Creating Fusion

The warning growls brought the young lady's head up and her attention shifted to focus on the approaching form of a rather large man. Obsidian ears swiveled forward catching his words. He seemed friendly enough and Iki was trying to put herself out there more. A single nod from the soot and snow princess calmed the akita's and they went about their duty. They stuck close just in case the friendly exterior was just a façade.

Turning her attention to the man instead of her task, Iki dipped her head in greeting. "Ikigai of Ashen," she gave her name simply, no longer comfortable giving her birth title. "I am looking for plants as well. Are you looking for anything in particular?" One dark brow lifted as she questioned him. Ikigai had moved back and forth over this stretch of land a few times, searching for the most ideal of saplings before she made her final decision.

One ink dipped paw raised, motioning for the blue and white brute to approach. If he was interested in plants, perhaps he would be interested in hearing about what she had found. "I traveled recently with the alpha's of Ashen and Fenmyre," she began. "On my travels I saw two trees that had melded to become one new tree. I have it in mind to try to recreate this, but I need to find the proper saplings to take back to Ashen."

Ikigai didn't only like beautiful things, she appreciated things that served a purpose. Something that, if her experiment worked, would be useful for the pack. Marbled eyes shifted to the tall man again. "I believe that I can graft two fruit trees together so that both apples and pears grow from the same tree. And this," Iki tapped a small, sweet smelling sapling with one delicate paw, "Will be my test subject. I just need to transplant it to somewhere closer to the palace." It would be easier to keep an eye on and tend to if it was close to home.

Paws began to move the earth gently away from the roots of the small tree. They were already deep for its age, but not so deep that she couldn't safely pull them free. Again and again soft paws swept the dirt away until the young tree began coming loose. One of the akitas stood by with a large piece of cloth, ready to wrap the roots within so that they could take it back with them. Moving a few paces away from the brute. Ikigai repeated the action with a second tree. She could tell the difference by the shapes of the small leaves and soon had both an apple and a pear tree ready to be taken back to Ashen where she would perform her experiment.

After parting ways with the blue patched man, Iki made her way back to Ashen with the dogs. Once there, she chose a suitable place where the saplings would get optimum sunlight. Carefully, she planted the little trees close to one another. She wouldn't be grafting them now, but would wait until their roots took hold and they were healthy enough for her to try. Over the course of a few weeks, the young trees would grow and thrive, their trunks becoming thicker and their leaves growing rich and bright. She'd done that part correctly, at least. Her transplants had been a success. Perhaps in a season she would begin the grafting process. It was her intent to graft an apple branch onto the pear tree and a pear branch onto the apple tree. Hopefully one of them would take and Ashen would have two interesting, fruit producing trees.

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"Ikigai"