Luna - Beasts of Beauty Series - Book 1

Chapter Seven

"Evelyn!" Marianne exclaims after bursting into the library. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"I've been in here since breakfast," I tell her, looking around at the books surrounding me. I close my book that details training levels and practices for the pack, mentally making a note of my page. "What can I do for you?"

"The seeds arrived," she says giddily as she dances in her place in excitement. "Do you want to start planting?"

It takes everything in me not to squint my eyes and make a face of disgust. I really do not want to plant; I do not want to do anything. I am still incredibly sore from training and I'm feeling a lot more depressed and a lot less motivated. 

Then again, I am doing everything in my power to keep my encounter with Evander from yesterday off my mind. Every time I try and think about what I heard in his head I get a headache. It's too confusing.

Marianne's smile is so full of excitement and anticipation; maybe this is the distraction I need. Maybe spending some time with her will help. She's been so busy the last few days.

"Sure," I tell her with a smile. "What seeds do you all have?"

"Uh," she pauses, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket. "They sent me seeds for Star Sage, Hibernation Clover, Kuttubi, Hunseed, and Snow Bittercress." My eyes widen and my jaw drops at her words.

"Snow Bittercress seeds?" I ask for confirmation. Without thinking about it, I stand up in anticipation.

"Yes, all seeds. This Bittercress wasn't on your list," Marianne tells me. Seeds!? "My father assured me you would love it, though. I'm not sure how he would know," she mumbles at the end, as if realizing for the first time that it doesn't make sense.

"Any mage would love it," I gush, confusing her with my excitement. "Snow Bittercress is an exceptionally rare flower; it's seeds are nearly impossible to extract from the plant," I explain to her. "It's extremely difficult to grow Snow Bittercress to maturation without starting from a seed, but since they're so difficult to extract, most people can only get fertile stems that have maybe a sixty percent chance of survival even if the care is perfectly done."

"How long do they take to mature?" Marianne asks; her eyes are now just as wide as mine. She is fascinated. As she should be. I've heard both of my parents talk about the plant. The crop in Silver Pearl's community garden has dwindled and there isn't many blooms left. My father had always dreamed of being able to nurture the flower, but never knew how to get one. 

I grin at Marianne as I answer, "Ten to fifteen years until the seeds would be ready to extract; the extraction process itself takes a couple days of intense focus and attention to detail." I remember my mother knew someone that was able to successfully extract the seeds after a couple failed attempts, but she passed away shortly after her success. "If anything goes wrong, you could lose the whole plant; any chance of using it to conjure as well as any chance of replanting any portion of it would be lost," I continue to explain. I hope she now understands why I am so excited for this. 

"Oh my Goddess," she whispers. "Where'd he get the seeds!?"

"I have no idea!" I exclaim. "I don't know of anyone alive currently that can successfully extract the seeds. I mean, obviously someone can, but..."

"Evelyn, this is so exciting!" she gushes. "I'll go get the seeds. Meet me in the garden with anything else we'll need."

"Okay," I agree before she runs out of the room.

After gathering the few odd items that are needed to nurture the Clover and Kuttubi, I begin to make my way to the garden. Kuttubi seeds feed off of sugar; so planting them with chocolate was always my father's solution to a strong sprout.