Spellbound Heartwood

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. No." Fib chuckled awkwardly. "No! It's a mushroom."

"Ah, I see. I would have made the attempt on the animal if need be." He added to her chuckling. "But, I worry that would end violently."

"A friend of mine had told me that you might find some in the trees behind our building. Where you found the doll." Her nose twitched. "Me," she whispered. It stopped.

"Our building?" he asked.

She shouldn't have said it like that. "You know, where we both live-- uh, work."

"Right."

Declan immediately shifted his path directly toward the trees. He was really intent on this, Fib thought. No wonder, of course. This was his mother. Fib would do the same for Berry and Eloise. Her eyes looked to the ground. Strange, small family she had there, and one wasn't even around anymore.

It wasn't long before they were right back where Declan found Fib, face-down in the dirt. She could even see where her head dented into the ground. Eugh. She wiped off her face. Berry flapped onto a nearby tree, gawking at the awkward couple.

"What am I looking for, exactly?" he asked. "I suppose something brownish, almost gold?"

"Actually, they're more like spindly white tendrils sprouting from the tree."

"White? I don't think that matches up with a lion's mane very well."

"A white lion, then," Fib said.

"A white lion? That would be a sight to behold."

Fib briefly wondered if such a thing existed before spotting the white tendrils up in a tree.

"There!" She pointed up at it.

"I see it."

Declan rushed over to the tree and set Fib back down. She felt a brief flash of disappointment, then collected herself. Declan moved up to the tree and placed a hand on it. He pulled his hand away and looked at it, then swallowed and braced himself again. Must've felt a bit of sap. Understandable.

"Before you do that," Fib said. She began rummaging in her bag.

Declan looked back at her. "Yes?"

"A harvesting knife." She held up the curved thing. "Should help. I'm sure you could pull it off with your hands, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"Of course. Thank you, Fib."

Fib handed it to him and turned her head to flutter her eyes. Alright, alright, stop yourself from fawning. That was no way to conduct yourself as a witch, was it?

Declan approached the tree once more, then looked back to her.

"Uh, are you sure you couldn't simply pluck this yourself with some magic? I assume your doll can do that," he said.

"I would, yes, but I could taint the ingredients with a touch of magic, and that might ruin the ingredient. Same as if I imbued you with direct magic to help you upward. Best gathered with your strong hands."

"Yes, I see." He looked back to the tree. "Magic is certainly fickle."

Slowly but surely, Declan made his way up the side of the tree. Inexpertly, and impressively. He didn't seem to enjoy it much. Fib figured she wouldn't either. Might've been additionally weird since she was also made of wood.

Berry flapped down and landed on her head.

"Enjoying outside, right? Right?" he said.

"It's alright, I guess," Fib replied. Her nose nudged forward. "Yeah, fine, whatever, it's nice."

Declan must have been far enough not to hear them, or maybe he was too focused on not falling. She would be at the ready to catch him if need be.

"Always listen to me," Berry said. "Always smart ideas."

"Alright, bird-brain, I got it. You were right. Anything else you wanna say?" She crossed her arms.

"What will your reward be?"

"Isn't a job well done reward enough?"

"You want more," Berry said.

"I can't have more!"

Berry flapped away and Declan glanced back at her. Fib's eyes spun.

"I'm fine! Keep up the good work!" Fib said.

With a nod, Declan went back to his work, eventually managing to reach the mushrooms.

"What amount of it do we need?" he asked.

"A fistful!" Fib replied.

Declan reached out with the knife and began cutting away. Soon enough a chunk of mushroom was hanging off of the tree. Fib tottered underneath, arms stretched out, easily managing to catch the chunk as it fell. One more ingredient off the list!

"You can come down now," Fib said.

"Uh, might I ask for some help now?" He tightly hugged the tree. "It won't tarnish the ingredients, will it?"

"No, it shouldn't."

Fortunately, Fib was probably most expert at levitation. Being short and unable to reach higher books on a shelf did have its weird perks. She stowed away the mushroom and raised her arms, focusing on Declan. If she could smile, she would be beaming. Fib muttered some magical words and began manipulating his body, giving him a testing tug to make sure the magic took hold.

"You can let go now," she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "It's... quite the fall."

"You'll be fine!" Her nose twitched.

Declan did as he was told and let go. Fib felt the added weight hit her, and she shakily lowered him back down to the ground. Magic definitely was fickle. Well, it's really only fickle when you're worried. This would have been easy, otherwise. They both let out a sigh of relief. Declan approached Fib again, handing her the knife.

"I must say, never experienced anything like that," he said.

"Impressive, isn't it?" she asked. "It's very basic magic, but it can be difficult to master if you aren't prepared to focus on the field around your target. It's actually much harder to focus on smaller targets so you don't--" Fib realized she was babbling. "Um, let us head toward the next ingredient."

"Would you like me to carry your doll again?" He looked to his palm. "Well, maybe I shouldn't. Sap is a bit destructive."

"I can walk alongside you now. Not to worry. In fact, I will lead the way."

"Oh, thank you."

They began walking again, with Fib taking the charge. Of course, her smaller stature meant that she couldn't move all that quickly, but the more unwieldy parts of nature fit better with it. At her size she could more expertly spot ingredients and wriggle an arm or two into hard to reach spots.

"I know you've mentioned the doll doesn't go out much, but did you create it to retrieve ingredients for you?" Declan asked.

"Ah, not exactly," Fib replied.

"More of an emissary, then?"

Fib had to think of an awkward way to phrase it. "Made more for the sake of studying. But this is the first I've cast out into the world, moving around." That sort of worked, right? Her nose certainly agreed, staying snugly in her head.

"Ah, so this is a test run, then. Trying new magic."

"Yes, that's the most precise way of putting it. Testing the waters." Fib looked to the sky. Still impressive how much larger it seemed out in the open like this.

"Have you had it for a while now?"

Fib glanced back at Declan, who dutifully kept up his pace with her.

"Yes," she replied.

"Ah, that explains it. I know I've seen a doll sat in that window! I could never quite get a good look at her."

"You've... looked up there?"

"I think it only reasonable when I work beneath it, right? I mean, when the town rumor is that a witch lives there, one's eyes have to wander into its direction."

"That's reasonable." And terrifying! Declan had seen her this whole time? It's fine. It's fine! He sees you now, and everything is OK. It was times like that where Fib wished she had lungs to properly, truly sigh with. Probably felt good, and relaxing. Well, polymorphism was only a few steps away, but this task took precedence.

Fib pondered what she would look like as a human. Maybe tanned skin to match her darker tone of wood? Blonde hair, certainly. And features? Human features... The explicitly feminine ones. Modest, right? Nothing too extravagant for her. Magic was fickle, yes.

"Excuse me, Fib?" Declan asked. "What's our next ingredient?"

"Oh, yes. Yes! Ingredient. Yes. Uh. Give me a moment." She had a few guesses. What was it? "For this curative, you add... Bluejay feathers?" she whispered. Her nose pushed forward. That wasn't it. "Crushed willow leaves." And forward again.

"Fib?"

"Just one second!" she called out, still pushing forward. Now she had it, it was definitely a root. "Mandrake?" she hissed. Her nose shifted again. "Carrots?" It inched more. "Fennel?!" It stopped. "Fennel! We need fennel! Straight from the ground!" she said aloud. Phew.

"Oh, I see." He silently trodded along for a moment. "What's fennel?" Declan asked.

"Fennel, my dear Declan, is a plant with an edible root. It is tipped with orange--" Her nose moved. "Yellow! Yellow flowers." She shoved it back in.

"A plant with yellow flowers. I'll be on the lookout."

"Yes. After that, only one more ingredient."

"Excellent. The sun is still in the sky, too. It won't take too long to mix, I hope?"

"Not at all. A few minutes at most."

"Good. Then let's find that fennel."

Fib nodded, delighting in the determination filling Declan's expression. Her eyes scanned the wooded area as they marched, looking for any signs of that plant. It was surprisingly harder than she realized, with all the colors of nature. Things were a lot different in black ink scribbled in books. Less worrisome, too. All sorts of creatures lurked out here, just waiting to strike. Berry was one of them, but he would only lash out with annoying chatter.

"There, is that it?" Declan asked, pointing off into the distance.

Fib followed his finger, finding the lovely plant wavering and showing off its proud yellow bloom.

"It seems so!" Fib said. She scampered off to it, sizing it up. "I'll need to dig for the root." Fib removed a glove and stuck her hand in the dirt, immediately feeling a sense of disgust as dirt settled into every groove in her hand. No matter, she was strong, she could do this.

"Perhaps I should do that?" Declan asked.

"Why?" Fib asked, hand still buried in the ground.

"It seems like such a shame to dirty your doll like that. The cute dress and whatnot."

"Ah... I suppose."

Fib retracted her hand from the ground, dusting off the grime. She placed the glove back on. Declan nodded and knelt down, digging into the ground. He didn't seem too happy about it, but he made no protest.

"It'll look like a large bulb. The rest of the plant will be sprouting from it," Fib said.

"I think I see it."

That fleshy bulb came into view, a dirtied white. Collecting ingredients like this was surprisingly fun, even if Fib wasn't doing it herself. Or maybe she was just enjoying Declan's presence. He grabbed at the thing and yanked upward, pulling out the entire fennel.

"A little unwieldy to carry back. Do we need the other parts, or just the bulb?" he asked.

"Just the bulb." Fib stepped forward and carefully cut off the rest of the plant with her harvesting knife.

"Somewhat sad the rest of it has to go to waste," Declan said.

"Well, other animals will eat it, and it'll fertilize the ground. I think the root itself carries such importance to make it worth it."

"I suppose it can find some solace in that fact."

Fib nodded and pocketed the bulb, snugly fitting it inside her bag and gave it a reassuring pat. Declan wiped his hands and shook them, trying in vain to get rid of the dirt that stained them.

"I should have bought gloves as well," he said. "Ah, well, only one more ingredient, yes?"

"Just one more, and we'll be off!" Fib said. She stopped herself short of pumping her fist in the air.

"Something a little more clean, maybe? Excuse the stereotype, but I don't think I'll be any good at catching toads or insects. I will try, though."

Fib looked to him, noting his hair waving in the wind. She had almost forgotten the one ingredient she needed for her own little brew in all the excitement with him. Her eyes slightly widened. Maybe that could be her reward? Sure, she could pluck it, but that would be rude.

"Fib?" he asked.

"No. Well. It is a creature, but we won't be eating it."

"And that would be?"

"A salamander. Its mucus. Fortunately not a large amount. We'll simply need a dab of fresh mucus, so it'll have to come with."

"Now I truly wish I had brought gloves." He gave her a wary smile. "Do we have some way of catching it?"

"Yes." Fib pulled out a jar. It was made to hold ingredients and had a few holes in it to allow whatever was inside to get fresh air. She had originally bought it with the other ingredients in hopes to snag some of his hair, but that could wait.

Declan took up the jar. "How might I go about finding one?"

"Well," Fib began walking, "they tend toward being under logs. And..." She realized she had no other idea where they might be. Eloise had only ever written that one little detail about them. Must not have liked to deal with them. "Best look under a log for now. Likely easiest."

They began walking again, looking for any overturned logs that might hold a slimy fellow.

"May I ask a question? About your status as a witch, that is," Declan said.

"Of course you may," Fib replied.

"Did you learn all of your work from another? Or were you born inherently with that knowledge? Witchiness is often rumored about, so I'm unsure of the mechanics as such."

Somewhat of a striking question. Technically it was both, as Fib was made knowing a few things from her creator, but had also learned much from Eloise in her work. Though, she hadn't known of any regular humans simply being born with magical knowledge. As mystical as it was, it never seemed to present itself so easily to people, they had to go and seize it for themselves.

"Both, yes. Though, I am unique in that way. Most, if not all others, had to learn." Her nose stood still.

"Really? Were you born in some strange way? Blessed with some sort of magical charm before birth?"

Fib's eyes spun. Declan sounded excited, not accusatory. He just thought this whole thing was neat, but had bumbled into a worrying question.

"Um, my creation was technically special, yes."

"How so?" he asked, moving up to her side now.

"I... I don't know."

Her nose shifted forward, right in view of him.

"That is to say, I know how it was done, but not all the materials that went into it," she said.

"That seems a little private, I won't pry."

Fib let out a mental sigh, pushing back in her lie detector.

"How about your doll, then?" he asked. "Did you make it out of a magic tree of some sort? Or was the carving the magical part? Assembly?"

That was even worse! Fib had no idea where her body came from! It's not just a casual question you ask! Or, maybe it would be for a doll such as her. It never mattered to her, really. Fib's eyes spun around, trying to postulate an easy answer that was truthful. You can't just say you have no idea how you made something as complex as her.

"Actually, I think I recall you chopping down a tree a long time ago," he said.

"You do?" she asked.

"The one behind our building. It was a willow, I think." He paused. "I'm surprised no one stopped you, but a woman of your impressive height wielding an axe and donning a witch's hat, I doubt anyone had any hope of doing so. Pardon, I hope you didn't take that negatively. It was just an impressive display, is all."

"No. I don't."

Then, was she made by a normal tree outside? Fib was admittedly a little disappointed at that fact. Surely she was made from some sort of magical oak, spoken only about in ancient texts and carved with some sort of fine bladed instrument? Alright, that might've been too grandiose, even for Eloise. Strange to think it was something so close to where she lived. One she had nearly bumped into at that. Did that mean the tree was technically her? She knew vaguely that something like her required a sort of transference of energy.

"There's a log. Care to have a gander?" Declan said.

"Yes, right away."

Fib moved over to it and hefted up the dead thing. No friendly slimy creatures there. Just bugs. Eugh. She set it back down.

"None here," she said.

"I figured I would do that," he said.

"I got ahead of myself there." Excited, almost. "Onto the next one."

"Do you use your doll often for this kind of work?"

"Pardon?"

"Does the doll go outside much?"

"Ah, no. I suppose this is more of a, um, test to see how I do. Braving the waters."

"Makes sense. It must be difficult moving a body like that, separate from your own. Impressive, actually, but any amount of magic is enough to impress me," he said.

"Magic keeps its luster, even far after you've gotten used to it. Hopefully you will see just how wonderfully it can work once this concoction is created."

"That's what I'm hoping." He looked to her. "Thank you again for undertaking this. I know it was sudden of me to bother you like this, but I hope you can forgive me for that."

Why did he have to be so earnest with every word? Fib almost felt like he was even more naive than she was, which was impressive!

"It's of no worry, Declan. I am gladly helping. It's nice to assist the townsfolk occasionally," Fib said.

Though, of course, Declan wasn't just any villager, but she was sure she'd help the other humans if they needed it. Probably. At least to a small degree. At least until word spread and they were all knocking at her door, looking for a quick way out of their problems. No wonder Eloise kept herself cooped up in her house. Everyone would've begged Eloise for her help if they caught sight of her. Maybe that's why she left? Possibly.

"Do keep this a secret, however," she said. "I don't want too many townsfolk knocking on my door."

"Of course, you have my word."

They wandered on a little longer, searching log after log. There were surprisingly less discarded bits of wood than Fib was expecting. Books had a way of exaggerating, didn't they?

"How about that one?" Declan asked, pointing out one nestled against a tree.

"Let's check," Fib replied.

She moved over to the thing and hefted it up. Jeez, that was heavier than she was expecting. Before Fib could even look, Declan already knelt down and smashed his hand into the dirt underneath. He let out a small groan of disgust and stood up, squirmy, slimy salamander in hand.

"Impressive!" she said.

"I didn't think this through," Declan said, holding up the closed jar in his other hand.

Fib chuckled and took the jar from his hand. She popped off the top and held it up to him. Without delay, Declan shoved the salamander inside. Fib screwed the top back on and nodded.

"It won't be hurt, will it?" he asked.

"Not at all. As I said, just a fresh dab of his slime."

Holding up the jar, Fib stared at the creature. Impressive what hidden treasures the outside world held, the kind of stuff she had only ever read in books.

"Is that all?" Declan asked. "Can we get going now?"

"Yes, yes we may." She carefully placed the salamander into her bag, leaving a small opening for fresh air to circulate.

"To your abode, then," he said.

Instantly, Declan swept her up into his arms. Fib gasped and wiggled her legs in surprise. Despite his careful nature before, Declan was now zipping back home with long strides. He certainly could put his mind toward things when he needed to.

Before long, both of them were back at the town, but that didn't stop Declan one bit. He continued to rush through the town square, right to the doorway that led up to Eloise's abode. With some careful shifting, he was able to open that door and walk up the steps without much care despite how dark it was.

"I assume this is locked," he said.

It took a second for those words to register in Fib's mind. She was a little too preoccupied with the idea of him carrying her up these steps.

"Yes, uh, yes, it is." Fib reached out her hand and muttered her incantations, unlocking the door.

It took her another second to realize that this whole thing would fall apart.

"I know this is sudden, but I look forward to meeting you in-person," he said.