Clean Up Clean Up

Fia would not take long to decide on where she wanted to help out. The pup volunteered to give the gardens some tender love and care, and Irilyth responded with a gentle, almost matronly smile. "Then the gardens are where we'll start!" she declared, turning on her heels to lead the little princess out of the familial den and down the mountainous path toward the herb gardens. Once their paws touched the loamy soil at the base of the mountains, the gardens were only a short hop, skip, and a jump before the two wolves had arrived. With so few healers in Elysium at the moment, the gardens themselves were not very large, containing only the most essential medicinal herbs that did not naturally grow on Alias Island. Because the gardens were made up mostly of plants that were foreign to the northern territories, it was especially important that the wolves cultivated them carefully and with rigorous attention. One wrong move could kill a crop and completely remove a medicine from the pack's inventory.

Irilyth did not take Fiametta's quietness as standoffish. She understood the mannerisms of the little Mendacium princess well; as the pups' nanny, she had seen all of them as they grew up and developed into the wolves they would become, first with Avacyn and Saracyn, and now again with Fiametta. Without the need for any instruction, the fire-marked pup immediately went about pruning up the weeds from amongst the flowers and herbs. Iri supervised for a moment while her tiny paws worked with vigor, and when she was pleased with Fia's efforts, she too joined in, moving with practiced precision through the garden to rip up any weeds she found and remove the excess leaf litter from the nearby trees. "You're doing excellent work so far, Fia!" the sandy blonde wolf complimented her small assistant. "Many of these plants are very sensitive, and I'm sure they appreciate you being so careful with them."

With the two of them working in tandem together, it did not take long for them to clear up the gardens. What would have taken the healer a good couple of hours on her own was shaping up to be done in just over one. While they worked, Irilyth would pause to tell Fia about each of the plants they worked around. She did not know if the girl would have a desire or aptitude to learn more about botany or medicine, but it never hurt to try to cultivate a young mind's interests as early and as often as possible! As they neared the end of the weeding and pruning, Irilyth noticed Fia beginning to pause and look around as if searching for more to do. The fae also paused and looked about, noticing the amount of fallen sticks strewn across the gardens from the overhanging trees. "Fia, would you be a dear and gather up all the sticks from the gardens while I finish up here?" she asked. "The big sticks can sometimes prevent new shoots from growing properly, and we don't want that happening. Just gather them up and put them in a pile off to the side. We'll get rid of them later." With that, Irilyth returned to pruning up the herbs, collecting excess growths to use in medicines while making sure no weeds remained to inhibit the good plants' growth.

WC: 562
Total: 1505 / 1500

"Irilyth"