The Garden, Monday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Karla thrust her fingers deep into the earth, sending little tendrils of Craft to all the plants, strengthening their root systems, preparing them for the oncoming winter. Oh, this plant was thin and struggling--she sent it some extra power to fortify it. Over there, run-off water had leeched away some of nutrients from the soil--Karla used some of her own energies to make the soil healthy again and also reshaped things a bit, so that the water would drain helpfully into the garden, rather than overflowing and taking away the land's vitality the way it had before.

Honestly, the garden was beautiful, healthy, and well-maintained. There was little for her to do; even the plants needed only the tiniest nudge from her to make sure they were prepared for their seasonal sleep. It didn't matter though--Queens needed contact with the land just as much--or more--than the land needed them. Just being with the land soothed and centered Karla, helping her work past the horrors of a few weekends past. Working in the garden helped in a way no one and nothing else could. Her friends were wonderful, her teachers understanding, but the land was a part of her.

Besides, there was something to be said about being good and grubby. She was in her oldest clothing, dirt smudged on her face and embedded under her nails, knees and elbows stained the dark brown of rich soil.

In all, Karla felt better than she had in weeks.

[Forecast is open with a chance of SP]

Comments

[living_endless]

Didi was walking around the grounds, kicking leaves into the air and letting them fall. It soothed her.

"Hey, Karla," she said. "I didn't know you gardened."

[OOC: I will be AFK for about 3 hours after 4:30, but SP is made of cookies and puppies?]

[future_sandworm]

Leto hadn't been in the garden for a long time. Just passing through it on his way back from a walk, he stopped as he saw Karla. She seemed in her element here, all covered in dirt, and regal in a way that a Fremen girl did covered in dust from the desert.

"Karla?" He called her name quietly, almost reluctant to interfere.

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced up and smiled. "Didi, hi!" she said, sitting back on her heels. She hadn't really had a chance to talk to the other girl since the incredibly awesome slightly disatrous party in September. "Good to see you."

She glanced around the garden and smiled. "I don't know if what I do is technically gardening," she said, gently reinterring an earthworm she'd accidentally dug up. "I grow some plants back home" mostly poisons, la "and I love working with the land, but I rarely go out and weed or anything. I think Ino deserves most of the credit for this. I'm just here, making sure the land and the plants are ready for winter." She tilted her head. "Do you garden much?"

[And rainbows and unicorns!]

[glacial_queen]

Karla, had she known of it, would have been very pleased with that comparison. "Leto," she said, glancing up at him and smiling. "How are you?"

She absently tucked a few tendrils of hair behind her ear, leaving another trail of dirt across her cheek. "Enjoying the weather?"

It should be noted that by this time of year, Glacia would already have snow on the ground.

[future_sandworm]

He looked up at the sky. "At least it's not raining," he said. "I'm fine, and yourself? And the plants?"

He crouched down next to her.

[glacial_queen]

Karla laughed a bit at that and obligingly shifted a bit so Leto would have some room to crouch without getting all mucky. "The plants are doing really well. I'm doing...better," she answered. The 'better' was accompanied by a small nod, as if she hadn't been entirely certain if it was the truth until she said it. "There isn't much for me to do here. Just making sure all the plants are prepared for winter."

[future_sandworm]

"Better?" He smiled at her, his voice light enough so that she shouldn't feel obliged to explain further if she didn't want to. He expected Karla to trust him enough to tell him the things she wanted him to know.

[glacial_queen]

"Better," Karla said, nodding again. "Two weeks ago, I went home for a bit. Found out some really horrible news. I tried to help my best friend out by taking away her nightmares and ended up getting caught in them later on. They weren't my memories, but I ended up experiencing them as if they were mine. It was--" There were no words for what it was like.

Even now, Karla couldn't think about Briarwood without shuddering. She tried to disguise it by turning towards a plant and plucking off some of the dead and dying leaves, but doubted that Leto would be fooled by something so transparent.

"I was fine until I got back here. I had to keep being strong for her, so by the time I got back, my defenses had worn through. I ended up getting lost in my inner landscape. Some people--Dinah, Ben, a few others--ended up going in after me. They saw some--awful things."

She stopped to examine a leaf, looking at it as if it had all the answered locked away in its veins somewhere. "But I'm dealing. Moving on. Getting better. All that stuff. It's uphill work, but..." She slanted Leto a look, remembering their last chat in the garden. "How do you deal with the memories that aren't your own? Does it ever get to the point where you can't tell the difference?"

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Jack had gone out for a run and found Karla messing around in the dirt. He waved. "Got some dirt on you," he said helpfully, smiling.

[glacial_queen]

"Ever the observant one," she retorted with a smile, swiping at her nose. Which only made it dirtier, really.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"Brownnoser," he stated, with a shrug, still smiling. Okay, okay, she probably caught him sticking his tongue out, too.

[glacial_queen]

Karla might have been more offended if she knew what that term meant, but as it were, it only had her swiping at her nose again. And also sticking her tongue out in retaliation.

As you do.

"Nyah," she responded, eloquently.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

It was a look Leda appreciated. "Hey pretty lady. Mind some company?"

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Well, since they were in a garden, Jack offered her a raspberry: "Phbbbbbbt!"

[living_endless]

Didi didn't realize it had been that long. October had been that kind of month.

She shook her head. "I'm very good at sitting in other people's gardens," she said, mock-solemnly. "I can take or leave the work."

[onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com]

"Wow," Hayley said, having been wandering aimlessly herself. She'd been rather surprised to see Karla. And more so to see her with her hands dirty.

"You lose something?" she asked, thinking that would explain it. Perhaps Karla had dropped a ring or something like that.

[glacial_queen]

He was just lucky the tomatoes had all been plucked. "Why Jack," Karla said with feigned surprise, "you're being unnaturally eloquent today!"

[glacial_queen]

Karla shook her head, giving Haley a bright grin. "Nope," she answered. "If I'd lost something, I just use Craft to find it again. I like mucking about in the earth is all. Besides, someone needs to make sure the plants are ready for winter."

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced up and smiled. "Hey there yourself," she said. "Don't mind company at all--so long as you don't mind me mucking about in the garden while you're here."

[glacial_queen]

It really had been.

"Well, I can't really say that I'm doing all that much, so there's not a lot of work to leave," Karla said with a smile. "But you're more than welcome to sit. You might get dirty though," she said, looking hesitant. "Though if you're worried about that, I can make you a seat."

[onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com]

"So what, you're making little coats for them?" Hayley joked.

Yes, joked. She wasn't that dim.

[glacial_queen]

"Don't be silly," Karla said severely. "Plants don't wear coats."

Beat.

"They get socks and booties, of course," she said, giving Haley a sly half-smile. "As is only proper."

[onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com]

"Little mittens?" Hayley asked. "Connected with yarn?"

She liked that thought.

[glacial_queen]

"And hats," Karla decided. "With little woolly pom-poms on them."

[onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com]

Hayley giggled. "That'd be silly," she said. "But apparently you make an excellent plant mom."

She bent down to look at what Karla was doing more carefully. "One of those little simple hobbies for the big important queen, huh?"