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Claire nodded, taking it all in as Greta started walking down one of the rows. She ached to touch the plants to feel their Energy but didn’t want to disturb them.
“You can touch them,” Greta paused from her lecture. “Nothing here will kill you. At least not in its original form.”
Claire’s eyebrows went up. Good to know. She gave into her urge to touch the next plant. Its deep purple leaves looked like they had been dipped in silver at the points.
“That’s the silver-tipped Argenti,” Greta said. “It’s used as a base in most advanced potions because it ties the compounds together quite nicely and holds them together longer than anything we’ve found. Most potions need a binding agent or a base and this one does nicely. When trade was open, we had access to a witch’s potion called Ligamen but now we make this work.”
“I imagine it was quite popular in the markets then?” Claire asked, letting her hands trace over the velvety leaves, the soft fur tickling her fingertips.
“It was. Very good. The witches coveted it because it was a much stronger base than anything they had. They often asked for seedlings to try and grow it themselves but we never gave them.”
“Why not?”
“Business, young princess. You don’t give away something that makes your people money to trade for other things.”
That made sense but Claire still bit her lip. It just felt like a cold transaction. But maybe that’s what it took to be a leader. She just wished that there was a way the entire Realm could benefit, not just one race.
“What about this one?” she asked, moving to a tall dark blue plant. Her hands found a few dead leaves that she pinched at the base and then buried into the soil at the base of the plant.
“You’ve gardened before.” Greta nodded approvingly.
“I did at the orphanage where I grew up. And then at the Academy, Herbology was one of my favorite classes.” Plants had been her friends long before people had. At least until she found her friends and Triad.
“You would have been drawn to it by your blood. Winona loved the gardens. Most Elves carry a strong affinity for it as well.”
She had always been drawn to it, Claire thought. Her lips quirked in a sad half smile. She had been carrying a piece of her mother with her without even knowing it. The familiar sadness she had been feeling the last few days bubbled up and Claire took a deep breath to push it down. She couldn’t dwell on it now. She had more to learn.
She turned away from the dark blue plant towards the back of the garden. In the deep shadows, a few rows of dark green plants grew in small tufts from the tree’s floor. They were the most normal looking plants in the garden by far but the lack of the light and the Energy coursing off of them told a different story.
She was broken from her fixation on the plants by Greta’s question. “What did you learn at the Academy?”
She was probably asking about the Herbology class but Claire huffed out a humorless laugh. “So much and yet not enough.”
Greta arched an eyebrow at her and Claire sighed. “I grew up in an orphanage. In the Windshire Coven. I… didn’t really learn anything advanced there since no one ever thought I was going to leave. And then I did. And I learned a lot at the Academy but now I'm faced with all of this.” Claire waved her hand around. “It doesn’t feel like I learned enough. Not enough to figure out what really happened during the Great War, what happened to my parents, how to be a Champion of the Realm, any of it.”
As she talked she walked further down the rows, drawn by the plants’ Energy. Greta walked down the row alongside her until her last sentence. Her walking stick came up in front of Claire blocking her path. “What did you just say?”
“Which part?” Claire wrinkled her eyebrows, thinking over what she had said. Her eyes widened as she realized which part Greta hadn’t known before. “Oh, the Champion of the Realm?”
“Yes, that. When did that happen?” Greta’s gray eyes narrowed. Other than the narrowed eyes, Greta’s reaction was hard to read. Did she not think Claire could do it? Claire debated her next words but then chose to be honest. Greta couldn’t help her if Claire didn’t admit what was wrong.
“After my first year at the Academy, earlier this summer. The Academy sent the Headmaster a letter. We’ve been trying to find more information on it but anything that we find doesn’t make sense. All of the previous Champions have been powerful warriors before they were called. They had decades to learn what I’m trying to learn in a year. It’ll never be enough.”
Claire let loose some of her deepest fears, keeping her eyes on the plants and not on Greta. She was supposed to be a princess here, in addition to being a Champion. But she didn’t feel strong right now. She felt tired, unsure, and sad. There was so much out there she didn’t know. How was she going to figure it out in time?
“Do you know what made your mother a great leader?”
Greta’s question felt like it came out of thin air with the abrupt change in topic. She lifted her eyes to blink at the older Elf and Greta continued.
“What made Winona a great leader is not that she was the most powerful Elf history had ever seen but that she was kind. Leaders tend to lack empathy,” Greta said bluntly. “The Realm has had enough powerful people trying to tear off larger pieces of it and hoard resources. Maybe what it needs instead is to be united.”
Claire pursed her lips. That sounded like a nice sentiment but it didn’t matter if she couldn’t get anyone to listen to her message of unity. But she did give Greta a smile for trying to make her feel better.
“What are these plants?” she asked, changing the subject. “Their Energy is so different.”
“If you were asking me, these plants are worth starting a Great War over.”
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