Aethril came and went, and Pollen continued to work, getting used to her strange body. She could reliably walk on her back legs, but if she needed to run, it was faster on all four of them, and she could grab things very well. She even got a watering can, bestowed by Aethril! She was happy, doing her job, and frequently meandered about the gardens while making sure to cut away diseased bits and make sure each plant got plenty of water.

Granted, she was still messing up here and there, but she was learning. It was the thought that counted. And, nothing came for her, and the deer seemed to be quite nice, so she continued on, cleaning up the garden and making things look nice. She was doing everything a good Gardener should!

She'd often dozed on fainting couches or other soft places she could find in the Palace, when it came to rest. There was a lot to discover, and she loved wandering, finding out where she could and couldn't go. It was so easy to get lost. One place, though, stuck out in her mind- a small, mini-garden, inside the Palace! All the pots, and the water, and the trees! There was a particular bonsai plant that made her think of Aethril- its leaves were silvery if you turned them right, and it was the biggest one. Subtly, she'd placed a tiny succulent near it, imagining it to be her in her child-like way.

By this point, her markings had begun to faintly come in, and she'd picked something with stripes like the ones she'd had on her wrists. Were they going to get darker? She admired herself every day in the reflecting pools, watching how she grew and prettying herself up. Her mane was growing, but it wasn't long enough for plants to grow in it, not yet. How long would that get? Curled about her were still vines of honeysuckle, and she loved it, using her own body as her own personal garden.

Here now, she was tending to the plants in the courtyard. She had a small basket where she had clippings, and the watering can was in her other hand, gently spraying a little bit of water into the fancy porcelain pots of the area. "I bet you guys were thirsty, huh?" she squeaked out, humming a small tune as her tail wagged. She'd been here some time, but she'd just now started on her work, eager to get to business after admiring the pretty plants all around.

She loved being a Gardener.

Pollen, despite living in the Palace now, was rather unaware of its staff. She'd seen them in passing, yes, but she'd never really stopped to talk, almost always rushing off to go do this or that, only offering a slight 'hello!' to whoever she ran by.

And so, she didn't really expect someone to stop and watch her instead, only going about her business. Perhaps there was a noise, a movement- but Pollen, not having known the dangers of the world, had not understood that yet. It was probably another deer who'd come inside to help ensure this garden was good, too, and so she paid it no mind, continuing on.

The water can was empty. Pollen frowned as she shook the last few drops from it, feeling the empty weight hand from one paw. "Dang it," she muttered under her breath, her motion stopping as she looked down at the can.

Normally, she refilled it in the river. Would the ponds here do? Amber eyes rolled over to regard the nice ponds, debates running through her mind. She should just go back out and get more water, right? She shouldn't disturb the ponds. She'd have to refill them, and it'd be a whole effort, and she'd have to get a bucket, and-

Pollen closed her eyes, sighing out through her nose. Drawing herself up, she looked up at the inner wall of the courtyard and hummed out again, a single note of thought. She'll stay here for a little bit. Actually, she had a small idea- why doesn't she work on that magic, again? Aethril said something about her magic being good for gardening... Glancing around, she looked for something, a potted plant or something that hadn't budded yet. Ah, there- an iris, of some sort, and Pollen tittered as she made her way towards it, her paws forward and out to it.

A breath in, a breath out, and she tried to coax the bud open. It listened- slowly, slowly it showed its face-

And it began to age past that. Had she used too much magic? Panic fluttered in her heart as she froze, watching it shrivel up into itself and curl in sadly. "Oh-" her voice came, small and helpless. "Oh, no..." A step forward, and she cradled the dying flower in one paw, a sad note hummed out. "I'm so sorry..."

She watched it. There was no saving it now- she'd have to remember to replant something in this pot. Gently, she curled both paws into the dirt and extracted the poor thing, shaking out the dirt from its dead roots and placing it into the basket beside her. "I'll find you a new plant, okay?" she cooed to the pot. A few pats at its dirt, and she clapped out the dirt from between her digits, shaking it into the basket to keep everything clean.

She had no point of reference for Obieth's gentle prying, and she would find Pollen's mind easy to read- much of her thoughts, her quite, desperate despairs, were held on her sleeve, held in the faint frown on her muzzle and half-lidded, mourning eyes. She had to replace the plant, definitely. Shoving down whatever emotions she had, she went back to work, reaching over the pot and curling in a little divot. Maybe she could take one plant from outside the garden, and put it in here?

In any case, she hadn't truly noticed Obieth's approach until her voice was nearly next to Pollen. Another quiet, mouse-like squeak leapt from her as she jumped in place, surprise on her face. "Oh!" came the quiet acknowledgement, and the placed one paw on her chest and breathed out slowly. What a spooky person! Shaking herself out, she followed Obieth's gaze to her basket, leaning in next to her.

"Ahh-" one paw reached in, pulling the flower halfway back up, "no. I wanted to try to make it bloom. Miss Aethril wants me to practice my magic, until we find an Overseer, so I'm taking care of the gardens here." Her voice was quiet. It was a near whisper, almost- reverent, maybe? Or, perhaps, it was just the natural speaking tone of her calm mood. Slowly, she placed the flower back in place, as if it were a breathing, thinking being that had passed away.

"This has never happened before, though. I think-- I put too much into it." She sighed, kneeling down to her basket and putting her hands on her knees. "I was trying to water the flowers, though." And she pointed to the watering can left on a stone bench. "But, I ran out of water, and I didn't want to use the ponds. I don't know if the deer would like that- they seemed grumpy when I messed up."

If grumpy was: hard stares and driving her out of that section of the garden. She was making good work, she thought, with trying to befriend them, but it was certainly a hard task. But! She was rambling, a little- and she shook her head, leaning back up and regaining some of that chipper energy.

"I'm Pollen-Rose. Miss Aethril gave me Amber Eighteen, as my number, and I'm a Gardener. Do you live in the Palace, too?" She looked over Obieth briefly- sleek, feline like, and- somewhat like Miss Aethril herself? Well, a lot of people were like her Hand. Maybe it was sort of the gentle words, the way she called the flower 'beautiful'- and it still was, the poor thing- that made her make the connection.

Besides, most people who lived in the palace knew Aethril, right? It's not like she'd met many other people, besides that.

Another soft "oh!" came from Pollen when Obieth mentioned Aethril. They were partners, then! Or-- they both worked for her, but, they were totally different jobs... Were they partners, then? More like... different jobs in the same company? That sort of made sense as Pollen thought, rolling it around in her mind.

Her gaze dropped to the basket as she tucked her knees in closer, her tail wagging softly behind her. She liked this being, she was coming to realize- and not just because they were connected through Aethril. They were so different from Pollen- dark, somber, serious, and yet curious and gentle like her, graceful and serene. What kind of flower would she be? Something black, perhaps... A dark violet- no, those are too bright.

Her number... "I don't know!" she spoke, her inflection raising a little back into a childish interest. Not really shameful- more just stating the facts, really. "It might change, because we don't know how many ambers there are. But, mine has roses in it!" She twisted around, holding her twiggy tail and leaning over, her other hand wiping away the smooth surface. Small flecks of leaves laid suspended, forever, and two bulbs of rose just barely crossed in the center. Red peeked out from the tight confines of their green, and Pollen tapped a nail over it. "It's why I called myself Rose. She said I can keep calling myself Pollen too."

Numbers were weird, she would admit. Why did she need one? Did Aethril have one, or this being? She let go of her tail when Obieth continued, however, her paws coming back to her thighs as she settled back into the conversation. It was cool to meet someone who lived here! Maybe they'd see more of each other, if Aethril stuck around?

This, though, this was definitely what she did. "Yup!" She gave an enthusiastic nod to that. "I like flowers! They're pretty, and they aren't mean- well, if you touch their thorns, they can hurt- but they don't do it on purpose. They're gentle and pretty and very nice." She nodded again, as if that solidified her judgement, a warm smile creeping up her muzzle. "Sometimes, they can't take care of themselves, so they need help. Like, the plants in the pots like this, they wouldn't get water if I didn't use the can, and they'd get too thirsty and die. Or, they might have bad soil, and they get too hungry. Or, sometimes, they don't know when to stop growing..." She rose up a hand and turned it in a sort of 'etcetera and etcetera' gesture.

"But, I like to do it, because it's my job! Miss Aethril said I could be very good at it someday, so I want to try and learn, so I can impress my Overseer too."

If she got one... When was she supposed to get one? She paused, glancing down to the basket, shuffling in place. "What about you? Do you like guarding? Why do you have to guard Miss Aethril- she's not in trouble, is she?" The only trouble she could imagine was, perhaps, someone being mad- no sense of self preservation had come up in her yet, and she had no idea that there could be violence outside of the Palace walls. That was just unheard of!

But, then again, Pollen didn't hear much about outside of them... Her fur rose, just slightly, in worry. Was Miss Aethril in trouble?! She hoped not!

Pollen perked up for a second. Thorns! She could try those- no, actually it may be best to find them. "Ahh- let me think..." She glanced around the courtyard, her ears twitching up just slightly as her yellow eyes roamed the place. Hmm... Most flowers in here weren't as bad as the ones in the gardens, she figured, but she hadn't truly explored these plants yet. Perhaps-- no...

The succulent? Yes! And she could show this being the other plant, the Aethril-bonsai, and maybe find out what kind of plant she'd like, too.

She turned her gaze back to Obieth when her words continued. "You seem good at it, I think. You're very nice- that's a good thing for a guard to be- but I didn't even hear you come up! That's very good." Her hands clasped together and she grinned, briefly- a missing tooth, lost from simply being young, created a sort of gap-tooth smile. "Miss Aethril is very nice, too. I don't think she'd get in a lot of trouble."

She'd swept up and patted her knees free from dirt when Obieth's next question came. "Umm- sometimes! Honeysuckle smell really sweet, but I found out- here, watch..." She twisted her left arm about, hand drifting over the flowers curling there, and plucked out a particularly large, yellow, tube-like flower. "You kinda gotta pinch juuust right- it's hard with even with hands, though, so you might have to find a different way?- but, soon..."

She pinched the base of the flower and pulled it out, extracting the thin stamen and a bead of nectar. Carefully, she extended it out to Obieth. "Taste it! It's really sweet." It was totally dwarfed by Obieth's face, and Pollen marvelled at this, her eyes wide and her mouth parted just slightly.

After all was said and done, she'd moved on to walk past the Valkhound, her attention to a sort of bonsai tree nestled neat a bench. Her own addition- a little green succulent, tinged with red fringes- was sat on the corner of this bench, and she twisted around to sit next to it. "This has thorns! They're very sharp though, so don't touch them too hard." Gentle hands plucked the clay pot from its resting place and moved it to Pollen's lap. One gentle digit stroked down the smooth, inner side of the plant, watching how it bent ever so gently at the pressure. Its sides were like talons- if she knew any better, she might liken it to some form of tiny aloe vera.

"These ones aren't easy to eat. I usually eat the fish, in the river, but sometimes you can find special flowers like the honeysuckle. I've seen the big orange person cook plants, too, that aren't flowers! I want to try to grow some." She nodded to herself. Yes, this was something she was going to do.

And so, she shimmied in place, placing her paws around the base of the pot and offering the succulent out to Obieth. What would she think? Did she like thorns? She seemed very sharp, and like she'd like them. Maybe she should be a thorny plant! Did succulents come in black?

Oof, too many questions. Pollen blinked somewhat, before resorting to glance once down to the plant then back up to Obieth, a smile curling up her cheeks.

"So, what do you think?"