is that particular plot situated in at the north end of the property, or in the south? Maybe the eastern or western section?" Padraig asked her in all apparent innocence. The sort that was betrayed completely by the grin on his face as he teased her. After all one look at the map made it obvious where the plot was situated. But he couldn't help himself, there was precedent for it. All joking aside however, he was impressed with the rate of expansion since Cally's had first been established.

What kind of livestock though, he asked when she mentioned it. Those that could be processed for food he was sure, or maybe chickens for a regular stream of fresh eggs. It wasn't really his area of expertise, but he remembered a conversation he'd had with a local farmer and neighbor when he was a kid. Cows, in particular. "It takes a lot of acreage to feed cows, I think?" Padraig commented. "One and a half, two acres. Otherwise they'll graze the fields down to dirt. Does Paul think he'll raise the stock on the premises?"

Half the number of cows to acres, he thought. Unless there was a way to cut down on that by devising a way to impact the rate of forage growth? That thought occurred to him after she mentioned having a look at the crops, and wondering how he might help with that. He had some ideas there too, but also had questions that ought be clarified first. "Maybe," he considered as she slipped into his arms, so that the topic itself was temporarily forgotten. Why hadn't she? "Because who you are, what you do, means the words only tell me what I already know. I love you," he said anyway, because he didn't say it nearly enough.

"What mark?" Padraig asked then with a curious frown. "Famula?" When she told him though, he realized that it was one that could be invaluable. He had no qualms about her knowing what was in his mind. Half the time she sensed it anyway. "Does it work as well in the other direction?" he wondered. It would be nice if it did, but if not? He was more than willing just the same.

On the other hand, they had spoken about this death trance business earlier, and he was as uncomfortable now by the suggestion as he had been then. Yes, if she was in mortal danger, he wouldn't hesitate to give his own life to save her. It would be hypocritical to assume that she wouldn't do the same. Still, the process unnerved him and probably always would. Nonetheless? He was agreeable to having the mark.

[Faith Augustin]

Faith grinned at him and dug her elbow into his ribs. "Don't pick on me. It's over that way," she pointed in entirely the wrong direction and frowned, "I think?" He was being unkind, her baleful glance told him although she then spoiled that by grinning. That she was rubbish at directions, distance, map reading and that kind of thing was not new to her. Not at all.

"Well, that means we've now got five acres in total. Paul is going to optimize it for growing the vegetable crops because we have no other means of getting those at source. Livestock, I think we're going to need to go for things like chickens for eggs, bantams and ducks. We can do quite a few pigs and a couple of goats, things like that. Small animals, until I can get more land. He's scoping out the vineyard, too." There were so many things that she could do here, Faith had to resist the urge to charge ahead. "I'd like to get our own fish farm going, too. Everything is a job for someone without one, a trade for people with no education. Hope and opportunities without handouts and charity."

She was more than ready to get on her soapbox, she knew. Stopping herself, Faith smiled at him and raised an eyebrow. "Think you can help? Oh, and I meant to ask," she knew the answer but it was polite to ask, "the plants you brought back from the ice caves? The cuttings you took. I've been cultivating them like you asked. They're all useful, every one. Many of them are edible and they're unique. Please may I have some cuttings and add them to stock here?" She had a list, she assured him, of what each one did and the properties of them.

He knew, of course, just how she felt as she did for him and her smile was one of contentment. "When we're married," Faith wondered and it had to be said, that was a more common opening line than he might have guessed it would be, "do you think we'll feel differently? I can't imagine it, and I don't feel differently since we got engaged, but I'm much more excited about getting married than I thought I'd be."

There was no doubting it, her mind flitted from one place to the other at the moment and Faith grinned at him. When he agreed to the mark she smiled and kissed him gently. "I know it unnerves you. Thank you." The placing of the mark, for her, was a simple gesture; she put her hand in his, interlacing their fingers together and then did the same with the other hand. Standing together, she knew what she had to say only in the trill she said it. "Only you, for me. In Vri's sight and Famula's gaze. Only you."

There had been a lot of Immortals in their lives, from the beginning and Faith was more grateful than she could give words to for all the gifts that they had been given. "Done," she smiled and slipped her hand into his. "I can turn into a ghost now," she said, quite matter of fact. That was a new thing and she had been quite amazed to discover it. "Only in the dark, when the sun is down and I kind of think I sort of float along. I haven't tried it yet. But, there's changes to my blood, which I think you'll be interested in. Ectoplasm and things.Do you want to go to the land and look at the crops, or work here?" Faith asked and if the first part was more odd than the question about where they were going to work, well she really didn't notice.

[Padraig]

So, no cattle, but fowl and swine. And plenty of produce. Padraig smiled when she mentioned the plants he brought back from the Ice Caves. "Of course you can," he told her and smiled. "I'm still at a loss to figure out just how that stuff was able to grow there without the usual things, like sunlight and anything remotely above freezing temperatures." But then that garden had been just one unsolved mystery among many. But yes, he believed he could help. There were things he might do in his lab that could help the plants grow faster, larger. Things that might help keep pests and disease away, or maybe both.

"And why should we feel differently?" he asked. "I can't imagine that I could love you any more than I do now." Then again, Padraig had thought that before, and with every passing trial his feelings for her did grow. He smiled though and kissed her before adding, "I can't wait to make you my wife." But so quickly, so effortlessly, and now he wore another mark. He wasn't going to deny that some of her abilities, the nature of them unnerved him. And now, this turning into a ghost business.

What does it mean, exactly, he wondered aloud. "You can remain unseen or heard by others? Pass through walls?" But yes, there was no denying he'd be interested in another sample of her blood. It had changed after all, and as an alchemist, the possibilities were mind boggling. But they were here to work on other things, and he nodded. "Probably best we look at the crops if I'm to come up with something useful," he said, taking her hand as they went. "So what does Paul do already," he asked, "about insects, disease, soil treatments. How successful has that been?" Sometimes, it was better to try and improve on what was working to some extent or another. And other times? To begin all over again from scratch.

[Faith Augustin]

When he spoke about the plants and how they grew, Faith shrugged slightly. "I just assumed the glowing ice and stones you brought back gave off sunlight?" Was that not what it was, she wondered and glanced at him with an apologetic look. "Probably a foolish and over simplistic idea."

She wondered if they might feel differently when they were married and his answer made her stop. Just stop dead where she was, mid sentence and turn to him. Faith's expression told of the emotion which was coming close to overwhelming her, but she stepped into his arms and kissed him back. "Silly," she whispered, looking up at him as they stood there. "I already am. You made me your wife when you told me to take off my absurd shoes and gave me your socks. Before that. When you told me we'd always have Treid's armpit. I was already yours, I just didn't know you were mine, too." It was a rare, lovely, moment of just the two of them and she smiled contentedly. "I take a while to catch on you know. I had to work it out."

He was rather unnerved, Faith thought, by the ghost idea but she nodded. "I'm not really a ghost. I can just make myself.. incorporeal. I have an understanding of ectoplasm now, Padraig, and it's fascinating. I can control my blood better, too. Make it solid, into a small animal or a weapon. I'm never unarmed." She considered his question, though, "I make myself insubstantial, and I kind of glow, I think. I can walk through barriers, yes. Sort of float along. Bobbing. " Taking his hand, Faith smiled at Padraig and it spoke volumes. She knew, "not at all weird. All good. Nothing unusual."

What did Paul already put on the plants? Faith nodded, she knew this. "Once every five trials, he wipes down the leaves with, um. this." He wouldn't be surprised when she handed him a list. "But that's insect repellent. Not to help things grow." More than content to hold his hand and walk, Faith considered as they did. She'd be sure to give him some of her blood as soon as they got home. But first, the crops."Well, it's time consuming and it mostly keeps the insects off, but it isn't great." Shrugging slightly, she didn't want to say that it wasn't very good, exactly, but he knew her well enough.

When they got there, though, Paul was there and looked up from the vegetable patch where he was working. "Hello!" As always, his greeting was friendly and polite. He grinned at Faith and added, "a pleasure, of course, to see you both."

Discussion with Paul would reveal that, whilst his skills at agriculture were good, he did not have the skill level required to be using anything other than the most basic of insect repellent and there was nothing which was enhancing or encouraging plant growth. He looked at Padraig with a grin, "you're not about to make me an unnecessary expense, I hope?"

[Padraig]

"I'm not sure if it was sunlight or something else," Padraig admitted, referring to the garden that had been flourishing in the ice caves. It would be interesting however, to see how the same plants responded to being planted in ordinary soil under ordinary circumstances. Interesting from a farming perspective, but also from a scientific one. "It may in fact be that simple," he added and smiled as they walked.

When she stopped and slipped into his arms, and they kissed, he smiled, remembering that time in Treid. "It was possibly the most foolhardy thing I've ever done." The manner in which he'd tried to engineer their escape from an unusual situation, he meant. "Even if it worked, I wasn't at all sure we'd survive it. There were things I wanted to say then that I didn't. But back then, it wouldn't have been fair." That was then. But now? They could indulge themselves as much as they pleased, making up for they hadn't said before.

"No, nothing strange about that at all," he teased her and laughed when she explained how it was possible to transform into a ghost, or manipulate the nature of her own blood. Would it ever cease to unnerve him? Padraig couldn't begin to say for sure. Paul wiped down each and every leaf on each and every plant by hand? Padraig frowned. "No, it's not ideal," he agreed. Not even close. He smiled though when they crossed paths with the man in question and he offered his hand. "Hello Paul. Good to see you again."

And when the man asked, Padraig smiled and shook his head. Expendable? "No, not at all. But there might be a way to make life a little easier for you." He'd need to know what the substance was that Paul used of course, but as an alchemist, Padraig believed that he might be able to come up with something that might both repel pests and aid growth, that could be sprayed on instead of wiped on. Something that wasn't toxic, or course, either to the plants or to those who'd eventually consume them.

"Have you considered planting things, interspersed with the rest that tend to drive off pests?" Marigolds, for example, he suggested. His grandfather had kept a small garden while Padraig was growing up, and had sworn that marigolds, and their smell, had a natural tendency to keep the pests away from other plants that were intended to be consumed. Basil too, if he remembered correctly.

[Faith Augustin]

"Me too," she said, of there having been things that she wanted to say then, but couldn't. It didn't change how they'd felt, but neither of them had spoken it and as much as she hated to think it, Faith considered that was probably for the best. If she'd told him how she felt, it would have just made things that much more difficult for him, knowing that she was owned by another man. No longer, though and Faith smiled up at him as they took a brief moment to embrace and she thanked Vri for the man who had loved her since before she knew he did. "But now, I can tell you I love you as many times a trial as I like and even though I feel like I will burst with it today, it just keeps growing. I don't really know how that can be." Faith frowned briefly and added, "I hope it doesn't mean that one trial I pop," with as solemn expression as she could manage before she grinned.

The teasing about her ghostly form notwithstanding, they made their way together and Paul shook Padraig's hand with a cheery expression. "Aye, we do that, that's a gardening trick." Paul said of interspersing insect repelling plants with what they were actually growing and led them to where the plants were growing. It was true that, basically, Paul was doing his best, and he was competent at this, but he hadn't worked anywhere with such a variety before and he was using small-garden methods in a much larger context. Also, it wasn't just flying insects, but ground pests too. Scalvoris, no one would be surprised to know, had big slugs.

"Well," he said and lifted a bottle off his belt. "It's a mixture of clove and citronella. Tea tree is better but the boss can taste that in the fruit or vegetables after it's grown." He looked at Faith with an accusatory glance.

"There is no denying it. I had a one hundred percent success rate in identifying which ones had been treated with tea tree and which had not." It was true that tea tree was a pungent oil, but Paul glanced at Padraig and said, with a grin.

"You know she's got some kind of magic powers, that woman of yours? Every time. You know, I wouldn't mind, but she tasted it in the cooked beans after I'd only treated the leaves." Paul wouldn't have believed it had he not seen it but Faith simply smiled and shook her head.

"I'm a chef. I taste things for a living. The difference between one pinch and half a pinch is the sort of detail that I spend half my trial noticing." It was strange, Faith considered, somewhere along the time between then and now, she had become able to banter. Just a little and she was a lot better at it when Padraig was there. But still, it was undoubtedly true.

"So," Paul said with a gesture to the plants. "I'm not allowed to spray anything because my boss has some kind of magic taste buds, so we wipe each plant every five trials. I grow repelling plants in between and use netting, but yeah." With a smile at Padraig, he gestured around. "Any help you can give gratefully received."

"It might be worth," Faith interjected, "to keep in mind that hopefully next season I want to start planting the trees for the vineyard. If I can double our land, then I can put aside sixty percent of the new land to that." Looking between the two of them, she gestured in entirely the wrong direction for where the rest of the land that she could purchase was. "Over there will be produce specifically for the wine production. But everyone uses grapes. We won't compete with Venora red or Rharne's white if we just grow grapes. I was wondering if we might make fruit wine and mead?" She shrugged slightly as she said that and added, almost casually, "So we're going to keep bees, too."

Just in case any of that made a difference to what Padraig was doing, Faith thought it best to say. Paul just rolled his eyes and shrugged. He'd given up arguing, having discovered that she somehow did all these things anyhow.

[Padraig]

"One wonders how you ever get anything else done," Padraig quipped dryly when Paul showed him the bottle containing a treatment that he was made to dab on to each plant, one leaf at a time. That Faith could taste the tea tree oil, no matter how minute the dose, didn't surprise him at all. As a chemist, and an alchemist in particular though, he was well aware of the difference that a pinch, or a half pinch could make. In his case it might be a matter of life and death, an explosive or otherwise harmful concoction, and one that was perfectly safe, even useful.

"So, if you can't spray things, that leaves the plants themselves, or the soil," he considered with a curious frown. "You might introduce ladybugs in order to keep other pests in check," he suggested. "I can also create some sort of alchemical solution to paint onto the trunks of your fruit trees to prevent fungus and rot, and boring worms particularly in stone fruits." As for the rest? He'd see what he could come up with. Something to mix with the soil that would protect the plants from the root up, and also encourage quicker and more productive growth.

The idea, he'd suggest, was to create the proper balance of natural organisms in the gardens, vineyards and so on. Those things that in a perfect world, would happen naturally. Except that there was no perfect world, no flawless scenarios. There was the unpredictability of weather, infestations and a host of other variables that threatened to knock things out of balance. So Padraig might experiment with a number of naturally occurring compounds, that together would introduce the right balance, which in turn, not only might keep the plants healthy and free of disease or damage done by insects, but also encourage faster growth and higher yields.

[Pash Raj'oriq]

Thread Rewards

Faith

Skill Knowledge:
➳ Agriculture: Layout of a farm is important
➳ Agriculture: Livestock ratios and land size
➳ Agriculture: Optimizing for crop yield
➳ Agriculture: Planting to minimise pests
➳ Detection: Noticing lingering tastes in food

Other Knowledge:
N/A (nothing ventured, nothing gained)

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion:
[columns=2]Vri:
+1 pray to Vri
+3 confess love
Total to Vri: 4

Famula:
+1 pray to Famula
+1 pray to Vri
+1 service with no recompense
Total to Famula: 3[/columns]

Points: 15
These points cannot be used for magic.

— ⟡ ⟡ ⟡ —

Padraig

Skill Knowledge:
➳ Agriculture: Livestock ratios and land size
➳ Agriculture: Planting to minimise pests
➳ Alchemy: The blood of marked individuals changes as the mark increases in power
➳ Alchemy: Consider the environmental issues when working outdoors

Other Knowledge:
N/A (nothing ventured, nothing gained)

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Points: 15
These points cannot be used for magic.

— ⟡ ⟡ ⟡ —

Comments:
Negative legendary navigation skills, eh Faith? I love that—personal sense of internal direction is good, but everything else is questionable. It’s a good thing Padraig has that under control. I’m so grateful that Pad takes all of these nonchalant mentions of new abilities in stride. #relationshipgoals Oh, and the farm stuff—that’s cool, too. Carry on solving Scalvoris’ problems, one acre and one job at a time.