Up to the Highest Height

[Annaleah Lycaster]

It had been an extremely long day and the young witch was feeling moderately overwhelmed. Life wasn't supposed to be this confusing at only eleven years young, was it? Her parents were over the moon about the new discovery that they're one and only daughter was a witch. They'd always told her that she was born with magic in her veins, but they'd always meant it figuratively so when they'd all discovered that it was very much a literal thing everyone celebrated. Well, everyone except for Annaleah. It wasn't that the prospect of having these so called powers wasn't a little exciting, but everything that the tiny brunette had read up until this point (and boy did she read everything she could get her hands on) had speculated that magic wasn't real. At least not in the sense that everyone was now telling her it was. It all just seemed far to good to true.

Her parents had gone off for dinner at a nearby place, but Annaleah wasn't hungry. She was tired and she wanted to go home and curl up with her big fluffy cat and read a book or something that made her life feel like it had before all of this Hogwarts business. She headed to a park that was within Brightstone Village because that seemed to be the closest thing to being outdoors at the present time. It wasn't exactly hiking in some national forest, but she'd settle for it at the moment. There was a huge tree near one end of the park and it looked like a nice healthy tree that would be a great place to hide away for at least a half an hour or so.

Quick like a cat she darted up the tree, only slipping once which resulted in a minor scratch on her left wrist. The blue eyed little girl nestled herself with her back against the tree and her legs swung over either side of a large sturdy branch, feet dangling softly. This was a good place right now. As long as this Hogwarts place had places like this to escape for a while then she'd be fine.

 

[Minerva Khulik]

More times than not when her father came to Brightstone with his kiwis and wine, Minerva had to stay at home. It wasn't really that she had to but more than she wanted to really. Now however her father wanted her to get used to bigger places and wide spaces and more people and all because she would have to attend Hogwarts in September. She was looking forward to that but she was also extremely anxious. Her mother had told her about the amazing library there, the greenhouses and the magical creatures that she would get to work with. Of course she also told her about the charms classes, the defense classes, transfiguration and potions - Minerva didn't mind these, they sounded amazing and she did want to be good at everything but working with animals just sounded wonderful to her and spending vasts quantities of her time in the large library also seemed like the best occupation ever.

When her father had gone to the market to sell his crate loads of produce to stores, he had told Minerva to head to the park and play. She stood staring at him as if he were gone mad! When on earth had he ever known her to play? in a park? She shook her head dumbfounded and rummaging in her bag she pulled out her book, Hogwarts A History and entered the park. It looked like a nice place, it was big at least which meant people would be spread out with any luck. Nice days like this just dragged people out to laze in the sunshine. She could have been home right now, helping her mother dye wool lots or gathering fruit with the pickers on the farm but oh no ... Daddy had insisted that she spread her wings though he had obviously forgotten that he had a human daughter and not a dragon. Wings!? the man had obviously been in the heat too long.

She had entered the park and as she most often did when left to her own devices and a book, found the shade of a tree and curled up beneath it to open her book. Minerva knew she hadn't been there that long when the footsteps of another approached and the scrambling of those same footsteps went upwards along the tree trunk that she rested beneath. Minerva turned her head to crane it about so she could see upwards. Sure enough there was a girl now sitting astride a branch up there. It wasn't like Minerva to say the first word ... well, it did depend on the situation really. When she felt the need to relay information she did speak first, when people were just wanton about being social, she usually just nodded her head or something.

Biting her lower lip for a moment, she straightened up again and looked at her book.
"I believe this is a Podocarpus totara, a species of the podocarp tree ... wonderful for climbing among other pursuits" she scrunched her eyes shut, why had she said anything? She did not want to meet people and she didn't want to be friendly in any sense of the word. She should have just kept her head down and continued reading her book but ... what if the girl had fallen and on top of her? Better to let the girl know she existed so she could fall somewhere else ... if that was her plan of course.

 

[Annaleah Lycaster]

Annaleah wasn't expecting there to be anyone under her. And she certainly wasn't much for conversation with strangers. Never really had been. That was the small price she paid for being an over zealous nature lover and truth be told, she was completely okay with it. The young brunette much preferred animals and plants over people any day. Probably her parents fault as they had spent the majority of her childhood with her out camping and hiking and adventuring rather than keeping up with play dates with other children. It wasn't that she was anti-social exactly, she just didn't know how to properly interact.

"I see," was all she could muster as she leaned over slightly and looked at the girl, who looked to be about the same age as she was. I wonder if she has the magic as well Annaleah thought to herself as she glanced at the girl again. "You know a lot about trees?" It seemed like a reasonable question seeing as how she'd just been given a random bit of information, but she was trying to make conversation and wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

 

[Minerva Khulik]

Sometimes Minerva opened her mouth and things just invariably came out. She didn't often mean them too and often didn't realise she was talking aloud instead of just thinking but the girls reply was not offensive and it wasn't silly and it wasn't poking fun at her. So Minerva tentatively glanced up for a second then glanced about her, she lifted her slender hand and indicated a clump of trees on the far side of the path nearest the pond.
"Those are willows, they grow them especially for wand making but they're good for baskets and coffins too" she shrugged, "you'll always find them near ponds or bodies of water because their roots help to strengthen the water banks."

Minerva bit her lower lip a second, she never thought for a moment that she was showing off, it was just who she was. She loved animals and she loved plants, especially now. She hadn't liked them so much when she had been younger, putting her hands into anything sticky or dirty was just too much for her to deal with.
"I know a bit I guess. What about you?"