Green Spring 2022

Spring had sprung in the Hidden Valley and it was finally time for the Hollyhosta and the Scillamint to recede into the underbrush until the cold winter months had returned once again. This was always a fantastic time to visit the Hidden Garden, as this was supposedly the birthplace and current residence of the Mini God, who really only came around for gifts and food. Pepper had met them once or twice before, but she had little recollection of that life after she had also had an unusual encounter with Astral.

That she did remember, and she was about a year into her new life when a local paper fox had shown her a flyer for the Hidden Garden. She was honestly quite tired of returning to this place. It was an expansive and tumultuous place filled with memories of all kinds, most of which were bad or had been recolored with a monochrome outlook after some wild incidents.

She refused to think of the summer time event, but the thought still bugged her. At least a little bit.

For now, Pepper looked at the flyer and snorted. It was an advertisement for a fun game that would involve a grand prize of being able to meet the Mini God for some tea and a snack in the picnic park. The goal was simply to find a four leafed clover, which was a symbol of good luck, fun times, and happened to be the Mini God’s favorite type of flower to receive as a gift during the early spring.

It was also heavily implied that the presence of the Mini God was what was going to make the clovers spring forth and Pepper snorted again. This was a bit childish, but she wasn’t going to have much of a choice. Clover - her friend?, not the plant - was busy and when Clover was busy, it was heavily implied that the rest of the Spice Rack would be busy as well, especially during the what had been called “Spring Cleaning” before there was heavily implied silence over the letter that had been sent.

There had also been a not so subtle jab at Pepper for not having a phone to go along with her on her travels. Pepper didn’t want a phone because it felt out of place with a magic based society, though there was also a myriad of implications that the differing time periods would mean that some fox somewhere would come along and make a phone with magic technology tied into it and that would be a wrap. It would become explicitly modern, for whatever that meant.

She found herself in the fields of the Hidden Garden, the rolling hills of Wind Valley not that far away, bringing about a crisp breeze laden with pollen and flower petals from the trees. How she had gotten here was anyone’s guess, but it was probably destiny. That’s what she would say, anyway. It was destiny that brought her to where she needed to be. Kicking and screaming if she had to be, but lately, Pepper did not have to go anywhere kicking and screaming.

After all, she had Jonathan with her now. And Jonathan was a handful and a half. Very loud and boisterous and always talking about stuff that made no sense to her or anyone else. But he never minded just speaking at length about hos he was going to look into training his immense cosmic powers and harness the elements or whatever that was supposed to mean.

“So all we have to do is find this plant?” Jonathan asked as though he hadn’t been paying attention to the park ranger who had been expositing about the sanctity of this place and how important it was to respect the nature around them. “Seems easy, honestly. I see a bunch of clovers already. Can’t be that rare, can it? Oh, unless this is a plot relevant episode.”

“It’s not,” Pepper replied with a confusing amount of confidence backing her.

Though she could tell when things were going to be on the more serious side. This was not one of those times. Especially when it came to pleasing gods. There was an edging anxiety on the tip of her tongue, but she ignored it and followed Jonathan, who had skipped off without waiting for the end of the park ranger fox’s presentation.

She knew her way around this place like it was the back of her hand by now, having come to this place in every season, sometimes multiple times a season to participate in various activities with other foxes. Jonathan was a new member of the typical rabble, she gathered, mainly because he had a name and was extremely overbearing in his personality. Only foxes with a purpose had those sorts of things.

“So when we find it, what will be our reward?” Jonathan said. He took to the air, and lazily flapped his wide wings to stay aloft.

“A meeting with the Mini God,” Pepper replied.

“Oh a God?” Jonathan’s tune changed almost immediately and he  opened his eyes to keep a look out for the fabled four leaf clover. “That changes everything, you know? Being able to speak to a God so soon in the arcs means that we’ll get get a boon from them in our hour of need. That’s called foreshadowing.”

Pepper didn’t reply right away, having found a four leaf clover almost immediately. She kept it nested in her hair for the time being. Jonathan wasn’t even paying attention to her to begin with. Not really.

“Yes, that’s right. I have never seen foreshadowing so obvious before.”

Jonathan took to looking for the clover again, rattling off all the different anime arcs he thought had had better approaches to foreshadowing important events. Pepper only occasionally  grunted in response, but she would let him go on with his ranting for a little while longer before she offered the clover to him. It seemed more important to him anyway and whatever got him to shut up was good enough for her.

Elsewhere in the garden, the Mini God laughed, clearly entertained.