God's Garden Altar

The vibrant orange and creams of the young woman's coat almost blended in with the fiery surroundings of the autumn landscape that painted the God's Garden. Syanna approached the shrine of the mother deity, carrying a small wicker basket in her jaws. She passed by so many wolves also making the pilgrimage to deliver offerings to the entity, and already she feared she would be too late or her tribute too meager in comparison. Did the gods concern themselves over things like that? She supposed she had no way of knowing for sure, but she had put a lot of effort into this in vain hope of finding a cure for her ailment with her faith; she couldn't just turn around and give up now. The family of tenrecs continued to tend to the shrine, shuffling about the tributes and cleaning and decorating the altar to the mother and child entities. Syanna paused at the edge of the altar, looking up into the smiling alabaster faces of dam and child, her heart aching in her chest. Would she ever get a chance to know the joy these nameless beings knew?

Taking a deep breath, Syanna approached the altar, setting the wicker basket down at the paws of the mother and pulling back the red checkerboard cloth that covered the contents. Inside the cloth were an assortment of medicines and decoctions she'd prepared, all various colors of liquids contained in small glass bottles, a dozen in total. "I don't have much to offer, but what I do have are the skills I've learned with my new family. I've learned to make medicines and supplements to help keep you healthy and strong." She slid the basket closer with careful petite paws, gesturing to the assortment. "The purple ones are elderberry and ginseng extracts to help the immune system, especially in growing pups. The whitish ones are marshmallow, boneset, and meadowsweet, for curing colds and flus. And the clear ones are motherwort and alfalfa, in case you want to have any more pups." Syanna looked up to the mother statue, tucking the medicines back into the blanket with a wistful smile. "I hope I still have the chance to one day have a family, like you. I might have ruined that for myself, but I'll hold on to that hope for the rest of my days if I have to."

With her offering made, Syanna looked back to the massive tenrec family with the same sad smile, imagining the family of her own that she may never have beyond her imaginations. "Have a happy fall," she bid the little familiars with a kind tip of her head before making her way back home.

"Syanna Alluráin"