Argalloid Shoots

The sweet scent of osmanthus floated along a crisp breeze, vanishing all memory of a wet weekend. As lush and dense as Ijhe'Yi was, the suffocating blanket of summer had yet weakened, easing the rangers' suffering. Suddenly, Luna could appreciate the luxury of garden life, comfort and purpose in every corner. The campus was exposed to wind, rain, and sunlight, but the mulched human spaces were covered and clean under the paws of service animals and hands of the Foundation.

"We can't possibly get all this done today, can we?" Jhun asked. "So much firewood. . . and who knows what further delays we'll face? We can cut our trip to the Market short and check only the stalls that Xochitl named, but then I'll still need to eventually find Rowan. I can't fail him on this."

The Foundation enabled it all. This Luna knew proudly, for fortnightly she donned her Foundation cap to tidy and move and fix and maintain and process, as every ranger did. As she and Jhun left the Great Hall, bellies full and muscles worn, she watched the Foundation grunts flow through Ijhe'Yi like blood through a colossus.

"And if you want to stop by the rookery, I do need to send a pigeon. We should probably do that after the Market, to hopefully skip the evening rush."

Her last Foundation shift had placed her at Ganadi, caring for the guild's disabled and needy beasts. These comprised almost all of Ganadi's residents, unable to survive in the wild or otherwise be of use. Luna had taken weeks to realize this truth—Zingiber was not distinguishable from his barnmates.

"So the important thing is to avoid taking too long with Tals'Hayun. Give them the seeds, help them with the fruit, and get Zingiber's tincture. Do you think it would be rude to tell them that we love their stories and lectures, but we're in a hurry today? I never know what will disrespect an elder."

She shook her head at the thought of her partner. Every able beast of Ijhe'Yi served the guild, and they each rivaled the best of Luna's ridemates on the steppe. The dogs cavorted and bounded along the paths, ever excited to deliver. The pigeons were sassy and too clever, but quicker than any harrier Luna had seen. The opossums mostly slept and crept about, eating carcasses and trash; yet even Billy had charmed Luna with her furry snout and jagged teeth, trying helplessly to braid with her dexterous little feet.

"And then you mentioned something, didn't you?"

The garlic braids. Hayun had sent a note that they were fully dried and ready.

"We need to make sure we grab the garlic braids," Luna said. She took a moment to gather her bearings: a garden of head—tall clouds of purples, whites, and faded golds, a single gravel path cutting through the thicket. Bees, wasps, tachinids, and butterflies buzzed about, rivaling the cicadas and crickets in their racket.

From the expectant look in Jhun's eyes, Luna realized he'd been speaking, but she had missed every single word.

"Yes, the argalloid shoots, you called them?" Jhun asked.

Luna gave a half nod. "I can't forget them."

"Of course."

"So are your arms okay?" Luna asked. She was sure Jhun would collapse after what Tals'Ola had put him through.

". . . I suppose," he said, not convincingly. "The work is reminiscent of mining, but Tals'Ola pushed me much harder than I'm used to."

Luna laughed. "Come on, friend. You always feel better at the greenhouse."

Jhun had filled Zingiber's role as Luna's partner in action as of late. They achieved an efficient rhythm together—Jhun planned, Luna charged ahead to begin, Jhun cleaned up the details, and Luna moved them on to the next item.

"Greenhouse, then the Market, then the Rookery. Right?" Jhun asked.

"Right," Luna said.

And with that, Jhun finally put away his notebook and followed Luna with purpose. He could walk faster now that he'd stopped thinking, she supposed.

She didn't blame him for feeling overwhelmed—there was too much to prepare for the harvest festival. They'd lost the entire morning to setup at the Great Hall; only now could they take care of their own matters.

Aiy, part of the morning they'd lost to an argument with Zingiber, when she'd suggested a collar. Luna had not realized it before, just how wild the beast was, maybe because of the freedom offered by the Guluwe lifestyle. He was used to a certain way of being.

As her penance, Luna suffered his presence the rest of the day.

He trotted now by her ankles, his coat defiantly orange against the serene backdrop. She pushed him with her foot off the path, and he darted through the field of flowers. She tracked his journey as the blanket of bugs lifted, rustled, and reset with his movements through their buffet.

By the time they made it to the greenhouse, Zingiber had gathered a new coat of brown burs, green diamonds, and white fluff. While Jhun wasted his time picking at Zinny's coat, Luna found her bulb plant in the storage under her potting bench. It had grown slightly fuzzier, a brush whiter, since last week. She poked at the bog lichen that topped the soil, satisfyingly spongy and magically protective against mites. Luna smiled.

Jhun sat next to Luna, his face in its usual state of worry.

"Don't you want to check on your plant?" She asked.

"Oh!" Jhun said, somehow startled by the question. "My plant? Why would I need to do that?"

"I didn't say you needed to. But you applied the fertilizer last week."

"We did. . ." Jhun's distress only deepened.

"Aren't you curious to see how it responded?" Luna asked.

"Aiya, I see." Jhun stared at Luna's bulb. "I don't need to check it for a while."

Luna raised an eyebrow, but didn't probe further.

"When is the latest we can switch to an oral trial for this course?"

"I suppose the day of the oral trials next year."

"Do you think the oral trial will be difficult?"

"The oral trial, my dear boy," said Hayun, ambling in like a brown bear through the greenhouse's back entrance, "is a play hunt for anyone who understands vigiculture."

They wielded a long tool in each hand, a fishing net in one and a metal rod in the other.

"And you two," the gardener said, pointing with each at Luna and Jhun, "indubitably understand enough to pass."

The two rookies bowed.

"Edenday, rangers. I assume you have been sent here to pick fruit. You'll likely want these tools for that," Hayun said. "Jhun, were you still interested in the June-maple sap?"

"Ah, Tals'Hayun," Jhun stammered. "I've been thinking on it."

"How does it compare to goldnectar?" Luna asked. She bowed her head again, slightly. She only sometimes remembered the hulking professor's status as Talisichke, one of twelve Councilors leading a thousand rangers. They demanded the same respect as her father.

"It depends on the application, certainly. The sap is largely solar in resonance, while goldnectar is purely arghalic. That was one of the old uses of goldnectar, in fact; before alkis distillation was invented in Zyuga Pioneer, goldnectar was the closest thing to spellfuel they had. These days, most alchemists use either spellfuel for renkinesis or maple sap for vitokinetic operations."

"So. . ." Luna began, with little intention of finishing.

"So outside the odd chance that you're practicing distillation, treating jv̇gwah poisoning, or performing an ancient experiment, you might indeed prefer the maple sap."

"Jhun?" Luna asked expectantly.

He licked his lips nervously, unable to form any words.

"Aiya, we can harvest first, and then he'll decide, if that's okay," she said, to Tals'Hayun's smile of approval. "Ah, and we've brought something from the alchemists."

She eagerly removed Yoza's package from her ridepack, unraveled his careful wrapping, and offered the packet of seeds to Hayun.

"Bless me, just one moment." The gardener handed their tools to Jhun and found a stained but clean pot. "Why don't you pour them in here?"

"The entire guild will be in your debt come summertime. These were specially engineered by Tals'Ianthe's team for resilience, bounty, and health." Tals'Hayun closed their eyes in a dream. "Save the best of your picking for your own enjoyment—Xifo'Kyta knows how to make the best of what you bring her."

They winked at Luna, who bowed her head one more time, deeper still. She would find the plumpest grapes for herself, out of respect for the elder.

One hour stretched into an entire afternoon without notice or warning, most of it spent learning to use the metal picking tool. They twisted crabapples, pears, and persimmons from high stems; picked pawpaws and plums with the gentlest of hands; and shook loose hundreds of cranberries and grapes into nets. Their baskets filled quickly, and Zingiber ferried their fill to and fro. For every hundred pieces she collected, Luna sampled one.

She found her belly quite full by the end.

"So what will you tell Hayun?" Luna asked Jhun as they returned to the greenhouse, their baskets brimming with their final haul.

"About the spilled fruit? I didn't—"

"About the maple sap, I mean."

"Oh," he said, like she'd cornered him.

She contained a groan.

"They raised a good point. What does Rowan need this for?"

Jhun scratched his head. "Probably something official. A gift, maybe, diplomatic? Or something political? Or maybe something for—"

"If you don't know, why don't you send him a pigeon and ask?"

Jhun inbreathed sharply, a strange look in his eyes. It might have been determination.

"You know what? You keep telling me to trust my gut. Maple sap feels right. Let's do it."

Luna squeezed his shoulder, careful not to press into his bones. The boy was growing, if not in flesh.

"So we can deliver the braids, deliver the sap, and be close to done for the day, then?"

Jhun nodded. Luna sighed in relief.

"Get me a pigeon?" She asked.

With a high-low two note whistle, Jhun called forth a mottled white and brown female dove.

"Record, please," Luna said.

The bird lifted its left foot, offering one of the twigs strapped to its tiny leg. Luna removed one, inserted it into a golden charm on her necklace, and spoke her message.

"I have the braids. Can we meet soon?"

Luna removed the twig and tied it to the pigeon's right leg with twine. She gave its smooth head several scratches.

"Send to Saya'Kayin Ogunmodede. Thank you."

They returned their tools to a back corner rack, plus one pair of shears Jhun had found abandoned under a mass of trumpetvine.

From behind a table of cuttings and soil pods, Tals'Hayun smiled at the rookies.

"Baz is checking on the sap casks. You can find him in the cellar if you're interested."

"Aiy, thank you, Tals'Hayun."

Jhun scurried down a nearby set of stairs that Luna had never noticed before. It was hidden from her usual seat at her potting bench, she realized, by the professor's favorite peach tree.

"By the way, Luna, I know you were asking about Zingiber's tincture. Unfortunately, we're quite low this month. We're brewing a new batch, but there's much processing left to do. Perhaps you could help on your next Foundation shift. It's a great shoulder and back exercise, what with all the vat stirring and whatnot."

"Jhun would love that," Luna said.

The professor chuckled, nodding. "For you, then, I thought a birdcounting mission next month might be of interest."

"Why me?" Luna asked, quite surprised.

"You've got a great eye for these things, as Ai'Kanchana agrees."

"I wonder why," Luna said, as she pet Zingiber. "Though it does sound fun."

"Ah. Of course, you'd set out with a team, but Zingiber would have to stay behind."

Luna nodded, ignoring the bristling of the cat's aura. He was hard to hide, no matter where they went.

"Think on it. Some find the solitude to be bliss."

The mottled pigeon flew back with a new twig on its leg. This one, once inserted into Luna's charm, announced in a clear, light voice,

"Yes, at the Great Hall."

Upon Jhun's return, the two said their goodbyes to the Talisichke and organized their haul: garlic braids in Luna's ridepack, a jug of maple sap in Jhun's bag, and the last twenty kigs of their harvest on a stretcher between them.

She cursed the mess she'd made of herself in the orchard. She brushed the largest twigs and leaves from her hair with her hands before she crouched to grab the stretcher's handles.

The hike back was brisk and quiet, besides the few passing pigeons Luna had to threaten off of their bounty.

Several Foundation rookies rushed out to hold the Great Hall's large doors open as Luna and Jhun walked through, their payload bright and gaudy. A hundred rangers paused to admire the harvest, but only for a second before the room exploded again with industry. There were fewer people than at Convocation, sure, but now felt like more, each ranger moving with the intensity of ten.

She spotted Felix at once, his nose jutting out just above the sea of heads. She stretched her arms high to catch his attention. As his bluff smile filtered through the crowd and emerged alone, she quelled the irritation that leapt from her heart.

Felix's hands were empty, with no proper receptable to hold the braids. Luna admired him, as strong, capable, and loyal as he was, but he was not the right boy for this job.

"Edenday, you two?" He asked.

"Yes, and you?" Luna returned.

"Absolutely!" Felix wiped at his mouth with his bare fingers. "Did you bring the braids? Kayin said you'd come to drop them off."

After a thoughtful pause, Luna unstrapped her ridepack and offered it to Felix.

"In here. They're sensitive, so try to be careful."

Felix nodded, taking the leather bag with both hands. "I promise."

He held it awkwardly, like an uncle who'd been handed a soiled baby.

"Have you seen Rowan, Felix?" Jhun asked abruptly. He was ready to go, it seemed.

"We're on Foundation together today! Well, I think half the guild is, on account of the Harvest Festival next week, but we've been moving cornmeal together for Xifo'Alva all day. He left during midbreak, and I haven't seen him since."

"And you don't know to where?" Luna asked.

"Maybe he's at the Rookery," Felix suggested. "To write letters, like he does."

"That would be perfect," Jhun said excitedly. "I have my own to send as well."

Luna grunted, maybe too loudly, for the two boys looked to her.

"Zingiber isn't allowed up there."

Luna hesitated. She could stay behind with Zingiber, but then how long would Jhun take on his own?

She knelt to confront the cat. She pushed firmly with her aura against his, making sure he understood every word she said.

"Zingiber. Do you remember what Kanchana said about birds?"

((Zingiber good.)) Zingiber stepped back and turned, raising his hackles to show his displeasure.

"I know. You are the best. You would never hurt a friend. But maybe you can wait with Felix for a bit?"

((Zingiber good.)) Zingiber's aura distorted heavily under the weight of his anger. ((Gentle boy. Bad Luna.))

"This is why I didn't want you to come along—"

Zingiber roared.

That is, he tried to roar, but as an eight kig cat, he could only reach a crazed yowl.

The Great Hall came to a dead quiet.

((Leave now.)) Luna overwhelmed Zingiber's aura with her own. He would remember who obeyed whom.

The cat darted off, out a window into the greenery of Ijhe'Yi.

"Will he be okay?" Jhun asked. "Or will he cause more trouble?"

Luna closed her eyes and shook her head slowly.

"We'll have to take him back to Ganadi." She sighed. "And then we resume."

"You don't trust him to make it there?"

"You don't have much experience with cats, do you?"

Small Zingiber was much harder to follow through the brush than a tiger through the steppe, Luna came to learn. They resorted to asking for directions at every turn, for which Jhun proved quite useless the whole way through.

The sun had almost set by the time they thanked Ai'Kanchana and found themselves outside Ganadi's entrance. Across the river, the white peaks of the Market beckoned to Luna. She'd rather forgotten how close the tent was to the ranch, but now that they were here, it only seemed fair to Jhun to make a stop.

"Shall we go to the Market?" Luna asked. "You could play the hero, with both goldnectar and maple sap."

Jhun smiled mournfully. "It's sundown."

"Ah, sorry, I guess they'd be packing their wares for the day."

"It's my fault," Jhun said. "We spent too long at the greenhouse."

Exhausted, the pair returned to the Southern Longhouse to sit on Jhun's bedspace and discuss their plans for the evening. To Luna's surprise, they found Rowan in his own bed, apparently still not awoken from his midbreak nap.

Luna pulled back the heavy curtain that separated Rowan's area from Jhun's. The prince was indeed awake, his cheeks darkened, forehead slick with sweat.

"Jhun!" Rowan bolted upright, the relief plain on his face.

"Rowan?" Luna asked. "What are you still doing in bed?"

"Just taking a rest after a long day, friends." Rowan flashed a smile at them.

Luna felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

Rowan pointed at the jug in Jhun's hand. "And what's that?"

"Tals'Hayun traded me three liters of this maple sap. Can you believe it? It's all yours."

Rowan blinked, his smile frozen.

"And the goldnectar?"

Jhun searched Luna's eyes for support, but she found herself lost for words.

"Well," Jhun finally responded, his face drained of excitement, "they were out of goldnectar. But Tals'Hayun says this—"

"Jhun." Rowan's smile was gone. "I need goldnectar."

"But couldn't this—"

With a mighty effort, the prince rose to his feet, but before he could speak, he stumbled forward into Luna.

He inbreathed slowly, his wet cheek against her forehead.

"Let's get you to the infirmary," Luna said.

"No."

Rowan straightened suddenly, pushing forcefully on Luna's shoulders for support. He seated himself on the edge of his bed, his hands balled into fists. He blinked away the tears in his eyes.

"I can't. I'm staying here."