[PRP] Young Growing Things (Haruma, Eudeyrn)

[Dulcea]

Seeing that it seemed to bring her down, Eudeyrn found himself doing something quite uncharacteristic. He stepped toward her, pressing his head against her neck for a moment in a comforting nuzzle. Then he stepped back, offering her a smile despite the dark shadows under his eyes, "We're going to make sure they get that, right? Body and soul." He didn't want to let on that he was already getting sick, even his mother barely knew that. He was fortunate to have more good days than bad, but he couldn't be sure when that would change.  

[Talencia]

She smiled at him through her tears, still warm from the comforting nuzzle. She swallowed and nodded firmly. "Yes, body and soul. I'll help the body, and you'll help the soul." To her, this didn't sound as odd as it might to some grown up that might have observed it. Two little ones, barely more than cubs, talking about taking care of others both before and during death. Such an odd place in the world, and such an odd pair of cubs. Solemn souls in the guise of the bloom of youth, the sheen of childhood covering sadness and sobriety not meant for ones their age.

She swiped at her face with a paw and smiled more brightly at him. "Here, let me help you carry these back," she offered, padding forward to his careful pile. "We'll get it done faster if we work together." She paused to look closely at him again. "That just might work for taking care of others too," she added thoughtfully. "I think I'll talk to Gerda about perhaps working together, you and I." It seemed a solid and wise idea to her young heart. Together, things were accomplished better than alone. That almost always seemed true.  

[Dulcea]

"It can't hurt," he agreed, dividing the pile into two more manageable sections. As he picked his up he made sure to grab them by the long stems with his teeth, keeping the petals from touching his mouth. He wouldn't like to crush them now that they had spent so much time finding just the right sort. "To home then?" he said around the mouthful, keeping his expression and odd sort of smile that kept the flowers still.  

[Talencia]

She bent willingly and scooped up her portion, her herb bag dangling as she did so. The bag itself wasn't very heavy, and the fresh herbs in it weighed very little. The heavy-stemmed flowers were significantly heavier, but she didn't mind. She tried to grasp them near the root-end, but found the blooms too heavy. If she'd left them like that, she'd have ended up dragging them through the dirt. She set them back down and gingerly lifted them from the middles instead. This seemed to work well, though the leaves weren't very comfortable in her mouth. She wasn't doing this for fun, however, so the discomfort was perfectly bearable.

She nodded her head at him, making the flower-heads bob. She waved a paw to indicate he should lead on, not trusting herself to talk around them. Instead, she set herself a few steps behind him and followed as he led them home, her head full of new ideas and her heart full of a warmth of finding a good friend in a most unexpected fashion. Instinctively she knew, they'd have many more such talks as they'd had today.