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Booberry Puff couldn’t believe it. After months of watching her new flowery charges grow and flourish, she’d finally figured out what they did, what their purpose was. Although, honestly, she couldn’t tell if she should be happy or upset by her discovery. The plants had healing ability, she knew for certain. That had been her initial assumption when she’d first gotten the seedlings from the large, friendly vendor. They’d been too beautiful to be harmful. Not that Boo went by looks alone in forming her opinion. No, she wasn’t as foolish as that. She’d worked with plants long enough to know that some of the most beautiful ones were oftentimes the most deadly. There’d been more to her hunch than the sight of them. Call it instinct. Call it superstition. Call it whatever you will, but she’d felt that the little seedlings were more than met the eye, and in a promising, good way.
She’d been patient. She watered the seeds when the time called for it. She made sure they received just the right amount of sunlight, not too much but not too little either. And when foul weather arose, she made sure the littlest of her flower charges were taken care of first. Her efforts had seen the seeds prosper, sprouting from little nubs to green tendrils and then from tendrils to colorfully vibrant flowers. Booberry realized the time was coming where she could experiment with them. Of course, as with all of her garden, she felt the initial resistance to doing any such thing. The love she had for her plants was deep. They were like her flower children, and she treated them as such. Doing experiments on them always gave her pause. Her reticence never lasted long though, with either herself or her mate or son talking her through it. After all, how else was their purpose supposed to be discovered if not by experimentation? It wasn’t like they could simply tell her what they did, if they did anything at all.
The little Usdia had decided to wait a bit longer before starting. She’d do some research, gather some supplies, and form a course of action before delving into the nitty gritty. This would also give the flowers themselves time to enjoy the world they found themselves thriving in. A few weeks later and all was ready. Booberry Puff had taken the time to really narrow down what it was she was hoping to achieve. If she was correct, then these new plants could help many individuals. However, her supply was limited. She’d need to be careful with how she experimented, which was the other factor she’d focused on during those few weeks. In the end, the mare had settled on the simplest solution. Instead of using the entire flower, she intended to pluck the petals and utilize them. This would keep the plant itself alive and growing while also allowing it to propagate more petals. Boo hoped the petals would be enough. If she couldn’t figure out their purpose that way, she’d have to cut into the stem, which was the last thing she truly wanted to do.
And so it went for one, two, three weeks. Each test ended with either failed or uncertain results. There’d been one time that seemed promising where the petals had reacted to the watery solution they’d been placed in. The solution had turned a sky blue hue yet didn’t give off a scent. Curious, Booberry divided it into three parts. One part she gave to a small but healthy plant, one she gave to a wilting plant she’d been caring for, and the third she soaked a piece of cloth in. Her hypothesis at the time was the healthy plant would remain so, perhaps even get a bit healthier, while the dying plant would recover. There might also be potential as a substance for dyeing materials. Nothing had happened with the plants. She wasn’t about to give up, however. More experiments ensued, but all fared little better than the previous ones. The most successful had been the dye.
Booberry Puff started dyeing cloth to use around her and her mate’s home. Sometimes she’d use it to clean with. Sometimes she’d give it to friends as a present. Her skills were lacking in the artistic area so they were never anything fancy. So, it was when she used a piece of freshly dyed cloth to tend to a wound on her leg that she made her initial discovery. After only a few days of wearing it, the injury looked much better. Her heart fluttered with excitement. She’d been right! These flowers had the ability to heal! The benefit to others could be immense. Without giving it a second thought, Boo began prepping more of the cloths for use. Anyone injured who happened to pass by, she’d offer to use her new remedy. There was never an issue. Until the day she made her second discovery.
A small bird had been attacked by a predator in her garden. Boo had driven the creature off but not before the small one had suffered a gash and broken wing. She took the bird into their home, immediately setting to work. She cleared off a place on the table, setting it down gently atop a clean regular cloth, before going to collect the flower-infused cloths. Carefully, she cleaned the wounds with warm water then wrapped a single dyed cloth around the little one. If all went well, the bird should be healed within the week; alas, it wasn’t the case. The next day saw Boo discover her patient’s lifeless form. She hadn’t understood at first. She’d done everything right. While the gash had been deep, she hadn’t thought it was life-threatening, and the broken wing certainly wasn’t. So…what had gone wrong? Booberry Puff pondered that question over and over as she mourned the loss of life. Eventually, after examining the cloth, she deduced that it could only have been an overdose of some sort caused by the infused flower. It made sense at least. Being larger, it would’ve taken a lot more of the solution for her to see any ill effects, but on a smaller creature those effects would be more easily felt.
It’d been her fault the bird had passed. She’d been too happy at finding the plants’ purpose that she failed to take size into account. She hadn’t bothered to do any further experiments with that in mind, to find out exactly how much would be too much, and now an innocent had paid the price. From that point onward, she vowed to never make that mistake again. She would do her due diligence. Glancing over at the flowers, she also promised not to meddle in areas that were not her strengths. Booberry Puff would leave the healing to the healers and the dyeing of cloths to the artisans. She’d tell them about the flowers, of course, but, as for her, she’d stick to tending to her garden and watching the blossoms grow.
FIN
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