Night Sky Bloom

1- Foxglove

A/N:

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When the moon is bright enough, it's easy to forget how dark the night sky really is. Darkness never really leaves, it simply hides behind the illuminated sky brought to it by the moon.

Their village was small. Tucked away on the outskirts of a verdant forest, it was the kind of place where time seemed to dance to its own syncopated rhythm. Cradled by the enfolding arms of centuries-old oaks, it was nestled into the edge of the greenery like a child curled up in its mother's lap. It was so small that everyone knew everyone, and secrets were a rare luxury few seemed to possess.

Yet, despite its size, it held an inexplicable charm. Underneath the canvas of sapphire skies, a jigsaw puzzle of unique houses spread across the landscape. Some were old, their stone façades weathered and worn as if they had listened to countless stories of past generations. Others were more modern, their glass windows glistening under the sunlight in an almost surreal synergy of old and new. Both were beautiful. In Jisung's eyes, it was a picturesque quilt stitched together by Mother Nature herself.

It was easy to get lost in the tap-tap-tap of rain on thatched or planked roofs and cobblestone streets, easy to bathe in the sunlight comfortably when it was filtered by the leaves of trees waving hello. Easy to live in, easy to admire, easy to love.

Technology wasn't a foreign concept in their village - they weren't primitive, after all - but it wasn't abundantly overused, not compared to modern standards. They preferred simplicity in their little nook of the woods. It was far enough away from the city that they were referred to as an old-fashioned and traditional pack, but close enough where sales and trades were simple to conduct. Sure, there were TVs and lights, music players of different sorts and fully plumbed amenities, but it was just so much more... calm and simple than the electric, eclectic buzzing one might find in a large city.

And Jisung liked it that way.

Everyone in their village began to learn how to function as an adult at a very early age. The pack mentality was that, the stronger and more knowledgeable people were, individually, the stronger and more knowledgeable the pack was as a whole. Growing up, they learned bits and pieces of trades they showed interest in- nothing was forced on them. Some people learned to cook more than others. Some learned to create, or learned plumbing or mechanics. Some, like Chan, learned how to lead and set good examples- learned how to make tough calls, delegate tasks, and mitigate crises.

Some, like Jisung, learned gardening and herbalist medicines. When he was younger, his mother was sick more often than not. Since they lived in a smaller town, and his mother preferred a holistic approach to medication rather than big-city pharmaceuticals, Jisung learned how to accommodate. By the time he was nine, he knew that slippery elm, marshmallow root, honey and home-grown ginger made for a great cough syrup that could ease the pain in his mother's throat. When he was ten, he experimented with a concoction of curcumin, chamomile, and butterbur as a way to negate her constant headaches.

When he wasn't reading about usages for and remedies from herbs and flowers, he was writing down his own notes and ideas. When he started growing a flower garden, his mother started calling him her little petal and would let him rant for hours on end about what he wanted to plant- what he wanted to grow- which was anything and everything.