A/N: Originally posted to my AO3 account. Essentially the setup for the timeline taking place within my upcoming Without Destiny series.

Originally, the southwestern region of Erion was almost purely desert. A river did flow through the dry landscape bringing yearly floods that left moist mud upon its banks, but nothing really grew there and the rest of the land was mostly sand and rocks. That all changed when the Valentinians came to the continent several centuries before the war that ultimately destroyed their kingdom.

Advanced magic and irrigation technology ensured that the brittle dust coating the ground was turned into fertile farmland for the Valentinians to grow their crops. Trees, flowers, and shrubs were planted in the new soil and caused the whole desert to burst into bloom during the spring and summer months while autumn yielded harvests of the sweetest fruits and vegetables. The fairies of Ringford were amazed—several decades ago, they wouldn't have even thought to leave the forest to explore territories to the west, but now the Valentinians made them a little curious for all the green that they had brought to the land. Still, their overuse of Phozons made them rather weary of the possibility that they could be used as fuel to further their advancement, so they kept their distance and simply watched.

Their interest turned into panic when the Valentine was engulfed in a great flash of light and the verdant fields once again became shifting dunes.

Mercedes had been told these tales from the days when she was a toddler and while she was used to seeing Valentine as a bitter reminder of what power could do to a nation, she remained…uneasy. If the technology of Valentine had been so great as to turn a desert into greenery, then why couldn't they do it again? She didn't want to accidentally cause a catastrophe, but she felt that the ruins of Valentine could be turned into something much nicer than a somber grave. And it would be a nice gift to the Pooka. They always did look at the ruins with longing, she noticed, and they were always so helpful in the kingdom. It would be nice to give them a little something to make them happy.

She knew that there was no way she could use the Cauldron to help in her plan to restore the desert, so she decided to work little by little. Whenever she wasn't busy attending to Ringford's affairs in Erion, she would journey into the ruins and settle herself upon the ground near an old temple that had supposedly been dedicated in memory of Princess Ariel. It made sense, as the stone seemed to be much newer compared to the rest of the ruins and statues weren't nearly as withered as other sculptures. And here, where she found the ground to surprisingly retain some fertility, she began to work.

She always brought a sack of seeds with her whenever she came here and used the phozons stored within her bow to great effect when planting them. While the seeds within her bag were of many varieties, she initially only used mulberries and didn't overdose them in phozons like she normally would when growing food on the road. She would release them slowly over the course of several days, giving the plants a chance to grow more naturally with only a gentle push to help them establish their roots.

When the plants were close to bearing fruit, that's when she brought in the baromett seeds.

The same process was used to help the famous sheep-bearing trees sprout. Slowly, bit by bit, not too fast and not too slow. At one point, she did have to quicken the pace though—the mulberries had almost ripened and the sheep still weren't ready to be born. If the mulberries stayed on the branches too long, they would become overripe and then all her work would be for naught.

On the day that she planned to give the barometts the final push to bring forth her sheep, she was startled to find that someone had discovered her cleverly hidden mulberry patch, but also found relief.

The girl stood atop the stone block that hid the garden from direct view and blinked at the red-clothed woman and the blue pooka examining the patch. They were whispering quietly to each other while prodding the red berries and kept asking the same question over and over.

"Who would plant a garden in a former warzone?" The Pooka Prince named Cornelius asked. "Tis a wasteland out here—the thought of a forest's green being here is unbelievable."

"I don't know…" Valentine's surviving princess said softly. Mercedes now knew her as Velvet, the thief who had stolen Titrel from the fairies shortly before the mantle of Fairy Queen had been passed to her. She had since forgiven her for her crime due to personal reasons, although there was still an air of uneasiness between them.

Cornelius gave one of the baromett trees a gentle poke. "The sheep are wiggling inside. Someone is clearly planning to feed these mulberries to them rather than slaughter them upon birth. But why?"

Mercedes gulped loudly, but remained firm. She hopped off the stone block and spoke up, voice wavering slightly. "So that their dung can be used as fertilizer, of course." Cornelius and Velvet turned to her and she jolted as they looked at her in surprise. Although startled, she put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly. "Fairies know how plants work, you know."

The links of Graveryl jingled as Velvet shifted her weight. "You know, there are plenty of other places you could have picked to create a farm, your majesty. The confines of your forest, for instance." She saw the way the princess was eying her sack and her muscles slackened slightly.

"Well, it seems dumb to leave so much land unattended to, you know," Mercedes kept herself from looking at the two in the eye. "Especially considering that the people of Valentine originally made this desert into something full of life. I'm just…just…"

Cornelius's long ears were twitching in curiosity. "I'm distinctly reminded of times I believed as a child I could face off against a manticore without help. Eventually I found out I was more than capable, but that was only after I had grown into a young man, was cursed, and had gotten a magic sword."

Mercedes could feel the sweat beading on her forehead. She heard Velvet giggle softly and snapped her gaze to her, a pout forming on her lips. "What's so funny?"

"Just…you're trying to accomplish so grand as to once again turn the Valentinian desert into a verdant paradise and yet you're doing it all by yourself," her voice danced between a snicker and something forlorn. She wiped at her eyes and smiled sadly. "Why haven't you asked your subjects for help?"

A lump formed in the fairy's throat and she blinked back tears. "Because…it's not in Ringford's interests. Even if the subjects were ordered to, what would happen if the Demon Lord found out? He would think that the fairies were being greedy and trying to expand their holdings. We already ended one war. I don't want to accidentally start another…"

The wind whispered. The baromett plants bobbed. Cornelius's expression contorted and he turned to Velvet, paws curling into fists while his eyes burned with determination

"Princess Velvet, this is your kingdom that you and Ingway are the surviving heirs to. What do you think? Should it be green again?"

Velvet put her finger to her lower lip, eyelids lowered slightly while she evidently thought about it. Mercedes could feel her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach, as she felt she was going to say it was stupid and that she should stop.

And maybe…she would pulls the plants up…

"Ingway and I aren't going to live long enough to rule over Valentine if the kingdom is ever revived," Velvet eventually said, causing Mercedes to look at her. "I would like to see the Pooka being more comfortable moving about the ruins at least…" her lips curved upwards and she approached the baromett trees, one of Graveryl's blood red crystals rising and releasing phozons. Several bleats were heard as the leaves pulled away to reveal several young lambs trying to break away from the plants' hold and the princess turned to the fairy queen.

"Why don't we let the Pooka know?"

Mercedes felt her chest flutter. For the first time, she actually felt a connection with her former enemy and grinned as they began to help free the sheep.

Ingway thought the project was stupid, although he wouldn't voice such opinions. If he did, he could only imagine how disheartened Mercedes would be.

He only knew because Velvet had told him. She had been excited, if a little worried-sounding when she explained the plan to revive the soil of Valentine. The Pooka liked it, although they knew that it would slow the hunt for the coins if they got too involved, so instead they managed to convince Mercedes to present it to the fairies as something of a service to honor those who had died during the Cauldron War. Cornelius also passed a note to the king of Titania and some archaeologists and magicians from his home country had come to procure and research the scrolls holding the mysteries of Valentine's irrigation technology and the magic that they had used to change sand into soil.

The prince watched from his perch atop the watchtower ruins while men, women, pooka, and fairies darted between collapsed pillars with sacks and chests in hand. Sometimes, he caught sight of Velvet and Cornelius among the chaos giving orders and directing people to where they needed to go and other times, he thought he might have seen a flash of Mercedes's beautiful butterfly wings.

He hadn't seen so many bright greens since his boyhood. It still didn't compare to what the kingdom had been in its heyday, but the touch of life was showing through. Some trees that had survived the magical explosion and had barely been clinging to dunes had even been properly returned to the soil and appeared much healthier than in times past. He could at least give credit to that.

A distinct fluttering noise filled his ears and his breath hitched. A few pieces of gravel fell off the windowsill where he was seated and he turned his head in acknowledgement to the fairy that had arrived.

"Interesting development you have here, your majesty," he said with forced smile. "I haven't seen the ruins so busy since the Aesir and Vanir were slaughtering each other here."

"Nice dark humor," Mercedes rolled her eyes as she sat across from him. She looked rather shy. "Sorry I didn't tell you when I first started."

Ingway tilted his head. "I don't hate you for it. You initially wanted to keep it a secret and…"

"Velvet said you reacted badly when she told you," Mercedes interrupted him. The prince's lips were poised to continue, but his words had been lost. He closed his mouth as a bitter guilt weighed on his shoulders yet again. Mercedes drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin upon them.

"I understand why you think it's pointless. I mean…you told me what happened that day with you and the Cauldron…and the Pooka…" She smiled. "They actually adore you, you know? Say that you don't visit village enough…" She paused and looked up at him. "Can you come with me? There's something I want to show you."

The sorcerer was very quiet. He gulped, threw away his hesitation, and brought his legs over the windowsill as he prepared to jump off the tower, a weightlessness spell being cast. "Where to?"

Mercedes stood up and flapped her wings. "Velvet said it was called Marguerite Field before the disaster."

Daisies.

There were so many daisies.

Mercedes was having difficulty withholding her laughter as she watched Ingway look around in astonishment. Hel, even though there was a lot of green around the ruins now, this plot of land seemed to have been carefully tended to with outmost care so that the air was actually crisp and lacked any sort of choking dust.

"Velvet and I used to play here so much when we were younger and our mother was still alive," he murmured. "It looks exactly like it was back then."

Mercedes stepped to his front and bounced on her heels. "Then…do you like it? Is this at least worth it?"

To her shock, she could only watch as he fell backward on to the grass with his arms spread out and his eyes closed, as though he had fainted. When she looked down, she realized that he had the most blissful expression on his face.

"That's it. I'm dead. My mother's curse finally has its hold on me. Mourn for me, Mercedes. I am in Hel."

Mercedes finally let her laughter get the better of her and she held her stomach as she doubled over. "I think you mean heaven, you dummy," tears were streaming down her cheeks as she watched him move his arms and legs like he was making a snow angel.

Unknown to them, Gwendolyn and Oswald were watching them quietly from a distance. At Velvet's request, they had arrived to view how the revival project was going and this sight was stirring something mighty pleasant in them.

"Oswald, you said thanks to your father you never really got to know Mercedes well," Gwendolyn rubbed the gold ring on her left finger gently. "Do you want to know her now?"

Oswald snorted. "For now, I'd leave her be. She's too busy making others happy."