Phoenix Maplewood and this is just losing

AW but maybe @Reek or @Nochtli or @Citali! :)

Arion had decided that he wasn't going to sleep in the stuffy, walled cave dens anymore. Nor would he be living in any kind of den for that matter. The Greek decided that sleeping underneath the thick leafy canopies, in a wide clearing, surrounded by the place he called home was better. The stallion didn't really care that someone might find him in the clearing when he was sleeping, or accidentally step on his body when they were sleepwalking. Those were trivial matters to the warrior; a good place for him to rest was much more important. Little things like this did nothing to deter him.

The clearing Arion chose was small in size, a cozy little glade. The canopies above was less dense than the rest of the forest, allowing rays of sunlight to pierce through the trees and warm the grassy ground. At night, if the warrior was lucky, he might catch a few glimpses of the stars above. To him, this was way better than sleeping in an enclosed space, and Arion wondered why he didn't choose to sleep outside earlier. I must have been stupider than I thought when I was young, Arion thought to himself.

That afternoon found Arion wandering through the forest, he had just woken up from a nap in his clearing den and was now walking through the Maplewood without a goal in mind. Somehow, his paws brought him to a garden of sorts in a clearing, and he paused, tilting his chocolate brown crown slightly as he gazed at the plants with inscrutable golden eyes. It would appear that he was deep in thought, what he was thinking of, though, was unknowable, for his countenance was carefully wiped clean; impassive.

There were herbs that required shade and others that preferred full sun. To accommodate both, she determined the best place for her garden was to be half in and half out of a clearing or in two separate locations. Separate locations required more traveling. The lazy part of her that was also terrible at directions figured it would be better if they were all in one location... so clearing it was. One patch in full sunlight. One patch next door beneath the cover of the trees.

The rows inside of the clearing were mostly crafted. She'd drawn the soil up appropriately, unearthing the lines of dirt and preparing the soil for things to be planted. It was here that she'd transplanted the thyme she'd had Reek unearth. It was also here that she'd transplanted a few other things she'd found in wandering, exploring, or patrolling the nearby areas. The garden in full sun was well on it's way to victory. Now to put equal attention to her garden in the shade.

She had every intention of visiting the Herbalist's cache to help fill this one. The rich variety of herbs in that location would serve this pack well. Before she visited there, she had to finalize the soil here. She worked at her, turning her paws through the dirt as she dug, then refilled the rows with the tossed soil and continued. It was laborious work, but hopefully well worth her efforts. Time would tell. If nothing else, at least she'd found something to occupy her time.

In the shade of the forest, she'd almost not noticed when Arion stumbled upon her garden in the sun. It was some kind of female intuition that made her look up and turn to notice him. Easing from her current task, Citali brushed off her paws and moved into the shadows of the trees nearest Arion and her sun garden. "Impressive, isn't it?" she asked. Though the words were more flattery for her own efforts, they served well to break the pensive silence.

Arion gazed at the garden silently, as still as a statue. He gathered all the factual details he had of the garden: It was a nice garden, nicely made and well planted. He hadn't seen any gardens before, so he didn't know if it really was nice, or if he simply thought it was nice because it was the first one he ever saw. It didn't really matter, because that wasn't the reason he stopped to stare in first place. The reason? Arion didn't know. He just felt the urge to see it; it was strange, nothing he had experienced before and while he wouldn't admit it, it scared him.

The Greek was staring so intently that when Citali spoke, he practically jumped aside and assumed a combative stance immediately. His velvety chocolate ears flattened against his skull and his black lips were pulled back in a silent but no less ferocious silent snarl. It was only when he realised who it was that he relaxed. "Bloody hell," Arion grumbled as he licked a few patches of ruffled fur flat again and turned to look at Citali.

He remained silent for a moment, simply taking her in. She was large and furry, covered in beautiful shades of brown and had eyes of piercing silvery blue. She was pretty even though she was big boned and didn't have much curves. Perhaps her intelligence made her prettier; maybe she was ugly to others. Whatever. He shook those thoughts away. "Yeah, nice garden you got here," he said with a grin. "Guess you are smart, after all."

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?”

In her typical Citali and slightly narcissistic manner, the brown furred female asked if there was ever any doubt in the first place. Arion half smiled, half smirked at that and turned to look at her. "Yes, there was," he said, his expression impassive as he stated the following sentence in the most matter-of-fact manner one could have. "The time when you failed to catch that pine marten and bashed headfirst into me. The time when you didn't know how to the stream. The time when you told me to hunt for you and many more."

Citali was intelligent in this field, Arion didn't doubt that at all. She knew a lot about plants and even knew how to plant gardens. Reek was a good enough medic too; the ragged Alpha had healed the worst of the warrior's wounds a few times and while his methods were rough, they were more or less effective. But even though Reek was a good medic, Arion had never seen a herb garden in Redtail Rise which meant, in his mind, that Citali was more experienced in this healing field.

A shrug was given as an answer to Citali's next question and Arion's gaze drifted from the brown Amazon's face to the garden once more and canted his head in a birdlike manner. "I dunno," Arion said. "I was just walking by and had the urge to come and check this out," he told her truthfully with another shrug.

In true Arion fashion, he was quick to ruin her moment of triumph. He listed off a series of her shortcomings. "I never claimed to be good at any of those things," she assured him. "Directions and hunting are not my strong suit." There was a reason why Nochtli had accompanied her through the wilderness and it was largely in part because they complimented each other in that way. Nochtli could hunt and scout. Citali could tend to their travel sores and dig up herbs to curve off their hunger when food was scarce. It had been an effective system for them at the time.

"This garden however?" She paused, lowering her nose to inhale the fresh scent of a cluster of mint. She breathed deeply, pressing her eyes closed as she savored the pungent freshness before she lifted her head once more with a warm smile. "This is where I shine." The rows were neat. They were all freshly weeded. Not a plant tilted without her knowing about it. Not a bug touched a leaf without her finding it. Her pride was here. Her joy was here. All any wolf had to do was gaze upon her and they would know it.

She seated herself between the rows and looked to him. He seemed... somewhat at a loss for words. Had she put him on the spot? No matter. She had dozens of aimless questions to fill the air with lest it become stagnant from their silence. "Is it what you expected? My garden?" Her ears lifted, eager for a reply. "Does it... 'check out'?"