Danika replied cheerfully enough, "Hopefully seeds for the bright blue berries that put people to sleep."

"Aren't things like that enchanted, like the apples all the wizards and witches seem to use?" the player questioned.

"Oh, maybe," Danika agreed uncertainly. "But the traveling merchant will know for sure."

"He's just a merchant isn't he?" the player asked doubtfully.

Danika turned and looked at the boy who had a fantasy barbarian's muscular build but a friendly youthful face. "Yes," she agreed again, "but he always has some kind of helpful information?"

"I guess he has given me advice a few times," the boy agreed. "I just never thought about asking him about random things like that."

"It's not random," Danika argued.

"What are you going to do with the berries if you can grow them?" the boy asked with interest.

Danika hesitated, she didn't want to tell this stranger about Shrubbery's mom. "Um, my friend's character has never slept while she's been playing, so she hasn't met the Sandman," Danika said instead.

"The Sandman?" the boy questioned.

"The G.o.d of Dreams," the traveling merchant said with amus.e.m.e.nt. "Would you like to meet him Buff G.o.d Bob?"

Danika pulled up her menus and stared at the boy through her lens, his name really was "Buff G.o.d Bob". She snickered.

Buff G.o.d Bob replied quickly, "Yeah!"

The traveling merchant reached out and tapped Buff G.o.d Bob's forehead, and the boy vanished a moment later. "How can I help you today ZipZing?" the merchant asked cheerfully.

Danika explained about the bright blue berry her mentor had used to put her to sleep, and the traveling merchant explained that Buff G.o.d Bob had been right, and that it had been enchanted. He offered her a plant alternative called Valerian, and informed her that it's roots could be brewed into a tea that would induce sleep.

Danika bought it with the last of the coin left over from trading the goldenberries, and zipped back to Shrubbery's garden.

--

"Sorry, it took a little longer than I thought, and it turns out that that kind of berry was enchanted," Danika announced without preamble.

Shrubbery laughed and replied, "That's ok, that kind of plant would probably be rather dangerous wouldn't it?"

Danika held up the Valerian and asked, "Oh, is this stuff dangerous? It doesn't say it'll be poisonous in the description like the black moonflower's seed did."

"Oh, can you try making that one bloom?" Shrubbery asked quickly. "I'd still like to have one of its seeds."

"Sure," Danika agreed, but asked, "why didn't you just have it bloom when you visited."

"It's rude to mess with someone else's plants, and some plants react badly to being hurried with spells," Shrubbery explained. "I'd hate to mess up your new garden."

Danika waved her little clawed hands and said, "It's not like my garden is anything more than a plant collection yet. Ais.h.i.+n said he wants somewhere to sit, but he's going to bring something as a surprise."

Shrubbery chuckled and s.n.a.t.c.hed the Valerian from Danika. "I think you'll like your surprise."

"You know what it is?" Danika asked with a trace of jealousy. "I feel like you two talk a lot without me."

"Jealous?" Shrubbery asked with a smug grin, as she walked over to one of her flower beds, knelt, and laid a palm on one of the plants there.

"A bit," Danika admitted. Shrubbery stopped what she was doing and looked up at ZipZing with a startled expression. "I know I don't have any right to feel jealous," Danika added.

Shrubbery grinned and bent back to her task. "Why not?" she questioned. "It's your feeling, and he's going to be your familiar for life starting tomorrow right?" The plant under her hand crawled over a couple of inches as Danika watched.

"Woah!" Danika exclaimed. "You can make plants walk on their own?"

"Yeah, but it takes a huge amount of energy, so I wouldn't do it if I weren't logging out soon," Shrubbery replied cheerfully.

Danika answered her earlier question, "Even when he's my familiar, that's more like saying we agree to be friends for life, I won't own him or anything. I don't have any right to be possessive."

Shrubbery planted the Valerian and used the same growth spell that ZipZing had on it. She sat back on her heels as the plant began poking up leaves, and grinned with the most amused expression Danika had ever seen from her. Another flower blossomed in her hair as she said, "He doesn't seem to feel any restraint in acting possessive of you though?"

Danika found herself looking around Shrubbery's garden, and pretty much anywhere besides into her clear eyes with their amused gaze. The sun was setting and edging everything in gold. "Um…" Danika mumbled, "I don't know." She looked at the new Valerian plant and added, "The merchant said you'll have to make a tea with the roots."

"A tisane" Shrubbery corrected.

"What?" Danika asked blankly.

"It won't have any tea in it. A medicinal brew without tea is actually a tisane, even though all the marketing people who make packet covers don't seem to know that," Shrubbery explained with amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Oh, ok," Danika replied.

Shrubbery looked at the Valerian which had grown into a tall weedy looking plant. She reached out and used Invigorated Bloom on it, and it put out a large puff of tiny sweet smelling pink flowers, transforming it from a weed to a plant that looked suitable for a flower bed. "In real life this plant is supposed to have a relaxing scent, and the tisane is a pain killer and a sedative. It will be interesting to see what it's like in the game, but I'm going to wait until I've got more than one plant before I harvest the roots," Shrubbery announced.

As the light faded, Shrubbery's garden began to light up with the softly glowing night blooms that were scattered throughout the garden. Danika was sure that her sparkles dimmed as she thought of how many things they must have tried to reduce Eyes on the Sky's pain.

"Goodnight Captain," Shrubbery said teasingly. "I'm glad you came to visit tonight. If you can wait a bit tomorrow, I'd like to watch you and Ais.h.i.+n do your familiar bonding thing."

Danika rolled her eyes and replied, "Sure, I'll ask him, but he said he gets the whole day free so it'll probably be fine?"

Shrubbery grinned and logged out.

Danika a.s.sumed the pose and flicked over to write to Ais.h.i.+n: "Shrubbery would like to watch the Binding Familiar spell, I wonder if I can target more than one person with Impartation at a time? That's probably for higher levels though… Anyway, if you wouldn't mind waiting?" She hesitated, because he'd have to wait anyway until she finished her s.h.i.+ft, but after a moment she sent the rather jumbled message as it was written. The snow leopard cub looked around Shrubbery's garden with interest as it carried the message away.

She realized a moment later that she'd forgotten about making the dark moonflower grown from the Datura seed bloom for Shrubbery. She yawned and then set her pebble down on the gra.s.s and whispered, "dragonheart".

Stars already glimmered over the distant mountains shown by Logical Heart's active illusion across his reflecting pool, and an unfamiliar but pleasant scent wafted on the air. When Danika turned to look at the dark vine growing beside her feathery carrots, she discovered that her new Invigorated Bloom spell wouldn't be needed.

In the soft light from her dazzling a large black flower with a pale center already bloomed on the black vines with their dark leaves. Danika used her light cantrip to illuminate it momentarily, and it was revealed that the pale center of the double trumpet base shaded into dark purple instead of black.

She carried the image of the dark flower under the stars into her dreams that night.