Autumn was a time of dormancy. The plants and trees, those who weren’t already bare, were showing off vibrant colors before settling in for a long winter nap. It was not a time that most people associated with plant growth. Actually, by this point, most of the crops had been harvested, even those that were best cultivated in the cooler months. No, now was when everything was winding down and the green disappeared for many months to come. So, when Juniper had set out to find herself a nice little nook in the park to practice her magic, she found herself at a bit of a loss on what to do.

A soft, crisp breeze filtered through her hair and down the neck of her sweater but it didn’t bother the blonde. In fact, she had begun to notice that she was never perturbed by the temperature anymore whether it was hot or cold. She always felt...perfect. Maybe a new magical talent? She wasn’t sure. Hell, it could just be she was better with fluctuating heat, but normally the cold bothered her terribly. Wrapped up in fall attire, Juniper glanced around at the barren flower beds. It seemed someone had come by to tend to the wilting and brown masses of plants she had seen there earlier in the week. So, besides the evergreen shrubs and the trees around her, there wasn’t much for her to test her new found abilities on. Well...assuming she didn’t search out for a few lonely seeds that certainly had to be scattered about, but she had no idea where they’d be. Could she possibly find them without knowing -exactly- where they were?


Biting her lip in thought, Juniper glanced around her one more time to see if anything else was around that could be useful but, alas, there wasn’t anything. She wasn’t sure if she could do anything to trees and making the perfectly trimmed shrubs grow seemed a bit cruel to whomever had recently trimmed them up for the season. Assuming she could.


“Hm...there should be some bulbs planted around here.” She mused to herself and closed her eyes to try and focus on what she figured had to be hidden beneath the damp soil. Again though, she found her focus wavering a bit as her mind began to race about nonsense things. Some pertained to what she was doing like worries about her abilities to do something like this outside of Other Ashdown, but the mundane worries of life also crept in. It was frustrating enough that the young woman huffed and her eyes snapped open.


How had she did it before? Mind, Kess had been threatening her, but that had only made her more unfocused so what did she do to fix it?


Breathing. Right?

OK Taking another deep breath, Juniper slowly let the air expelled from her lung between pursed lips. Closing her eyes she inhaled again through her nose and let her shoulder relax and mind become focused on her breath as she exhaled through her mouth. Slowly her thoughts became settled and she was able to settle herself onto the task at hand. What she had come all the way out here to do.


Letting her eyes open, half lidded, she looked down at the flower bed with a soft focus. She reached out with her senses to try and locate any bulbs or seeds hidden below the surface. They were there. She just needed to find them. She searched and searched, reaching out with her senses as she had been told.


Still nothing happened. “Weird…” She let herself plop down onto the ground beside the bed. What was she doing wrong? She was pretty sure she had done everything the same exact way? Like Kess had said, she had let herself reach out to sense the baby plants just waiting to germinate in their seeds, but she couldn’t find them. To her senses, they didn’t exist at all. Juniper knew that there had to be -something- nearby under that soil that would be helpful to practice on.


Wait...would it work differently now that she was in Ashdown? But how? What else did she have to do? Chewing her lip she pondered over what might work. Maybe she needed to be closer? Perhaps distance was an issue? So, scooting forward towards the bed, where she practically sat right on it, she attempted to locate the bulbs and seeds again by sensing them but had absolutely zero luck. It was like she was just trying to meditate since nothing was happening. “I know I am not doing this wrong.” She said to herself as she stood up and ran a hand through her blonde hair. What else was there to do? She could rightly hold the damn bulb in her hand since she didn’t know where they were.


Turning she walked away from the bed she was at and walked towards another one that had the woody remains of roses planted in it. She paced in front of the bed, her eyes falling on yet another tree and she stood there contemplating it a moment. It just seemed so big. She feared it would be too much for her to do anything with. “Wait.” SHe turned to the rose bushes and, without hesitating walked into the bed. Carefully, minding the many thorns that adorned them, she place two fingers on the plant and closed her eyes again.


Once again she began to slowly feed the plant energy and this time she could feel it taking it. Little by little she increased the flow before carefully opening her eyes. The once dead looking plant, came out of its dormant stage and little buds were forming on the woody surface. Soon enough, tiny leaves bloomed and grew in size. By this point, Juniper was getting tired. The bush wasn’t necessarily overly large, but it was bigger than the vines she had grown in Other Ashdown and required more energy to do what it was doing. She lasted long enough for a few pink buds to form before she needed to stop. Panting she flopped backwards onto her butt just outside of the flower bed. Her arms were draped over her knees and her head dipped between her legs as she sucked in breath.


“Dammit...that’s….tiring.” She huffed out as she glanced up to the rose bush. The sight of the single green bush amongst the others that looked dead was truly heartening knowing that she had done that.


But damn, did she need to build up some stamina.


Oh well, she’d just have to practice this more often. Make it a hobby to practice several times a week, if not everyday. She’d just have to plan out a nap or something afterwards if she decided to push this hard again because she was exhausted.


“Maybe...little plants...for a while.” She said quietly to herself as she sat there with a smile adoring her little green rose bush.

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