[Silver]

Springtime meant many things, and for Nimbus, most of them were in the garden. Early in the morning as the sun was crawling into the sky but before it got warm enough to melt the misty frost on the ground, he headed out to see what the plants were up to today.

He barely made it out of the bedroom before he was joined by one of his closest companions. The little fairy fox was still shedding considerable amounts of fluff from her winter coat and rubbed against his legs to try and loosen some of the clumps of fur. He smiled at her attempts and used his hands to pull away some of the more obvious bits.

[Silver]

“Now now, I can brush you later, but right now we have to go!” Sylvie didn’t look particularly happy with that sentiment, if she even understood it fully. Mostly, she just knew that her attempts of getting a nice morning spa session had been thwarted.

Nimbus grabbed some gardening appropriate clothes and tried to put them on, but Sylvie was not about to let him. She grabbed his shirt in her teeth and pulled on it. Gently at first, then more firmly until he gave up and let her have it. She tumbled backward with the force of her own tug and looked mightily offended by the injustice.

[Silver]

“C’mon now, that wasn’t nice,” he said. “Why don’t you come with me? You can run through the bushes and they’ll pull all this right off you.”

He demonstrated by pulling a thick tangle of fur off her neck and tossing it aside. He was going to have to spend a long time cleaning the house with all the fur she and the others were leaving, but right now he really wanted to get outside.

Sylvie shook the shirt as though it was a new toy, then set it down and curled up in it. She looked up at Nimbus as if to say ‘this is mine now’. He knew better than to argue with that look, so he went back into his room to see if he had another shirt he could wear instead.

[Silver]

Whatever he wore, it was going to have to be fine with scratches and stains from the garden. Not that he owned too many things that weren’t torn or dirty already. His lifestyle didn’t lend well to being kind to his clothing, and he wasn’t really the type to care about that stuff anyway.

After sifting through his clothes for a moment, he came across a shirt he thought was just perfect. It was gaudy and colourful and patterned with bright flowers. He couldn’t even remember where he got it, but he liked it. Perfect for gardening.

[Silver]

“What do you think?” he asked, pulling the shirt over his head. “Isn’t it perfect?”

Sylvie looked up at him while he spoke, but she didn’t seem to agree with his assertion that the shirt was perfect. She wrinkled up her nose and tilted her head. What on earth did he think he was doing? It could be said that foxes don’t have any fashion sense, but in this case, it was pretty clear that he didn’t either.

“I don’t know what you’re going to do,” he said, “but I’m going now.”

[Silver]

Nimbus made it a point to dramatically step over the shirt thief and headed toward the door. He walked outside and took a deep breath of the chill morning air. The cold air filling his lungs stung, but he liked it. It reminded him of how nice spring was and how the bitterness of winter was still clinging on for just a little longer.

As he expected, Sylvie wandered outside after him. She flitted her wings and trotted after him. She didn’t want to be seen hurrying, but she didn’t want to be left behind either. He pretended like he didn’t notice that she was following along.

[Silver]

He couldn’t help but to smile at all of the little sprouts popping up out of the ground. They were brand new to the world, and already they were reaching out for the light and warmth of the sun. It made him hopeful in an odd sort of way.

Nimbus realized that he couldn’t spend all day standing around watching plants grow, so he decided to get busy. He grabbed a basket he kept nearby and kneeled down into the dirt to start pulling away the weeds. How the weeds managed to grow whole stems almost overnight while it took some of his plants an entire season to grow, he would never know.

[Silver]

Sylvie was clearly bored already. She flopped down onto a soft grassy patch and let out an exaggerated huff. She looked up at Nimbus to see his reaction but tried to make it look like she wasn’t watching him.

“I already told you,” he said, “I have to do this first. Then we can spend the whole rest of the day doing the stuff you want to do, alright?”

When he said that, he really wasn’t kidding. He was willing to drop a lot of things to spend time with her, but he did occasionally have to get actual work done as well. She clearly resented any time he spent doing things that weren’t focused on her, but she was also certain to get over it

[Silver]

Nimbus slowly picked through the weeds, grabbing them and pulling them out while also being careful to crush the delicate plants as he leaned against them. It was slow, patient work, but he liked doing it. He could always get one of the Rabbots to do it, but he decided not to. It was one of the things that brought him peace.

Sylvie quickly curled up and fell into a shallow nap. She knew that he was going to be at this for a while and that it would be useless to try to get his attention now. All she could do was wait it out and force him to do what she wanted later.

[Silver]

"Well, that looks good, doesn't it?" Nimbus said. He set down the basket next to the patch of grass where Sylvie was napping. She quickly bolted up and looked around to see if anything had changed since she closed her eyes.

"I think we're done here for now," he said. "There isn't much to do this early in the season. Just you wait until those flowers come in, though. Won't that be lovely." There was a cheerful tone in his voice that suggested his interest in the flowers was very genuine.

Something at the edge of the garden caught his eye. He turned quickly to see what it was, but only barely caught a glimpse of it. "Your fur is going to have to wait," he said as he ran off after whatever had caught his attention.