#rp23

Edgar’s entire energy had changed from the moment that Winnie stumbled upon her elemental abilities. At least twice a day he would pluck the bandanna from her hair and fling himself out of her immediate earshot far more often just so that Winnie would have to try and figure out how to carry her voice with a gale on command to bring him back. About half of the time, the inky black bird crowed his approval and whisked himself back to her side. The other half of the time, Winnie had to march down the hall to find him, chase him down, and somehow get her bandanna back.

It was mid summer, and Pansy was taking Groa and Slushie to visit her old home, Cuttledown. It was about time they met with her family – her mother had been demanding that she drive down with them for months, now.

Think positively.

She knew her parents would love her boyfriend and new son to pieces, (they’d seen much worse, after all) but the closer she got to her hometown, the more she dreaded that something would go wrong, they’d say something embarrassing, or there’d be a misunderstanding, or … no, everything would be fine.

The country road they were driving down had fields flanking either side; cropland, paddies and paddocks, though the sea could be seen glinting on the horizon, and there was a cluster of trees in the distance. For Pansy, it was a familiar sight, though she realised it was new ground for those she was travelling with.

“We’re almost there! That’s the forest I was talkin’ ‘bout before. Word travels quickly in these parts, n’ people are nosy, so if strangers start calling you by name after you’ve been introduced to two or three other folks, don’t be surprised.”

Slushie didn’t see fit to make comment. Despite still feeling unsure if he was comfortable enough to speak around Groa, he was mostly too busy staring out the backseat window at the sheer green. He’d seen farms before, but they were much more industrial; carefully controlled with heat, light, humidity and other artificial weather conditions.  A farm was a lab. But that was just out there. Under a real sky. Subject to real wind and rain. And the animals looked happy.

“I hope you fellas aren’t as nervous as I am, haha,” Pansy adds.  

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