Cricket Creek Bog so peace be with every place that you had

the young bull had all but forgotten about everything that existed beyond their flower pile and bog. he had become completely enraptured in the girl and everything that she had to say. he couldn’t help but to fall into the softness of her voice as she went on to say that she liked sassy, as if she was asking him what business it was of his that sassiness would deter her from anything. he wanted to warn her, but he thought it was best that weejay meet sionnach for herself.
 
when she asked about flowers, his stomach felt like it had tried to leap over a hurdle in a dash for a gold medal. “i haven’t even seen all the places yet! we could discover some of them together,” he suggested. he’d wanted to try to get his sister to go out there with him, but he was afraid she’d find a stream or something and hold his head under until he passed out. weejay would make it way more fun. “we could also look at all the flowers! you can see if we have some of the same ones that you do or any different ones,” aengus then suggested to solve the issue of trying to explain what kind of flowers there were in the glade.

weejay could not hide her eagerness; it brimmed over like a cup of wine outpoured -- messy, delightful to watch. aengus revealed he hadn't even explored all the flowers -- that made it an adventure! they could discover all these things together. it didn't even matter he hadn't found all the flowers - not everyone could be as flower obsessed as she was.

that decided it. she resolved to march home that night, and for the first time in her life, would tell her daddy that she planned to do something with or without his express permission. she was too damn excited; her mind was racing a mile a minute and certainly faster than i can fucking type; there were ENDLESS possibilities! "ooooh!" she exclaimed, her tail going mach five-hundred. "there's always different flowers depending on the ground!" or at least, that was weejay's inept estimation. she had noticed flowers in the swamp were different than elsewhere, and most flowers really liked sunlight. "is it sunny there??"

the hollow that they had left behind in order to move to the glade had all but faded from his mind in the moment that he had spent with weejay. it had to be that they were meant to meet there, in the strangest of locations. aengus could not wait to tell his father about meeting her and to inform him that he planned on meeting up with weejay again as soon as he possibly could. nothing could prevent him from hiking out to find her so that they could go on more adventures together.
 
“some places get lots of sun and some places are super shady because there are so many trees! do you like trees too, or just flowers? because we have lots of trees there and there are a lot of different ones,” aengus did his best to keep his answer concise, but his words ran away with his tongue and he ended up prattling to her more than he had intended. “is your home super sunny? do you have any cool places there that are kinda like secret places that no one really knows about?”

weejay listed rapt, trying to catalogue the information aengus easily supplied. so his home was an even mix of shaded and well-sunned; weejay tried to tick off all the types of plants and flowers she knew that preferred either, but honestly the list was endless and even if you gave her fifty million hours she'd probably not exhaust it.

prompted to think of her own home, weejay's expression darkened; it was perhaps the first sign of the quiet storm that lingered behind weejay's demeanor. "it's a mix, i guess. there's some high spots that are sunny but we don't have a lot of flowers there. it seems too dry." it wasn't like the bog, which was rife with moisture. "and.. i have a flower patch! it's small... but i dont' have any secret places.. should i?" she looked to aengus in wonder, realizing maybe she really had glubbed up by declaring a flower patch in a communal area.

aengus didn’t know what to make of the shift in expression that crossed weejay’s features. he had thought everything was going well, but the boy had noticed that peculiar tick that had shifted her energy for a moment. she had gone on to describe her home, and he had listened intently to what she’d had to say. she claimed that she had her own little flower patch. aengus would have liked to see something like that.
 
“sometimes secret places are cool! there’s this really big log i found in my home and you can fit inside it and if you go all the way from one end to the other, it goes into this like hole in the ground like a den,” he tried to describe the place to her as best as he could, but he felt like his words were just coming across as jumbled and rapid. “anyway, it’s a cool hiding place! i’ll show it to you when you come visit,” aengus promised her with a grin. he thought that she might like it, even if there weren’t any flowers there.
 
“how many flowers do you have in your garden?”

weejay liked the sound of a secret log -- or even better, a secret garden (never you pesky people mind there was already a book that coined this term). the idea of travelling down a log unseen, and finding a concealed den.. well... it sounded like an awfully great adventure; weejay's expression was wide with interest.

"i want to see that," she chirped, barely able to keep up with the constant flux of their discussion; she liked that it was tit for tat -- the conversation wasn't one-sided. for every question she had, he had an answer and a following question. weejay found herself kind of liking this game, where they learned bits and pieces about themselves. it was like they were already becoming fast friends -- and all over a flower.

how many flowers did she have? weejay scrunched her face, but she wasn't good at counting. "um. there's a lot! i have some goldenrod, and some lilies, and there's a few clovers -- they're really pretty but greedy with water, and the oconees don't like them.." she trailed off, realizing rattling off these flowers probably meant nothing to aengus. "can you come see them sometime? maybe i can put those in there, too?" she motioned to the crumply, wrinkly flowers that aengus had procured for her.

the boy was overjoyed when she expressed interest in seeing his secret fallen log. he hadn’t even shared the hiding space with his father, so he hoped that there had been no one else who had discovered the location while he had been out journeying with weejay. even if they had, he would be sure to take his friend when no one else was around so she could get the real seclusion treat. he thought that he might be able to find some flowers that liked dark places so that he could add some more color to the area for her. he’d have to sort that out before she actually showed up.
 
weejay explained the types of flowers that she had and seemed to imply that some of them did not like each other. aengus thought that sounded funny, but he did not laugh because she was very serious about her flowers – he did not want to laugh at something that she was passionate about because he might not have understood her. then, she asked if he would come and see them sometime. the boy felt his heart flip in his chest – just like a burger on the grill. his entire frame seemed to tingle.
 
“yeah! i’ll see if i can bring you some more of those on my way too,” he offered, gesturing with his nose toward the crinkled fire poppies. “maybe i’ll bring some from my home too. we can see if they grow in your garden so you can have something that no one else in your pack has,” he then offered with a broad grin. it would really make her flowerbed unique.

it was definitely a good thing aengus didn't make good on that internal comment that it was funny that flowers didn't like each other. weejay would have insisted it was true; some flowers were greedy, and others hardy. some could coexist, and some were hot-house flowers needing their own arrangements.

nodding confidently to herself, weejay decided that she would put the pretty crinkly flowers at the very front -- but wait.. what did they like? she didn't know anything about these flowers. "um..." she suddenly paused, unsure. "can you show me again where you got them?" if she saw their original flower bed, she might be able to learn if they liked being in direct sunlight all the time, or if they liked being in shade. god knows she would be fucking distraught if she became the teekon's first crinkly-flower killer. "i have to know about what kind of soil and stuff they like." weejay offered, unaware that probably sounded ridiculous too.

the silver girl seemed uncertain before she asked aengus to show her where he had found the orange flowers. the boy wondered if she trusted him to be able to bring her more, or if she trusted him at all to be able to find these flowers again. for a moment, his chest seized, before she mentioned that she needed to know what kind of soil and stuff they liked. from hurt to confused, aengus transitioned very choppily. when he arrived at confusion station, his mental train seemed to want to take a break and booted him out.
 
“soil?” the boy asked her with squinted eyes. “is that like dirt or something?” he then prodded further. boy, you’re gonna feel really stupid when she tells you it’s something like the chemicals in the rain water that they get that only certain special wolves can smell he might have mentally reprimanded himself if he knew anything at all. instead, he just motioned with his muzzle for her to follow and waited to see if she’d give him an answer.

poor aengus; there was ony so much that could fit in that caboose, right? weejay spared him a sympathetic glance, that radiant smile still beaming. "soil is dirt." she affirmed, following after the young bull with her eyes peeled for where the crinkly flowers had come from.

after a few steps she realized aengus could probably benefit from an explanation. scrunching her brow, weejay tried to articulate the little knowledge she knew. "so, some plants like squishy soft soil -- like this!" she searched for a second and then jumped on a patch of damp loam that seeped from the bog; all manner of creeper plants seemed to grow in this topsoil."then others are a bit more picky. maybe they aren't as thirsty, or maybe --" weejay considered for a second whether what she was saying made any sense but then continued anyway: "maybe plants are like us, you know? they all have their own preferences and stuff. you wouldn't want to put a plant that needs a lot of sunlight and very little water in a place that's dark like a swamp, you know?"

okay cool, cool, cool, so he wasn’t a complete moron. at least, she might not have thought that he was, because she explained that he was right about soil being dirt. he supposed that it was a fancier sounding word for the same thing. it definitely made weejay seem smarter when she’d said it. aengus wondered if there were other words that meant the same thing but one way of saying it was just a little bit fancier. his mind trailed for a minute before being pulled back by the interesting things that his companion was bringing up.
 
dark ears perked forward at the mention of plants being like wolves. aengus wondered if they had feelings or if they could talk to each other. he thought that might have been a silly thing to ask her, but she was the one saying that they could pick out their favorite dirt. just as he thought to ask, his foot plunged into a hole filled with dark goop and thick water. his face scrunched up and he looked at her before trying to shake it off. “i don’t know any wolves who would prefer to be here,” he remarked with a giggle.
 
they were close to where he had found the crinkle flowers. after doing his best to remove the muck from his paw, aengus lumbered forward and moved around the base of a large tree. on the other side there were only a few patches of fiery orange poppies. aengus turned to look at weejay with a bright smile. then, recalling his previous thoughts, the boy took on a serious expression and leaned in toward his silver companion. “do you think plants can talk to each other?” he whispered in query.

Weejay hustled after Aengus' portly behind, halting only when he managed to fall face-first through the earth. "oh!" Came the surprised exclamation, followed by a gently nudge of her nose. "You okay?" He seemed fine, of course - but Weejay couldn't help but be concerned.

They carried on, Weejay looking about her with a shrewd eye for any crinkly flowers.. Upon cresting a gentle knoll, the patch in which Aengus had extracted his bundle of fine plants became evident -- Weejay started towards them at a gallop, inspecting and nosing about with an air of great fascination. Her concentration was only stopped as Aengus spoke - the question caused a beam to spill from her features, for Weejay had never had another wolf be so interested in her passions before. "I think so," She affirmed, nodding confidently. "I think maybe not like you or I, cause I can't hear them.. But maybe they talk in other ways - like through their roots! Lots of plants are usually connected to one another somehow."

Weejay had much more to say about trees, plants, and the like -- and thankfully, Aengus was a good listener. She told him everything she had learned about trees, and everything she had learned about plants -- until it became dark. Worried her father would soon become anxious, Weejay bashfully excused herself and skipped all the way home -- a newfound warmth in her heart, lit by Aengus' kindness.