All Too Truly Berry Blue

TheCuriousSeed

Have you ever wondered of the berries in the Hollow being strange? We'll find out together.

~Pearl and Silver really enjoyed taking care of their new ptarmigan named Danburite, Danny for short. He was a little trickier than most other Animal Friends, but at least he was friendly. He fit in very well when it came to hiding in the snow during the winter and almost always won Hide and Seek where the scenery was white. He could even travel far distances carrying either Silver or Pearl, although forget carrying both at the same time; he was too small and neither were small enough for average-sized clothes.

~"We got a new ptarmigan!" cried Pearl as she, her sister Silver and their ptarmigan Danny landed.

~"A ptarmigan?" asked the other Silver Winterjewel.

~"Yes, but he can't do any of the typical tricks yet," said the taller Silver.

~"He can fly really fast for such a small ptarmigan, though," said Pearl.

~"Groovy, maybe he can help Glaucia," said the smaller Silver.

~"I don't think ptarmigan can work with hummingbirds," said Elva as she landed. "Hummingbirds can't blend into the snow like ptarmigan because they're a little better suited for the warmth, though a few hundred are fine with the cold."

~"And anyway, what's up with Glaucia?" asked Pearl.

~"She doesn't seem to like the new variety of berries I tried feeding her," said the smaller Silver. "She loves blueberries, but lately the blueberries haven't been tasting right, so I tried other berries that were a little bluer."

~"You mean those strange new berries Lavender's been growing?" asked Elva.

~"Yes," said the smaller Silver. "She's been trying to grow new blueberries, but they've come out--"

~"A little too blue," finished the taller Silver. "Let's try finding a way to grow the berries Glaucia likes, along with finding nectar for her to drink before she starves."

~The four girls flew off to find answers and better food.

~The four flew to Lavender's abode where she grew all sorts of weird blue berries, even the ones that weren't supposed to be blue. Although Lavender wasn't blue of features literally, including her signature green clothes, today that was the colour she felt. All she could grow today were blue berries.

~"Why so blue?" asked Pearl.

~"Too soon, Pearl," said the taller Silver.

~Lavender was very sad because someone had made fun of Zalena for her green exoskeleton and chartreuse spots. She also got made fun of for how she talked and her height, which usually bugged neither, but today Zalena and Lavender received nicknames so horrible it'd be uncouth to repeat them. Also, Lavender had been weeping quite a bit whilst tending to her increasingly blue garden. Zalena was even sadder.

~"We'll find a way to cheer you up," assured Elva. "Why not play with Zalena?"

~Lavender shook her head "No."

~"You don't want to play or Zalena doesn't want to play?" asked the smaller Silver.

~Lavender repeated her answer with her head.

~"Well, this is quite the conundrum," said the taller Silver.

~Elva decided to check on Zalena.

~Inside Lavender's abode, Elva saw how sad Zalena was and tried playing a game with her, but Zalena was in no mood to play. If ladybugs could cry, let alone flood with their tears, Lavender's abode would definitely be flooded with Zalena's proverbial tears alone. Nothing Elva tried in the course of cheering up Zalena worked... in fact, Zalena started whimpering. On the Mainland, ladybugs can't really whimper, but Elva knew what those whimpers meant: time to see Elixa the Animal Healer.

~Elva explained that although Zalena was her friend Lavender's Animal Friend, Zalena was whimpering quite a lot and didn't even want to play. Elixa knew the reason: Zalena was healthy physically, but emotionally wounded. She also knew that many other ladybugs, among other animals, made fun of her, not just a few. Still, she recomended seeing a Healer that specialised in emotional hurt. Elva thanked Elixa and left.

~"At least now we can figure out the next one to see," answered Elva before she landed on a greyish-blue cherry. "Whoa, that definitely can't be good."

~"You think?" asked the taller Silver, pointing to the growing pile of petalkerchiefs in Lavender's waste basin that Lavender refused to leave indoors or bury underground.

~"What doe spent petalkerchiefs have to do with an Emotional Healer?"

~Lavender wrung out the petalkerchief she'd just used and watered her garden with the collected tears before disposing of said petalkerchief.

~"Petalkerchiefs are more biodegradable than tissues made by humans because, no plastic, but Lavender usually buries them in fertiliser to decompose faster. Something's definitely wrong."

~"We can't sit around in the bluest pity party ever!" exclaimed Pearl. "C'mon girls and Danny!"

~But Lavender and Zalena were too sad to even fly.

~"I hope Danny can carry Lavender by himself because wherever we need to go is too far on foot."

~But Lavender still refused to fly anywhere, even on the back of a ptarmigan. She just wanted to stay in her garden. It looked like this would be a house visit instead.

~When Elva reached one of the Emotional Healers and brought her to Lavender, the Emotional Healer asked if Lavender was okay, to which Lavender answered with her head, "No." The Emotional Healer then delved deep into why Lavender and Zalena were so sad and it had to do with bullying. Afterwards, the Emotional Healer left. The advice given? If letting it roll off doesn't work, try a civil discussion with the party that caused the issue.

~Only after finding out the reason for the bullying was jealousy for such rare forms did things start to improve and soon al the berries grown not only looked, but tasted right again. Glaucia happily downed the sweet blueberry juice of three big blueberries and Zalena did all sorts of fun tricks while Lavender happily gardened. Soon Lavender's whole garden was as happy as happy could be and the bullying had ceased for the foreseeable time being.

Here was hoping this tale was enjoyable because sometimes bullies are jealous of what you have or can do.

brockcopperbell

I loved this story, amzing.