Gadalik spent the entire day with his adoptive mother helping Guinevere expand and rearrange the fairy type’s garden. The seer-earth dragon hybrid had used his strength not only to terraform spaces to suit them for specific plants, but also to help plow the ground for seeds and saplings that the three of them then left to gather.

  Gadalik was amazed by how easily Guinevere could detect them with her empathic antennae; he was acutely aware that plants were just as alive as he was, with similar needs for nourishment too. So often he had passed them by without a second thought about running over top of them; he now felt guilty when he looked down to see he'd stepped on a sapling. "S-Sorry...! Did I kill it...?"

  "Worry not, young one," the fairy type murmured. "The life in this forest is resilient; even an earth dragon's weight will not kill them unless it's applied consistently."

  He sighed, relieved, then began unearthing it.

  "They would simply be eaten by wildlife if we left them here, regardless; I find it would be beneficial for the future of the inhabitants here if we plant these in more sparse parts of the forest after we finish our work on the garden."

  "Is this enough?" Glacia asked, walking upright with her arms full of them.

  "That's more than enough. You did wonderfully finding them on your own," Guinevere praised her, and the other adult was once again astonished by her kindness.

  They returned to the base of her tree hollow, and Glacia had helped more by dampening the upturned dirt and watering the seeds as they were planted, and then ventured out to the clearings to do the same with the tree saplings. Around evening, they admired the results of their collaborative efforts.

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  “Thank you both for your help,” the smaller dragoness told them wholeheartedly. “None of this would be possible without you.”

  Gadalik felt himself warm in a blush. “No problem! It was fun.”

  His mother yawned. “Fun," she agreed, "but tiring. I ran out of water, too. I'll have to get more from my puddle tomorrow… Ready to head home, Gadalik?”

  She's tired? I feel like I could do this all night! “Guess so. See you, Guinevere!”

  “Goodnight,” the fairy type replied. The glowing of her wings seemed extra prominent in the fading sunlight, and her antennae lifted slightly as she double checked the plants' lives in the garden. Then she flew into her tree hollow, and he turned around to follow Glacia back to their den.

  Gadalik was suddenly running through the forest at night, overcome by a sense of panic. Gretel flew past him from behind, and her white body was splotched with red. He ran after her, worried and afraid, when something struck his back–he felt a sharp pain and cried out as he was knocked forward to the ground, but there was no volume. In the distance he saw Gretel continue fleeing without even a glance his way, disappearing into the trees ahead.

  The world lightened back to evening. “I know that distant look in your eyes,” Glacia said. “You had a vision just now, didn't you?”

  “I did…?” He was still recovering, his back aching from whatever had attacked him. “Right… I did…”

  “What was it? Are you okay?”

  “I don't know… It was dark, and Gretel and I were hurt… We were being chased by something–something strong.”

  “Gretel?! How far into the future was it?” She shook her head. “What was chasing you? Did you get caught?!”

  “I don't know…” Did Gretel really leave me behind…? Maybe the vision ended before she turned around to save me?

  “You can't find out anything from it?”

  He narrowed his eyes and tried to remember. “Well… I didn't recognize that part of the forest. I don't know if it was just because it was too dark to see clearly, or what.” The ache faded. “Sorry. That's all I could gather. It all happened so fast…”

  She pulled her son into a comforting hug until he could get his thoughts in order. “Let's just get some sleep,” she murmured, “and we'll worry about this when it happens, okay?”

  He nodded, and when they eventually settled inside their den, he saw Glacia keeping an eye out as he fell asleep.