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Nobody goes into Wu’s garden under the monastery. Not even to look for him, or to see what mysteries he’s kept there for so long.
So when Riyu emerges a few hours after his mysterious disappearance, plodding around and smelling weird, of course Arin has to investigate. He gets his very spaced-out friend situated on one of many couches, and sets to asking around as to what could have happened.
He stumbles into Lloyd’s room, knocking on the doorframe and startling them from their rest.
“Hey, uh- Lloyd? Something’s wrong with Riyu.” His feet tap on the floor as the nervous ache in his core inches out through his body. “He might have eaten something, I don’t know, but he’s really slow and he smells off.”
Lloyd swings their legs over the side of the bed, stretching and shaking out their brown-and-blonde hair. “Did you check his eyes?”
“Yeah. They were kind of… faded? I don’t know how to describe it, but they were more grayish than normal.”
Their ear flicks as they think, tapping their claws on their bedframe. “Hm. I think I have some idea of what’s going on, but I’ll have to see him to be sure.”
As they walk together, Arin weaves his fingers together in worry. “Is he gonna be okay? He’s never been like this before.”
And to his surprise, Lloyd chuckles. Their walk is heavy, but not with worry about this particular issue. “Yeah. From what you told me, it’s nothing serious. My only concern would be how this even happened in the first place.”
They reach the common area, where Riyu’s gone from neatly tucked on the couch to sprawled across it, tongue hanging out of his mouth, wings bent crookedly beneath him. His pupils are extremely dilated, big black rounds against a gray-green background. His paws knead sluggishly as he slowly turns his head to see Arin and Lloyd- and then he lets out a rumble that can only be described as a giggle. Lloyd responds with a low chirr, kneeling down to rub small circles on Riyu’s head, and then looks back at Arin, smiling.
“Arin, I don’t know how else to put this. He’s high.”
Arin’s mouth drops open. “I- what? How- weh??”
“He’s got all the telltale symptoms. Faded irises, dilated pupils, slowed motions- Riyu, open your paw for me?” The instruction’s obeyed, only the table-sized dragon can’t seem to decide which paw to open, so he ends up opening all four. He grins, purring incessantly as Arin stifles a giggle.
“How did this even happen? It’s not like anyone has any weed here, right?”
Lloyd coughs awkwardly, not really responding. “No. Probably not. But I think someone would have seen him getting into it if they did.”
And then Sora walks in. Her tail’s swishing left and right behind her until she turns to see Riyu in his absolute state, Arin frozen under her gaze, and Lloyd crouched to the couchbound dragon’s eye level. She just stares, unable to form words for a few moments.
“What happened? And why is Riyu all…” She doesn’t quite know how to describe the highly absurd situation before her. He doesn’t look injured, but he’s acting like he’s-
“Oh. Oh, no. How did he-”
“We don’t know. Arin found him.. where did you say you found him?”
Arin brightens at being able to help. “He was coming out of that door you never explained. I think I saw some stairs leading down, but I couldn’t really tell.”
Lloyd pales, but maintains their composure. “That’s… okay. Okay. Quick rundown time.” They pull up a chair, and Sora and Arin sit down in front of them. This has happened many times before, and will happen many times again after this.
“Back when we were first moving in, Master Wu made it explicitly clear that we were not to go down there. He explained that it was his private garden, only to be accessed by him. We never knew what went on, or what he grew, but…” They look back at Riyu. “I guess we have some clue now.”
“Maybe we should look? Just to make sure.” Arin offers meekly. “Whatever’s down there is probably way overgrown. The least we can do is try to trim some of it down.”
At this, Lloyd sighs and thinks. They don’t want to break whatever sanctity might be left, but the kid isn’t wrong. Wu wouldn’t want his garden to be a mess, and might even appreciate them trying to clean it up.
Or they’re completely wrong and he would want them out immediately. Either way, Arin’s already getting up and heaving a weighted blanket over Riyu so he a) is comfortable and b) doesn’t try to move too far while nobody has eyes on him.
As they walk down the hall to the previously-untouched door, Arin can’t help but wonder what it was like to learn under Wu. An ancient dragoni warrior with ages of wisdom and training, shaping heroes to save the world from any wild number of threats. What the old man grew in his garden was a mystery, to be uncovered soon due to a growing young dragon’s voracious appetite and habit for getting into Situations.
When they arrived, Lloyd braces themself and reaches for the handle of the door. They push it open with a long squeak, their eyes shining in the gloomy and dark passageway. The scent of trampled plants and blooming flowers stirs in their nose, and they motion for Arin and Sora to follow them down the stairs. Green energy glows around their clawtips as they light the way, occasionally muttering cautions to their students.
What they see when they reach the bottom renders everyone speechless.
Globes of golden light illuminate a tall, warm, rounded cavern. Vines and roots climb up through the cracks in the walls, and leaves litter the floor. Bushes and trees in various shades of green create an almost forest-like atmosphere, while some distance away a water feature gushes quietly. Lloyd seems significantly more relaxed, maybe from how peaceful it all is. Wordlessly, Arin wanders off to try and find… something. He doesn’t know.
After a few minutes of walking, he finally finds it: what was once a neatly trimmed marijuana tree is now an overgrown, tangled mess. A mess, he notes, that has several dragon’s-bite-sized chunks taken out of it. He calls Lloyd and Sora over, gazing in amazement. He feels Sora approach his side, whistling.
“I didn’t know they got that big.”
Lloyd walks up to it, kneeling down to swipe some dirt away from a little nameplate carved into stone. It reads:
A PROMISE KEPT
BUT NEVER DEFINED
IS ONE REMEMBERED
FOR ALL OF TIME
They squint. Odd thing to write on a rock under a weed tree- but then again, Wu did all sorts of odd things, most of which were never explained.
Sora traces one of the leaves. “He must have really cared about this tree. The maintenance only stopped after he…” She trails off, her expression falling.
“Yeah.” Lloyd speaks, their voice crackling a little. They stand up, clearing their throat. “We’ll come back down here soon to tidy up. But… maybe not with Riyu.”
Just then, there’s a crash from upstairs, followed by a loud thud, confused chirping, and the beeping of a refrigerator left open too long.
Arin smiles to himself. A weed formerly-bonsai tree, a high dragon, and a day that he thought might be normal for once.