“This is called the cascade shape. It helps keep the magic from flying out everywhere, and keeps the branches strong."
Chloe had never been to Sutton Cottage before, but now she was wondering why she hadn’t been. She would have liked to come when the weather was a little warmer, but even with the cold, the rosebushes still looked lovely, and while some of the flower beds were empty, she could imagine how they might look in the summer.
She was excited to finally get her hands on one of Briar’s shakkan trees. She’d always loved the idea of bonsai trees, and one that could hold spells. Most of the mana Chloe was building these days went into their mana share so that El could find a way to get them home. But she’d still dipped into the share sometimes – a couple of cleaning cantrips when the pixie had attacked her with glitter the month before (somehow, both cantrips had managed to miss glitter that Chloe was still uncovering), some minor offensive spells that Chloe had added to some bottles of nail polish, a protection mural that she was painting on the wall of their living room.
But having a plant that could hold its own protection spell would save mana in the long run, and besides, she’d been wanting to meet this Briar face-to-face.
She was wearing a long winter jacket and a pair of heeled boots, trimmed with fur (she hadn’t had much of a chance to wear heels before going to the Scholomance, and anyone who’d attempt to wear heels in the Scholomance likely had a death wish, and she was absolutely going to take advantage of them now, especially when they were as cute as these ones), and then she knocked on the door.
She felt kind of silly as soon as she did it. This house was huge, and she couldn’t imagine a knock would have been at all audible unless someone was standing right at the door – her family’s apartment in the New York enclave was tiny, less than half the size of the apartment she shared with El, and she shared that apartment with her parents and her grandparents. She couldn’t imagine living in anywhere as big as this.
And yet, a few moments later, the door was pulled open by a dour looking man, and once she explained what she was there for, he said, seemingly to no one, “Let Briar know his guest is here,” and then told her she could have a seat in the reception room.
Briar made sure to wash his hands before going to meet Chloe. He might have changed his clothes, as well, since she was technically his first customer in Vallo and it felt significant, but he had more work to do in the afternoon and the effort of changing back made it seem somewhat over the top, so he settled for asking his cotton shirt to straighten itself out a little, and brushing the dirt off his trousers.
He bowed as he came into the room where the girl was waiting. Other than a brief conversation about their respective fields of magic he knew little about her, except that she was around his own age. And quite pretty, he couldn’t help noticing. Her blonde hair reminded him of Sandry. “Briar Moss,” he introduced himself. The bow was a habit he hadn’t bothered to try to quit, even though he knew it was out of fashion here; from what little experimentation he’d had time for, girls still seemed to like it. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I hope Edwin didn’t come off too rude; you might have interrupted him reading.”
Chloe couldn’t help but be charmed by the bow. She’d been bowed to more in Vallo than she ever had back home, but then, people didn’t bow in America, and whoever had come to the Scholomance from a country that did learned quickly to stop; there were a variety of mals that would love to take advantage of someone exposing the backs of their necks like that.
She laughed at his apology for Edwin though. “You’ve never met my roommate,” Chloe said, grinning. “If he was rude, I didn’t notice.” Even if it wasn’t for El, the wizarding world had never been known for politeness – not after four years in the Scholomance. Brisk and to the point was just how things were run.
“It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Briar! I’m Chloe Rasmussen.”
“Your roommate sounds charming.” Briar grinned.
“She is once you get used to her,” Chloe said. El always said exactly what she meant. It was refreshing to not have to worry about what ulterior motives El had; it was a change Chloe hadn’t even known she needed until she’d found it.
“It’s a pleasure, thank you for coming. Will you accompany me to the workshop?” He led her through the house to the shed on the grounds he had claimed and fit out with all his tools. The fruits of his labours, six miniature trees with their branches trained into shape with meticulously twisted wire frames, sat on a shelf along the far wall where they got the best sun. It was a bit of a tight space in the workshop with only two people, and Briar had to shift a bag of potting soil and a stool out of the way to make room. “Here’s your beauty,” he said, taking down one of two pines, and placing it on the work bench. Its tiny green needles fluttered towards his fingers, wanting to be petted. “Calm down,” he told it, stroking the trunk where it bent cleanly at a sharp angle to one side. “Big day for you, I know.” He picked up his pliers to make some last minute adjustments to the frame. “Pines are best for storing raw power,” he explained to Chloe while he twisted the wire that curved around the tree in a spiral. “This is called the cascade shape. It helps keep the magic from flying out everywhere, and keeps the branches strong.”
She followed Briar into the house, wide-eyed. She’d never actually been in a house this big – the apartments at the enclave were all very small, maximizing every space they could in the piece of the void that they’d carved out for themselves. Even the apartment she shared with El seemed big in comparison to the apartment she’d shared with her parents, and her uncle and his wife, and her grandparents. Skyhold Castle had been even bigger, but Chloe hadn’t lived there long enough to adjust to the long, winding hallways and the empty rooms, and frankly, this house seemed cozier than the castle had, warmer and more welcoming. She could feel the magic under her feet, different than the magic back home, but comforting nonetheless.
And then they were outside and at Briar’s workshed, and Chloe nearly squealed with delight when she caught sight of her tree.
“Oh, it’s so cute!” she said. “Can I… can I touch it?” It looked friendly, but she also knew that Briar had a special way with plants. Maybe it wouldn’t welcome her touch the same way that it welcomed his.
Briar chuckled. “Of course,” he said. “It’s yours. Just be gentle with the little twigs.”
Chloe had never cared for a plant before, and when she reached forward, tentatively, to stroke its needles, brightening a little as she did so; she thought she could feel magic in it, warm and cozy.
“This is super cool that you do this,” Chloe said, a little more confidence in her stroke. “I bet back in my world, you could make a ton of money with these. Do you do this same thing back in your world?”
“It’s a living,” Briar grinned. “And more portable than you’d think. I carted about fifteen of these halfway across the world a couple of years ago. Dead useful for mages, but also rich people like ‘em to bring luck, prosperity, safety; you can shape them to guide magic lots of ways. I’ve made ones in water shapes and donated them to hospitals - they won’t do miracles, or anything, but they help promote faster, better healing. And the healers can always siphon power off if they get low.”
“That’s really great,” Chloe said. “Do you think you’ll do the same thing here? I bet the healers at the Clinic would appreciate it.” She thought they might, at least. They would have in her world, but sometimes it seemed like people in this world had access to an unlimited pool of magic.
“Now I’ve got started, yes.” Briar nodded. “I wouldn’t have, if I thought there was any chance of going home any time soon; I don’t want to shape them and just leave them here. But it’s been over half a year now, so…” he shrugged in a resigned but contented sort of way. “Might as well make use of the things I know how to do.” He could sense the tree’s pleasure at Chloe’s touch; it recognised her magic, too. That was good. He had no idea how the native plants were designed to work with magic from different worlds - or not - but so far he hadn’t noticed them being especially picky. “It likes you,” he said after a moment. “Want to try putting some magic in it?”