wildflower

[bulrushes]

On the doorstep of a little house in Forks, Washington, a basket is placed.

The doorbell rings.

There are footsteps, and then there are not.

Comments

[asmyown]

"Sure."

She straightens up her desk, and outside they go. "I think I'll need to get you a raincoat," muses Lynn, looking up at the rain.

[bulrushes]

"Yeah. It's wet. The book won't like it."

[asmyown]

"It will not," she agrees. "I have an umbrella, I just never use it. Do you want me to go get it?"

[bulrushes]

"Yes please."

[asmyown]

Umbrella is retrieved! Kid-ward, it goes. It's clear, with swirly black floral patterns. Also, the key to this entire endeavor - it's perfectly capable of protecting books and kids from the rain. If a bit big for Astrid to easily hold herself, anyway. But Lynn can do that for her, and even offers to.

[bulrushes]

"Thank you!"

And now Astrid will read her book under the umbrella in the gentle drizzle.

[asmyown]

D'awwwww. That's adorable. Or, at least, Lynn thinks so.

She will just be Designated Umbrella Holder, don't mind her.

[bulrushes]

Astrid wants to know why this human wants to trap these bunnies.

[asmyown]

"Well, there are two reasons. In one place, there are too many bunnies, and they're considered pests because they eat crops and things. Then there's also how not everyone wants to just eat fruits and vegetables and things. So, they go and catch animals." Pause. "For, er - food."

[bulrushes]

"Bunnies aren't food. They're bunnies."

[asmyown]

"Well, not everyone has the same preferences as you - some people think of bunnies as food and want to eat them, for various reasons."

[bulrushes]

Astrid seems to think that's weird. "Well, okay," she shrugs. "Real bunnies don't talk."

She continues to read.

[asmyown]

"Yes, there'd be moral issues with eating things that talked," agrees Lynn.

And then, back to being Designated Umbrella Holder. She doesn't mind in the slightest.

[bulrushes]

Read read read.

[asmyown]

Lynn leaves her to it! She'll bring a book of her own, next time, but for right now she'll just make a mental list of all of the things she'll need to get if Astrid stays. A bed, clothes, toys, a dresser - kids are expensive. Lynn is very glad she has savings.

(Quietly, Lynn wonders if her heart will break a second time if Astrid's parents are found. Maybe she'll end up hating them if they show up, for no other reason than taking away the adorable little prodigy. She doesn't know yet.)

[bulrushes]

Astrid is blissfully oblivious.

No parents turn up. There are no even shamefully belated missing child reports for little girls meeting Astrid's description. There have been no sightings of suspicious characters lurking around the town of Forks.

Lynn is asked if she wants to formally foster the kid, with a view to later adoption.

[asmyown]

She doesn't even need to think about it. The answer is yes, yes she does.

Not as a replacement for her daughter (there's no replacing a lost child) but because Astrid is delightful and she needs a home and Lynn is the obvious, obvious choice. Besides, Lynn has gotten all motherly and protective and it is now near impossible to undo that. It's just too late to turn back now.

They go shopping for clothes, Lynn converts her study into a room for Astrid (some of the bookshelves stay, but most of them are moved to the living room) and then life continues on. Cheerfully. Astrid comes with Lynn to school most days, and then they go read outside together. Lynn is noticeably more happy now than she was when Astrid first arrived in a basket. It bewilders a few of her students.

[bulrushes]

Astrid has no strong opinions about clothes, although she seems to gravitate to shorts and short sleeves for no reason she can articulate.

She goes on being a little bookworm. She goes on eating small quantities of a negligible-fat salt-free vegan diet, which seems to keep her just fine. She spends a lot of time outside during the day on weekends, and by the windows when she goes to school with Lynn. She is not particularly graceful - she never breaks into a run of her own accord, and sometimes trips even when walking, although so far she has avoided needing band-aids.

Over her first week with Lynn her hair dulls from blonde to a sort of ecru color, which looks - odd.

[asmyown]

Lynn is alarmed by this change in hair color. She worries that it's got something to do with Astrid's diet - not in what she's eating, Lynn's been sure that she has plenty of protein and such, but in how much she eats. Which is not much. She very nearly calls the hospital, and only barely stops herself when she observes that her hair's not dull or dry or anything - it just happens to have changed color.

"Are you feeling all right?" she asks, instead.

[bulrushes]

"Yeah," says Astrid. "I don't like this color hair though."

[asmyown]

"I don't, either. Do you - have any idea why your hair's just - this color now?"

[bulrushes]

"It looks like tofu," opines Astrid. "I don't know."

[asmyown]

"It does look like tofu," she agrees. "I'm worried that you're not getting all of the things you need to eat, are you sure you're eating enough, sweetie?"

[bulrushes]

"I'm not hungry."

[asmyown]

That - could mean any number of dangerous things. Lynn thinks she might drive herself mad if she thought of all of them.

"Okay," she says, because she does not want to frighten Astrid. But she is going to quietly be extremely concerned about her welfare. She has continued mental debates over whether or not to take Astrid to the hospital. On one hand, she seems fine, but on the other - her hair has changed color and she doesn't seem to eat enough to be healthy.

She'll wait and see, and keep making sure that what little food Astrid eats is good for her.