To Make Flowers Grow || L.Clearwater

The First Trial

Vaguely she could sense Dahlia standing tall besides her, tapping her fingers on her thigh perhaps in thought or maybe in panic.

Ceres addressed the fairies gathered for the trial, witnesses and supporters alike. "The council have decided that this year's task will be...."

Sage could have cursed her mother's dramatic delivery. Constantly pausing like they were on America's got talent.

Like dear God get it over with.

"..Redwoods".

Sages heart lept into her throat.

The fairy council were family elders, each community had them; made from the elders of the most prominent families of that area. Sage wondered if she should be planning her own grandmother's demise out for the decision of Redwoods.

Growth was meant to be the easiest. Supposed to be the easiest. For the first trial you could be asked to grow anything. A yew tree, an oak, evergreen. Honestly Sage would have preferred any other tree but a redwood.

They had studied Growth at F.A.I.T.H. seeing as it was one of the most useful tools a Fairy could have in looking after the environments they inhabited. But as simple as it was, it was easily some of the most volatile magics. It took immense control — that was the real test.

It was no surprise to anyone that trees didn't just pop up out of the ground full sized and massive. It took hundreds of years.
So to grow a redwood full sized you had to use magic to speed up it's natural cycle indefinitely- until it's desired age.

Use too much magic, and the tree will rot, turning black like it was burned from the inside out. If the rot became insistent and large, it would spread to the rest of the ecosystem, killing it within days; a whole forest dead because you couldn't grow a tree.

Use too little magic and the tree will never reach its full potential, forever stunted by the magical interference no matter what conditions its grown in after. It would be stuck, forever frozen at that stage and more susceptible to blights. Which could lead to an epidemic between plants, which could lead to irreversible long time damage.

And all of this had to be done within the time limit of three minutes.

Easy...

Ceres flicked her wrists, silently summoning the ceremonial Hourglass.

Standing at almost three feet the hourglass was a wonder of stained glass, depicting the creation of the fairies, and filled with black sand the twinkled like stars.

"When I flip the hourglass over, the trial will begin" called out Ceres her gaze firmly head on her daughters . "Are you ready?"

Sage took a deep breath and nodded, allowing herself a quick glance at Dahlia, who appeared just as focused, just as determined as she felt.

Though the sisters were close, this was not a situation they could help each other out. It wasn't a competition but it wasn't a friendly race, it was a trial that had to be taken individually.

If Dahlia or Sage failed, they'd have to wait another 8 or 9 years perhaps a whole decade to retry. Something about the moon spirit and bla bla Sage hadn't been listening well.

After all she did not plan to fail.

The tension shifted and the clearing went silent. All the birds stopped chirping, the critters in the underbrush stopped rustling and even the wind held its voice.

"Good luck" smiled their mother as she flipped the hourglass.

Sage bent to the ground till she found a comfortable position and sat back slightly on her knees. Sage had never wielded this much magic in such a short time but she did not let it deter her.