(LK)The Zen Garden

[Apronia Silvanus]

Apronia stood at the entrance to the garden, blocking Lisa's view for the barest of moments. It called her mind back to the day she had finished, and she allowed herself the luxury of memory.

She stands back, surveys her work with satisfaction. There is a curved wooden archway, stained dark, and a low fence to enclose the garden. The traditional fifteen stones were laid out in groupings of five, assymetrically arranged. White sand artfully raked dances around them.

Flat river stones meandered in a path between the low tea bushes, and a koi pond lay beneath a young apple sapling that Professor Fishwig-vonCrink had promised to magically grow for her. Tender birches and cherry trees will flower delicately in spring, and blue spruces will gracefully carry the snow in winter. She is worried about the small stands of bamboo, unsure of their ability to weather the cold, but she can always ask a Professor to cast a warming field around them when the time comes. She delicately touches her magic to the garden, and the flow of energy through it assures her that she has done well.

Haku would be proud, she thinks with the saddest of smiles.

Shaking herself out of reverie, she turned to Lisa, opening her arms wide and gesturing to the garden, silvered by moonlight. "What do you think?"

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa followed Apronia, her head bowed slightly as she stared at the laces of her shoes. Shivering slightly in the cool night air, she saw the woman come to a stop and her gaze lifted.

There were a few moments of silence before Lisa was exposed to the magnificent garden. Her eyes brightened as they traveled across the many plants shadowed by the moonlight, and she slowly let out an awe filled, "Wow."

Turning back to the Gamekeeper, her face broke out into a grin. "I think it's amazing!"

[Apronia Silvanus]

Apronia smiled and handed Lisa a rake. "Come," she said, "the night qi will aid us raking this gravel into the proper patterns." Very slowly, she demonstrated the way of creating flow. "It doesn't matter terribly how you do this, in terms of overall scheme. What matters is that it flows and does not clash with the other elements of the garden. When you rake it, stop, take a few steps back and look at what you have done. It will speak to you, if you let it." She picked her own patch of the rocks and set to, keeping an eye on Lisa, in case she wanted to confide further details of her nightmares or the fears that caused them.

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa clumsily took the rake into her hands, never having used one before. She stared at it for a moment before turning her attention back to Apronia, watching as she demonstrated how to use the tool creating the proper flow. Looking down at the ground below her, Lisa gingerly let the rake touch the ground, trying her best to follow the smooth strokes of the Gamekeeper. She tried her hardest to pour her soul into her work to create a distraction from her wandering mind, doing as she was instructed and standing back to enjoy or criticize her work, though it was usually the latter.

After a few minutes of failed attempts to divert her thoughts to the inviting garden, Lisa gripped onto her rake tightly, summoning her courage. Then, she fondled the earth once more with her rake, before asking indifferently, “Do you think any of the other students, maybe those who were in the forest as well…” Her mind drifted to the brave Alondra Redson and calm Kandler Norton, “Do you think that they maybe get nightmares once in a while, too.”

A flicker of hope sped through her body, and she paused for a moment in her task.

[Apronia Silvanus]

Apronia paused for a moment, leaning on her rake casually. She watch Lisa´s awkward stokes with a smile, remembering her own abysmal first attempts.

¨I think,¨ she replied softly, ¨that some of them have nightmares every night.¨ she was thinking of Kandler and the full moon. ¨Everyone deals with fear differently, Lisa. It doesn´t mean that anyone is better.¨ She put her hands over Lisa´s on the rake, drawing it along smoothly. ¨You´re doing very well.¨ She left the meaning obscure, Lisa could take it as a compliment to her raking or a comment about her nightmares.

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa felt the rake move beneath their hands, the strokes more smooth and natural. There were a few moments of silence as the rake glided across the ground, and Lisa realized the Gamekeeper was very good at what she did.

With a sigh, she looked back at Apronia, gratitude shining her eyes. She felt exhausted from all the past events. The forest which had plagued her with nightmares in the first place, her lack of sleep due to said nightmares and waking up terrified in the dark.

Though she had never looked at fear that way before and had always thought it was the same for everyone. In fact, she had thought her fears childish and never truly felt as though she were growing up.

As she continued to rake, the moon sending shards of light streaking through the garden, she let her tense shoulders relax, a small smile on her face, glad for the Gamekeeper’s reassuring presence.

[Apronia Silvanus]

Apronia let go, watching Lisa rake for a few more moments before joining her companionably. The best cure for nightmares was solid physical work, and she was willing to bet that after a few more minutes of dragging a heavy rake through protesting gravel and sand, Lisa would return to her dormitory and sleep like a baby for the rest of the night. She just hoped that the next day, Lisa would think about what she'd said more thoroughly.

"Lisa," she said impulsively, "if you ever need to talk, my door is open to you whenever the candles are burning in my windows."

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa pulled the rake along, her movements becoming less determined and more clumsy. She let out a large yawn, feeling her muscles protest at the next drag of her rake, and promptly stopped, her eyelids drooping.

"I'll remember that," she said softly, appreciation in the smile she sent Apronia's way. "Thank you very much."

[Apronia Silvanus]

Apronia took the rake from the sleepy Hufflepuff. "Time for bed. No more nightmares tonight, young one. There is time enough to face your fears tomorrow." She gave Lisa a wide grin, clapped her on the shoulder and walked her to the periphery of the garden. "Don't forget to bring your friends here tomorrow and brag about your raking job."

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa laughed, nodding. She happily released her hold on the rake and walked just outside the garden. Just as she was trotting away, she turned back and watched the Gamekeeper work with admiration in her eyes.

"Goodnight." She said, smiling, after a few moments.

Then she turned back around and ran back to the castle, the smile still on her face.