THE FARMER
[Five-odd years ago, a city far outside Zuzu city]
Hazel's magic seemed to quiet.
No more streets flooded with Hazel's unintentional storms; no more mythical creatures were found amongst the neighborhood gardens. Nothing even vaguely magical happened, save for the strange and otherworldly but entirely mundane transitions of puberty.
But then, one day, Hazel's father received a letter informing him that his father, Connor, had unexpectedly passed away.
Peacefully, it said. In his sleep, it said.
Hazel cried. James cried.
The evening they received the news, as his daughter sobbed into his chest and stained his shirt with her tears, James noticed a nearby unlit candle flicker suddenly to life.
A fire that came from nothing… as if by magic.
James swore in a muffled sneer, the word inaudible above both his and his daughter's sobs. His father must have found a way to complete her Legacy inheritance without him noticing. James had always thought he was a stubborn bastard, though he hoped Yoba would forgive him for thinking ill of the departed.
The candle's fire danced mockingly on the wick, a reminder of his failure to protect his daughter from her Legacy. James held Hazel closer and blew out the flame before she could notice.
Still, he told Hazel nothing. Told her of no gift, of no inheritance.
There was always a chance she would never notice, after all.
A slim chance, but a chance nonetheless.
