"Can we get it down together?" Clara asks once the cart is in place.
Jewel moves to where she thinks she can help Tarjun the most....
....but her grip slips almost immediately! "It's too heavy! We need Paddington, or our dads!"
The plant is in for a hard landing Tarjun got it But Clara and Jewel can't hold the weight. The vat smashes into the ground. Luckily the vat is sturdy but the loose soil gets spilled everywhere.
"Ooops" Clara quickly kneels down to put the soil back into the vat with her hands, looking around to check that no one else saw the mishap.
Jewel examines the plant to see if the roots were damaged. "I'm just so sorry. I thought I had a good hold but the was some moist dirt and my hands just slipped...."
"I think it'll be OK. Just need to get the soil back in the pot and water it good." She also helps and soon as much dirt as they can find is back in the vat. "Tarjun and I can cast Create Water, but we probably should use a bucket. Don't want to dump that much water at once and splash some of the dirt out. Besides, your mother said moist, not soaked!"
"What's the difference?" Clara asks confused.
Jewel giggles at the mental image of dunking Wookie. "But Wookie can shake the excess water off, paying you back for dunking him!"
"If I cast Create Water over the vat right now, there will be a big puddle created. It will soak in, turning the soil to mud temporarily. That mud is soft which might let the plant tip over, but also it stops any chance of air penetrating the soil to the roots. Mold can grow and the roots can rot, killing it."
"Think of it this way" Jewel sticks her hand into the soil, then pulls it back out. "This is moist. Little bits of the soil stuck to my hand. If it was dry all that would be on my hand would be like dust. Too wet and there would be a smear of mud."
"Can't you just not pour all the water of the casting into the vat, or not cast that much water?"
"That's why a bucket should be used. I cast the spell to create water, here so it doesn't have to be carried from the well. Then you either pour directly from the bucket, or maybe use a ladle or something to get the right amount in. As big as the vat is you probably should check it a couple of times per day until you know how much water it needs."
"I thought this was your tree for your ceremony. I'll help, but you're supposed to be the primary one taking care of it."
"I'll fetch one." she tells with a sweet hightened voice and a smile. She runs off to the shed and returns quickly with a wooden bucket, she puts in front of Jewel.
Jewel moves the bucket right beside the vat and fills it with conjured water. Once it is full she uses her hands to move small amounts of water to the base of the plant. "Some sort of ladle would work easier. Maybe Tarjun could carve one? But for now just use your hands."
Once the dirt is moist she stops. "OK. Now maybe we could play? We've been working all day! Even this new priestess of Erastil should get some time to play!"
"That will take forever!"
"Or pour it in carefully?"
Clara shrugs and fetches the ladle from inside. After the plant is watered and the ladle is put away before Clara's mum notices the obvious question arises: "What are we doing now?" As there is nothing interesting to watch about the plant and the butterflies yet.
As Clara returns from putting the ladle away and asks her question Jewel considers. They'd been working all day so far.... "I don't know, but something fun. I feel like wandering in the woods, but there's not much fun about that."
"Maybe we could go down to the river and swim? That bend where it gets deep. The current is slow so it should be fairly safe."
"Yes, let's make good use of the beaver's work!"
Clara 'runs' off with Tarjun. She wants to call 'last in the water is a lame duck', but that is no real fun with Tarjun losing by far every time.
When they finally reach the creek she throws off almost all of her clothes and jumps straight into the water. As she emerges again a shrill shriek sounds through the woods, followed by clattering teeth. "That's cold!"
Jewel follows Clara's lead with the river. She surfaces just in time to hear her shriek and starts laughing. "Of course it's cold! Wakes you up!" She starts swimming around, moving to keep warm. "You know, there's a cleric spell that lets you stay warm even when the weather is freezing cold. I wonder why it doesn't work for witches. ??"
"Come on Tarjun! The water is cold, not like a bath at all! Swim and stretch out tired muscles from all those feed bags that we had to move!"
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Tarjun, who isn't really inclined to go willingly into cold water, cautiously dips his toes into the river as if he were afraid that it might burn him.
However, when Jewel teases him, he can't help but rise up to the challenge. Showing any sign of weakness is absolutely out of question!
"CANNONBALL!" he cries out. Inhaling sharply, he jumps into the stream, splashing the two little girls copiously.
In spite of the freezing water, it's almost worth it.
Turning blue in the face and with clattering teeth Clara replies "Warm water is much more relaxing for my tired muscles."
She shrieks again as Tarjun splashes her.
Jewel wipes her eyes and grins as Tarjun surfaces. She feels the cold but has to return the splash for Tarjun! "But the cold water forces you to move to get your blood flowing good. Now let's Splash Tarjun good, then we can get out and run around to warm back up!" She watches carefully though so she doesn't splash just as Tarjun surfaces and tries to breath.
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Clara gets a mischievous grin on her face as she dives.
As Tarjun rubs the water out of his eyes and tries to avoid Jewel's attack wave suddenly something grabs him at the legs and pulls him under water.
Tarjun wiggles out of Clara's grip, but she is not giving up that fast, but he evades. She sits down pouting at the bottom of the creek.
Jewel grins as she thinks she knows what Clara has done. "Back away toward the shore. I'll bet Clara has learned how to breath water. It's an ability that a witch can learn, a really cool one for tricks like this. Kind of like my ability to speak with animals.... If that's it, she can't drown!"
She moves closer to shore where she can stand easily and calls,
dun dun... dun dun... dun dun dun dun dun dun
Clara moves up to Jewel underwater and tries the same stunt on her.
Feeling Clara grab, Jewel resists, and grabs at her.
"Come on Clara. Come up for air. We can't breath water like you!"
Clara comes up some distance away. "I need some magic to shift into a shark." She bares her teeth to look scary.
"Wow! That's scary already! But seriously, I don't know a lot about that ability except that it's got to be from your Witch magic. Can you explain what you can do? Does it help you swim? Or just let you breath underwater? That would've helped back when we tracked down the goblins that stole the scepter!"
"Weasel gave it to me after I almost drowned. I can breathe water. But I still can't swim well. Wanna try?" she offers Jewel.
"A fin is the least. I need a huge maw full of teeth."
"None of us are very good swimmers. I don't think any of the adults are either. Not much call for swimming for farmers and such. But what do you mean about trying? Can you share the water breathing? That might be fun... even if the water is a bit cold."
Clara flails at the water until she is propelled to Jewel and touches her with her water lung hex. Then she jumps on jewels back and pushes her under water.
Jewel struggles when Clara goes to dunk her. Once she is underwater she holds her breath until she realizes Clara's intent, then cautiously tries to take a breath. She tries to talk.
Coming back up she sputters at first, unfamiliar with the change of medium for breathing. "Tarjun! Clara, That is so great! Tarjun! You've got to try it too! And I can see why you'd want some way to get a shark bite or something. Water restricts your movement so it would be hard to fight with a regular weapon. And speaking.... I can't imagine being able to cast a spell!"
She stands and ponders things. "How long does that last? Can you keep it active all the time? We could go back and explore those caves. We wouldn't have to worry about the swimming or a cave area being underwater! Only if there was anything dangerous there...."
"It lasts as long as three chicken sandwiches." Clara explains. "And I can renew it automatically on me. If you run out of time in a cave that would suck."
Clara taps Tarjun. "I think I'll visit the beaver." With that she sinks underwater. At least that one will be properly scared by sharklara.
dun dun...
Seeing the others headed away underwater Jewel follows. She isn't sure whether or not the hex is still on her so she keeps her head up. "Three chicken sandwiches? Is that for me eating them? Cause I can't eat that much! But Tarjun could wolf that down pretty quick...."
"Hey guys! Where are you!?! Wouldn't it be easier to walk to Mr. Beaver's dam and then swim?"
Clara reappears on the surface. "What?"
"This is not about being easy, this is about diving forever! Or three sammiches."
Clara ponders if she'll try to outlast Tarjun's water breathing or rather leave the water. But as her swim skills aren't the best she doesn't want to risk losing, so she leaves.
Standing there shivering and clattering with her teeth, she waits to dry and get warm in the evening breeze.