Colibri listened quietly to the taller female, her words upsetting but delivered with a calm authority. Coli nodded, accepting the explanation. The Marino family had returned to their homeland of Italy... at least they would be happy there, even if it was disconcerting to think of Savina leaving Anu's side. Was... she lonely? Did the gathering at Berwick fulfill her needs, or could she be sad? Coli sighed, struggling to push the obsessive thoughts from her mind. It wasn't fair to be this hung up on someone from her past, not when dissolving their union had been her fault entirely. "Thank you," she intoned, grateful at least for the information, even if the cinnamon-furred swordswoman would not understand why it was so important for her to know.
There was an elegant but deadly grace in the way Cassia handled her blade; the metal flashed and shone white in the sunlight, illuminating the edges sharper than any claws or fangs. Coli shivered, entranced by the sight of the sword being drawn and brandished. There was no doubt in her mind that Cassia could cut her down before she could run away, and it took her nervous mind some time to override the powerful instinct to turn tail and flee. This time, though, her weapon would be used to propagate life. Finally Coli swallowed the lump in her throat, smiling weakly at her willing apprentice.
"You... you'll want new growth, not the older branches, so feel them like this..." She raised her arms to run her fingers delicately along the branches above her, feeling for the buds of new leaves forming. The younger bark was smoother, the branches thinner and more supple. When she located one, she nodded to Cassia, pointing just below one of the fresh new leaves. "Usually you want them shorter than your forearm," she added, "And you can plant that directly in the soil. If you make sure it stays damp and gets lots of sun, it will put out roots." Apple trees were remarkable in that way, able to grow in so many different ways. They could even be fused together from pieces of different trees, a trick Coli was about to share.
"Grafting is when you take these new cuttings, and instead of planting them, you attach them to a different tree. They heal together like a broken bone." It was an apt metaphor, since the grafted branches would even be splinted and bandaged like bones were. Then, someday, the patient gardener would be rewarded with a tree where every branch bore a different strain of fruit. Anu had taught her much of this; trees were her lifeblood, more than anything else. If Coli had a specialty, it would lie with flowers, particularly those with vulnerary or virulent qualities. She knew which leaves would heal a wolf and which would poison them, and she had administered them in both capacities. She did not have the steady patience and unending kindness that Anu shared with her trees. She knew she could never measure up. "Anu can show you that, I'm sure... she has a real gift with trees."