The Gardenkeeper's Daughters

Natrina- 12

"I told her." Vivian says, sitting down next to me in the Hall of Feasts. Her tail waves frantically, beating against the warm furs mounted into a suitable pile. I take a large bite of the warm food, realizing immediately how much I missed it.

Restraining myself, I ask, "What'd she say?"

"She says yes."

My eyes widen and I nod, gulping down roast pheasant. "I'm happy for you both."

"Thanks." she says, turning to Lotus.
The two of them strike up a conversation, loud and cheerful as the rest in the Hall of Feasts, and Gash stumbles to my side.

"You're finally up!" I say.

"Yeah."

Aislyn sits besides him. "Finally is a good word for it. He sleeps like an Ursus. I thought he might never wake up again."

"Ursus?" I ask.

"Bear Sentients. Terrible bloodwrath. Sleep all winter." she explains.

"Huh." Gash mumbles.

"Yeah, yeah, you only see 'em up north on certain timelines. They're allll just... big bears. Who cares." Aislyn slams her face into her food.

"Are you okay? You're rambling a bit more than usual." I ask her.

"We're going to have to wait even longer to get to work saving the universe. I can't stand knowing that every second we're not doing something, creatures across the worlds get hurt."

"That's not your fault. May I ask... why we can't go?" Gash says.

"Almalia refuses to send her heroes unless she knows that it's safe. There's risk no matter what we do, but we're talking avoiding dimensions where we literally have chance. We still have some problems with finding dimensions that won't kill us on spot, but I think we'll have it all sorted out soon. Almalia is expending large amounts of the Dreamland treasury to the dragons so they'll do sentry duty for us. It's a huge predicament. Dragons are the worst. Greedy, selfish, unhelpful..."

"Kill us on spot?" I exclam. "Are you kidding?"

"No! I'm not! The Obsidian attacks are awful. Few dimensions are safe from them. Ignorance generally seems to be safest, but..." Aislyn narrows her eyes, visibly angry. On a usually kind and loving face, her anger is nigh terrifying.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Gash asks.

"We could go somewhere a little more private, for starters. We're going to have to wait it out for now. Of course, we'd be able to go if anyone else activated their powers, like Lotus." Aislyn says accusingly.

"That's not something any of us can do on command." Vivian points out. Lotus and her are both looking towards us. They've probably been listening in on us this whole time. "I'll try, though."

"So, what did you have in mind, Aislyn?" asks Lotus.

"Somewhere nice and isolated." Aislyn says. "I think I know a place."

***

The rope bridge swings before us menacingly. The little wood slabs are knit closely together by other ropes to try to keep paws from slipping between the cracks. It's a nice measure, though it doesn't make the creaking bridge any less menacing. The loud shrieks of the wooden torture machine are anything but encouraging.

"Are you coming?" asks Vivian, already halfway across. Lotus is all the way on the other side, where an isolated part of the forest beyond the valley waits.

Aislyn soars overhead, paying no attention to the rickety behemoth before me.

"Nat. It's just a rope bridge." Gash tells me. "It's okay."