Pursuit of Diligence Chapter 1

Valentine liked to believe she was ready.

She was nervous this morning, rushing through getting ready while pacing around her room with an accelerated heartbeat. She had combed through her hair and ears more than was necessary, each brushstroke an attempt to ease her mind. She’d preened her eyelashes and reapplied lipgloss with the same repetitiveness, cleaning and redoing them in a desperate effort to get them ‘perfect.’ It was definitely unusual for her to flit around with such an obvious display of frayed nerves, but the wringing in her hands couldn’t cease and her mind kept jolting ahead to the planned events today. She had to do a good job. That much she was certain of. She was sure that Primrose himself would put an end to her visiting the greenhouse if she was sloppy with her care; she was sure he could find some other curious bun to plant ambrosia if he didn’t take care of it himself. In fact, she was definitely sure that other buns had already done the same thing as her - she was more than replaceable.

Despite her anxious mind’s restless chattering, Valentine was sure she wanted to do this. She’d already asked Dove to accompany her - already made arrangements to meet with them in a matter of minutes to travel to the greenhouse together. There was no point wasting any more time worrying - even if she couldn’t fully put her internal ramblings to rest. Her hand ran the length of her ear in a desperate attempt to self-soothe, her eyes flickering to-and-fro with each new step along the path to Jackal’s house. She could hear the familiar sounds of imps rustling in the bushes; see the daily dappling of light through the trees. She breathed slowly, counting each step and squeezing her eyes shut in hopes of easing her mind. She would make it to Dove’s house early - a usual feat for her. She hates to keep them waiting. Hated to think that they would have the time to think that Val had simply decided not to show up. She wouldn’t give that a chance to happen.

When she had arrived at the door and knocked, Dove didn’t keep her waiting. They were there in moments, smiling and clasping their hands together when they saw that it was her waiting. The two didn’t daddle, getting back onto the road and heading for the elevator to the Heavenly Embassy. Valentine swore she could feel her heart beating double the normal amount, her free hand pressing over her chest in an effort to still it. She could see Dove’s eyes move towards her, softened and round with worry. The light of a crystal reflected in them, though they didn’t seem to mind as their hand reached out to touch Val’s shoulder.

“It will be alright. I’ll be right here with you to help you, so you won’t be alone,” their voice was quiet and compassionate, the hand they pressed against Val’s shoulder offering a gentle squeeze. Valentine drew a shaken breath in, exhaling slowly and squeezing her ear for peace of mind. Dove was right. Valentine doubted they’d have any reason to leave her to her own devices mid-planting and even less reason to believe they would without warning. Dove had a kind heart - one Val underestimated too often in her earlier anxieties about the task of today. She was sure it would turn out fine. Dove was here to make sure of that.

“Right… Thank you, Dove. Really. I appreciate it. I’ve never really done this before…” She breathed again, closing her eyes to hear the exhale and the crushing of leaves underfoot. There was another distant rustling in the bushes. Valentine tried to imagine what kind of imp it was, picturing the fur and wide eyes in her mind’s camera. With renewed energy, she walked faster along the path, taking Dove’s hand to avoid leaving them behind.

“Well, the ambrosia won’t plant itself!”

The elevator to the Heavenly Embassy was a frightening, ornate thing. The glass on all sides and the gold creeping along the four corners made it feel almost like a gilded cage, gliding upwards and sweeping past skyscrapers and concerningly tall apartment buildings before it had no other competition level with it in the sky. Valentine’s fingers wrapped tightly around the handrail, her eyes scanning the tops of buildings until they were replaced by clouds. For a moment, the whiteness of clouds was overwhelming - bright and suffocating before a burst of air. The Heavenly Embassy came into view as the elevator slowed to a stop, a sprawling field of green stretched as far as Valentine could see. Shops and houses littered the grass growing there, as at home as the daisies and wildflowers sharing their land. Valentine stepped out with Dove still in hand, checking back over her shoulder to see how they were faring. They stepped ahead of her, however, prompting Val’s head back in place and her hooves back in motion.

“The greenhouse is just this way!”

It was warmer inside the greenhouse than it was outside, the air providing a tender blanket to the residents resting there. Beds of flowers seemed to greet them, glowing with a radiance Valentine wasn’t aware flowers could have. Their illumination was inviting, nudging Valentine forward towards the waiting soil. A quick glance towards Dove found the doll holding a box they hadn’t been holding before, their smile comforting as they held out their treasure for Valentine to take.

“This one has the packets of ambrosia seeds inside - those are the ones you should probably start with! Oh, isn’t this exciting?” Dove’s genuine joy was comforting, but Valentine couldn’t quite shake the nervousness from her throat. Her hands extended, taking the box from Dove and feeling the carvings on the side with her fingers. Just as ornate as the rest of the greenhouse, the box was decorated with odd figures on each side. They were unlike any imps Val had seen, but she did recognize one. It resembles an odd creature that had recently begun to take a liking to her, one she’d dubbed ‘Tempy’ for lack of anything better to call it. The arms it had constantly held scales, ones that never faltered or shifted in any way. It had a semi-circle halo for a head, having no face to decorate it save for the eyes that remained permanently closed.

“This one looks just like my imp… I’ve never seen any of these in the Imporium, though…”

“What..? Oh!” Dove seemed to find what Valentine was looking at, the thumb she had hovering over the image of Tempy seemingly helping that goal, “No, no… These aren’t really imps… They’re virtues. They drift towards people who display the kind of virtue they represent - that one is Temperentia!”

“Oh, I see… That makes sense… I’m sure Hutch would be all over these things if they were imps… But they are cute. I’ve never seen anything like them before…” Valentine paused, thumb still tracing the image of Temperentia before it, too, stopped. She turned away with the box firmly in place, eyes on the beds of soil in front of her. “What do you need me to do? How do I start?”

Dove knelt down in front of the soil, prompting Valentine to do the same. She leaned forward on her knees, watching Dove’s fingers make prints along the bed. They turned to her, gesturing with a nod for her to remove the seed packets from the box.

“Once you have them out, you’re going to want to have even spacing between each seed. Try to bury them about one and a half inches - two inches also works - just like this,” they reached out after Val had opened a packet, retrieving a seed and pushing it into the dirt, “afterwards, we could go ahead and cover them. You try!”

Valentine fetched the seeds from the packet as Dove had done, placing one each in the imprints left by Dove’s finger. Once they’d all been laid out, she pushed them into the dirt just as Dove had done theirs, covering them each afterwards. Nervously peeking at the doll next to them for reassurance, Valentine brushed her hands against each other to send the dirt still lingering falling to the ground. A bit landed on her knee, dusting it with a brown powder that she tried to usher away.

“Yes, just like that! And now… Well, now we wait! I suppose you should probably visit again to check on them later on, but, for now they’ll be fine. Wasn’t that easy?”

Valentine nodded, swallowing to ward away the dryness her mouth had begun to maintain. She closed her eyes, Standing and extending a hand to help Dove do the same. It was much easier than Valentine had expected. She felt silly for worrying about it for so long, especially now that she knew it certainly wasn’t a difficult task. She figured the more challenging part would be checking back in without forgetting to or talking herself into procrastinating on it. In the meantime, she supposed all she could do was wait.

“Did you want to have tea today?”

Dove’s eyes lit up at the question, their hand in hers as they were lifted from the ground with a beaming smile.

“I’d love to!”