62 - Growing a Seed

62 - Growing a Seed
After their afternoon lesson with Frey, Clare and Xavier made their way back to their rooms with Lav and Lif trailing behind them.
Lif had come along to complete their deal from this morning while Lav was completing her duty and making sure the two got back to their rooms safely. She was also carrying their books, refusing to allow either to carry them, thinking it was beneath Clare to do such a thing.
Clare thought it was stupid but decided not to say anything. She had feeling that all the talk about Swords today had riled up Lav despite her calm demeanor.
Not that Clare blamed her.
She too had been surprised about some of the things Frey had explained to them and apparently he hadn’t scratched the surface of the topic. Which was why they had to go through the books he had sent along with them.
Still, Clare wanted to learn more about the whole first Sword thing. She now understood more of Frey and Alre’s anger with Lav and she was curious about the whole concept of a secret Sword.
It wasn’t like it was a bad idea, rather the opposite.
She just wondered how she was going to choose one without letting anyone know. And she was going to be able to hide such a secret from Xavier, especially after they decided to be more open with each other.
Before she could even think further on the topic, they arrived at Clare and Xavier’s rooms. Lav quickly moved to open the door, Clare no longer surprised at her actions.
Instead, she just walked in, Xavier and Lif following behind her. Lav came in last and headed over to the coffee table to place the pile of books down.
“I’ll be leaving now.’ Lav stated to Clare.
“Alright.” Clare nodded, eyeing Lif as he headed to their food table. “Have a good night, Lav.”
The older Fae smiled at her before giving her a quick bow and leaving. Once she was gone, Clare turned her attention to the other two in the room.
Xavier picked up some clothes from a wooden drawer. “I’m gonna take a bath first. Call if you need me.”
Clare nodded in understanding, knowing Xavier needed to relax. His training sessions in the morning had been incredibly hard on him, sometimes leaving him with bruises and constantly aching muscles.
She wished he wouldn’t be so hurt while training, a part of her wishing he wouldn’t train with Alre but she pushed the thoughts down.
Clare knew how much Xavier wanted to do this and knew her support was much more important than her wish for him to stop getting so hurt.
When the bathroom door closed behind him, Clare moved over to where Lif was. The little guy was busy filling his bag with red berries, looking pleased with himself.
“So that riddle… can I hear it now?” Clare asked as she watched Lif.
Lif stopped what he was doing and gazed at her for a moment. “Ah yes… of course. Sometimes knowledge is an illusion.”
With those words, Lif turned back to his task of stuffing his bag with berries leaving Clare in a state of shock and disbelief.
“That’s it? Sometimes knowledge is an illusion.” Clare murmured, believing their had to be more to the riddle than that.
Lif turned to her once more and frowned. “Indeed. That’s the riddle and a good one at that.”
Clare thought otherwise but she couldn’t argue about it. She hadn’t asked for a good riddle, just a riddle. She should have made herself more clear.
Still, she now had a clue to growing her plant. She just had to figure out what exactly the riddle meant.
“If that’s all, I’ll be leaving then.” Lif said, breaking Clare’s thought.
“Alright.” Clare nodded, watching as he flew off.
Now left alone, Clare stewed over Lif’s words, wondering exactly what he meant by them. Sometimes knowledge is an illusion…
As she thought over the words, her eyes wondered around the room, soon falling onto the pile of books Lav had left on the coffee table.
Her eyes widened as a thought formed in her mind. Books contented knowledge and Frey had given her books to help. But the books had been useless, contenting nothing that helped her.
Could it be that they were meant to distract her from the real answer. But if that was the case, what was the answer to her growing the plant?
She mused over her conversation with Frey that day, trying to see if he had perhaps dropped some hints during their session. They had spoken about her foundation mostly, the technique she was using and who taught her, which had been Mrs. Niro.
Glamor hadn’t worked so the only other thing Clare could think of that she had learnt from Mrs. Niro was the meditation.
That was it!
Whenever she had meditated, her magic would strengthen and her hair and everything around her would grow. That had to be the answer to growing the plant.
Clare hurried over to her nightstand, grabbing the seed on it. She had to try out her theory out, silently hoping it would work. Now the only thing missing was a natural place.
She turned her attention to the bathroom and smiled. Perhaps she did have a good place. The hot springs were natural so maybe it would work then. Mrs. Niro had told her the meditation would work in any place connected to nature.
Clare quickly headed over to the bathroom, slamming the door open as she run inside. Xavier opened his eyes and gave her a confused look.
“Clare, daring, you okay?” Xavier asked swimming over to her from the spot his was sitting at.
“Yeah. I’m perfectly fine…” Clare murmured as she swiftly removed her clothes, not wanting to get them wet. “Just need to do something quickly.”
“I think you should go slower. The view is amazing.” Xavier almost purred out as he lazily watched her from the edge of the hot spring.
Clare gave him a small glare. “I’m not interested in that right now. I think I figured out how to grow this seed.”
“So afterwards then?” Xavier smirked as Clare slipped into the spring next to Xavier.
“Only if this works.” Clare smiled back.