Lily brushed the coarse fur on Daisy’s back. It had only been a day or so since she had last groomed her, but it was the only way to calm the cow for even a moment. Each moment she was away from her calf made her more and more agitated. Having Lily around seemed to make her better - she had raised her from being a calf after all. Well, as much as any four year old could anyway.

Now, four years later, Daisy had a calf of her own. Lily had been thrilled to help with the birth and every day since she spent her free time sitting with them and watching Daisy mother her new baby girl. It was lucky she had been so captivated by their interactions because as soon as the baby stopped feeding she knew that something was wrong.

Mimi, her grandmother, told her that the calf would likely be fine and that she would call the neighbour to come and find out what might be wrong. But Daisy couldn’t understand why her baby wasn’t with her anymore. Day and night she cried out for her baby, and Lily had to go and calm her. Sometimes all she needed to do was sit with her and speak softly, and Daisy would settle for a short time. Other times Daisy’s anxiety was far too great, and she needed to use her power.

If Mimi knew that she used it then she would be in a lot of trouble. Only nobles had the ability to use magic, and usually, that was an element. Water, fire, earth and the like. But for Lily, her power was “empathy”-or so Mimi called it. She could clearly feel what others were feeling, and manipulate them into feeling whatever she wanted. For some reason, Mimi and her parents told her to keep her power a secret, and her mother even forbade her from using it at all. But she couldn’t help it, she used her power even without meaning to.

And if she hadn’t used her power on the calf - feeling its desperate hunger but equal lack of appetite, then she wouldn’t have known that something was really wrong. Daisy might have lost her calf, and that was something she simply couldn’t allow. All children should be with their parents.

Mimi and Joseph, the man who owned the neighbouring farm, left the barn where the calf was with brighter expressions than when they had first entered. They smiled and called her over to them.

Lily tottered over to them as she fixed her wrinkled dress. “Is the baby okay?”

“Joseph brought her some medicine that should fix her right up,” Mimi said gentle and brushed the stray strands of hair out of Lily’s face.

“But since she’s not latching properly, you’re going to have to bottle feed her so she doesn’t get sick again.” Joseph nodded at Mimi before tipping his cap and preparing his horse for the rather long journey back to his farm.

He’d barely begun his trip before Lily turned to Mimi with a question burning in her mind. “Can Daisy be with her calf now? She’s so sad…”

Mimi shook her head and patted Lily’s shoulder. “Not until the calf is better. We don’t want Daisy to get sick too, do we?”

She pursed her lips and glanced at Daisy from the corner of her eyes. Of course, she didn’t want Daisy to get sick, but she believed it would be better for the calf if she had her mother with her. She knew how lonely it was without her parents around. Her mother had never cared for her when she was sick, and her father could only come and see her when he wasn’t very busy. Which was almost never.

The neighbours, Joseph and his wife had many children, but they were all older than Lily now. They would talk about marriage and children, about work and other things that she didn’t really understand. They used to play with her when she would ask, but it was obvious that they didn’t enjoy the games they played. That was fine, Lily didn’t need anyone to play with in order to have fun.

Mimi offered her hand and Lily took it gently. Every year it got a little bit harder for Mimi to do anything without her body hurting. That’s why she did everything she could to make sure Mimi didn’t need to work anymore. It was difficult because Mimi always found a way to do something even when she was sure that all of the chores had been completed.

With one last look at Daisy, they walked the short distance to their home for something to eat. Mimi prepared a small lunch, just some sandwiches and water. Every time she apologised that it wasn’t very tasty, but Lily didn’t mind. She’d never had a meal with Mimi that she hadn’t enjoyed even if it wasn’t very good. And besides, she knew that it was difficult for Mimi to make more complicated food now that her hands ache all the time.

Mimi smiled softly as she watched her enjoy her food. Lily kicked her legs forward under the table and wiggled in place as she felt the tomato burst on her tongue. She’d managed to stop herself from grimacing at the awful taste.

“Lily, I have something good to tell you.

She stopped chewing for a moment as she noticed the soft yet serious tone in Mimi’s voice. When she began chewing again, the motion was slow as she considered what Mimi was going to tell her. Were they getting a new animal? Or was there a festival happening in town that she didn’t know about? It couldn’t be a new dress, although that would be nice. Mimi chuckled as Lily continued to stare at her expectantly.

“A noble family has asked that we house their son for a time.”

“A noble?” Lily swallowed. “Why would they want to send him here?”

Mimi sighed thoughtfully. “Convalescence.”

Lily frowned at the unfamiliar word. “Convo lessons? What are those?”

Mimi chuckled. “No dear, convalescence. He was sick until just recently, and his parents thought the clean air would be good for him.”

“Can’t Joseph take him instead?”

“You know that he can’t. Come now Lily, I know you will be a good host.”

“But if he comes here he’s going to need to work, right? That doesn’t sound like much of a rest.”

“He won’t, this isn’t someone we can put to work. Your mother hopes that you’ll be friends with him.”

Lily narrowed her eyes at the mention of her mother. She inwardly groaned at the phrasing. A stray thought entered her mind and she couldn’t help but voice it aloud.

“Did Mama have another child?”

Mimi’s eyes widened in astonishment. It wasn’t such a strange question - Papa was one of the most important nobles in the land and he needed an heir. Since they sent her to stay with Mimi, she figured long ago that she wasn’t being considered for the role. Not that she particularly cared, but sometimes she felt like a bit of a dirty secret.

“No, my dear. He is the child of your parents’ good friends, and they need us to take care of him for a short while.”

“He’ll be bored here all alone. There’s not much a stuffy noble can do by themselves.”

Mimi chuckled. “I agree. Like I said, your mother hopes you’ll be good friends with him.”

Lily sighed. “But I need to do my chores, and they take all day. I won’t have time for him.”

“For the summer Joseph’s oldest son will take over your chores. You don’t need to worry about anything at all.”

The tone of her words was at odds with what she said. Even if she didn’t want to be friends with some boy that had been forced on her she had no choice. It was never nice when adults made decisions for her, but it seemed more than a little unfair that she didn’t even get to choose her own friends now. And Tommy was nice, but he didn’t know how to make Daisy comfortable when grooming her. It wasn’t fair.

Just as she was about to voice her frustration, she caught Mimi’s severe gaze. She leant forward on the table and narrowed her eyebrows. Lily squirmed under the intensity of her gaze. Mimi was usually so calm and kind, so when she got mad it always made Lily freeze from head to toe. When she was disappointed, it was soul-crushing.

“I understand.” Lily sighed as another thought entered her mind. “But, wait, where is he going to sleep? We only have two rooms.”

“By his father’s orders, he’ll be sharing with you. There’s a spare bed in that room, but it’s far too small for me. And his father thinks learning to share will do him some good.”

Great. So he was a spoilt and stuffy noble. Sharing wasn’t a problem for her since Mimi had always made her wash and dress in the washroom. Still, suddenly having to share her room with another person - and a boy at that - wasn’t a thought that she relished. If it were a noble girl it would be fine, but what do boys even like?

She liked catching bugs, but would a noble even want to do that? If her new job was to make sure he had a nice rest, then she wanted to make sure she did the job well. Especially for Mimi and her mother’s sake. It was a high honour to have a noble visit your land, or so the other farmers said.

Lily ate the rest of her meal in silence before going back to her room. The spare bed didn’t have any bedding on it. With a small sigh, she took her spare bedding from her cupboard and began to make the bed. She paused for a moment to question whether it was necessary since he would probably want his own bedding. In the end, she decided it didn’t matter if she had to unmake it again when he arrived. At least it would look like she wanted him there. Nothing is worse than feeling unwanted.

The midday sun crept into her room as she stared at the farmland. They were close to a forest, Lily’s favourite place. That might be a good place to start. Or maybe she should ask Mimi if they could go to town and get something tasty to eat. None of her usual activities sounded very fun now that she had to do them as a job.

She threw herself on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Mimi said he would come tomorrow, so they hadn’t left her very much time to wrap her head around her sudden guest. Perhaps they’d done the same thing to the boy and he was just as frustrated as she was. For some reason that thought made her feel a little better.

She slapped her cheeks with both hands and willed herself to see things in a better light. It didn’t matter how difficult to manage the boy might be, as far as she could see they wanted her to see him as just like any other kid her age. That was easy enough. And besides, she didn’t even know if he would be such a problem in the first place. He might be the easiest person to get along with in the world.

She rejected the next thought that occurred to her - they probably wouldn’t need to make someone be his friend if he was easy to get along with. She pushed herself off her bed and skipped out of her room, ready to finish the rest of her chores before her long break began.