Bo laughed. "I mean, the story really is that I was way in over my head, thinking I could prepare all of the food for a guild-wide party by myself. That was back when we were mostly new recruits and rescuees except for me and Mickey, and one or two people who'd been here longer. Like Robin and stuff. Robin's a werewolf by the way! You might like to meet him."
"Werewolf? As in, a human to wolf-thing shapeshifter?" he clarifies, raising an eyebrow. Those most certainly didn't exist in his world - the legend had risen from shifting demons.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Bo nodded. "Yup! Little Yuna's actually a werewolf too. We have a few that have taken refuge here. Werewolves aren't uh, very well liked by most humans."
"I mean, I shouldn't be surprised after the dragon comment, but...I'm going to be honest, I didn't expect werewolves. Those aren't something we run into in my world."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Well, there might be a few surprises for ya," Bo said, eyes following as Yuna turned into a doorway, holding it open for everyone. Bo smiled, looking over to Kratzer to let him go first. "Hopefully nothing that'll spook ya too bad, though."
Kratzer stepped inside and laughed. "I look forward to it."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
The door opened up into a large, circular room with shelves lining the walls. The walls stretched up countless feet above their heads, and at the very top of the ceiling, there was what looked like a sun-roof with sunlight pouring in. The shelves were splashed with color as they were covered in potted plants, and along the ground were plots of even more. They ranged from flowers to fruits and vegetables, and everything in between. The air felt clearer than that in the hall, having the most open shaft to the surface.
Yuna spun around in the dirt walkways, holding out her arms, proud to show it off. All of the other kids looked to Kratzer with eager expectation.
The vampire smiled and gave an impressed whistle. This was nice work for people so young, and the variety was surprising. "Did you guys do all this?"
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Wow. Color me impressed, this is fine work, kiddos," he said, applauding.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Yuna beamed and reached for Kratzer's hand, pulling him forward and leading him through the garden. She led him close to the back of the room and stopped at a shelf that hung lower on the wall. She let go of his hand and crouched down when they arrived, pointing at a little plant growing out of a pot. Half of the plant had a purple stem and had small purple buds. The other half had a green stem that looked grafted on - just like she's said - and had a small yellow flower budding with bits of purple in it.
"I didn't know if they'd grow together and how it'd turn out. But I was really excited when I saw this little guy," she pointed to the yellowish flower, "take on features from this guy," she then pointed to the purple half of the plant.
"How's it work?" he asks, smiling at her excitement and enthusiasm. For the moment, at least, it's as though all his troubles and fears and nightmares have faded into the distance and for a precious second he can live in the moment.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Yuna smiled back, then looked proudly at her plant. "Well, in order for them to grow together, you've gotta wound 'em first. You make a little cut - it's gotta be where another little branch already grew - and you tie them together. We have uh, this special healing herb that helps heal people but I wanted to see if it would work on plants. Turns out it does! But uh, with these guys, I had to make sure they were part of the same plant family, to see if they were magically compatible first."
