Chapter 13: Gardening
"Fifty cabbage sprouts, please," Filarion did his best to smile for the cashier. Yet, he was still bitter about Johnny using his last name. It could have been worse, he told himself. Johnny could have walked pass him without a word.
"Oh, like those six that came before you. Are you going on a quest too?" She asked, and Filarion's expression turned pained. He had been the one to teach Johnny how to grow plants using mana. It was bittersweet to know that Johnny was still using this method of getting food on a quest.
"Sort of," Filarion told her, and she got a crate out. It had the sprouts inside.
"That would be fifty copper coins, sir," the woman told them, and Filarion handed the crate to Zaine. As the most muscular of the three, he was the best equipped to carry it back to David's house.
Filarion fished out a silver coin, and placed it on the counter. The cashier gave him the change, and then the four were off. David's garden was covered in slime, which was fortunate. Their goo was a good fertilizer.
"First, we have to uproot the ruined cabbage," Filarion turned to his kids, giving them the first command. "Pile it up next to these barrels."
Filarion pointed at some barrels to the side. Zaine placed the crate down on the ground, and rolled up his sleeves. The three didn't complain that this was not an adventurer's work, and got down to working with gusto. Filarion soon joined them.
The cabbage was in a bad condition. It was probably not edible anymore, thanks to the goo. Still, it could be used for fertilizer, or for the livestock, if David had some.
When they were done uprooting the cabbage, Filarion went and took the crate with the sprouts.
"Now, there is nothing too hard about growing plants. You just need to imitate the sun. Your mana must flow continuously, and warmly," Filarion took a sprout, and placed it in one of the holes that were left behind from the former cabbages. "Now, take a hold of me, so you can feel the mana flow."
The three pressed their hands on his back, as he began to pour mana inside the sprout. Before their eyes, the sprout's leaves curled up, and grew. Soon, there was a fully grown cabbage head in the place of the small green plant.
"Did you feel my mana?" Filarion asked, as he stood.
"Yes. How did you get it to be warm?" Nathaniel asked. He had complaints from his brothers that his mana was too cold. During healing, that was one discomfort he would like to spare them.
"Vibrations. Soft ones. If it helps, think about making your mana hum a tune," Filarion said, and then handed the three each a sprout. "Now get down to it."
Filarion himself took another sprout, and then placed it in a hole. He watched as the sprout of Zaine wilted, Nathaniel's became a golden hue, and Gregory's exploded. He sighed.
"Do you guys want me to tell you what you did wrong?" Filarion asked. "Or, are you going to figure it out yourselves?"
"Tell us," Nathaniel said, head bowed. Filarion grinned. They were smart enough to know they didn't have neither the time nor the sprouts for trial and error.
"Zaine, your mana was too warm. Nathaniel, your mana was too fast flowing, you made the cabbage think it has gone off. Gregory, you poured too much mana," Filarion told them, and then pointed at the bench that was to the side. "I can finish here; David needs all the cabbage he can get. When we get back to the Elathana estate, you will train in growing cabbages."
The three dragged their feet to the bench, and Filarion continued on with the planting and growing of the cabbages. It was sort of relaxing, and he let his mind wander.
His thoughts, as was his wont these past days, went back to Johnny. Johnny had copied him. Gotten kids of his own to babysit. Granted, his looked capable enough to handle real quests, but they were still kids.
Johnny usually loved to try the things that Filarion did. He had always told him Filarion got the best ideas, and it would be a waste if Johnny didn't follow the elf's example.
It was a bittersweet kind of thing, knowing that Johnny would still do so, even when they were over. And they were over, Filarion had to admit. Sure, he had been wistfully blind to the fact, since a week ago, but Johnny greeting him by his last name drove the fact inside his thick skull.
Because Filarion still loved Johnny, he couldn't even rage about it. It was all the elf's fault, after all. His siblings had always told him to get himself another mafia boss as a lover. Someone he could be honest with. Someone who had the same interests as him.
Filarion had not listened. His life was spend dredging through scum, and he wanted one pure and good thing in it. When he had met Johnny, all those years ago, Johnny had been just a scrawny kid, much like how Filarion's kids were.
To think, it must have been soon after the bandit attack. Johnny had wanted revenge, and training. So, he came to the Elathana estate. Something about his blue eyes, icy blue and pure, had moved Filarion, and he had given him the latter.
"Fil, are you ok? You have been staring at this cabbage for the past five minutes," he heard Zaine's voice through the fog of his thoughts. Filarion turned around, and saw that the three were giving him concerned looks.
"I am just fine, don't worry. Just thinking. Now that the cabbage is fine again, I think it is time we washed up, and got a present for our host," Filarion spoke, as he made a beeline for the outdoor faucet. His clothes didn't have dirt on them. He was always careful not to get his silks dirty. But his hands were, and he spotted dirt under his fingernails. That simply wouldn't do.
