Nathan went to his desk to get started on the book. He found that he had some plants listed in the book and that, if this Theanore was to be believed, he was looking after them all wrong.

His potted Vorn was supposed to be grown in gardens, for example. He would have dismissed the words of Theanore if there was not the following warning written.

Warning: If the Vorn is grown in a pot, then it will start to give out itchy spores that will get on your clothes.

Nathan’s sweaters were itchy ever since he got the plant. He would replant it today after the date. He kept reading on and found about cover crops, different livestock feeds and the different vegetables he could plant during the seasons.

The more he read, the more he itched to go to his garden and to plant some radishes and lettuce, so he could make a fresh salad for Yule. Or maybe it was the sweater that itched? He wasn’t sure.

The big grandfather clock chimed and everyone began to pack and go home. Nathan placed the notebook he was reading back in the envelope Danika has given him, and he placed it in his bag. Then he went to Danika’s office to pick her up.

Danika was just finishing an editing job. She saw Nathan and she smiled. He may not be the most athletic, but he was good-looking in a nerdy kind of way. He even had half-moon glasses that accented his forest green eyes.

“Danika, are you ready?” Asked Nathan, and she placed her read-lined notebook down.

“I am. You won’t believe how bad some authors are. Take this one, for example,” she said as she raised the red-lined paper so that Nathan could see the author’s name. “A poor attempt at poetry. If I rewrite it any further, I have to put my name on the published book.”

“Well, you don’t really have much choice. I heard that Albert Theobald is a pen name of grandpa Thinker. One of the many he has.”

“I wished that we didn’t have to bow down to grandpa Thinker so much. I will give an honest review, just as I did for the little girl from before. By the way, what did Mister Perry say? Will he give her a chance?” Said Danika, bagging her things.

“Well, …there is this thing. Mister Perry gave it to me to review.” Nathan expected a frown but got a smile instead.

“Good for you, Nathan. You are moving up. Now dazzle me and let us not speak about work anymore.”

Nathan smiled brightly and extended his elbow for Danika to hold. She giggled, and they got out of the office together. That night, as Nathan lay in his bed, he couldn’t sleep.

The date went well. They had hot chocolate instead of tea, and they spoke about their lives. Danika was from a village so small it didn’t have a name. It was in the Dragon’s pass mountain, next to the capital. She had always wanted to become an editor and has been looking at books with a critical eye since she was very young.

Since he couldn’t sleep, he took out Theanore’s notebooks, and then he scratched his itchy neck. Oh, the Vorn! He had forgotten to replant it. Getting up, he took the pot with the offending plant and quickly went to replant it in the garden.

That done, he washed his hands and went back inside. He took the notebooks and began leafing through for the plants he did have. He could recognize them from the drawings alone, but he double-checked the names of the plants too.

Furthermore, he began to take notes, so he could look after his plants better from now on, and he even forgot that this was a not yet published work. When the sun rose, he felt more energized than ever, despite not being able to sleep a wink. He was ready to write the review.

Taking a quill, he dipped it into an ink pot. He smiled at the pristine white paper that was just waiting for him to show his appreciation for Theanore’s leafy friends and how to grow them.

Theanore’s leafy friends and how to grow them, a review by Nathan Reed.

This book is everything that the encyclopedia Plantanica promised to be, but it is not. It has short, but informative, descriptions that have made me consider myself a terror in the garden.

I am happy to right the wrongs I have been doing to my leafy friends. I, of course, double-checked some facts in the bestselling encyclopedia Plantanica. They are correct, but they don’t waste your time with the descriptions of chemical elements that the plant gives off or what was the legend that gave the plant its name.

Little Theanore has a bright future as an author. Her work needs more editing, but she is only two years old. People twenty times her age still require editing, grandpa Thinker included.

I highly recommend this work for the novice and the experienced farmer alike. In no time at all, Theanore’s leafy friends will outgrow the encyclopedia Plantanica as the go-to book on plants. I can’t wait for the next volume to be written, so I can plant the vegetables, fruits, and herbs, heck, even weeds, from it in my garden.

Nathan took Danika’s review out of curiosity and found they had similar key points. He placed it back down and went to work. Making a beeline for the office of Callan Perry, his face dropped when he saw not anyone else but grandpa Thinker himself in the room.

“Ah, Nathan. Come and give me the reviews. I am ready to see them,” said Callan Perry. Nathan saw that grandpa Thinker was holding a red-lined piece of paper, and the letter boy figured this was Danika’s work.

“I demand that the editor who mocked me be fired,” said, grandpa Thinker. Then, more to himself, he added. “That is another name for the bad list.”

“I double-checked your work and Danika Summer’s review before calling you here, Mister Thinker. I can’t in good conscience publish your work. Maybe if you work on it more and write something that rhymes for once…”

“Two names for the bad list, then!” Said grandpa Thinker, storming out.

“Three, actually,” Said Nathan proudly, just as the aged dungeon core was about to slam the door shut. “I found the next encyclopedia writer who will replace you, old man.”

“Three it is, whelp,” hissed grandpa Thinker. He clicked his boots three times and teleported back to Alerion. Nathan closed the door with a grin. Grandpa Thinker was contract bound not to block editors from his books. This revenge cost nothing. He should send little Theanore a thank-you letter.