How Green Becomes Wood

Daizi thought about this for a little while, rubbing the blades of grass between her thumb and forefinger. Her instinct was always to say yes when one of her children wanted to try something new, and she had offered to plant things for them a hundred times or more, but at the same time, her garden was her favourite space. It was her domain, the product of years of work. Giving some space away was hard to commit to. She had already lost a fair amount to Xander's shed. But if she had sacrificed that much to him, she supposed it was unfair to deny her other son his own space in the yard.

"I would have to think about where the best space for it would be," Daizi said carefully, "and I would like to know what you would intend to plant before you did, so I knew it would not trouble the rest of the garden."
 
"Okay!" Alec agreed eagerly. "Or maybe I could maybe do a pot or a planter of some kind, instead, so that it doesn't hurt anything? I was thinking about maybe something we could eat, like an herb or a vegetable, but a flower would make me happy, too. I don't want to mess anything up for your garden. I know how much it means to you."
 
"A planter box could be nice," Daizi replied, admittedly feeling some relief which she hoped didn't show on her face, "We could put it on the patio, and if it's the right size, you might be able to take it with you. Some of my roses I used to grow in a pot I'd precariously bring with me wherever we moved. It was stressful, but better than losing them. Anyway, for herbs, it's even more important to grow them separately. That's why I plant my mint in a pot, otherwise it takes over everything."
 
"It'd likely be easier to take with me than Xander's wardrobe," Alec giggled. He could see Daizi's relief and was glad he'd thought of a compromise. He wouldn't have blamed her one bit if she'd said no. Her garden was smaller thanks to Xander's she'd, and she loved it so much! "What do you think I should grow? There are so many options, I don't know where to start."
 
"What sorts of food might you like to grow?" Daizi asked, "Cooger grows lots of vegetables, I have my berry bushes. Do you want to find something simple or grow something you love to eat?"
 
"Just something simple so that I don't get too complicated and regret it before I even really do anything for real with it," Alec said. "I like to eat most things. Um. Tomatoes? Garlic? Leaks? Fennel's a thing, right? A chocolate plant?"
 
"Garlic would be very helpful, given how much we eat," Daizi said, thinking about it, "And fennel. I'll spend some time reading to give better suggestions about what you can grow."
 
"Thanks, Mama," Alec said happily, giving her a side hug. "I can do my own reading too, of course, but I wanted to see if it was something that was even a possibility before getting my heart set on, I don't know, a chocolate mango bush or whatever."

Xander, meanwhile, had come over to join Ivy. He reached out occasionally and caught the tip of the stick, redirecting it and letting her swing more. It was amusing to watch her enthusiasm in her stick swinging, and he was doing a bit to play with her as well as keeping her aimed in a safe direction.
 
Daizi hugged him back, "I'll let your father know we'd like a planter box. You know how quickly he'll jump at the chance to make one for you."

Whenever Xander grabbed the stick, Ivy looked at him and tried to pull it back, unsure of what the game they were meant to be playing was, but it hadn't upset her.
 
Alec grinned. "I wonder what shape he'll make it? A simple box would be so boring!"

Xander smiled at her and nodded, knowing she was confused but enjoying whatever they were doing. If she showed any signs of upset, he'd switch gears, but he didn't think she was ready for sword fights yet.
 
"You know him," Daizi sighed, "He'll ask you a million questions, then build a masterpiece, and shrug off any praise he receives about it."

When Ivy got bored of swinging her stick, she started walking towards the fence, curious to see what was happening on the other side of it.
 
"That's true. That is absolutely what Ba would do," Alec snickered.

Over the fence, Lex was out in her yard, as well. She vaguely knew her neighbors were out, but she was focused on what she was doing. There was a lot to clean up back here, and it was kind of fun smacking things into order. She'd read that leaving things like fallen leaves and things until later in the spring was good for beneficial bugs, so she left a fair amount here and there, but the pathways needed cleared up.
 
"You should think about how you might want it to look," She told him, getting up when she heard Ivy's bells jingle off.

Ivy stuck her face as far through the slats as it would go (which wasn't far enough to even come near to risking her head being stuck), and with her cheeks all squished together, she shrieked when she saw Lex on the other side.
 
"Hmm, should I try to challenge him, or go with something that's moderately easy?" Alec mused. "I do like round. Round might be nice."

Alec, Xander, and Lex all jumped when Ivy shrieked. Lex looked around, missing Ivy at first, and then spotted her.

"What are you doing, little kitten?" she chuckled, walking over to the fence. She squatted down and reached out to lightly tap Ivy's nose. "Are you spying on me?"
 
Daizi was so used to Ivy randomly screeching throughout the day, she didn't react much to it now, although she did move a bit closer in that direction to be certain of what she was up to.

Ivy giggled when Lex touched her nose, and with her face all scrunched up just said, "ahla"
 
"Ivy's looking through the fence, and I think Lex is there," Alec reported to Daizi. "Do you think she's Aunt Lex, yet? Or does that need more time?"

Lex laughed. "Ahla to you, too. What are you doing? Are you playing outside with Mama?"
 
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