Junior Planters

For the first time in several weeks, Hummingbird and Macaw emerged into true, heavenly sunlight, not the artificial kind they’d gotten used to in Atlantis. Macaw had forgotten how warm it was, how it soaked pleasantly into his bare skin and made him want to run!

But, for once, he was exhibiting some self-control. Coming back to the surface was exciting, but it wasn’t what he’d been dreaming of all this time.

Ahead of him were Lahna and Varpunen, two of the scouts from his and Hummingbird’s flock. They were bringing the pair of juveniles up to the surface on a very important mission: their first day as official junior planters. Despite his best efforts to stay in line and maintain the grandeur of the occasion, he couldn’t help but bounce as he trailed behind the two adults. Next to him, Hummingbird laughed.

“It’s so exciting, isn’t it?” It was rare to see Hummingbird just as enthusiastic as he was. Usually she was a bit of a stick in the mud, but both of them knew that this was the event that their whole lives had been leading up to. They’d proven themselves; the others thought they were too young to be of any use, yet they found their way into Atlantis all on their own, gotten past all the guards, and made friends with Queen Rhys’s courtiers!

…Well, they didn’t do it all on their own. Fainel had been helping them every step of the way. It was strange to not have the fluffy cryo with them now, but she had her own duties to the queen to attend to. But maybe she’d be assigned to watch over one of their plantings sometime!

“It’s hard to believe this is really happening,” Hummingbird whispered, more to herself than to Macaw. “It feels like I’m dreaming…”

“Alright, you two!” Varpunen turned around, jolting both of them out of their thoughts. “Pop quiz! What do you think of this area here as a place for planting?”

Macaw willed his feet to settle so he could take in his surroundings. The sun was still shining bright above them. The ground under their feet was soft and loamy, and faintly damp, thanks to the large lake nearby. The lake shore was choked with reeds and cattails, but where they were standing, it was mostly long, yellow grasses.

“Not a lot of large plants,” Hummingbird said, verbalizing his findings. “So ours won’t have much competition for sunlight or nutrition. The soil looks rich and healthy, but it is sort of loose.”

“Meaning?” Varpunen prompted.

“Our plants might have trouble taking root, and they’d be easy to tear out.”

The two adults shared a look, and Lahna smiled at the two juniors. “Excellent analysis, both of you. Now, just between us, there’s a much better spot a little ways from here… if you can find it.”

“If? Wait, you don’t mean…?”

Varpunen pulled the pouch of seeds out from around his neck, and handed it off to Macaw. “That’s right. You two can finish the job on your own.”

Macaw eagerly took the bag from him and set it around his own neck, head held high with pride despite the added weight.

“You clearly remember your training,” Lahna said, giving her satchel to Hummingbird. “Atlantis believes in you.”

Hummingbird held the satchel in her hands as delicately as if she’d been handed an egg. “Oh, thank you, thank you! We won’t let Atlantis down!”

With a few more laughs and well-wishes, Lahna and Varpunen took their leave, heading back the way they came.

Macaw got Hummingbird’s attention and pointed to his bag.

“Huh?” She looked at her own. She was still holding it. “Oh, right, it would be easier to walk if I actually put it on, wouldn’t it?”

He nodded, smiling wide, and once she was ready, the two set out on their own.

#

A few minutes of walking later, Macaw slowed his pace. He pressed one of his feet into the ground; the dirt was just as rich and dark here as it was before, but it didn’t sink as deeply when he put pressure on it.

“You noticed, too,” Hummingbird said. “Do you think this is the spot?”

He nodded. Once they both agreed, they popped open the catches on their satchels and got to work.

It didn’t take long for them to fall into an easy rhythm. Like Lahna said, they remembered their training well. The two of them had different kinds of plants in their bags, and they based their planting strategy around that fact.

Hummingbird had a few small saplings, which would one day grow into the towering trees found in Atlantis. She planted them on their own, or in pairs, every few feet. She took the time to pat down the earth around them to make sure their roots would get a good grip.

Macaw’s bag was full of small seeds, which he scattered in a large circle around the saplings. These were the ferns and fierce carnivorous plants that were used to taking a bit of a beating from dinosaur feet, so he didn’t need to take as much care to bury them.

As they worked, Hummingbird realized how many little things she’d missed about the surface. The birds here were different; lots of small sparrows and finches, rather than the loud, flashy parrots that were all over Atlantis. She wasn’t sure if she preferred one over the other, but it was nice to have a change. Of course, those birds could end up trying to eat Macaw’s seeds once they were gone…

Well, that was what the guards were for. Maybe Fainel could come to scare the birds away.

Fainel. She’d been there at their junior knighting ceremony, but with all of the different training that the three of them had to do—Hummingbird and Macaw to learn how to tend the plants, and Fainel how to defend them—Hummingbird hadn’t seen much of her lately. She hoped they’d be able to see each other soon.

“Oh!” Hummingbird had reached into her satchel, having dug a hole for the next sapling, only to come up empty. “Macaw, I’m out of trees!”

She looked up and saw that he’d taken his off and was shaking it around.

“Yours is empty, too?”

He dropped it on the ground. A little irreverent, Hummingbird thought, but she didn’t have long to think about that before Macaw started nudging her along.

“Hey! What are you doing? We need to get back and…” She followed his eyes, and realized where he was going. “You want to swim in the lake? There’s water in Atlantis, you know. A lot of water.”

He huffed.

“…It is different when you do it in a real lake, isn’t it?”

It had been a long time since she took a drink from a natural one. She wondered if it tasted as clear as she remembered; underground, it always tasted slightly metallic.

Hummingbird lifted her satchel over her head and tossed it next to Macaw’s. “I’m sure they won’t mind if we stay out a little longer.”

They were on a mission to spread Atlantis’s reach beyond the underground. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy what the natural surface world had to provide, either.

Who know how long it would last?