18- The Nursery
Everly POV
My world was complete. I can die right now and not care. Roaming freely in a vast open stable structure that was definitely larger on the inside than the outside like Mary Poppins‘ bag were the most beautiful mythical creatures to ever be imagined: Unicorns, Griffons, Pegasus, Sphinx, Hippogrids, and even a Red and Golden Pheonix pair whizzed by me. I have officially found my new home. Yep, who needs Dragons or mates when you have a FUCKING UNICORN!
I heard an angry throat being harshly cleared and looked at my mates who had a murderous stare and their eyes Blickering bright gold telling me their beasts want to come to the surface. I then realized why they may be upset.
“Did I just say that out loud?” I already knew the answer and when they only raised their eyebrows defiantly in a response, I was quick to feel ashamed. “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean it. Promise! Please forgive me?” I gave a little pout and puppy dog eyes while I cautiously stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Jupiter’s torso and gave him a little squeeze,
I hear a grunt in approval before strong arms wrapped around me in a warm embrace. I pulled away a few moments later and gave Atticus equal love, which he gladly returned,
They proceeded to walk me around and introduced me to a few of the creatures. They let me pet a unicorn with a purple horn and matching purple mane, her name was
Mystic and she was so sweet. I fed her sugar cubes and she muzzled against me for a long time. Adam and Eve were the Pheonix birds and had just given birth to a set of triplet eggs a few years ago and were ready to hatch in the next century. I know that sounds bizarre, but that was what one of the trainers said.
We
saw all sorts of creatures like Petrov the Hippogriff and Clarabell and Clarence the Griffins who could actually talk by the way and were treated like normal citizens! Apparently most of the magical creatures were citizens here. The true “pets” here were the Terra creatures like rhinos, lions, tigers, and bears. Oh My!
This place was a sanctuary and rehabilitation center for many of these creatures as well as the private pet menagerie for the palace. There was a large Infirmary and a sacred healing oasis underneath in the basement. The keepers assist in research and keep detailed records for preservation. One of the keepers, Sandra, was in charge of the breeding program and happily reported 24 pregnancies among the mythical creatures and earth animals which was a big deal. One of the Sphinx’s was due any day now and would be giving birth to twins so the building was bustling with excitement.
We eventually said our goodbyes and made our way to the greenhouse. A small, rounded, rosy cheek older lady was waiting outside by the door. She was dressed in a floral dress and had a muddy apron with various tools sticking out of the pockets. She had water boots on and her salt and pepper hair was pinned back in a tight bun. Working gloves were held in one hand.
She noticed us walking towards her and immediately bowed at the waist “Your Majesties!” Atticus greeted her in return “Rise Mrs. Piedmont. How many times must we tell you to stop being so formal with us?” He smiled handsomely at her and embraced her like a child would his mother.
“At least one more time Your Majesty she joked back, smiling brightly, winking for good measure. Atticus and the lady now known as Mrs. Piedmont shared a small laugh before Atticus turned his attention to me,
“Mrs. P, may I introduce our mate, Everly,” I smiled brightly at her and nodded my head towards her. “Eve, sweety, this is Mrs. Piedmont. She is like a mother to all of us and the best damn garden master we have ever known” Atticus added, buttering up the old lady who was now blushing, her cherry cheeks now a bright red shade like a rose.
“Oh stop! You flatter this old windbag.” She teased and then turned to me, giving me a bow “It is so wonderful to finally meet you Your Highness. The whole palace has been talking about you non–stop. I hope I can be of service to you” she says sweetly which makes me smile in return.
“It is such a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Piedmont. I am sure we will spend many hours together.”
“You are so sweet dear. And absolutely breathtaking! No wonder the High Goddess chose you for these strapping young men. It’s about time someone humbled them.” Mrs. Piedmont looked at the guys and snickered, sticking her tongue out playfully like she was a child herself. It was very amusing.
She ushered us inside thereafter and we stood inside a small glass room where there was a sitting bench to one side and many sized aprons hung on the wall above it. There were water boots under the bench and a large industrial sink to the right. There was a large white cabinet with a lock and we were instructed to place our shoes, extra clothing, any valuables that could get diaty etc. in the cabinet and we would need to put on an apron and boots. We were given a pair of gardening gloves and a few small tools were placed in our pockets.
Once we were done, we walked through the double glass doors and what I could only describe as a tropical rainforest was before me. Lush greenery touched almost every possible surface. It was a natural iundle full of preen chrubbery trees Inot monct and even some rodental plants. The atmossbere
Do you like this story?
Was
thick and hot, coating my exposed skin in a layer of small water droplets, yet even in my knit sweater dress, I didn’t feel overly sticky.
Mrs. Piedmont led the way on a trimmed paths though the thick brush and canopy of elaborate vegetation. The smell of morning dew permeated my nostrils. As we walked,
Mrs. P would point out something like a new plant that was thinking. We came across a large patch of blooming mushrooms greeing at the base of a large moss–coveted rock formation. Most of the heads were slightly larger than my hand and had a libur swirl pattern on the smooth outer surface. I had never seen anything like this. They were called Manhals and created a very rate and dangerous chemical compound used in some special elixirs. Only trained far and warlocks could handle these specimens and to touch the fungus with our hare hands would learn nur flesh through the bone. So yeah, definitely not touching that stuff!
We walked further into the jungle to come to an open island of sorts that had some metal workstation, lots of science equipment, and small garden beds on the left–hand side.
“Welcome to the Nursery Mrs. Piedmont exclaimed.
“Nursery?” I asked skeptically.
“Yes Your Highness. Nursery. Our younglings are sleeping in the garden beds. When they are nourished enough, we plant them in the main foliage you see around you. It helps ensure that the other plants won’t attack them for being so young. Plus so special formulas require the younglings and saplings so it’s a win–win.” She was beaming. You could tell that this was not just her job, but her passion. She was exhilarating. If I had her as a teacher back at home, I would have loved chemistry and herbology.
Clapping her hands, she redirected our attention to the metal stations before us “Now! I have set up a special station for the three of you love birds. “Now come over here” she directed us to the side of a workstation. It had plenty of sterilized beakers and measuring equipment as well as labeled boxes of dried herbs.
Over the next two hours, the three of us mixed, stirred, dribbled, dropped, scooped, and harvested dried herbs and some youngling sprouts with careful direction of Mrs. Piedmont. She took each of us over to one of the garden beds and showed us how to properly harvest whatever it was we needed.
Atticus had to harvest a whole small lettuce–looking plant with all the roots. It was orange in color and the roots were a bright purple. It was called a pleo–turnip and apparently was quite stubborn to uproot. Eheard a few colorful words from Atticus which made me and Jupiter chuckle.
Jupiter had to carefully plack twenty leaves from the kaiser plant which looked like spinach. The tree though was covered in poisonous thorns and the tree could change colors on a whim. Leaves could only be plucked when they were shades of yellow. Watching Jupiter use his speed to pluck wES endearing and it took him like half an hour to complete the task because Mrs. P decided to give him, and I quote “the tree with the most attitude” because why not? She was slightly sadistic and enjoyed watching these grown ass men suffer a bit.
For me, she had me put on earmuffs and took me to a baby Rutherford to harvest a root stem. She showed me how to dig up the soll and was very patient with me. The earmuffs were for the high–pitched note the plant could emit when it’s roots would be disturbed and it had similar effects to what humans perceive as Sirens and it could burst your cardrums or even give an aneurysm.
