ORIGIN

Now it was just a matter of using her knowledge to manipulate it to her will. And she wouldn't stop until she got it right. She wouldn't settle for less, she would master this; she would master herself.

She used her knowledge of the plant's pathway system and tried to manipulate that; with her magic she gripped them, made them move to her will, and it worked, somewhat. The plant shuddered and moved towards her slowly, slowly, very very slowly, and it moved with an intricate delicacy she hadn't had before. It was a good start, and it was incredibly precise, but it wasn't the complete control she wanted.

She needed more. She needed more than this weak casting, she needed its full cooperation.

She would try again. And again. And get this right.

She tried a different tactic this time, with using the outside of the plant to create movement - surely by moving the skin of the plant instead of the inside would work better than its veins, right? Like the wind shuffling through the leaves and making them dance that way.

But it just failed to move it entirely - it wasn't enough control, enough force to make it move more than a gentle shudder. She didn't have any jurisdiction outside of the plant to make it move, she knew now, it was all internal, and focusing on the skin was like spreading too much butter over a tiny little crumb, with so much potential magic and nowhere for it to go.

She would just try something else to figure this out.

Again she reached for it, and this time she took the hard route, infusing herself into the pathways between the plant cells - because now she understood fully that the plant had no will to move of its own - it was a flexible structure, it had nothing for her to grab and bend to her will, which is why it was so hard - it was using her mind to bend a soft and supply piece of steel, in essence. She had always just been asking it to move for her, but she was going about it wrong. She didn't need to ask.

Just needed to move.

And it did, it moved, it moved towards her like she needed it, wanted it to, dancing for her with its leaves moving towards her, begging for attention. She smiled at it - it was like moving a puppet, almost, a living puppet - and then she made it bow for her, one leaf across its bending stem, another off and away.

This, this is what she needed.

She would stay here, in this aeonian silence of Polaris, until she felt this peace she was searching for. She stared at her hand again, her hand closing into a soft fist, her stone finger staying outstretched and slightly curling like it was expecting a ring on it.

She thought of Tenn for just a second, and smiled again.

With just a spark of magic, a small little green shoot sprouted from her skin near the wedges in between her fingers and wrapped around her gem, and just a tiny, tiny little clover flower sprouted from it, its pale white and pink tipped petals wrapping in a perfect crown for this tiny little ring.

She raised her hand and smiled, her face heating, her thoughts of only Tenn. He would like this....he would praise her for it, she knew he would. Would he want to give her a ring of his own?

Cayenne wished he would, she honestly did.

She let out a very long sigh, lowering her hand and resting it on her knee. She was getting tired, she could feel it in her bones. The very first time she practiced here, in creating her garden, she'd gotten deliriously tired, and she didn't want to recreate that. She'd ended up falling asleep in her newly created grass, the flowers tickling her nose, and Tenn had to find her there.

Well - if she had to admit it, that wasn't so bad. It couldn't been a lot worse.

Honestly, she wanted to try something. By this point the only things she'd made were little sprouts and flowers, and she wanted to try something a little more difficult. She wanted to create a tree.

How lovely would it be if Tenn came home to a strong, aged tree with manipulated branches that could allow for the both of them to sleep together, side by side? They could find cloth rugs in Orion, perhaps, or make a soft mossy down to put inside, and decorate the inside of their tree home with glowing stones.

The idea made her blush. They would always be there, together.

She gripped her hands into fists. She would try. She scrambled in her pack for a couple of whole acorns and put the all in a row, perfectly prepared for at least some of them to fail. She placed it right in the very center of the ranch, right beside their garden and their gates, with the area for the livestock off to the left. She nodded, then gathered her magic.

Her magic failed to respond to her whims, and she frowned, adjusting her stance and raising her hand over the next acorn. She would do this, for her, and for Tenn, and she wouldn't stop until she did.

Even if she was getting sleepy, her eyelids starting to droop. She just shook it off, and shrugged her shoulders. Nothing would stand in her way.

Her finger flashed with its golden light, and she grinned in response, feeling the rush of magic go from her to the acorn safely nestled in the ground. IT went straight past the shoot stage and rumbled, growing rapidly, and it moved from a young shoot to a sapling to a strong young tree in the matter of seconds right before her eyes. She moved back, laughing, her limbs shaking, and she fell down to the soft earth, scrambling back to allow for the tree to grow and grow and grow.

It stopped at just the right size, at the very least nine or ten feet tall, with strong, powerful branches and a beautiful array of pure green leaves and shuddered with new life. She was amazed at it, trembling with joy, and she slowly got her feet.

She climbed up the tree slowly, her sharp little claws and her gem digging into the fresh new bark, and she nestled herself amongst the branches and tucked herself in, smiling. This would be her home now, her lovely, safe home. Now it was just a matter of weaving the branches together to form a comfortable floor and walls and a ceiling, with the main opening being free. she could see it in her mind, with her and Tenn climbing up and down the tree with ease, safe from all that wandered the floor below, if anything wanted to hurt them. She was rather tired of the turkeys coming up to her while she slept and poking her with their sharp beaks, demanding attention.

So, she took a long breath and tried. She wouldn't rest until she managed it, no matter how tired she was. She was so close!

And the branches, now that she understood how to use this spell, obliged her with readiness. They moved the tips of their branches towards their center, weaving together like a controlled, knotted and woven basket, with artfully placed leaves to mask the tree's manipulated growth on the outside. And on the inside...it was so tightly knitted together with bigger branches for support and smaller ones to crisscross the floor that no light shone through except for the entrance.

She sat snugly inside this little den now, and she gave a nice, slow, sigh of contentment. She could feel the tiredness in her bones - but she wasn't done yet. The hardest part was finished, yes, but she had one last thing to do.

She was so tired....but just laying on wood would be so uncomfortable for the both of them, regardless of cloth they put down. No, they needed some sort of cushion, and what better cushion to place in a tree house but something soft and natural and alive?

She raised up her hand one more time, her head swimming, her mind begging her to go to sleep. She would oblige, but she couldn't sleep now. She placed just one small little piece of moss in the center of the little den, and begged it to take root and spread.

Her vision blacked out when she tried to use her magic - her body was telling her to stop and give up, but she growled and just raised up her hand again. She would do this! She had to!