It was a disaster. and there wasn't anything Ibi Libertas could do to stop it now. Of allthe silly things to get into trouble over, too. If she was going to make a mistake that made sonething grow oyt of cobtrol, she could have picked flowers or apple trees. or, well. Something. *Anything* else.
But she'd gotten swept up in the excitement of doin g sinething on her own. She'd been so eager to show Zanzibar that she was actually learning sonething that she'd really, *really* messed up this time.
"You should have told me sooner." Zanzibar shook his head and leaned a little so he could look, *really* study, Iat bi where she stood.
She blushed, predictably, and scuffed a hoof, hesitant to meet his gaze in turn. "I know," she confessed with a sigh. "But I had everything under control when I started, I swear."
Zanzibar's eyebrow lifted in a way Ibi knew meant he suspected she might not be telling the truth.
She shifted her weight, uncomfortable. "Well. I *thought* I had it under control." She had to admit, looking at the results of her impromptu experiment, the word control seemed like a *serious* overstatement.
There were icicle plants everywhere. The little sample shed started with was probably buried somewhere in the mass that covered the floor now, but it would be impossible to tell where exactly. Spiky green tendrils climbed and clung to the walls of the cave and reached down from the ceiling. They'd even begun to spill out past the opening, destined to keep growing and expanding, maybe forever.
""How many of the shells did you use?" Zanzibar asked. Was that a flicker of amusement in his eyes? No, probably not. Nothing about this was funny. Was it?
"Just one" Ibi promised, but when his second eyebrow joined the first, her ears drooped and she curled her tail around her own ankle just a little harder. "Two," she admitted. "It grew so fast and it sparkled so much with the shell sprinkled on that I thought a little more could only make better!"
Zanzibar nodded in patient understanding. It always seemed to come down to him just smiling and nodding in response to one of her mistakes. "And what do I always say?"
"Trust your instincts?"
He laughed out loud. "Yes, that, but I think it sounds more like 'Trust, but test.' Right?"
Ibi's tailtip twitched and she sighed. "Right. Trust but test. I'm *sorry*, Zanzibar!"
"I know," he said, and seemed to shrug a little. "And I know you've learned your lesson. I'm not cross with you. We can't learn anything if we don't try, after all." He started walking, leaving the cave -- and her mess -- behind. "You'll clean this up? Before things get any worse?"
"Of course." Ibi eyed the plants and rolled her eyes. It wasn't going to be fun, not by any stretch if the imagination. She'd have to rip all of this stuff out with her teeth, and icicle plants tasted the worst!
It was slow going because, in top of being bitter to the taste, the plant made her mouth go numb. By the time she'd cleared out half I'd thw problem, she felt as silly as a new foam stumbling through his first words, even in her own thought. It was lucky that Zanzibar hadn't stuck around to see how the cleanup was going. He would have been second guessing his decision to take ger on as an apprentice for sure.
But little by little, where clinging plants had been, the bare stone walls and floor and yes, the ceiling, were revealed, and the clean up job was complete. Proud of herself, Ibi turned to head back home, to think about how she could have prevented the whole ordeal.
And found herself nose yo nose with hrr mentor again. Zanzibar had crept so quietly she didn't even hear his approach.
He lowered the basket he'd been carrying to the ground, revealing that it was full of the very apples she'd been craving before. "I thought " he said as he lifted his head, "that yoy could probably use sonething to get that taste out of your mourh." Yes, there were definitely hints of amusement
in his eyes now. He stopped just short of laughing outright and though Ibi couldn't blame him, she was grateful for his restraint.
"You did well, Ibi," he told her, nudging her shoulder fondly. "You learned sonething and I'm sure you won't do this again."
Ibi shook her head hard and fast. She wouldn't get near icicleplants again!
Zanzibar chuckled. "Then, I'm proud of you."
Oh. Oh, those four words made Ibi's heart swell. She'd made him proud? She was going to enjoy those well-earned apples
Later.
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