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There was precious little that Quill and their parents agreed upon. One point of agreement was that Vykeli needed to be healed. However exactly that was meant to be accomplished was a true point on contention. Quill was quite sure than unless they learned about what exactly the others had done there was no undoing it. And there might even be unwittingly making it worse. Quill's parents believed that all that was needed was more magic. Because of this, and other reasons, Quill had resisted going to Grandfather Tree. Quill had been a proper adult for a good long while now, and had made a nice home for themselves out in the Ruins, much to their parents horror.

Sure, there were dangers there, but there were also thrills. And a lot of information. Quill found new things every day. Things Quill was pretty sure no other noulicorns had seen, at least in generations. Maybe ever. But regardless, a pull had settled into Quill's mind, and hadn't left. What if they needed that magic to accomplish more things? Surely any sort of gift from Grandfather Tree would make life in the Ruins easier, after all. And maybe Quill wouldn't use that magic on Vykeli just yet, but it would be good to have. Plus there were loads of types of magic you didn't really use on Vykeli directly anyhow. At least according to Quill.

That was how Quill found themselves plodding through the Barren, towards Grandfather Tree. Quill had made sure to bring a good map from Homewood, just in case. It turned out this was the in case. After all of Quill's research, it seemed like a noulicorn just might need magic to make anything of substance happen ... They'd see, after they received a gift. Perhaps this would be just another thing to prove other's wrong on.

Life in the Ruins was a hard scrabble affair much of the time. Quill had settled in well some seasons ago, in what had been some sort of laboratory. Quill has quite sure that the Others had studied plants there, based on what they'd found around the laboratory. So, in turn, Quill had been studying said plants. While many noulicorns would be horrified at the idea of learning from the Others, that didn't phase Quill, not in the least. Quill had no issues with being a social outlier, and pursuing their own path. The Others had obviously known a lot about many different things. It didn't make sense for that information to go to waste. It might even help in healing Vykeli one day. While Quill didn't consider themselves a scholar, per say, they were happy to make use of the chance to learn when it was presented to them. Quill's exact path in life was still a mystery to them, their place in the larger ecosystem of Vykeli clouded. For now, it was studying the Other's techniques on plants. Tomorrow, it might be something else entirely. But for now, Quill would work hard on this.

That is, until a clop of hooves sounded on the metallic floor. Quill's head jerked up. Visitors were more than a little unusual. Quill didn't think they'd actually had any visitors here, come to think about it. Quill didn't really have any close friends. And there weren't that many nouls out in the Ruins.

Quill trotted toward the noise, and was greeted by a noulicorn and rat. Quill had seen them around the area before, but didn't really know them. But they were probably Quill's closest neighbors, come to think of it. "Uh, hey there?"

The rat looked up at the doe, and she spoke, quickly, with clipped speech. "Um, I know we don't really know you. But we're having a lot of trouble growing crops. Getting harder every season. We thought you might, um, know about that?" She looked expectant, as did the rat.

The oddness of the pairing didn't phase Quill. As far as Quill was concerned most of Homewood's views on the rats were backwards, now that they'd gotten magic of their own. And this sounded like something Quill might know about. "I've studied a few things. If you show me, maybe I can help you come up with something." Quill had been working diligently on learning what the Others knew about plants and farming, after all.

Together the trio made it over the plot that the rat and the doe were living at. It had a tumble down sort of housing unit at the back, but the front was all cultivated. "It used to grow pretty good." The noulicorn frowned, looking at her wilted beds. "Not so much now though."

Quill wandered through the garden, looking at the sad plants. "Do you grow the same thing every season? In the same place?" Quill had just been reading about this very thing! How fortunate. How fortuitous! This was, in fact, something they could lend a hoof with.

"I think you've depleted the soil. Sucked out all the stuff the plants need to grow. Every season you need to change what you plant where." The doe and the rat looked shocked. "Could probably stand some compost too..." Quill had no issue telling the pair what they could do to possibly improve their garden's health. After all, wasn't that was neighbors were for?