The Garden, Saturday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Karla wasn't surprised when she woke up and couldn't find her Mommy or Daddy. They were often gone for hours and hours and hours, doing important Court stuff. What was weird was that she didn't recognize anyone in the castle, and there didn't seem to be any servants around to feed her.

So, rather than stay in the room she'd woken up in (also not her room--had they caught the Winds after she'd fallen asleep?) Karla had decided to go looking for people. Someone had to be taking care of her, right?

Her search had lasted right until she'd gone outside and found the garden. It was a good garden, filled with lots of healthy looking plants and deep, rich soil.

The perfect kind of soil for mud. Specifically, mud pies.

Karla forgot all about trying to find someone. Instead, she was sitting in the center of the garden, spattered with mud, patting the mud into rough pie shapes and decorating them with pretty rocks and leaves.

[Open! Come and get dirty!]

Comments

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Eventually, Jonas had decided that leaving his room would be allowed. He hadn't wanted to go too far in case he got lost but he did stumble upon Karla and her messy garden.

He didn't say anything when he arrived, instead choosing to stop and observe things before making any sort of decision on the activity.

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced up and waved, slinging even more mud on herself and the nearby plants. "Hi-hi! Wanna come play? I'm makin' mud-pies!"

She tried to hold up one of her more recent creations, this one lovingly adorned with a ring of flower petals. However, her pie couldn't maintain structural integrity off the ground and most of it landed in her lap.

Karla glanced down, shocked. And than began almost shrieking with laughter.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had managed not to notice any of the children as he dressed and left the dorms, so he was almost surprised to spot the small girl making mud pies. Another misplaced child?

"Hello there," he called. "Are you looking for anyone in particular?"

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"What's a mud pie?" Jonas asked solemnly, taking a few steps closer. "It looks messy."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

After escaping from that jerk of a prince, Merlin was left to wander about.

Fear, Fandom. Fear.

"What are you doing?"

[glacial_queen]

Oh! A grown up! Karla gave him a very big smile; maybe he'd know where the kitchens were. "My Mommy an' my Daddy," she said, standing up and giving him a tiny, albeit mud-spattered, curtsy. "My Mommy is the Queen. Do you know where she is? Or breakfast?"

At this point, Karla was a little more interested in breakfast, to tell the truth. "I'm hungry."

[glacial_queen]

"Makin' mud pies," Karla said solemnly, patting some more mud into place. "It's squishy!"

And therefore fun.

"You can help if you wanna, but only if you make good ones."

[glacial_queen]

"It's a pie made out of mud," Karla said after she was done laughing. "An' of course it's messy! That's the funnest part!"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I make good ones!" Merlin replied, not about to let that slur against his character go.

[bitten_notshy]

"I don't know where the queen is," Jack said thoughtfully, trying to weigh who among his fellow students might be meant by that. "Breakfast, I can help you with. Are rolls and eggs all right? Have you been to the castle yet?"

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"I've never made mud pies," Jonas said precisely. "Why would you make something that's messy?"

[glacial_queen]

"I was in the castle but I didn't know nobody," Karla announced. Cursty accomplished, she held out her hands, palms up, in the traditional Kaeleeran greeting. Those palms were, of course, covered in mud and flower detritus. "An' I like rolls an' eggs! Who's castle is it? Is it the Province Queen's? Can I have the rolls an' eggs now?"

Karla carefully stepped over the edge of the flower bed and held out her hands, palms up, in the traditional Kaeleeran greeting. Those palms were, of course, covered in mud and flower detritus. "Who're you? Are you part of the Court? Where are we? I want to know."

[glacial_queen]

"My cousin makes stupid ones," Karla said, because it was relevant. She shifted over a few inches and patted the mud next to her. "You can sit here an' I'll pass you some mud!"

Because there wasn't mud everywhere. Someone had found a watering can and had gotten all excited.

[glacial_queen]

"Because it's fun!" Karla explained again. "Don't you like getting messy? 'Cept when it gets in your hair and then you gotta take a bunch of baths an' your hair gets all snarly an' it takes forever to get the tangles out an' then you just cut your hair an' then everyone is mad at you an' you don't get any dessert."

All of that was said in one long, aggrieved breath.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Well, her mud was clearly superior.

"And then what do we do with them?" Generally it ended in a mud-fight with Will and being forced to go bath in the river until they were presentable for human company.

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

"I've never been allowed to get messy," Jonas admitted though he was watching the pie making with interest. "The Elders didn't allow it. Is it allowed now?"

[bitten_notshy]

Oh, Jack knew that greeting -- and by now, he knew it did not mean to kiss her hand. He responded in kind. "My name is Jack," he said. "The castle is a school, it's not really anybody's. I'm not part of the kind of court you mean."

He considered the girl a moment longer. "Is your mother's name Karla?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla began giggling. "Oh, no, silly!" she said with glee. "I'm Karla!"

Silly male!

[glacial_queen]

"We decorate them an' decide whose's prettiest," Karla said.

Generally, it ended in a mud-fight and being forced to bathe in the copper tub until they were presentable for human company.

Funny how some things transcended worlds and classes.

[glacial_queen]

That was...a very odd question. Karla had to consider it a moment.

"Well, we'll haveta take a bath when we're done," Karla said with a sigh. On the one hand, baths usually involved lots of scrubbing. On the other hand, they also usually had bubbles! "An' we can't eat with our hands all mucky or give Mommy a hug until we're cleaned up. But that's okay."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"That's girly," Merlin informed her. Seeing as how she was a girl, she ought to know that.

[glacial_queen]

Karla just gave him a look. "Well, I'm a girl," she retorted. "Just makes sense."

'Duh' had not yet been introduced to her vocabulary, but was present in her tone nonetheless.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"But I'm not a girl," Merlin pointed out. Because it needed to happen, it seemed.

[bitten_notshy]

...

Blink. Blink. Blink.

"Of course," Jack said, as if he hadn't wasted any time boggling at all. "I thought you looked familiar."

[glacial_queen]

"So?" Karla was Not Impressed by his logic. "You don't gotta wear a dress to decorate it."