Step 1: Planting and nurturing those plum seeds
Ever the collector, Condor just can't stand the idea of something being lost to the collective. Once he'd finally scavenged some fruits off of Aldrathis' prized tree and pored over the Emeraldite horticultural guide all entrants had received when the seeds were auctioned off, he asked Beroe for some assistance in getting to work.
To begin with, he needed to extract the seed; This was simple enough work, simply cutting the pit away from the flesh of the fruit itself, and cutting out the seeds carefully with a used pair of goldsmith's pliers. So that he has multiple seeds ready, Condor takes the time to do this with multiple pits- The fruits themselves are handed off to his husband to experiment with, making jam or custards or what-have-you. As per Beroe's instructions, he allows them to soak in a cold, damp place to germinate for a few weeks. Off to the food shed they go!
In the meantime, Condor digs his shovel into the ground and begins on digging a hole where the chosen seed would be planted. She'd advised him to make it "around a foot or two deep"- Awfully deep, he'd thought, but he supposed she was the expert.
Finding materials for mulch was not so difficult; Old greens such as fruit peels and other organic materials like bonemeal were mixed with coffee grounds, fish oil and plenty of woodchips and leaves. Condor had also especially used some activated gemstones he'd seen Beroe use that were associated with plant growth. He ground those gemstones up into a fine enchanted powder, mixing all of the material together. The seeds themselves are dipped in some water and zircon powder to direct the magic energies to that conduit. Condor then finally covers the seed in new soil with some of the wild dust mixed in, watering it right away.
It's in this stage that he wonders whether the plant needed to be struck now in order to grow fruits later, or if it were safer to smite it later on so it might flower... Better start off safe than sorry, he supposed. Condor prepares an array of thunder-aligned gemstones and zircon, sparking in the soil. Fastening a copper rod into the earth just above the planted seed, he holds a Meadow Stone by its chain and calls a bolt of lightning to strike that spot from the heavens.
... That was probably enough, right? He allows the area to spark for a while, hairs at the back of his neck raised. Condor keeps the gemstones there, but when he gets the chance (and the PPE) he discards the copper rod. He covers the topmost layer with a few inches of the mulch he'd prepared. To his understanding, he didn't need fertilizer at all at this stage, but Beroe had given him notes on that as well... once he needed them.
While he waits for the roots and sprout to grow, he'd been told to keep a very vigilant eye on that spot- Animals would be attracted to the smell, but he wasn't too sure whether they'd find it so attractive with the surrounding earth so conductive. Whenever the soil appeared dry, Condor took to watering that spot. Only once or twice a week should have been sufficient, anymore and it'd waterlog the roots.
