Ouroboros Spine xvii. like we're lovers

AW, botanist #5

As father sky lightened with the day, soft and grey as a dove's feather, Aiwë slipped from the warm confines of her dwelling -- stirred by the light that brought the dark corners of her dim den into sharper relief, heather-blue as dawn lengthened into morning. The sun remained hidden as the green-paw loped slowly through the pines, winding through the trunks towards her hidden garden plot. She wanted to check on the plants she had growing there currently, as she was considering adding a few new ones to the small grove, before taking a break from all the herbology and botany to go hunting for painting supplies. 

The doe slowed as she broke through a bend in the trees, dipping beneath a low branch as she trotted into the garden -- noting that she needed to dig out some budding grass growth along the edges again soon. A faint smile tugged the corners of her lips skyward, tail wagging as she approached -- until she drew close enough to really see her once-thriving marigolds. It was then that smile disappeared, peridots widening as she gasped in shock. 

A handful of fat caterpillars had claimed the leaves of her citrine blossoms, the leaves riddled with holes not unlike swiss cheese where the hungry insects had gorged themselves on the botanist's hard work.

"Oh...you!" she sputtered at the bugs with an angry whip of her fawn tail, faltering in her attempts of cursing the caterpillars even as she stomped a step closer to them and squinted down at the offensive pests menacingly.