[B] Sea's bounty [Blushing Coral & ???]

[Beejoux]

Blushing Coral hadn't set out on a course for motherhood when she'd started messing company with Sharks Are Smooth, but she couldn't say she was entirely surprised to find herself on that path now. It was just the nature of things, always a possibility.

She was grateful for where she lived, for her large family and her tribe. She knew she would not be taking on this new challenge alone, and that was comforting.

Three babies growing inside her would be all loved and well cared for, and Blushing Coral want to start their lives or right, with ever advantage she could give them.

So she was up in the field where her father and Fisheye had fun into the buck that had blessed their clutch, hoping perhaps to run into the buck herself.

[Appeal]

Lo and behold, there was a stag in the field again. He certainly didn't stay in this field, although it was most definitely along his path, so it was an incredible coincidence that he was here at this time. Perhaps this doe was lucky that months later their paths would line up like this. It was fortunate that these plants only grew along the sand dunes here near the bay because he was quite fond of them and happened to know they grew here which drew him back again. Was it a whim? A call? He was always a bit of a wanderer, enjoying the cycle of life all around him.

Minding his own business, he was carefully walking around the plants. He didn't like to unnecessarily step on them.

[Beejoux]

Was it coincidence, fortuitous? Coral wasn't sure, but there in the field, a white stag with flowers blooming from his hide and at his feet. The doe approached him slowly, he looked focused, but she didn't wish to scare him so before she got too close she called out gently, "hello there."

Her resemblance to her father was strong in coloring, but she had more her mother's fine features.

[Appeal]

A gentle hello pulled Flower on a Tree's gaze from his work with the flowers. His glowing pink eyes looked at the doe curiously. He took a slight step back before looking down at his hooves to assure his step before taking another. Was this... a new friend?

"Hello," he said with uncertainty. He was finding more and more does seemed to be approaching him over the last season! Was he finally getting better at this friendship thing? Nothing else had changed that came to mind, although there was most assuredly a huge change in his status.

[Beejoux]

She smiled softly at his greeting and walked gingerly closer, mindful of the wildflowers sprouting in the field. The new shouts springing up in his wake had not passed her notice, and she was loathed to insult the buck by trodding on what might very well have been his hard work.

"Are you..." She started, then stopped and started over. "Am I correct in guessing that you've been touched by the Motherfather?" She had a good feeling he had been, but she wanted to be sure.

[Appeal]

Flower on a Tree smiled as he watched this doe mindfully move around the wildflowers blooming around them. It pleased him greatly, relaxing him in front of her. She cared about what he cared about! Oh, how delightful! Was this how friendships were formed?

"Oh, yes," he stuttered, surprised by the question. "You see I had this beautiful dream of wildflowers --" he had begun, before he paused. How did she know? Was it obvious? He looked around them, and then back at her.

[Beejoux]

She smiled gently up at him as he gave her a bewildered look. "My father and his mate received a blessing not long ago from a white buck with pink flowers growing from his antlers and hide. In this very spot." She looked up at his rack, gaze dancing from petal to petal. "Are you that buck?"

[Appeal]

She posed a curious question that soon brought the stag into a sense of spiraling. Was it him? Was there another out there just like him, lurking in the shadows ready to take over? Was there another who had traversed the horrors of the pumpkin patch as him? As his thoughts spiraled, the translucent form of the humble bee spawned around him and flew through his vision. A reminder to himself, a sense of calm washing over him as it did. Soothing him, reminding him to take a breath and not let his fears overwhelm him.

Breathing deeply, the stag nodded his head. "Yes, I do believe so... there's not... another me around here," he said it but not with certainty.

He laughed, very lightly, as if he was joking.

"Are you in need of a blessing?" He asked, bright pink eyes beaming at her with expectation. "I do love to bless the flowers here. Look at them bloom so beautifully."

[Beejoux]

The doe smiled gently, hopefully reassuringly, to the buck as he thought it over and finally confirmed that it was indeed him that had given her father a blessing.

Probably.

She couldn't help but chuckle lightly, but at his question she nodded. "Yes, please. If it's not too much of an imposition." She wanted her children to bloom as beautifully as the flowers did.

Her newest brothers and sisters, the ones he'd blessed, were all healthy and energetic, and she wanted that for her own.

[Appeal]

"Of course," he said. He wouldn't want to trouble her. She'd come all this way for his blessing, how could he say no?

Flower on a Tree nodded, looking to the ground around. Not every flower was salvageable, not everything beautiful seen. Some plants caught in the tracks of kin and animals did not go unnoticed by the stag. He leaned over, picking up one of the buds that had been trampled. Carefully, he picked it off the ground and gingerly tucked it into her hair. Then he began to sing a soft melody, causing the stomped and forgotten bud to bloom into a flower right there in her hair. A short life but it would bring beauty and with it his blessing.

"Carry it forward," he said softly. "And do watch your step."

He stood there awkwardly though. She came to him so... did he leave? He looked around. He still had flowers to sing to here... should he go? He should go, right? He began to turn to leave. He could come back.

[Beejoux]

"Oh," the doe said softly, her eyes widening a touch as she felt the bud nestled in her hair begin to move, blooming. She couldn't see it, not mare than the edge of a petal, but she knew that's what was happening. Her father hadn't mentioned that. How very magical.

"Oh, thank you very much." He was starting to turn to go, and she let out a soft little gasp. "Please, stay. You were tending the meadow and I interrupted you. I can leave you in peace."

She backed away, careful of the flowers and the buds. "Thank you again." With a last bright smile and a nod she turned finally, picking her careful away back to the beach.

a fin!