Arc 722, 6 Cylus
Pouring over her notebook and one of the Baron Books in Haven House, Elisabeth was waiting for a trio of people to arrive to discuss a particular project she wanted to do, and the planning of such needed to happen sooner rather than later.
In Ashan, work would begin on the chapel, but Elisabeth didn’t simply want to plop a structure in the middle of land and call it good. One of the purposes of the chapel was reflection, and she wanted to provide an outdoor element to do so within during the warmer seasons. The Baron Books had supplied her with some ideas, and the settlers coming to help her had varying experiences that would be useful.
A soft knock sounded on the door, followed by Edwin’s head poking in. “Ready for us?” Waving him in, the man stepped into the house, holding the door open for Delilah and Jolene Munny as they entered. “Good evening, you three. Come in, come in. I have drinks and snacks for us at the table. I thought it would be best to work there – plenty of room.”
Various notebooks and quills strewed about at the table as all three joined her. Sir Storm of Haven was playing with one such quill at the end of the long table. The feline, sassy as he was, enjoyed pushing things off the table and making people pick them up. In fact, the break before her company arrived, Elisabeth had spent a good portion of that time fetching quills off the ground and returning them to the table.
It was time to get down to business.
“So, the garden,” she began, showing them a horribly drawn picture of the chapel. “I want to create a garden around the outside of it. Mostly on the sides and back, with some shrubs and things on either side of the front chapel steps.” In addition to drawing a building, the young mage was now furthering her skills by sketching awful, awful plants and rocks, which she proudly pointed out to the trio.
Edwin snickered a bit, patting her hand gently. “Remind me to find someone to teach you how to draw. You really do try, though, and I commend you for that.” Delilah smacked his shoulder lightly but smiled. Elisabeth’s drawing skills were not good - at all - and no one was more aware of that than the mage herself. She was a visual person, and when things needed explaining, it was nice to have visual aids, right?
Rolling her eyes at his comment, she gave him a mischievous grin. “You are simply jealous of my skill, Edwin. It’s alright – I understand. Not everyone can draw a blobby rock with such flair. I forgive you.” The comment was, of course, in jest, but Elisabeth knew that the settlers didn’t mean anything by their teasing. They were all family, after all, and acted like such.
“Anyway,” she said, getting them back on track, “I plan to use native Faldrass flora for this. Things found in woodland settings here. The eruption destroyed much of the ecosystem here on Faldrass, and I’d like to continue helping it recover. Introducing foreign flora goes against that. I’ve started making a bit of a list, things I’d like us to collect and begin sorting out the propagation of.”
Looking at the small group, Elisabeth explained why she had asked each of them there. “Edwin, you spend a lot of time out in the forests, documenting fauna and such. I’m going to be drawing inspiration from the woodland areas, so knowing what is out there will help me, I think.” Turning to Delilah and Jolene, she knew their purpose was a bit different. “You both have been so helpful with teaching me about the various growing techniques for farm crops. I’m hoping that we will be able to set up a new small warm sand nursery for the plants we are going to be bringing in and that you’ll both be instrumental in teaching me about these types of plants and how they grow.”
Sliding a small list across the table to the three, Elisabeth began outlining what she had already planned. “Small trees, shrubs, and flowers. The only requirement is that they are native to Faldrass. We already know about the Tempest Lily, and I think we can transplant enough sand into the garden to make it a happy little environment for them.” Nodding to the farmer’s daughter, smiling. “Those we have already, growing away in the nursery since we discovered them at the old site, thanks to Delilah.”
Tapping her fingers on the table, the young woman suddenly remembered something they needed to steer clear from. "Oh! No vine plants. I've not seen any here on Faldrass, so I doubt its a concern, but just in case..." That bit was for Balthazar. After his story regarding the Creep, she doubted he would enjoy vines of any sort. Balthazar had enjoyed Serenity Garden greatly, so perhaps she could take some inspiration from there.
Moving down the list, they came to another familiar name. "Jubiplunts. These were in Serenity Garden on the other side of the island. Balthazar has a special fondness of them, so I’m hoping to go to Spirit’s Rest and negotiate for a few cuttings so that we can grow them here as well.” Patting the Baron Book next to her, she explained the connection.
“According to the Baron, Jubiplunts were very common on Faldrass, but I haven’t seen one since we left the old Haven site. I have a feeling that those in the Garden might be the only ones left due to the eruption, but perhaps we can help return their numbers to the island.” It was a lofty goal for sure, but they had planted dozens of baby Phoneix wood trees outside the settlement, and Elisabeth was serious about her desire to help heal Faldrass.
Thinking back to Serenity Garden, perhaps when she went to Spirit's Rest to ask about the Jubiplunts, she could also inquire regarding seeds for their own pink tree. The Garden featured a beautiful one that Elisabeth and Balthazar had spent a great deal of time at. It would be a lovely addition to the garden, but would take time to grow. Never hurts to ask.
A few more specific things littered her list. “Night Scented Stock and Belleflower trees. Both of these are common across Scalvoris, and I’ve seen them here or Faldrass. I believe we can easily transplant the Stock and obtain cutting for the trees. Or maybe even transplant baby trees directly into the garden?” Jolene spoke to that, nodding her head. “Belleflower trees, I believe, would stand up well to being transplanted. We could send William out with Edwin to search for some smaller specimens to dig up and bring back?”
Elisabeth made some notes, smiling. “That sounds like a plan then.” Looking to the rest of the entries, she knew Edwin would be familiar with most. “The rest of these are typical woodland flora – sword ferns, wildflowers, flowering shrubs, ornamental grasses. If we are going to send William out with Edwin to look for the Belleflower trees, they can be on the lookout for these as well. The garden might look a little sparse for the first few arcs but things should grow in quickly considering how well things grow on Faldrass."
Delilah looked at the list, face furrowed in concentration. "Let's focus on things that reseed easily. The great thing about a forest is that nature takes care of it, so I think your inclination to look to nature here as an inspiration is a very good thought. If we plant the right things, the garden will need very little in the way of care, other than trimming and some cosmetic things. As time goes on, we can add more into it or even expand it. For trees though, we want to focus on trees with smaller heights, and flowering, so I think Belleflower trees will work wonderfully there."
The foursome continued chatting about other aspects of the garden. The creation of the garden would take some time, considering they intended to put it where there was currently nothing but dirt and rocks. Elisabeth surmised that they could reuse all the rock they dug out of the chapel site in the garden, which seemed to go over well with the others. Edwin suggested bringing in orange sand to fill the garden's walkways, giving people something softer than hard dirt to walk on while there.
All in all, it was a productive and engaging meeting. So engaging that when they finally looked up from their plans, they noticed that all the quill that had been on the table were no longer. Storm, however, looked very proud of himself, glancing down at the collection of quills on the ground and then to the group.
"Meow?"
