"What will you be teaching me today?"
As he spins around Trixie notices his left hand has been bandaged up. It's not hard to imagine some experiment gone wrong or him dropping something on it while not paying attention. Likely off in another universe while under a teetering anvil and forgetting to bring his body with him.
"We're going to do some gardening," Anonymous replies nonchalantly.
"Don't you have clay doing that?"
"Yes, but he ruined a few of my plants. Plus, I'd like to try and get you to make your own."
"My own... Plant?"
Anonymous nods.
"What can I get it to do? Like can I make it a poisonous flower? Or maybe one that makes people sneeze? Or it eats really rotten ponies?"
"Well, that depends on you I suppose," Anonymous nervously chuckles.
With a giddy glee and pleased pounce, Trixie skips outdoors where Clay has finished his work and sits in the shade. A few birds and Grandma Poss have taken up refuge on the heap of mobile soil and all watch Anonymous and Trixie.
"Right, well, first things first. A demonstration I think."
Anonymous grabs a few small bags of seed. There's a large variety of flowers that he sets down on the outdoor table, each packet with a picture of the fully grown flower on it.
"Now, in order to make your flower, we need to combine a few seeds. This will be rather difficult for you to do, so I'll do it. You're going to try making it grow once we plant it. So choose at least... say... Three flowers? Yes, at least."
The wizard takes a seat, grunting something about his back as he does, and strokes his beard as Trixie looks over all the different flowers.
"Is there a maximum?"
"Hmm... No more than... Ten, I suppose. It gets messy if there are any more than that."
A few of the plants even have effects written on them. Sleeping aid, dreamless nights, and incontinence. Though the latter makes no mention whether it causes or cures. But every colour and shape imaginable seems to be here.
"No-laan-ah So-lan-ah-ke-ah-e? kea-e? Ki-ae?
"Nolana Solanaceae. If you look under the Latin there are the more commonly known names."
"Nightshade? Well, obviously some of that."
"What about a pretty rose?"
Trixie looks back at him with an unimpressed stare is if he said something painfully droll.
"Yes, I didn't think so," Anonymous chuckles.
"Blue rose? There are blue ones? I thought they were just red and white."
"Oh, they come in a variety of colours. All meaning different things, like, the blue is meant to mean something like the impossible, or immortality."
"Blue roses are immortal?"
"No, it's just some rubbish that poets prescribe to the blasted things. I'm a scholar, not a poet. If you ask me, if there were fewer poets in the world then language wouldn't be so complicated."
Trixie just nods, Anonymous' words mostly flowing in one ear and out the other as he continues to ramble on about poetry. As Trixie was one of those straight shooters and boyish types, she'll never admit it, but she liked poetry. There is something nice about being able to paint with words. But that's a secret that only her and a few very well hidden books in her room know about. Stealthily, she pushes a blue rose seed over to the pile she is making.
"Chamomile?" Trixie shrugs as she sifts through the flowers, "Moonflower, Borage, and Honeysuckle. That should do it."
Before Trixie can say another word, Anonymous appears behind her and scoops the seeds she chose into his hand. His grip closes and tightens as it glows dimly. Before long, Anonymous unfurls his hand to reveal a single seed.
"And what do you call it?"
"That's it? I was kind of expecting a little more show--"
"Trixie, name it."
"Uh... Can I stall for time?" Trixie asks when she draws a blank.
Anonymous just patiently holds out the seed in front of her as he waits. Trixie runs through various names, like Lulamoonflower, but they all have an odd sound to them or just don't seem the right fit.
"How about you name it once it grows then?"
Trixie nods. Then Anonymous grabs a ceramic pot and shovels a bit of dirt with his hand in it. The little seed is dropped on top of the soil before being pushed gently beneath with his index finger.
"Now, you need to grow it."
"How do I do that?"
"Intuition. Simple stuff."
Trixie rolls her eyes.
"You should know this by now Trixie. Just use your magic with the intent of making this grow. Think of sun, water, and life. Make it take root," instructs Anonymous in a passionate voice.
Focusing hard on the sun, trees, plants, water, and healthy soil, Trixie tries to channel all her magical being into the seed resting in the dirt. She holds her focus until she is blue in the face, more blue than usual that is, then she gives up.
"You're quitting too early and taking too long to cast the spell," chastises Anonymous.
"Anon, that's a contradiction."
He gets up from his seat then once Trixie's words reach his ears, Anon steps back in a state of ecstatic shock.
"You called me Anon," he beams.
"So?"
"Well, it means you're getting familiar with me."
"No, I'm not."
"Oh, don't try to spoil this for me now. I like it. Anon. A nickname."
The overly pleased wizard squats down and pats Trixie on the withers in an overly friendly display of companionship. Trixie shrugs him off, so he tussles her mane a little.
"Quit it."
"Say it again," his smile growing wider.
"Nope."
"If you do, I'll tell you how to make the plant grow," Anon says in a sing-song tune.
Ugh... Anon."
Like a greedy child at the carnival that just the got the super-dooper sized fairy floss they screamed for, Anon claps and cheers to himself before composing himself to return back to the teacher role he is supposed to be playing.
"Right," he declares as he clasps his hands together, "Let me guess. You were thinking of the flower, yes?"
"How else am I going to make it grow?" asks Trixie dismissively.
"You're trying to take the easy way," Anon grabs a seed from the 'Stargazer' packet and places it inside a small bit of dirt in his hand.
"Intuition IS the easy way. You said that."
"No, it is your way. I never said it'd be easy."
"I like the easy way, anyway that is mine has to be the easy way."
Anon shakes his head as he holds out his hand, "You don't believe that. Otherwise, you would be studying in your spare time and you wouldn't trek all the way out here for me. There is an easy way, and there is the right way."
The little seedling in his hand begins to sprout roots that spread beyond the small offering of dirt in Anon's coarse and wizened hand. Then the seedling splits and produces a small green pole that steadily grows a leaf. The size grows and grows until the stem is firm where a bud creeps from the top and eventually blooms. It unfurls its white petals to expose the deeper pink and nectar strands within.
"Every living thing starts at the beginning. And just like anything else, if this flower skipped a few steps in its growth, it would come out wrong. It would be a warped and twisted reminder of what it failed to become. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"
Trixie warily nods, not entirely sure. If it's the lesson, she definitely gets it's. She can't make the flower bloom because everything else is missing. But something about his eyes that look like they are reading her every thought seems to suggest he wants something more than that. She finds herself avoiding eye contact, choosing to stare at the pot where her seed resides.
"I hope you do," Anon remarks, his face creasing into a worrisome look.
With a widened stance and a better grasp of the process, Trixie focuses on her seed. She pictures it in her mind, just a touch out of reach and imagines a small root tendril reaching out. It worms it's way downwards in the soil as that's where the water is. She uses the root's own thirst to drive it until it has a bearing.
"Feeling okay?"
The sudden break in Trixie's concentration causes her to take a deep breath, like as if she were drowning and only just came up for air. Her face feels tingly as the feeling returns. And then the light-headedness hits. Trixie teeters and wobbles for a moment as she tries to brace herself, her centre of gravity is as stable as a spinning top.
"I get that you're eager. But don't put too much too fast," warns Anon.
Trixie takes a deep breath and focuses once again. Now she is determined. A sense of being underestimated drives her, challenges her, and scares her into putting everything into it. She feels the seedling and its roots once again then drives her mind further. A burning sensation can be felt from her horn and Trixie fills her entire consciousness with the seedling. The stem bursts from the soil and unfurls its leaves towards the sun to bathe in the glow. The plant's air is Trixie's air and her body runs on auto-pilot.
"Almost," she grunts under the pressure.
A little bud sprouts from the top of the stem and now Trixie's face is turning a shade of purple. Her head thunders as it tries to call her back. With a quick but deep gasp for air, Trixie pulls back once again. Now she notices the toll her body is under as the adrenaline quickly fades. Her knees quiver, sweat pours from her forehead, and a nauseating burn rises in her throat. It feels more like her body is ill.
"Please don't push that much again," Anon's sombre voice breaks through the ringing in Trixie's ears, "Here. Have some ice-cream."
Content to have something cool near her, Trixie greedily eats the bowl's contents.
"I almost did it," she pants.
"What do you mean? You did do it," Anon points to the flower bud that is now slowly spreading open.
The blue petals push forward into a wizard's hat-like shape with little yellow dots that look like stars if you look closely enough.
"You know, I'm beginning to see a tread with you."
Trixie chuckles a little.
"Well, what are you going to call it?"
"Oh, right?" recalls Trixie as her breath has still yet to catch up with her.
"Wizard's cap?"
Anon nods.
"I know you're tired. Look, you get some rest," Anon says as Trixie's head bops up and down as she tries to stay in the land of the awake, "I'll get you back to school."