The greenhouse is at the perfect temperature. Just hot enough to keep the fire lilies happy and cold enough to keep the water lilies from dying. It’s a carefully balanced ecosystem that I’ve built, so why is Hopper here messing with it? Looking over at Hopper, I watch as he uses [Freeze] on a cup of water and then places it on the portable magic oven. The water slowly melts as tiny droplets of condensation steam on the oven surface.

  “Not to be rude, Hopper, but don’t you have a club to get to?” I ask, hiding my annoyance.

  “Well, they kind of kicked me out temporarily,” he says, avoiding my gaze.

  “What do you mean they kicked you out?” I pry.

  “Temporarily kicked me out,” he clarifies.

  “You’re right. Why did they temporarily kick you out?”

  “Something… to do with the destruction of… club property,” he whispers under his breath.

  “What did you destroy?!”

  “Just a couple of targets, arrows, bows, maybe a wall.”

  “How did you manage to break a wall?” I ask as I prune some leaves from the legume plant.

  “I wanted to see how I could combine my [Shoot] and [Freeze]. Turns out they combine really well.”

  “When will they let you back in?”

  “Once I’ve learned to respect the club equipment,” Hopper says meekly.

  “That still doesn’t explain why you’re training in my greenhouse,” I say, moving the now melted cup of water off the oven.

  “It’s the club's greenhouse, CJ,” Helia says from the corner.

  As my gaze flows to the corner, I watch her sadly try to water some of the plants. She's been that way since I got here. What’s wrong with this? You can basically see her sunflowers wilting. One problem at a time.

  Hopper holds the cup, and a light blue glow flows from his hands to the cup. In seconds, the cup of water is suddenly frozen. He then places the cup back on the oven.

  “Well, this is kind of the last place I could come to practice. I can’t practice in the room because the hall staff told me off, and outside is really cold. It’s warm in here, and I get to talk to my friend,” he explains while trying to butter me up.

  “Really? I didn’t realize you were friends with Helia,” I say sarcastically.

  Hopper lets out a sigh. “Are you going to kick me out into the cold?”

  “No, I’m not. Even if I wanted to, I’m not the club president. That wilting sunflower over there is the only one with the power to kick you out,” I say, gesturing to Helia.

  “Is she okay?” Hopper asks.

  As Helia lets out a long sigh, I see one of the petals of her sunflowers fall off. I know this is going to open a can of worms, but she’s going to go dormant at this rate.

  Letting out a long sigh, I ask, “Helia, is everything ok?”

  “I’m fine. Nothing's wrong. Nothing at all,” Helia says in the most unconvincing way possible.

  “She seems fine,” Hopper says earnestly.

  “Helia, I insist. Please tell me what’s wrong,” I say in the most monotone way possible.

  “Well, if you insist. It’s my little sister. I fear she’s working herself too hard. She even came by earlier and said that she was disappointed in me,” Helia waxes on.

  I get flashbacks of someone I used to know. Not wanting to dwell on the memory, I push it out of my mind.

  “She probably doesn’t mean it. She’s your little sister after all. More than likely, she has this image of you that you're never going to be able to live up to,” I ramble on.

  “This isn’t very motivational or comforting. If I’m never going to reach those expectations, why should I even try?” she asks.

  “Do you know what works? In the streets and in life? It sure isn’t ‘perfection’, because ‘perfection’ doesn’t exist. What works is ‘good enough’. ‘Good enough’ will get you anywhere and everywhere. Helia, you’re a third year. You don’t make it that far without trying at least a little bit. So, stop drowning that poor plant and go shoot for ‘good enough’. You owe at least that much to yourself,” I rant as I accidentally cut off a healthy leaf.

  Hopper and Helia look at me as if I grew a third head. “What?”

  “I just didn’t expect that from you,” Helia says, surprised.

  “Ditto. That was weirdly motivating,” Hopper says.

  Rolling my eyes, I place down the shears. “You guys have ruined gardening for me today. Guess I’ll turn in early. After all, I have to go and negotiate with Dark Elves tomorrow morning," I say, hiding the darkening purple of my ears.

  “Wait, Dark Elves?!” Helia says as I leave.

  The morning sun has not risen, and I’m awake. I don’t want to be awake before the sun is out. It’s against my way of life, and it should be against everyone's way of life. I mean, couldn’t we have done this meeting when the sun is out, or maybe when it gets warmer? Wishful thinking.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Standing alone in the courtyard of the University, I start to wonder if I’m getting messed with in some way. I could’ve sworn we were supposed to meet here ten minutes ago. Where is everyone?

  As I turn to my right, I watch as Penelope sleepily trudges her way over to me with a large blanket wrapped around her. “Good… morning,” she says, yawning in the middle of it.

  “Don’t you look cozy?” I rhetorically ask.

  “It’s cold before the sun comes out,” she explains.

  “Really, I hadn’t noticed. I’m not usually a rules person, but weren’t we supposed to meet up ten minutes ago? Where were you?” I ask as the feeling in my hands goes numb.

  “Well, the bed was so warm and… comfy. I thought a couple of minutes wouldn’t hurt,” she says, basically falling asleep.

  “You went back to bed while I was freezing my ass off out here?” I ask.

  Penelope looks me up and down. “You look fine,” she says.

  Letting out a deep breath, I bend over and pick up some snow. Methodically, I then roll it into a ball.

  “What are you doing?” she asks, still half asleep.

  With a good-sized snowball, I swivel and [Throw] it straight at her face. The ball hits true as it scatters across her face.

  “Charlatan!!” she yells.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. You seemed sleepy. I thought I would wake you up,” I say, grabbing another snowball.

  Penelope wipes the snow from her face as I [Throw] another one. The snowball hits a magical shield.

  “Hey!! No using magic!” I say as I [Throw] another one.

  “I don’t see why not. You’re using your [Skills]!” she yells as she throws back a snowball.

  The snowball ripples through the air with an astonishing amount of strength. Barely dodging, I manage to [Throw] another back, and before I know it, we’ve fully broken into a snowball fight.

  Professor Stargazer clears her throat, making her presence known. Penelope and I freeze mid swing, dropping the snowballs on the ground.

  “It’s good to see that you’re relaxed before we go into these negotiations,” Professor Stargazer says.

  Hiding my darkening ears, I say, “Of course. We must remain calm if we are to show them we are serious about this.”

  “Yes. If we went in tense, they would see that as weakness,” Penelope adds.

  “I see. Well, hopefully you’ve ‘prepared’ enough. If you are ready, I will send you to the Whisperwood forest,” the professor says as she begins to draw a magic circle in the snow.

  Looking over to Penelope, I give her a nod, which she returns. “Let’s do this,” I say, showing no signs of my immense anxiety.

  “So be it. I’ll keep an eye on the two of you, but if you need to get out, just say ‘North Star,’ and you’ll be back before you even know it,” the professor explains.

  We both nod in response as the professor initiates her magic. A white glow fills our vision, and once it fades, the Whisperwood forest lies before us.

  “So, are you going to do most of the talking?” I say, half-joking.

  “Obviously. I’m the only one who actually understands old Elvish.”

  “By the way, why didn’t they send some guards with us?” I ask as I look around at the familiar surroundings.

  “Well, for one, ‘The Chosen One’ is here, so we should not fear,” she says sarcastically, “and Professor Stargazer's abilities are top-notch. No harm will befall us while she’s watching us. Also, my family is busy dealing with the Blight. So, they thought this might be a good learning moment for me.”

  “How is the east looking?” I ask, somewhat curious.

  “Well-”

  The forest grows quiet, followed by a low drone of whispers that interrupts Penelope. It didn’t take long for them to find us.

  The same Dark Elven woman from before steps out from behind a tree. “We have been waiting for you. Follow me,” she says as Penelope translates.

  We follow her into the darkness of the Whisperwood forest. As we do, I can see the glow of purple eyes in the darkness. More Dark Elves. A lot more. Let's hope Professor Stargazer is as good as Penelope says she is. Otherwise, we might end up as pincushions. After a short hike, we come upon a cliff face with no obvious entrance. The Dark Elf then raises her hand, and a hidden entrance reveals itself.

  “Did you know that was there?” I whisper to Penelope.

  “No. The Dark Elves are experts at stealth. We believed they had left the Whisperwood forest and had moved east to the Blight. Obviously, we were wrong,” she says as we enter the cliffside.

  The moment we enter, we are hit by a welcoming warmth, followed soon after by the sound of whispers. As we push in further, the entrance opens up to a large cavernous town. From what I can tell, there are a variety of different houses built into the walls, along with a large open space where the Dark Elves are gathering. We are led to this open space and watch as the Dark Elf woman who guided us walks over to an older Dark Elf woman.

  After a moment of whispered exchanges, the older Dark Elf woman speaks up, “My daughter says that you wish to negotiate with us,” she says with a silky voice.

  Well, here we go.

  “We do, but before we start, may I have the pleasure of knowing your name?” I say as Penelope cringes.

  “Of course. I am Chieftain Mlyver Siog. You’ve met my daughter Alyver,” she says, gesturing at the Dark Elf whom we first met.

  “I’m CJ, The Chosen One, and this is the envoy from the Empire, Penelope,” I say, gesturing to Penelope.

  Penelope gives me a weird look, which I promptly ignore. It’s best to keep that she’s a princess under wraps until we find out how they feel about royalty. Don’t want to show all our cards right off the bat.

  “So, it’s true? You, a betrayer, are The Chosen One? I almost don't believe it,” she says with a hint of suspicion.

  “Like I told your daughter, the Gods were feeling forgiving, but besides that, we should get down to business,” I say, avoiding the subject.

  “Yes, we should. We want our forest back. The previous Elven kingdom did not respect our claim to this forest, but we hope that this human Empire will be more amicable to negotiate.”

  “And amicable we are. We are willing to respect your claim to the Whisperwood forest, but we would like some things in return,” I say, remembering the long list of terms that Penelope sent me yesterday.

  “I’m listening,” the chieftain says as a Dark Elf pours her a drink.

  “Perfect-”

  As I go to stand, I trip over seemingly nothing. As I fall, a pebble seemingly slips straight out of my bag and hits the head of a nearby Dark Elf. That Dark Elf then stumbles, pushing into a torch. That torch then falls and lights the Dark Elf, who was pouring the chieftain a drink, on fire. The flames quickly rise and swallow the Dark Elf whole. The room is stunned in awe as the Dark Elf falls over dead.

  What the FUCK!?