Phoenix Maplewood admit no guest without a date of departure

No sooner had she lowered her head from her summons than did Reek spring forth from the shrubbery. Citali jumped. "Oh good, heavens!" she exclaimed, lifting a paw to her sternum. Her heart had nearly leapt out of her chest. "Don't you ever do that again." She'd not expected him to be so near. He'd startled her. That much was evident from the way she near sprawled upon the ground. Slowly, she sat back up and began to recollect herself. She licked a bit of frazzled fur down and smoothed other places here and there. She did not look nearly so good as she had before, but it was better. It would do.

His offering of plant to her paws did not go unnoticed. When she'd finished grooming, she looked to it briefly before glancing at him. He was trying to help repair her garden and she was thankful for it, truly. They'd need all the help they could get at mending it before the winter set in, but her level of optimism had diminished. She really only had what was left in her dry stores. The rest had been destroyed when the bear stomped her garden...

She tried her hardest not to think of it. Far too much of her pride had been in this place and she suffered for it. The status of her garden pained her far more than any physical wound she could imagine and thinking about it for too long was harmful for her mental health. She looked instead to the herb he provided and noticed the care he'd taken in extracting it. "You remembered..." she crooned softly, looking to him. "Thank you." She lifted the chervil and promptly planted it in one of the small areas she'd been able to restore. It was a start. It was something.

Alas, with the plant properly cared for, she remembered she had something else in mind for him. Citali tipped her head towards the gentle brook as if to ask him to join her while she cleaned her paws of the dirt of gardening. Looking at him, Reek appeared as though he needed something of a bath himself. She glanced towards him and tried her very best to mask her disapproval of his cleanliness. Sucking in a deep breath, she finally allowed her reason for calling him here to fill the air. "Would you mind terribly to look at my nape again? The wound is itching. I can't tell anything of its status." She turned so he might see.