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"We might as well try." A can. L doesn't stop digging.

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Setting the tree down, A steps out of the garden and hunts down rocks, the largest he can easily carry. He sets them in the area beside the calendula Kusuriyuri's planting, fitting them together like a puzzle until the space is covered, and casts a charm, brows knitting in concentration.

It's a difficult spell, and A slumps, half-collapsing for a moment, when it's done, but the stones have become a massive stone planter, the bottom dotted with small drainage holes.

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Kusuriyuri stands and encourages A to sit. "Most impressive," he murmurs. He goes to the water buckets and brings over a ladle full. Once A takes the ladle from him, he goes back to planting, keeping an eye on his student.

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"Very aptly done," L agrees, smiling at him.

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The praise makes A flush, and he begins shoveling dirt into the planter. Slowly at first - it was a tiring charm, but he regains his pace readily enough.

"Thank you."

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After reassured that A was fine, Kusuriyuri finished planting the calendula and then watered them. "I will bring more water." he says as he rises and picks up the now empty buckets.

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"There we are," says L, stepping away from his tree-ready hole, to help A.

"Use the excess from mine. Here's a neat puzzle; how much dirt is there in a hole two feet, by three feet, by one foot."

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"It's a hole," A tells him. "The only dirt in it is what you put there."

He's used to logic puzzles.

"And Eratosthenes goes into this hole, and then dirt."

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The kittens have woken and decide that the container A created makes a good place to explore. Einstein sniffs around it while Schrodinger jumps inside. After a moment, Einstein goes over to the water buckets and props himself up to get a drink before returning to exploring the new toy. Scrodinger follows a moment later, looking offended that the water dish is so tall and complaining about it as she props herself up.

Kusuriyuri chuckles at them and begins to create more rows next to the calendula.

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"Carry him over, and I'll begin packing in around him," L suggests, nodding to the pile of displaced dirt.

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After smiling at the antics of the kittens, A walks back and lifts the small pear tree, settling it into the hole and holding it up straight.

"Like this?"

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"That looks good," Kusuriyuri glances up. His neat rows are becoming rather interesting to the kittens. Einstein thinks they are for rolling in and Schrodinger finds his fingers interesting. He pauses long enough to pet her, which is enough to catch Einstein's attention. The once black kitten demands attention as well.

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L drops to his knees (he can wash his jeans later) and starts shoving earth into the hole around it. (The space is too tight to really shovel into.)

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A kneels as well, to help ease the dirt into the hole around the pear tree's roots. He gives L an excited smile; the garden is real!

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The kittens decide that putting dirt in a hole is more entertaining than being scratched and leave Kusuriyuri to his row making. Since A and L seem to have the task well in hand, he sees no need to join them. He will wait until they are finished before asking what will go in these rows.

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L returns A's smile, wipes his face on his sleeve and ends up with dirt on the side of his nose. Such is the way of gardening. A little more packing, and their pear-tree is upright and standing proudly.

"It's going to look lovely, A."

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"It already does," A says quietly and intensely. It will be gorgeous, he knows, with all the flowers in full bloom, but, oh, all the potential to it right now is staggering. He reaches for the shovel. "I'll start the holes for the rosebushes. They need names, I think."

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"And in these rows?" Kusuriyuri asks softly. He is almost finished with the second of the three he plans on making before planting again.

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L glances over, then looks to see what's left, in terms of plants, while he picks up his shovels. A can dig one rosebush, he can manage the other.

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"Lavender in those." It's all coming together, and it really is lovely, A notes, digging the hole for a rosebush.

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"As you say," Kusuriyuri murmurs, beginning on the third row.

The kittens, disgusted with their human's preoccupation with dirt, flop down under the pear tree and look pathetically around, begging for attention without appearing to.

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"You're looking for a little bit of attention," L informs the kittens, pausing in his shovelling for a moment to scritch behind Schrodinger, then Einstein's ears.

"Poor things. The catnip is for you, you know."

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"They are greedy," A remarks indulgently, smiling. "They are used to getting my attention easily." And now his attention is focused on digging a hole for the Midnight Blue rosebush.

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