wildflower and barley

He stuck his tongue out at his diminutive sister when she apologized for scaring him, features scrunched up and tail wagging. Once the alfalfa was secured in the earth, he quickly backtracked to the den to shove some freshly overturned dirt into a wooden bowl. It was a bit of a hassle to go back and forth, but at least he was getting a decent workout. The young man's pink pawpads were stained brown-black with loamy soil by the time he was packing the last of the soil into the hollow around the alfalfa sprouts.

"I haven't seen too much of you lately," he chirped as he peered over her shoulder to examine her progress. Not bad. In the back of his mind, the yearling was already plotting out a little experiment. He'd keep an eye on which patches he'd planted, and the ones his sister had planted. If hers thrived more than his, he wouldn't bother transplanting future seedlings with underground-harvested earth. "what have you been up to?" Nim asked as he ambled over to collect another of his purloined transplants. After a moment of deliberation, he selected a wormwood cluster. He wanted to have some handy for when the insects were back in full force once spring was upon them.

"Nimbus"