Lily marched over to the barn, not caring whether Frederick kept up with her. Tommy left the barn and wiped the sweat from his brow. When he noticed Lily he showed a toothy grin and waved. He hesitated for a moment when he noticed Frederick, but he recovered quickly and returned his attention to Lily.

“How have you been Lily. You were about,” Tommy raised and lowered his hand a few times before holding it just a little above her shoulders, “this much smaller when I saw you last.”

Lily chuckled. “I only saw you last week.”

“You’re shooting up then. You’ll be taller than me soon enough.”

That wasn’t likely. Tommy stood a head above his father, and even if she could grow to be that tall, she certainly didn’t want to. His sister once told her that tall women aren’t very beautiful, and apparently, it was important for women to be as attractive as possible. She didn’t really understand everything she was told, but it seemed important all the same.

After a moment she remembered her unwanted charge and pointed at him. “This is Frederick. He doesn’t want to be here.”

Frederick bristled at her comment but didn’t deny it. Tommy just shrugged and nodded his head in greeting. He opened his mouth to say something, but a harsh moo from the pen next to them interrupted his train of thought. Tommy sighed and scratched his head.

“She’s been doing that all morning. Last time I got too close she damn near bit my hand off.”

“Daisy doesn’t bite.”

Lily strolled over to the cow. After just a few steps she could already feel the panic radiating from her. She brushed her fingers over her snout before embracing her entire head. Daisy mooed and bounced her head, but Lily didn’t let go. She gently stroked Daisy’s neck and took a deep breath. Warmth began to spread across her fingertips as she cooed for the cow to calm down, encouraging her to do so by using her power to overrule its own feelings. Soon, Daisy calmed and moved away from the fence, but still kept her eyes fixed on the barn where her baby was.

“Good job. I wish I was that good at calming them.” Tommy shook his head.

Frederick caught her eye when he crossed his arms and fixed her with a suspicious frown. She narrowed her eyes at him in response, but quickly grew bored and rolled her eyes. It really didn’t matter whether he was impressed by her ability to calm animals as long as Daisy felt better.

“How is the baby doing?” Lily turned her attention back to Tommy, who nodded at the barn.

“I didn’t see how she was yesterday, but she seemed pretty chipper today. She fed from the bottle properly, at least. Go see for yourself.”

She nodded and turned on her heel, inwardly sighing when she heard Frederick following after her. He didn’t seem too interested in the farm before. Hopefully, he didn’t start asking her how she managed to calm the animals so well like everyone else did. It was difficult coming up with a story that different people believed. And each new story meant that she had to try to remember her lies, which was simply impossible. People always tried her ‘technique’ and then immediately complained when it didn’t work. She wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to do about it but Mimi would always tell them it take practice, and that was usually enough to make them go away.

The calf was sleeping curled up in the corner of the barn. She was still very skinny, and her breathing sounded weaker than Lily had hoped it would be. Frederick leant against the door frame, and Lily took that as a sign that he wouldn’t go any further. The appraising glint in his eyes made her nervous, but it didn’t change what she needed to do.

As slowly and gentle as she could she approached the tiny calf. It opened its eyes as she crouched beside her. She weakly made as sound as if to acknowledge her, but the calf couldn’t even lift its head. But Tommy was right, she did seem a lot calmer than she had the day before.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I hope you’re feeling better now.” Lily moved to stroke the calf, but paused for a moment and glanced over at Frederick, who narrowed his eyebrows at her. The intensity of his gaze made her stomach turn, though she couldn’t quite understand why it bothered her so much. It didn’t seem like it was because he was impressed by her animal magnetism.

Lily shook her head and fixed her attention back onto the calf. She stroked it gently for a moment, and it soon settled back down to sleep. Small creatures often reacted badly to her power when they were awake - as if they found it overwhelming. But when they were asleep, and their own emotions were asleep, there wasn’t a problem.

She touched the slightly matted fur and felt the calf’s stomach. Just yesterday it had been horribly swollen, but she was pleased that it seemed to have returned to normal already. The strange discharge that was coming from her eyes and nose were still there, though mostly dried now. Thankfully her heart wasn’t beating quite as quickly as it had been, and her breathing was much less strained.

After checking that the calf’s outward symptoms had improved, she again began to call on her magic. When she realised the calf was sick, her power had let her know that it was scared - that something was wrong and the calf was starting to panic. This time, the calf was calm. There was still some fear, and the calf was lonely without her mother, but the medicine had helped her feel better in itself. Lily let out the breath she had held and smiled to herself. For now, at least, it seemed like the calf would be okay.

“What is that?” Frederick asked.

“What is what?”

“That power that you used. What did you do?”

Lily froze. “What are you talking about?”

Frederick tried to respond, but Lily jumped to her feet and ran out of the barn. Just as she thought, he’d noticed. Could nobles sense magic? She’d never heard anything like that before. Her parents were going to be furious when they found out, and it would be awful if Mimi had to move because of her again. Frederick chased after her in silence. There weren’t many places she could go to escape from him, and she was sure that he wasn’t going to forget it.

She pushed the rusted iron gate to her small garden open. As she always did, she checked on her plants. She touched the leaves and vines, the soil, and the flowers. Each time she sensed that they were thirsty she made a mental note of which plant needed more attention. Without thinking she grabbed her watering can and set to work. Only when Frederick cleared his throat did Lily mentally kick herself. She had just fled from him because he’d realised she’d used magic, and then she immediately did it again.

Her eyes darted around as she searched for a way to escape, even though she knew there was nowhere she could run. It hadn’t occurred to her before that someone might be able to sense her using her magic. Other than her mother she had never met another person who had any powers at all. She had made it clear that she needed to keep her power hidden from everyone. “Only nobles can use magic” and the magic they can use was very different from theirs. Manipulating elements was considered much better than manipulating people - and people had died because they were known for being able to influence others.

“Which ones need water?” Frederick asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Lily was taken aback by his question but pointed over to one of the plants that needed some water. “Those strawberries do.”

Frederick nodded and held his hand out. A faint blue light glowed from the tips of his fingers as the water was drawn from her watering can. The water pooled above the plant before slowly raining down on it. Lily stood with her mouth open as she watched the water drip from the leaves.

“It’s not a good idea for someone who has never been trained to use their magic. Too many things can go wrong if they do.”

“I’ve heard that before. But that doesn’t have anything to do with me, I’m not a noble.” Lily said innocently, although the disgruntled murmur she earned in response was enough to confirm that he hadn’t believed her.

“There are plenty of commoners with noble blood. It’s not unusual, but they usually end up misusing their magic and hurting themselves.”

Lily groaned. “It’s not like anyone is going to teach them how to use it. If they never use it then they’ll never learn.”

Frederick shrugged. “For elemental magic, sure. Sometimes you can be self-taught. But not for the kind you used.” Frederick paused as his face twisted in confusion. “But wait, neither of your parents are noble or anything like that. How do you have that power?”

“Neither of my parents have magic as far as you know.” She crossed her arms as if that would be enough to protect her from the next part of her statement. “Obviously one of my parents is not my parent. I don’t know who my ‘real’ father is, but Papa is the only one I’ve ever known. Mimi is his mother, so she’s not really my grandmother either.”

“Sorry.” Frederick shuffled uncomfortably. “I didn’t mean to make you say that. Levin is kind, and he always boasts about you as his daughter.”

Lily’s chest puffed out at that statement. She was very proud that he was her father too. And even if they weren’t blood-related, everyone said she had inherited his personality, so she didn’t really need anything more than that.

“Please don’t tell anybody, especially my parents. Nobody is supposed to know about my power. Most people have no idea.”

Frederick nodded.

The conversation ended there, and they barely spoke for the rest of the day. Lily did her best to be a good host to him, showing him around the farm, but she couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eyes. There was no way for her to know if he could be trusted, or if he would tell her parents that he knew. More than anything else, she didn’t want to disappoint them because she had been so careless.

Still, Frederick had been behaving much better since she told him the truth. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad for him to be there if he continued being kind. If he could teach her how to use her power so she wouldn’t be a danger, then that would be good. If not, so long as he didn’t tell anyone about her, then there was nothing to worry about.