It seems miracles do exist. When I was sparring with Kraft I got knocked down and I saw snow.

“Come on kid, stop praying to the Gods to help you and…”

“Can you stop talking? I was looking at the snow. It’s the first time I see it.”

“Fine I will take a break, have fun looking at frozen water.”

I am actually surprised he knows what snow is. I could use this to make fun of him a little bit but then again he agreed to take a break.

“Ali, did I tell you about the twelfth dragon?”

Where does Ellen even appear from? Even now I couldn’t feel her or hear her footsteps. My body and my instincts were supposed to be on par with Kraft when we went to kill the wolves. By that logic Ellen is better at stealth than a demon wolf.

“Could you stop appearing out of nowhere, it really freaks me out?”

“No way kid, she really enjoys sneaking around like that no matter where she is. She likes to see people’s faces when she does that. I gave up a long time ago and you should too.”

“If you say so. What was that about dragons?”

“It’s about the twelfth dragon and a fir tree. It is said that the twelfth was a weak and frail dragon, not even capable of enduring cold weather. The dragon was protected by his family for a few years but a horde of demons killed his family and left the young dragon for dead. The dragon ran away from where his home was and reached a forest. He tried to climb a tree to hide from the demons. Every tree fell under his weight. On the verge of giving up the dragon decided to climb one last tree, that tree was a fir tree. The legend says that the fir tree was able to withstand the dragon’s weight and its branches hid the dragon when demons came after him. At the end the fir tree was the only tree standing from what used to be a forest. The first and second dragons came to inspect the battlefield where they thought the dragon was located. When they searched for the young dragon they saw the tree. They took the dragon back, blessed the tree and called it a symbol of hope and survival and ...”

“The story is nice and all but what are you bringing this up now? What does this have to do with anything? “

“There was a blizzard when the twelfth dragon was saved. The dragon was white and snow covered almost everything. The tree caught the first dragon’s attention and they rescued the young one.”

“So are we supposed to cut a fir tree, take it home and decorate it.”

“That’s what those in Vollmond do.” Said Kraft with a disgusted look on his face.

“You see Ali, in Sonne there aren’t many fir trees left, instead we can plant one here. The magic shop must have some seeds left. How about it?”

“What are people in Sonne doing during this time of the year?”

“They believe in superstitions so they worship the tress instead.”

“Kraft, you said that people worship them. How is your tribe celebrating?”

“We don’t. The twelfth month is the same as any other for us.”

“That’s sad. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“That’s how it is. You and your mother can go ahead and plant your tree.”

“Nope. The three of us will go, buy that seed and plant it together.”

“Then let’s go shopping.” Ellen smiled when she said it. I’m glad she likes my idea.

After changing our clothes we went to the village. I should have told Ellen to stay home but I’m sure she would have refused.

There was a carriage on the spot we usually park ours.

“Ali, we have guests.”

“Wait what?”

“That carriage is not from this village. Maybe a merchant came here.”

“I don’t care. Let’s buy the seed and go back.”

While walking I saw a person carrying three wooden crates and a few daggers on top of them. The person was barefooted and judging by the arms and legs the person was a female. Behind her was a fat man wearing white clothes. This is not the North Pole you know.

The woman was about to pass by me but she stumbled. She fell down next to me. The daggers and a crate fell on me. The crate was quite heavy and the impact made me fall on my bottom.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

The woman got up and started apologising but I wasn’t listening, I was too busy looking at her ears. She had the ears of a lynx and a tail. So cat ears and a tail, since no other distinctive features were visible I think she is one quarter animal. A member of the beast people was right here before my eyes. My first impulse was to touch her ears and tail but…

“You lowly slave, watch where you are going.” The fat man apparently started running towards us. The Running Eskimo: The arrival.

“You slave, I’m going to kill you when I get back. All those crates had expensive pottery in them, I will show… Ack!” Kraft caught the man by the neck and lifted him.

I think the poor guy is choking but he didn’t care about me so I don’t care if he is killed.

“Ali, are you all right?” asked Ellen looking concerned.

I got up and checked to see if I have any injuries. The daggers cut my clothes a little but that’s the only thing that happened to me.

“No worries.”

Still, I really want to pay that guy back.

“Ellen, I know this is not the time to ask but is slavery common in Sonne?”

“Sonne was supposed to be ruled by a wise king but even he is human. After the war Vallmond used slaves for labour and our king decided to allow slavery. This is accepted by a minority of people but it’s prohibited to help slaves or to harm the slavers. A crime is a crime if there is somebody to testify it.”

“So right now nobody would mind if we did something to this guy.”

“Yes. Do you have anything in mind?”

Let’s see what I can find out about this woman. Her name is Mau, she is 20, cursed by a weak enslavement spell and has bone fractures in her left arm and right leg. That’s why she lost her balance.

“I have decided. I am going to release this woman from slavery!”

“Release…me?” asked the trembling slave.

“Don’t…touch…my property!” the man was getting angry.

“I am very interested in seeing you do it Ali.”

With a big grin on my face I touched the slave mark that was on the woman’s neck and transferred it to me. The owner’s face went pale, Ellen and Kraft were smiling and the woman’s face was expressionless.

The mark appeared on my neck and I used magic to remove it completely. For a binding spell it was weak, I barely felt any magic draining. Now for the wounds, some bone fractures, some bruises and physical fatigue. I used dark transfer again on her wounds. I thought I could absorb both the spell and the injuries at the same time but I can’t, not yet. Her injuries were worse than I thought. Since I can feel the pain from when she got them I realized all of them were the work of somebody else presumably her ex owner. After I transferred all her wounds I exhaled deeply and looked at the catwoman.

“Your injuries are gone and you are no longer a slave. Congratulations.”

“You brat… I… will kill…” as the man started to threaten me Kraft threw him in the direction we came from.

I think he flew a few meters before he landed.

“I will never forget this, I will kill you and that woman there!”

“So scary, you almost make me overlook the fact that you are running away! I hope I don’t see you again!”

The carriages were parked that way so I suppose the one who took our spot was his. At least he can take his carriage and get the fuck out of this city.

“Ali, I assume your plan was to release the woman. Did you think about the consequences?”

“What is this word you used? I don’t know what you are trying to say.”

“Kid, let me tell you something. What you did to that man was worse than death. The mark on his hand showed that he had only one slave and his whole business might have been destroyed.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Most of this village’s craftsmen are talented individuals and most of the people who come here to buy their merchandise plan to sell it at a bigger price.”

“That was a good explanation, I thought Ellen was the only one who could give explanations.”

“Excuse me. What am I supposed to do now?” I had forgotten about the catwoman.

“Ellen?”

“In the end I have to be the one to clean your mess. If I were in your place I would have told Kraft to finish him off when he had the chance.”

Ellen helped the woman get up and offered her the coat she was wearing.

“Thank you for your help. Before I was caught and made into a slave I was a nurse. I will be thankful if I could stay in the village.”

“Miss, are you a midwife?” asked Ellen with a bit of curiosity.

“I have received midwifery training.”

“It is good to know, regardless this village in need of doctors…”

“And the fact that you can use light magic, there aren’t any healers in this village except for Ellen.”

“I am impressed you figured out that I can use healing magic.”

“This is one of my son’s unique magic powers, I believe you already noticed the other one.”

“Yes. He removed my curse and healed my wounds.”

“Ellen, we came here to buy fir seeds. Can we hurry?”

“Don’t be impatient Ali, we still have to talk to the village elder about the woman.”

“Excuse me for not introducing myself. My name is Mau.”

“Then Miss Mau, please follow us.”

The four of us went to the village elder. Contrary to my expectations the village elder was a tall, muscular old man. He looked quite good for a 60 years old man.

We told him what happened without mentioning a few details. Actually the story we told the elder was different. A bandit dressed like a merchant and his slave attacked our home by coming from the forest. Kraft killed the man and Ellen burnt his body so his remains won’t attract the demons. The slave surrendered and we decided to give her a chance to live.

The elder believed our lies and allowed the woman to stay at an inn in exchange for working as a healer. The humans and the beast people weren’t on bad terms so everything was solved faster than I expected.

“Thank you very much for helping me! I will never forget your kindness.”

We left Mau with the village elder and left the elder’s house. We didn’t say anything to hear since it’s better for her to believe that what we did was an act of kindness. We stopped at the magic shop and bought a fir seed. Ellen gave me the seed and went in the storage room to talk with the shopkeeper. When I asked her, she told me it’s a secret.

We arrived home and went to the courtyard.

“Where should we place this seed?” asked Ellen while looking around for a good spot.

“How about placing it in place of the trees Kraft destroyed when you blew him away with wind magic.”

“That is not a good spot, the other roots are still there and this tree needs some rich soil to grow.”

“There is a place at the end of the courtyard which has rich soil.”

“Here, take the seed, dig a small hole and put the seed in it.”

I went with Ellen and Kraft and planted the seed. After planting it we went inside. Ellen used the fire stone to raise the temperature of the room a little and started boiling water for some tea.

“I still think it’s strange that we bought just one seed.”

“The seed is an alchemy ingredient and during this time of the year is not strange for people to buy only one or two seeds. I didn’t expect to get to plant a fir tree so soon.”

“Why?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen snow since I came to this village.”

“We all got to see something interesting today.”

“That we did. That was an impressive display of cruelty. You might have ruined a man’s life because of some accident but you did save a slave so I guess it’s all right in the end. You are like your mother.”

“I will be remembered as a kid who rescued a slave from an abusive owner. At that moment I wanted to do something to hurt that man. If he had taken better care of his slave none of this would have happened.”

“You really are like your mother, at least learn to finish what you started.”

“Thank you for saving me there both of you.”

“Don’t sweat it Ali, that’s the least we can do.”

“On a whole different topic, when are you supposed to give birth?”

“On the sixth month of the next year.”

“So, two months before I turn seven.”

“Yes.”

“I already feel sorry for the kid. Is it a boy or a girl?”

“There is no way for me to know for sure. We will know when I will give birth.”

The interesting thing is that my scan doesn’t detect the baby yet. I will just have to wait until my brother or sister is born.

“For now remember to tend to the fir tree we planted and one day tell your younger sibling the story behind the tree.”

“One day I saw snow and I decided to celebrate by releasing a slave and buying a seed.”

“When the time comes I will include my own comments as well.”

“I will make sure to tell them many stories.”

“There is still some time left until midnight, how about we spar one more time and call it a day?”

“OK Ellen.”

I drank my tea, took my daggers and waited for Ellen to follow me outside. I trained with Ellen for a few hours until midnight then we went back inside.

I don’t think what I did was especially cruel but it was nice nonetheless. I have to keep in mind that a slavery spell falls under the curse category.