“Okay…” Nora took off her glasses and cleaned them. “This is on me. I should have seen this coming and I didn’t warn you.”

Ivan looked at the plants that had ruined his windows and slowly retracted themselves, like some sort of snakes that returned to their cave. “Yeah, I would have liked to be prepared for this.”

“Honestly, I never thought this would happen. Dimi’s mother wasn’t a plantmancer, neither was her grandmother. I mean, Pater happens to be a low-level plantmancer, but his magic is practically a party trick, not… that.”

“So, Dimi can create plants? Why is she attacking us.”

“She is not. Well, not exactly, it’s a defense mechanism. It takes a toll on her body and drains her for energy as her body adjusts to her new power. And if she becomes too tired and even falls asleep, she will have a hard time waking up again. And as a defense mechanism she will unconsciously create plants to guard her.”

“Okay, but how do we stop this mechanism?” Ivan asked.

“First thing first, we need a way to be prepared for when the situation escalates. No, Ivan, the situation hasn’t escalated just yet.” Ivan closed his mouth, he hated it when Nora answered his questions before he got to answer them. “Your house being the home of a plant octopus is small potatoes. Plant magic is rare, but it is also very powerful. One of Dimi’s ancestors, queen Dornröschen, spread terror and destruction-“

"What in tarnation happened here?!”

Nora and Ivan turned their attention toward the old satyr Sunmut who had picked the absolute worst day to drop by for a visit. The old sheep-man looked as if he was about to have a stroke as he stared at the plant monster that had made its home in Ivan’s house.

“Um.” Ivan couldn’t say anything else as he tried to come up with an explanation that did not involve the words it is or complicated. “Well, you see-”

“A wizard did it.” Nora interrupted Ivan before he made a bad situation worse.

Sunmut looked at the house for a moment. Then he looked annoyed. “Those dang humans! You would think the orcs had done something about that cursed lot!” Then he looked at Nora. “Ah, no offense, young lady.”

“None taken.” Nora scratched the hat that hid her pointy ears and the fact that she was an elf. Once the old creature had left, she turned her attention toward Ivan. “As I was saying… Queen Dornröschen spread terror and destruction since no one stopped the defense mechanism in time. Her plants grew bigger and bigger and it became impossible to try and save the castle. But there is another problem: Dimi’s young body is not ready for magic of this size. It takes energy and stamina, part of why she falls asleep, and if it goes on for too long, she might actually die.”

“DIE?!”

“Yes, or she will be stuck in there for at least fifty years. So we have more than one reason to do something quickly. The plants will grow and try to get out of your house. When they do, we must cut them down.”

“Alright.” Ivan pondered for a moment. “Then we need backup.”

“Ivan, no one can know who Dimi really is!”

“Don’t worry, I trust her. I will be back as soon as possible, man the fort till I’m back.”

Nora wanted to protest as the minotaur ran for the so-called backup. The short elf looked at the chopping stump where an ax had been left on. She took the ax and looked at the house. “Don’t mess with me!” Nora yelled half-heartedly. The whole house creaked, making the elf take a step backward while tightening her grip on the ax.

***

Aura tied the griffin Hothoof with a rope to the fence. The big animal was displeased by this but accepted it since it respected the sphinx as its “pack leader”.

“This isn't fun for me either.” Aura stroked the giant half-bid-half-lion animal as one would stroke a cat. “But you can't fly properly with a damaged wing. But the nice elf doctor will come and have a look, then you will get back in the sky with the others in no time.” The griffin purred as Aura rubbed it on its beak.

Once Aura had made sure the rope was tied properly, she went to take a look at two of her other griffins that flew over her farm.

Magnificent animals, but difficult to raise. They needed freedom to fly, but you also had to make them respect you enough so they wouldn’t fly away. Only after you had made them understand who was in charge could you try and make them like you. The fact that Aura had three grown griffins that liked her said a thing or two about her skills with animals. Then again, she had worked with them ever since she had left the army as a young girl and moved to the kingdom of Nesredna. She had worked from the bottom as stable-girl till some years ago where she was finally given the chance to start her own farm near the village of Jadedale.

She was quite happy about her life in Jadedale for several reasons.

One of these reasons actually came, half an hour before he had promised to come.

“Ivan!“ Aura smiled as she waved at the minotaur who came running as if something was on fire. “Relax, you came way to earl-”

“Aura, I need help!” The giant bull-man looked terrified. “You have to come with me to my house! I will explain later.”

Aura did not hesitate and transformed to her beast form. “Hop on, I will fly you home.”

Ivan hopped on the back of the sphinx and the creature lept from the ground. She flew to Ivan’s home as she saw something that looked like a tentacles coming out of the doors, windows and holes that the thing had made in the house. And it moved it’s arms with red thorns left and right as if it was desperate to get out. She recognized Nora who looked like she tried to attack the things with a household ax. Nora looked up and noticed them. “FINALLY! I’m just about to get a heart attack here! Dimi has become worse.”

Aura looked at the insane scenario as she was about to land. She had just reacted to Ivan being terrified. Now she began to wonder what was going on as she saw the problem.

“Wait, I’m sorry, WHAT?!” Aura turned back to normal and looked baffled at Ivan. “Dimi is… What the hell is going on?””

Ivan sighed. “Okay, how do I explain this… You remember when the orcs conquered the kingdom?”

Aura shrugged. “Sure, politics happens. Life goes on.”

“Remember how we were told the human king Pater had gotten captured?”

“Um… yes?”

“And do you remember that the king had a daughter?”

“Ah, yes? Sure, her name was Dama-something-something.“

"Dimicatio.”

“Oh, right. Dimicatio. Kinda sounds like a fancy version of Dimi’s name.”

“Actually… It is Dimi’s name.”

“Well, that’s kind of funny… wait.” Aura paused herself as her eyes grew wide. The lion-lady pointed at the garden nightmare. "Dimi?”

“Yeah...” Ivan groaned as he pointed once again at his plant-infested home. “Dimi. Long story short, now she does human magic without controlling it.”

Aura looked at the house. Then she looked at Ivan.

And then she punched him on his right arm.

“OUCH!?“ Ivan rubbed his arm. “What was that for?”

“You lying rat!” Aura growled at Ivan. “You told me she was your god-daughter!”

“She is my god-daughter!”

“What? HOW!?”

“It’s complicated.”

Aura made a terrifying and VERY angry face at the bull-man. “I AM SICK AND TIRED OF YOU COMPLICATED BULLSH-”

“Ahem.”

Ivan and Aura turned their attention toward the short person who looked tired and sweaty who dropped the ax. “Sorry to interrupt.” Nora said. “But can this… thing wait till after we got Dimi out of that mess? Preferably before the townspeople arrive and start to ask questions.”

Aura sighed. “So is she even Dimi’s aunt?”

“I’m not even human.” Nora took off her hat, revealing her pointy ears. “Long story, can wait. What is important now is that I need time to figure out how to solve this mess. So we need to cut down as much of that plant as possible.”

“So you need me to do some gardening? Not a problem.” Aura stretched her arms as she rocked her head left and right. She gave Ivan a glare. “When this is over, I’m gonna have a word with you, Mr. Minotaur.”

Ivan sighed and shrugged. “That’s fair.”

The winged stout lion-woman went down on all four and was moments later replaced with the human-faced winged lion-monster that roared as it charged toward Ivan’s house. One of the vines tried to strike her as if it had been a gigantic whip, but Aura simply buried her razor-sharp teeth into it and shook it violently as if she were a dog pulling a rope. And she DID pull, she pulled the vine so hard that she ripped it off. As several smaller vines attacked her, Aura’s claws appeared on her massive paws as she went nuts on her botanic foe.

Nora was stunned as she watched from a distance. “She is bad-ass!“

Ivan made a smile as he couldn’t help but feel proud.. “I know… But what do we do about this? How do we… Wake up Dimi? Would that be enough?”

“Indeed it would and the solution is somewhat simple yet almost impossible.” Nora put on her hat again and looked rather annoyed. “Dimi just needs a true love’s kiss.”

Ivan looked at Nora with disbelief written all over his face. “Sorry, what?”

“You heard me. As I said, the plants are a defense mechanism. She is tired and weak and feels very vulnerable. So a kiss from a loved one will make her feel safe and calm her down… And yes, it sounds odd, but that’s human magic for ya.”

“But Dimi’s father is in prison, COME ON!!!!” Ivan lifted his fists threatening toward the sky. “GIVE ME A BREAK!”

"Yeah. It doesn't have to be romantic, like a parent who loves their child can provide said kiss. But I doubt the orcs will let Pater out for a few hours if we ask them nicely. So, we have to get that kiss another way. So…” Nora coughed. “Do you know if Dimi is… dating anyone?”

“What? Ah… I don’t think so?” Ivan did not like the way this conversation was going. Then he took a look at the woman of his dreams fighting a losing battle against the vines from the house with her claws, fangs and guts. “I asked her once, but that annoyed her.”

Nora slapped her face. “You asked a teenager if she was dating anyone?! Ivan, COME ON! YOU SUCK!”

“I was curious.”

“You don’t ask ateenager questions like that. Dear lords, you suck!”

“Nora, that is not-”

“Never mind.” Nora sighed. “Look, I will go to Onyxville and pull some strings, hoping to find an alternative solution to this problem. You must go around town and hopefully find someone who loves Dimi. It doesn’t even have to be mutual.”

Ivan gave Nora a tired look. “Yeah! Big, tall bull-guy walking around and asking people if they love his protégée is a great idea.”

“We have no better options! I’m gonna get myself a horse or something.”

As Ivan watched the elf leave as fast as she could and then took a look at the violent creature that was the love of his life trying her best to fight the plants, he decided that the best place to start would be at Agate’s place.

***

The dwarf woman raised a thick eyebrow at the minotaur at her front-door.

“That’s… an interesting question, Ivan.”

Ivan felt ridiculous. “Look, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t an emergency. Did she mention to you or your daughter anything about having a boyfriend?”

“Why are you asking? Oh no, is Dimi pre-”

“NO, SHE IS NOT!” Ivan felt as if he was about to explode. “There is a problem, but it’s not… that. But it is important for me to know.”

Agate looked at Ivan. It was clear that it was of the greatest importance to him.

“Wait here, I will get Amethyst.

Moments later, the girl with the fluffy beard stood in front of Ivan and looked up at the tall minotaur.

“Amethyst, you HAVE to tell me, right now, if you know about anyone that Dimi loves. Don’t” Ivan stopped Amethyst from starting a teen girl rant. “I have to know. I can’t tell you why, but I have to know. Please.”

Amethyst groaned. “Mr. Ivan, Dimi is not in love with anyone. Actually, now that I think about it, she gets sort of defensive whenever I wanted to ask her. Not as if she was embarrassed, she just did not want to talk about it.”

“Dammit.” Ivan grabbed his own horns as if he wanted to rip them off his own head. “Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!”

“Right…” Amethyst gave Ivan a concerned look before closing the door. “Have a nice day, Mr. Ivan.”