Phoenix Maplewood and this is just losing

Her eyes swept over the expanse of her garden. It was a marvelous thing, truly. She’d put extra work and effort into making it a place where she could spend considerable amounts of time without ever having to look up from her endeavors. It was her solace, her nursery of everything green. It was still in its infantile stages, but she was proud of it all the same. She’d accomplished much before the end of summer and hoped her little saplings would take root before winter.

Thoughts were distracted by the presence of another. She dismissed them, breaking from her mental trance to find Arion lingering in the clearing. Still standing beneath the shade of the trees she greeted him in her own way. Given his reaction, it was evident to her that she’d startled him and broken him of a trance of his own. She lifted a brow upon her head. Had she done something wrong? Was it something she said? She did not know how to proceed.

He saved her from deciding when he regained his composure well enough to reply. She lingered, watching from the dappled rays of sunlight that pierced through the shadows of the tree line as she listened to him form words. ”Mmm,” she hummed lightly. ”Was there ever any doubt?” Her intelligence in this particular area of life defined her somewhat. She could not claim the same expertise in other areas, but in this? This was hers.

”What draws you here?”