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It seemed like one of those typical days that Beowulf was helping his teacher to organize and swap out planters of herbs. Some of them were either dead or too dried out to use anymore. Sitting in the back garden with his teacher, Laurette showed him another way to remove the dead from certain plants to preserve the rest and let it regrow. Beowulf was of course all thumbs when it came to this sort of thing. He was more skilled in the documentation of plants, not planting them.

‘Come on, you’ve almost got it.’ Laurette said as she watched him trimming one of the more manageable plants. Beowulf looked fully focused on his task before his hand slipped and he nipped off more than he was supposed to. ‘Little too much there, but you have the basics of it.’ There was some disappointment in her voice as she would have to fix the plant later.

”I’m sorry Laurette, but I am better drawing plants then tending to them.” He said sheepishly as he put the over pruned plant odd to one side. ”Maybe I should just stick to that and lighter healing spells.”

The older woman stood over him with her arms crossed as she stared down at him. There was a bit of a scowl on her face as he spoke. Beowulf was a bit shocked at the expression as he looked up towards her. The shadow she cast over him was one that made most younglings shiver before taking her medicines without complaint. She certainly had a way with making people do what they should.

‘Alright Beowulf. Since you don’t think you are any good with tending plants, I have a challenge for you.’ There was almost a maniacal grin on her face that made Beowulf fear what might be said next. ‘Truth or Dare.’

”I’ll bite.” Beowulf says looking towards Laurette, ”How about we go with… Dare.” He had no idea what was coming his direction.

‘Dare you say, well, I dare you to tend to one of these plants for the next couple of weeks. Take care of it as if it is your own child. Water it, let it have sunlight and over all nurture it. Think you can do that?’ she grinning in his direction.

”Alright, and if I don’t manage to keep the plant tamed?” He asked as he stood up from the ground.

‘That has yet to be seen. Now, which plant do you choose to tend to for the next couple of weeks?’ Laurette asked as Beowulf looked about the garden.

Stepping around his furious looking teacher he reached to pick up a planter with the smallest herb in it. Couldn’t be that hard to care for, right? Just needed water and sunlight… It seemed like the perfect plan in his own head, but little did he know that the herb was possibly one of the harder ones to care for.

”This one shouldn’t be too bad, I’ll take to caring for this plant.” He said holding up the small planter with the small spiky plant nestled within.

Laurette wanted to tell him to pick another, but she had put the dare on him and he had chosen. She merely nodded her head before handing a general care guide to herbs, since he was the bookworm and could follow that to care for the plant. ‘Alright, let's just see how it fairs within the two weeks of care.’

Beowulf looked at the plant, taking the basic guide from Laurette he headed for home. These two weeks were certainly going to be a breeze, sure he had nipped a little too much off the last plant. But he had made room for more shoots to grow, what harm had that done? At some point in all this, Beowulf knew he should have picked ‘truth’ as it may have saved him a lot of headache.

”Not to worry, this plant will be thriving by the time the limit is up. You’ll see.” Beowulf boasted as he held the plant up as if it were something that was going to save his life. ”I shall see you in a couple of weeks then.” He waved, heading towards the gate within the fence of the back garden.

‘Not so fast there young sprout, you still have lessons tomorrow.’ She called after him as he opened the gate.

”Oh, right. See you tomorrow then!”

Laurette could only shake her head as she sighed. Beowulf was a handful sometimes and she wasn’t sure what to do with him. Young he was brazen to prove his worth as well. ‘You still have a lot to learn, young sprout.’ she chuckled as Beowulf turned from sight. He was certainly going to learn a hard lesson with his dare. One that he certainly wouldn’t forget.

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