The Garden, Thursday Afternoon

[glacial_witch]

After a class, Karla went back to her room and changed into Morton's old cast-offs. Between the heavy content of today's discussion, the rapidly fading memories of the previous weekend, and the radio's reports that 'Dite was leaving--which would explain her message asking Karla to meet her at the store later--she had a lot to brood over think about

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[endsthegame]

After his habitual visit to Cassidy, Ender had made his way outside with a book of Spanish lessons under his arm. He came to a pause when he saw who was out there, brief fleeting memories dancing around his mind before he firmly stomped them down.

"Ho, Karla." Operation: attempt to repress like Ben, in full swing.

[glacial_witch]

"Ender!" Karla glanced up at him, her smile there, if a little uncertain. Her memories were fuzzy and fading, but she definitely remembered yelling and being yelled at by Ender.

Guess which of those two was the more surprising. Just guess.

"Kiss kiss," she added, if a little belatedly. "Want to come get mucky with me. You look like you could use some quality garden time."

[endsthegame]

"I was going to head down to the park and read my book," Ender said, "Maybe get some color on me. But I can do at least one of those out here, too, if you're serious about the offer."

Ender had been less surprised by his own anger, if simply because he knew it was there - he just tended to avoid voicing it.

[glacial_witch]

"You just like showing off your ability to tan," Karla sniffed. "In light of Ben and my complete failure to say the same. But, yeah, of course I meant it. I doubt you got much of a chance to play around in the dirt in Battle School."

[endsthegame]

"Not a lot of dirt up there," Ender agreed, "Or we'd all have gone swarming around it."

He sank to his knees next to her. "So you'll have to tell me what we're doing," he said, putting the book aside, on a less dirty patch.

[glacial_witch]

"Mostly turning over soil, pruning, and making sure nothing untoward has taken root," Karla explained. "The earth is thawed now, so we want to make sure that it's looser around the perennials and that it's ready for new things to be planted by the annuals. This also gives us a chance to get rid of any big rocks or slugs or harmful bugs that might have moved into the soil for the winter, down low where they could survive by eating the plant roots."

She grinned at Ender a little more. "Ready to get dirty?"

[endsthegame]

"More than happy to," Ender said, with a smile. He pressed his hands to the soil. "Just don't spill anything on my book; the library would frown on that."

[glacial_witch]

Karla mock-pouted at him. "Ender, you wound me." Sapphire light sparked in the air for a moment as she tossed a hasty shield over the book. "If I ask what you're reading about now, will it require another relativity lesson for me to understand?"

[endsthegame]

"Not at all," Ender said, shooting her a little amused smile. "It's Spanish. Ben and I gave it a crack out of boredom on the way to Eros, and I guess the language appeals to me."

[glacial_witch]

"This world has so many languages," Karla said, shaking her head. "Ugh, you're going to make me feel guilty for neglecting my studies in the Ancient Tongue for so long."

And they studied random languages for fun. Her friends were such dorks.

[endsthegame]

This was a surprise to her how?

"Yes, you're a terrible person for bailing on your studies," Ender agreed, amicably. "So what do we do first?"

Besides heartily repress screaming arguments?

[glacial_witch]

In Karla's defense, she was less 'heartily repressing' and more 'struggling to remember.' She knew that something was weird between them, but she wasn't entirely sure what or why.

Dammit.

"Here," she said, calling in a gardening claw and handing it over. "Start making furrows in the soil. It'll loosen everything up. I'm going to look over the plants to see which ones survived the winter."

Working with the land helped loosen up her tension as well. "Do I owe you an apology?"

[endsthegame]

Ender remembered. He didn't remember all of it - some information was sketchy and hard to grasp, and some conversations fuzzy while some circumstantial knowledge remained intact. But he'd remembered enough of their argument to recall the anger and the sorrow, and he wasn't sure whether he appreciated that she didn't know much, so he wouldn't have to talk about it, or he didn't.

It also didn't help that he swore sometimes his older self was lecturing him at the back of his head.

He took the gardening claw and got to work. "I don't think you owe me any apologies," he said, "Unless you remember more of the weekend than I do."

He was also a filthy liar. Well. At this age.

[glacial_witch]

She shook her head. "Just flashes. Little bits and pieces. I remember yelling at you, though. I was so angry. Mostly because I was hurt and struggling not to cry and it was easier to be mad."

She remembered emotions better than she did events.

[endsthegame]

"I remember yelling," Ender offered, quietly meeting her in the middle, at least a little. "Frustration, sadness, but that's about it."

[glacial_witch]

Content that she didn't need to offer an actual apology--even while feeling the obscure desire to do so--Karla leaned back on her heels. "Frustration, I'm used to causing. Sadness is--hopefully--a new one. I wish I remembered more."