Fight or Flight

Epilogue

Simon

One year later...

I sat on the bundled up pink cloak and continued to stare in disbelief at the sight before me. It was still so hard to believe it. Even with it swaying right before my eyes like this.

Giant stalks of wheat covered the plot of land. My plot of land. The small portion of the new Wellspring town that belonged to me. Mine to care for. Mine to improve and work in. Mine to use to grow food for my neighbors and friends.

Some of the plants were taller than I was. I knew wheat wasn't supposed to get this ridiculously tall – even though it hadn't been safe for me to settle down and work as a farmer while hiding from mages, my journeys had still gone through farms, and I knew how wheat normally behaved – but this wheat had obviously never gotten that message. Or, more likely, they had gotten a message from Enola – and a hefty helping of magical power – that told them to grow larger than normal wheat.

I had a home now. I had lived here for several months, in a town that had slowly been populated by more and more people, and... I had done something in that home. I had grown food in it. I had worked, and now my friends and relatives would be able to eat because of it.

The literal fruits of my labor were arrayed before me, in a way no Wellspring had ever dreamed of being able to see. My life of always staying ahead of and hidden from any kind of attention was over.

And no matter how long I stared at it, I still couldn't believe it.

"Looks like your field is more than ready to harvest." I looked up to see Henry walking towards me, though his eyes were on the same field of wheat that I was staring at. "It's still early in the season, but I don't think I'd envy you trying to harvest that wheat if it gets any bigger than it already has."

I waved at the other Wellspring, even as I shook my head. "A few of the younger dragons offered to harvest it for me. I'm not sure how useful they'll be, but they seem determined to take care of it when the time comes. I think one of them owes Enola for some healing spell she did, while the rest are just hoping for a chance at some Wellspring magic. Apparently our magic is valuable enough to risk going through Enola for, even lately."

Henry chuckled as he sat down next to me. "I've had the same offer myself. It's strange having so much help after having to do everything on my own back in Lakeshire. And that's on top of all the help Smokey gives me; thank you again for letting me keep him. The hardest part of my life now is in explaining to the dragons that I don't have any work for them yet, and that no amount of asking on their part will make the crops grow any faster."

"You could ask them for whatever spell Enola used on my field. A day or two after that and you'll need their help harvesting everything, too."

"No thank you. I'm happy with being able to see my house from the road, and not getting lost on the way to it." Henry grinned again, and I sighed. Like everything else Enola did for me, the explosive growth of the wheat was a mixed blessing, to the point where I was sure her main goal had been just to annoy me... and I had ended up lost in the mess on more than one occasion.

"Well I guess if you just want to take all the fun out of life, that's your loss." I made a show of shrugging as if I wasn't bothered at all by the gigantic wheat stalks, then grinned back at him. "What brings you by? Just looking to rub it in that I have so much more work to do?"

"What? I would never dream of mocking you for how much work all that wheat is going to cause you. What with the watering and weeding, and then the harvesting, and then finding a place to store all of it." Henry paused to glance back at the wheat, then reached into the bag at his side to pull out an envelope. "I stopped by because you have a letter."