The vegetable garden had been eaten through by rats. Rosly stood at the edge of the beds, her hands on her hips, staring at the chewed carrots and torn tomato vines.
She frowned deeply.
"Do you know how hard it is to grow plants?" she said out loud, speaking to the rats she couldn't even see. "Weeks of care. Water. Patience."
A leaf rustled nearby.
Rosly sighed and shook her head. "You could have taken just a little," she muttered. "But no. You had to feast like kings."
She knelt down, brushing dirt from a half-eaten carrot. "I should turn you all into frogs," she warned calmly. "Or stones. I haven't decided yet."
"I think they'd appreciate being neither." a male voice said dryly.
Rosly was startled and she sprang to her feet. Her heart jumped as she spun around. There was a stranger standing at the edge of the garden.
Kaelith stood a few steps away. Kaelith had wandered around back after they had been knocking several times without an answer.
