[Gift] Saru's Garden Day

Having completed the tour of the Botanic Gardens — and appropriately outfitted with a pair of gardening mittens — Saru sat down next to Baogonia as she knelt over a flowerbed. He watched as she dug three tiny holes and planted seeds within them, moving with the finesse of an expert at her craft. Tentatively, Saru pushed his paw into soil and tried to mimic the motion. 

Baogonia grinned. “That’s the spirit, flowerbud! Have you gardened before?” 

“No. Well, a little, kind of…” He trailed off as he put his other paw into the soil to widen the hole. “Honestly, it’s better to say I didn’t. It’s a silly story.” 

Baogonia, either oblivious to the nuance or recognizing it and choosing to barrel ahead anyway, immediately stopped planting and turned her entire body to face him. 

Saru pretended not to notice at first, but when he reached for a seed he accidentally made full eye contact with her and her unasked question. Baogonia smiled. He sighed.

“It was a while back; I wanted to plant a mysterious seed I found on an adventure. I stuck my paw into the dirt and when I turned it over…there was a big worm on my palm!” He shuddered. “Ever since I just kind of enjoyed the flowers of Baotato Valley as a spectator and not a … paws-on participant…” 

It wasn’t like he’d actively avoided gardening: he was a busy bao, quite happy with his life of adventures, intermixed with studying magic over the worn tomes in his cottage. He even enjoyed the flowers — his studies on weather patterns often correlated with the spring showers that helped contribute to the Valley blooms. 

Baogonia smiled brightly. “You know, that story is more common than you might think.” 

“Really?” Saru asked, nearly dropping the seed he was so carefully cradling. 

Baogonia nodded. “It is! There are many little friends in the soil to meet when you garden: some might look  a bit scary if you’re not expecting them.” 

She turned back to her work, patting the soil in place over the freshly-planted seeds. “It doesn’t matter that you haven’t gardened since then: we’ll take it nice and slow.”

He nodded, and followed her motion of covering the seed as she continued. “It’s hard work to be sure, but I think you’ll fall in love with it all the same!” 

He smiled, he was never a bao to back down from a challenge! 

“I look forward to seeing this place full of flowers.”