Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

Chapter 335 - 277 - Renewed Land

Vince followed Scott as he patrolled the town. Between the two humans, eight Resonators bolstered their group.

It amazed the young Maestro how after less than a day the little squad of five Resonators followed him like they were his.

"Alright you two, let's fix this up." Scott's voice drew Vince from his thoughts. The conductor flicked out the baton from his side and the pair of Earth elements stepped forward.

"La Forma Della Terra, a Piacere!"

"La Forma Della Terra, a Piacere!"

For each of the Earth cats, Scott swished his tuner and flicked it with the call of his spell. They got to work and cleared the rubble from the previous night's battle, restoring the rocky walls that lay in ruin across the valley.

"Once more!" Scott repeated the spells, and the two cats forced the cliff side back into shape.

"Whew. Let's keep going." The conductor motioned for the rest of his party to follow.

Vince and his duo allowed the conductor-led posse to make some distance.

"Hell of a guy," Mila commented.

"Yeah, he can still keep going," Zephyr commented.

The two Resonators looked to their Maestro, who was deep in contemplation. Mila and Zephyr exchanged a concerned glance.

"Hey," the two Resonators spoke up.

"Huh?" Vince looked around in surprise.

"You okay?" asked Mila.

"You kinda zoned out there," Zephyr commented.

Vince averted his gaze, curling in on himself as he tried to find his words. "I dunno," he whispered. An impassioned shout from Scott earned Vince's attention. The young Maestro's brows perked up with worry.

Zephyr landed on her Maestro's shoulder. "Come on, whatcha thinkin' about?"

"I dunno," he repeated.

THWACK!

The boy tumbled back, his arm throbbing from where his Fire element had struck him. "Ow! What the hell Mila?!" the boy snapped, a glare leveled at his cat, who was more than happy to return his scowl.

Zephyr let out a small sigh. At least Mila had enough sense not to hit the arm she was sitting on. "I think she's trying to say, talk to us; or you'll get another," Zephyr warned.

"I--uhh…" Vince shook his head. "No, it's stupid," he decided.

Mila took another swing. Vince was ready and managed to side-step his annoyed cat's swipe. She wasn't going to let him get away that easily and pounced on him, Zephyr fluttering away just in the nick of time.

"Mila!" he barked. He was pinned to the ground by his taller Resonator. The boy struggled, but the Fire element shifted her weight with his to make sure he couldn't escape. He had no experience with wrestling or grappling of any kind; so trapped he remained.

Even in spite of his angered glower, Mila refused to budge and kept him restrained. "The only stupid thing right now is you. Talk," she demanded.

Vince huffed. "I just think that maybe it'd be cool if I could be a conductor."

Zephyr joined the duo, floating between Vince and Mila before plopping down on her Maestro's chest. "Figured as much," said the fairy.

"Then why ask?" Vince questioned.

"Because I wanted to hear you say it." Mila gently lowered herself on top of the boy she had claimed as hers. Zephyr squirmed out so her head was at least free enough to breathe. "Idiot. Just be honest with yourself," whispered the cat.

"And us!" Zephyr chimed in.

"Yeah, that too."

"I just… I dunno. I don't want to leave the guild," he mumbled. "It's like home."

Mila chuckled. "Come on, what do you think that guy would say if he saw you like this?" she quizzed.

"H-he'd probably tell me to just do it," Vince admitted sheepishly.

"There's your answer."

Mila sat up, pulling Zephyr with her. Vince stared at the blue sky above them. Not a single cloud passed by. If not for Mila's heat resistance and Zephyr's healing under sunlight, he may have found this desert region inhospitable. Instead, he found it to be a lovely part of the world. How quick things changed.

His life did, too.

"Come on, let's go catch up to that conductor guy, before he ends up hogging all the glory." Mila hopped up to her feet and held out a hand for her Maestro. Vince took it and she pulled him up.

Before they could move on, Vince stepped forward and hugged her tightly. "Thanks Mila, Zephyr," he told the two.

The cat smiled and returned the embrace in kind. "Of course."

"La Forma Della Terra, Lento!" Emily called.

With a grunt of magical effort, Ritika forced the broken rock and earth beneath her back into place, making the path out of the valley usable once more.

"Whew." Emily wiped the sweat from her brow. "Wonder what's down there?" she pondered aloud.

"Dunno," Ritika replied, getting to her feet. "Do you know, big guy?" she asked Soot.

The golem shook his head. He wiped his forehead, closing his hand into a fist.

"You forgot?" Emily asked. The golem nodded in the affirmative. "You came from Nabhon, right?" came the princess' next inquiry.

Soot nodded. He stacked individual letter signs which Emily and Ritika studied closely.

"L, I, A, N, Z, H, O, U. Lianzhou?" asked Ritika. Another approving nod.

"Hrm…" Emily pulled a Shouri and quickly searched the location. "Oh! It's a massive city in Central Nabhon. Apparently, it's extremely old, like one of the first civilizations old."

Soot nodded once again. Emily sensed the golem was happy to hear it was still around. "Maybe we'll get sent there one day; or we can visit for pleasure."

The response was simple, Soot touched where his lips would be if he had them with his open palm and waved it towards Emily.

"You're welcome; but I can't make any promises on when that'd happen. Probably sooner than going to Luna again, at least."

With future plans queued up, the trio began to move down the path the Scherzando came from.

"Curious?" asked Ritika.

"Yeah, I wanted to see if we could find out what was this way," Emily admitted with a sheepish chuckle.

"You're etuding too much with Shouri." Ritika grinned, elbowing her Maestro.

"Can you blame me? The man is like a black hole of willpower, even if it's not my strong stave," she huffed.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Ritika rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's for sure. No clue how his girls even have any left for themselves. Poor Kaira has been struggling since they found out Colette was discordant. You'd think with an Ethereal she'd have more than enough rhythm to give out," the cat said with a shrug.

"No clue; that's between the three of them," Emily commented.

As they walked, they got a good appreciation for just how deep the canyons were. The massive rock formations traveled into the sky like skyscrapers (or was it more accurate to say man made buildings towered like canyons?)

What was more impressive was the greenery that grew within the rim of the canyon. Small trees rooted themselves within the rocks, and obstinate grass grew despite the sweltering conditions. A gentle breeze cooled the travelers as they made their way deeper into the canyon. There was a slight downhill tilt as they walked.

"Oh!" A surprised yelp escaped Emily's lips as they reached the bottom of the hill. A massive river stretched from either direction from east to west. The blue expanse of water shimmered as it flowed gently before them.

"That's how they can live here," Ritika realized. "Source of fresh water readily available," the cat looked around. "Ah! Their crops!" exclaimed the cat.

Just downstream from where they stood was a plot of land, flattened and tilled for crops. A group of Naturals surveyed the damage. The echoes carried down the canyon walls revealed who else joined them: Scott the conductor.

"Should we go see what the fuss is about?" Ritika wondered.

Emily shrugged. "Not like we have much else to do here."

The trio made their way downstream, to sate their curiosity over the commotion.

"Non c'è problema!" They heard Scott exclaim as they approached.

Sure enough, the conductor had his squad of five borrowed Resonators and his trusty griffin at his side. Vince and his duo had also tagged along, though they just let Scott handle… whatever it was he was doing.

Emily and the pair she brought with her joined her fellow guild member to watch.

"Okay! The fields are pretty drenched, but I think we have all the tools we need here to salvage it!" Scott declared. As he looked up, he noted the presence of Emily and her two Resonators. "Ah, Miss Ayame, so pleased you could join us!" sang the man. "Would you care to help?" he asked.

"U-uh sure? What do you need us to do?"

"Well, my plan was to super charge the growth of their crops through a few spells. We need to get the nutrients all back in the soil, and salvage any seeds still buried within," he explained. "Thankfully, they also keep a stock of reserve seeds, for just this very circumstance, so we can help them get back to where their plants were."

Emily looked to Vince and his two, who shrugged. Her own Resonators couldn't offer any advice on the matter, either.

"Whatever you need us to do," she decided.

"Excellent!" Scott turned to the gathered Naturals. "Scusate amici, può aspettare laggiù, ok?"

The Naturals did as they were told and moved away from the fields, giving the Maestros room to work without fear of hurting them.

"Okay, first up, your golem, he has the Nature support Ossia, correct?" queried Scott.

Emily looked to Soot, who just held a single thumb up.

"Excellent! You and Mila will cast that. It's a weather effect, but we're going to make sure it stays localized to this field. It's a tall ask, but I have faith you two can do it!"

The two Fire elements looked to one another and shared a short nod of understanding. They walked into the center of the ravaged field and prepared themselves.

"Let her rip!" Scott shouted to the two Maestros.

"Tempeste Cenere, Legato!" Emily and Vince commanded in unison.

The two Resonators each formed a ball of green and red energy. They threw the energy up, allowing them to meet a little bit in the sky. They both focused hard, and within a couple of seconds a dome of ash descended upon the farmland.

"You know, it's said that spell was inspired by the cycles of the forest," Scott told the two Maestros by his side. "When a forest gets overgrown, it's more susceptible to burn. After a wildfire, the growth that takes its place comes back faster and stronger than before."

"Oh," Emily gasped.

Soot had excellent control over his magic. He easily kept the ash storm localized in their dome over the farmland.

Mila, on the other hand, clearly struggled--she wasn't cut out for such precision spell work, which let some heat and ash escape.

Scott didn't flinch and just allowed the magic to wash over him. He took in a whiff of the scent carried on the wind. "Ah, smells like a campfire," he said.

After some time of this, the magic faded away and the two Fire elements returned to their respective Maestros. The conductor in charge stepped forward and knelt in the soil. He scooped up a handful of the loam and examined it. "Perfect, we got a nice char in the dirt too, so it's not overly wet anymore."

"Okay everyone! I'm going to need you all for this one!" Scott bellowed. The Naturals didn't understand the Maelish he spoke, but they got the gesture, and joined the Maestros and Resonators by the field.

"We're going to spread the seeds! Everyone take a little!" Again, where language barriers should have caused problems, simple hand gestures were all that was needed for everyone to be on the same page.

Thanks to the group of about twenty, it took no time at all for the seeds to be spread through the dirt.

"Molte grazie!" Scott beamed, motioning for the Naturals stand back once again. When they were a safe distance away, the conductor addressed the group of Resonators in his command. He flicked out his baton and pointed to the nature and water elements in his retinue. "You two are up now!"

The nature snake and water bird stepped onto the field just like Mila and Soot had before.

Scott took a breath. "Precipitazioni Frontali, Accelerando a Piacere; Pollice Verde, a Piacere!"

The bird extended his wings and took to the sky.

The snake meanwhile, closed her eyes and focused on the field around her. She fell to her knees and placed her hands deep in the dirt. From her hands a green light expanded out, as she pushed every ember of rhythm provided to her by her conductor out into the very land itself.

Scott nodded and looked up to the sky where the blue bird awaited. "Let'er rip!" he shouted.

With but a flick of his wrist, the water bird summoned a rainstorm, drenching the newly seeded field with a light drizzle.

Emily and Vince gasped, as they watched the field begin to sprout instantly. Through all their efforts they revitalized an entire town's crops.

In the distance, they could hear the grateful cries of the Naturals who thought they had lost everything.

Vince just watched in awe at Scott, who appreciated his own handiwork with a satisfied smile.

"I think--I do want that," whispered Vince to himself.