Alessio stood with his hands on his hips, watching his wife disappear into the distance yet again. He couldn't help sighing. Liss was certainly having the time of her life today, getting to take part in so many interesting things.
He turned to Hill, then paused. "I'll catch those fish for you!"
"I can do it myself," Hill said quickly.
"The silverfish are used to my scent. Someone else would unsettle them, and once frightened, they won't eat for days." Alessio waved him off and hurried to catch the fish.
But after catching one, he couldn't stop stroking it, deep in thought.
Hill knew the scholar, who was sensitive to life force, had noticed the surge of vitality in the silverfish. An ordinary Druid's Natural Blessing would never strengthen even the fish in the water the way Hill's did.
But Hill also possessed Water Law divine magic and the blessings of the sun and moon. His idea of nature had always been broad: from the sun and moon above to fungi deep underground, and even microscopic bacteria, he considered it all part of nature. That made his Natural Blessing almost as powerful as one cast by an avatar of the Father of Nature.
On Toril, perhaps only a god like the Father of Oaks, who truly saw nature as a whole, could cast such an all-encompassing Natural Blessing.
Many Archdruids who worshiped the Father of Oaks understood this too, but only after years of cultivation. The divine magic they had learned was difficult to change, so they could only divide their blessings into those for plants and those for animals. Many Druids' blessings even passed over predators.
After all, being a Druid depended heavily on one's beliefs. Once their thinking slipped, climbing back was hard.
Hill smiled faintly. He had