It was clear that Moose had used a lot of magic here.


    The trapped water seemed to be doing a lot of things. It held a lot of colors she didn’t normally see as well. At first, she had thought the small creatures in the water were baby monsters. As she watched them on and off the whole time, she now thought they were simply creatures. She didn’t recognize any of them from the Pages, so they must be minor creatures that weren’t worth mentioning.


    At least that was what she assumed before Moose spent quite a while staring at them.


    She still didn’t understand why Moose had come here. There was certainly a lot of water around, but Moose never entered any of it, staying dry the entire time. There were no wall words, though Moose found one spot on the wall to be very interesting and had used magic to make words appear. Everything she knew about Moose said that this wasn’t what it should be doing. The only time she had seen it sitting for long periods of time before was at the wall words. It was clear this was something new.


    The Pages had mentioned a ‘garden’ several times, but when she tried to discover what it was, she had been disappointed. All she could find was that a ‘garden’ was a place that was cultivated ‘for food, ornament or relaxation’. She understood each of those words individually, but that explanation made no sense.


    What was cultivating?


    Why did you need a specific space for pretty things or relaxing?


    How did the treats or powder fit into a garden?


    Did that mean the food place was a garden?


    She had so many questions that she had given up on understanding what a garden was. As she crouched watching Moose make new words in its book, she went back to those questions. What did a Moose eat? Watery things of course. Even her book that showed a moose had it with green things in its mouth. Green things that she now found floating in the water. Watery green things meant food for a moose. That meant this was clearly a moose garden.


    The words used to describe a garden were starting to make sense now. They were vague and hard to understand because a garden needed to be described by the creature ‘cultivating’ it, not what was ‘cultivated’. She still was unsure what that word meant exactly, but she guessed that watching Moose would lead her to the answer at some point. She also didn’t understand why Moose ate the disks when it had so many watery green things right here.


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    Maybe they tasted better?


    Her new understanding of gardens also found the small creatures difficult to place. They were clearly small things. None longer than her arm, though there were many different sizes. Were they a part of the garden? That didn’t make sense. While a moose might eat watery things, the creatures moved around a lot while the green things didn’t. It wouldn’t make any sense to try and catch a creature when the green things could be taken so easily. She supposed that the creatures could be the ornament part that she had trouble grasping, but she didn’t find them all that pretty. She wasn’t a moose so that may be why, but the Pages seemed to think that everyone found ornaments pretty.


    Could they be the relaxing part?


    They certainly didn’t seem to be in a hurry, even with all the movement. Was that how it worked? She would have thought a moose garden was supposed to be relaxing for a moose, not for the creatures that were part of the garden. She would be the first to admit she didn’t know much about gardens though, so it was possible she got that part wrong. That didn’t explain why Moose let them into the garden though. She just didn’t see any reason to let creatures smaller than herself hide in the green stuff.


    Oh.


    ‘Why do they have to be a part of the garden when I am here and not a part of it?’


    She had only been thinking about gardens. She hadn’t even tried to think about other possibilities. Those creatures were so small she had no doubt they would be eaten by monsters without a fight. Even smaller monsters. Why where they here? The same reason she was, they were using Moose to hide. If Moose only cared about the green things, all the other creatures in the garden were basically safe. This would clearly be a part of Moose’s territory, so other monsters would be reluctant to make a mess.


    Which they would have to.


    She had been looking at the hard water that held everything and she hadn’t found any way to get to the creatures without making a mess. Something that would anger Moose. Those small creatures were smart. And lucky. She would love to live in the water with them, safe behind Moose’s magic and territory. She didn’t know what the watery green things tasted like, but for safety like that she would eat them regardless.


    It would be small for something her size though. Maybe Moose would make her a place like that in the garden? She would be happy so long as she could…


    .. Was her home a garden for the Others?


    She looked back that the large bits of magicked water.


    What did those little creatures see?


    Was it a foggy wall?


    She shivered as the thoughts raced through her mind. She had never connected her home to anything other than being her home before. Seeing the garden that Moose had made changed all of that. She could see things from the other side now. See what the foggy wall looked like to those outside. Were those little creatures like her, content with their lives because they were safe? She didn’t know what such small creatures ate or did the rest of the time, but she had just imagined herself doing exactly that. Surrounded by magic and left to herself, safe and apart from everything.


    ‘I wonder if they are empty? Could I give up the magic inside me for that kind of safety, now that I know?’


    The fact she couldn’t decide made her body press into Moose’s side.


    ‘Why can’t I just be safe and full..’