The village of Lilastein greeted them with quietness. There was no one out and about, and the windows had their blinders on. The party made their way to the tavern, slowly, expecting someone to jump from one of the houses and attack them.

The tavern, named the Mild Filly, had its doors wide open and there were people inside, but, no more than five. The six travelers entered and went to the bar. The barmaid was a dark-skinned dark elven woman, and she was looking around skittishly.

“Hello, Miss, can you tell us what happened here?” Asked Krisina as they made it to the bar.

“What happened? That water mage Alklair lost his mind and now is trying to redirect the river, so it would pass by his house! But, for it to do so, it will have to pass through the village first. We will be flooded,” Krisina nodded.

“I think this is a job for us,” said the fire mage. “Annie, you have to agree that we can’t let the mage flood the village.”

“Krisina, by job, you mean you are going to go to the poor man’s house and crack his skull open?” Annie’s face was full of disapproval. All of her five protectors nodded. “That is murder! I believe that everything can be solved by talking. We will speak with Alklair.”

Timothy sent Annie an exasperated look, but the old woman just raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed.

“Ok, granny. We will go to the mage. Miss, where does Éclair live?” Asked Timothy. The woman shook her head.

“Alklair, not Éclair. And he lived in the forest. About an hour by foot from here. You need to go northwest,” the six went out of the tavern and headed for the forest.

The trees looked like they were in desperate need of water. They all looked young and dried. It didn’t take them long to see a house amid this strange orchard. It was elevated above the trees and had moss growing on its roof. That moss looked like the healthiest plant in the entire forest. 

Annie marched to the house and ascended the stairs. She knocked and waited until a young mage with a bird’s nest hair came out. His robes had red stains on them and Annie got worried.

“Are you hurt, dear?” Asked Annie, and the man looked down at his clothes.

“I am quite ok, ma’am. I was just painting,” Annie nodded and then took the mage’s ear between her fingers and tugged on it.

“Young man, what were you thinking when you threatened to submerge the nearby village? Shame on you!” The mage looked around, red coloring his cheeks.

“It is not quite like that,” defended himself the mage. “I just said that I will be getting the river to come over here through the main street. Ma’am, do you see the surrounding forest? I planted it. But, there is not enough water here and all my trees are dying.”

“Be that as it may,” said Annie sternly, still tugging at the ear. “The people of Lilastein need their main street! Surely, you can think of another way to water the trees? You are a water mage, after all.”

Alklair sighed and Annie released his ear.

“I require the trees, granny. The soil here is very eroded. The roots of the trees will help with that. I tried to make more rain, but then, the river nearly over flooded. I just require a small channel that comes over here, so I can make small waterways around the forest. But, the villagers prefer not to dig them for me, so, I decided to use the main street,” Annie huffed. That was a foolish idea.

“There are houses along the main street. You will flood them and the water will spill around the village. Why can’t you move to live closer to the village? You can plant new trees there,” Alklair looked saddened at that.

“This forest used to be a normal, old one. With great big oaks and pretty hollies. But then, the people of the village chopped it down to sell to a merchant who stockpiled wood for furniture. And the nymph of the forest is sick now. If I can’t make this new forest become lush again, she might die,” Annie’s brows furrowed at that. Didn’t the villagers know that?

“Why didn’t you tell the villagers that the forest was needed for the nymph?” Alklair’s brows furrowed at that.

“They don’t care. They said that the nymph had lived for a thousand of years and that it was her time. If it had been one of them on a deathbed, they would have been singing a different song,” Annie looked horrified at the water mage. This was murder! How could the people stand back and not help?

“I will give them a piece of my mind,” promised Annie as she patted the water mage’s shoulder. “You stay strong now, young man.”

Annie turned around, and she marched back to the party. They looked at her expectantly.

“We have a nymph to save,” said Annie, mind on the warpath. “Those villagers! Playing the victims when they were killing a nymph after stealing her home! Why, I will make sure they fixed their wrongs,” Annie led the party back towards the village. The people were outside and looking at her with interest.

“For shame!” Yelled Annie at the gathered crowd. “A canal takes only a day of hard work. A life is on the line! Get shovels and put your backs to it, or I will curse you all!”

Now, Annie was no witch. She couldn’t curse anyone with anything. But, the villagers were simple folk. They were unable to tell a witch from a normal woman. So, they all began murmuring among each other and, finally, a scared spindly man went into one of the houses and came back with a shovel.

Annie nodded her approval and, as if a spell had been cast, the villagers began going in the houses, and they came back with shovels.

“To the river, march, or you will have frogs from the river coming into your houses!” Annie threatened, and the villagers all but ran to the river.