Upon receiving the letter with the invitation to the Sprig Ball, Sprig had been excited. More than excited. Absolutely bursting with energy! It had taken him a few moments to comprehend the words on the page. There would be a ball! Not that he was into dancing or anything. The most important part of it was that Cadenza had also been invited. And he knew immediately what that meant. There was something he had wanted to do, but had never really found the right chance to do it. Not that he couldn't do it. He just. He knew he wanted it to be special. Doing it on a rather normal day wouldn't have been doing it justice. And Sprig also knew exactly what he wanted to prepare. Just saying something wasn't enough. He would show it.

The lion donned his gardeners hat, and had set out to look around Orion for the plant he needed. There was an area around here that had been quite plentiful with mint when it was still around, and he was sure he would be able to find some dormant seeds to grow.

And something did grow. It just wasn't mint. But it certainly looked similar enough so that when he leaned down to pick some, a foul taste spread through his mouth and he quickly spit it out. His tongue quickly turned numb, and he rushed to find a puddle, gulping it down to clear the strange juice from his mouth. Ugh. When he returned to look closer, he realized that it did have a slight difference from mint. It smelled different too. How hadn't he noticed? Perhaps he was too busy focusing on his task that he had ignored it.

He would be more careful this time. But no matter what happened, he wouldn't give up. Sprig hadn't felt this determined or passionate about something since cooking up a new recipe. He was glad he had tried the plant at least before straight up using it. What if he had accidently made Cadenza sick? He would never forgive himself if that happened. The lion pulled himself out of his thoughts. He couldn't continue to waste time! It would be best if he got this as soon as possible so he would have more time to hide the gift. Sprig also didn't want the dragon to worry about him being gone for so long and come looking. That would spoil the surprise.

His magic failed to work once more, and he sighed. Perhaps it was his nerves. This task was really getting to him. Sprig didn't remember his magic failing him this badly in a while. It was almost like the magnesite could read his thoughts.

Sprig took some deep breaths, tail flicking from side to side as he focused on the empty ground before him. It would not be empty much longer. The lion felt his magnesite pulse with magic, and a surge of it flowed out, coaxing the idle remains of mint to grow into sprouts.

The lion bent down, sniffing them carefully and taking a cautious nip out of a leaf. The fresh taste flooded his mouth, and he knew that this was correct. Should he grow it a bit more he wondered? The leaves were quite small, and he did need a thicker stem to be able to weave it.

The feeling. It came again. Weaker this time, yes, but it came. A weak flicker, but it was evident that it had worked as shown by the mint growing to a juvenile size. But that wasn't exactly a bad thing. The best time to harvest mint, he had learned, was before it was fully mature. Or before it had flowered at least. Instead of plucking the leaves like he usually did, Sprig bent down and gently plucked the plant free from where the stem met the earth. It came out neatly, and the lion held it gingerly between his teeth as he walked some distance away.

Orion was not a cave vibrant with plant life. It was not Eridanus or Pegasus. But Eridanus had been infected by Order, while Pegasus was much too far away to make the journey. He knew for sure that he recalled seeing some of the blue and white flowers that he needed in Pegasus, but Orion should have some too. Even if it wasn't evident upon first glance, he was sure that there was bound to be some seeds around here that he could bring to life. Sprig didn't know of a gembound who stayed confined to one cave. That meant it could have been possible for seeds to have stuck to furred pelts or in the crevices between one's toes as they traveled, and transferred some flora from one cave to the next. This was all a theory of course.

He found a spot that was an adequate distance away from where he found the mint, and gently placed the leafy sprig that he carried onto the ground. A weak flicker of magic brought some flowers ranging from blue to white emerging from the ground. But they were no where near close to being large enough. Especially for a dragon. Unlike the mint, he wanted to make sure the flowers were as large as they could be.

The magnesite heeded his call. Small flecks of blue and white buds unfurled their petals to reveal a mix of vibrant colors and others in shades of pastel. Sprig picked a mixture of the white and light blue ones, staying away from both those that had the most vibrant and most dull colors. It was the flowers in between that were most fitting for Cadenza. Sprig made sure to clip them at a length that left an adequate amount of stem. Not too much, not too little. Just enough so that it could be woven later.

Now there was only one thing left that he needed to collect. There was a rather pretty variety of yellow flowers in Pegasus, but Sprig was sure that he should be able to grow some here too. Even if it wouldn't be the exact same shade or species, as long as it was yellow and with a flexible stem, it should still work. As he looked back, the lion saw that he had left a trail of plants behind him. The few spots of green in an otherwise desolate landscape. In terms of plant life at least.

A few yellow buds poked out of the rocky ground like flecks of gold. They were pretty, even now. How would they look like when they had bloomed? Sprig could tell that it wasn't exactly the same species as the ones he had seen in Pegasus, but similar enough.