The greatest gift in the garden

Her companions wasted no time moving off to sniff out something of worth, and Sedna struck out on her own path, eyes turning upwards to the tree trunks. She thought she spotted what she was after and tipped her head to send Otis up the towering trunk to check when Fuji’s question turned her ear. She padded closer to her smallest child and looked at lobed leaves and the small white flowers that were quickly turning to fruit. “That it is, we can use th’ berries ‘n flowers in teas. Gather some up, an’ we’ll take it back ter show Tori.”

Tenshi had found something of interest too, but before Sedna could check in with her, Rheum also called for attention. She wanted to take a closer look at this one to make sure it wasn’t cowbane. Meadowsweet, yarrow and the water hemlock could all look scarily similar from a distance. She leaned in close to give it a sniff and a smile came to her lips. “It is! Good job. Be careful if yer ever see one where the flowers are more circular an’ spaced out. There are some poisons that look similar, an’ they both grow in damp soil. It has a different smell too, if I ever find some, I’ll make sure ter show yer th’ difference.”

Otis had made his way down the tree and worked to erase the cranky look off his face when he saw that Sedna was helping her daughters, it wasn’t like she had deliberately left him behind to do all the work. He held out the bright orange flesh of a fungus and the Archer woman took a cautious sniff. It was Chaga after all, and she gave a nod. Not that any of them were old enough to be suffering memory problems yet, but it didn’t hurt to take some as a precaution. “Let’s gather up a bit more before we head home.” She said to her companion, heading towards where Tenshi was working.

“‘S’lookin’ promisin’. What have yer found there?”

“Speech”