Alina had told her mother and aunt that the kindergarten was busy. That they should visit later, after all the activities were done. She had made excuses that made sense. She wanted to show them properly, she said. To give them her ti and attention so they could see the kindergarten the right way. They agreed, though they said they didn’t mind Sports Day and thought it would be better to see the kindergarten when it was lively.
Alina needed more ti to think. To figure out how to tell them sothing she had been hiding for so long it had beco part of her.
She watched Vlad Jr. help a younger child from Class C adjust their decoration, his movents careful, his voice patient. She watched Luna pause her organizing to help Rocky find a stone he had dropped. She watched Kelpie’s face slowly brighten as another child complinted his water patterns.
Her family deserved to know.
She just didn’t know how to begin.
Next day
Plantation Day
From early morning, everything felt different. The sun was bright in the sky and the atmosphere was peaceful. Even the birds seed to sing differently, their songs carrying a celebratory note.
The ground had been prepared carefully over the past two days. Volunteers from the upper classes had worked alongside the gardeners, turning the soil, mixing in nutrients, marking out small sections for each class. The lines were straight and clean, each plot exactly the sa size, each one waiting. Tiny saplings of different kinds were arranged in neat rows along one side of the playground, their leaves fresh and delicate, so still curled from being transported, others already reaching toward the morning light. Buckets of water stood nearby, their surfaces catching the sun, and small tools had been laid out on tables—spades, trowels, watering cans—all perfectly sized for little hands.
And the playground—
It looked beautiful.
The decorations the children had worked on the day before had transford the entire space into sothing that felt like a celebration. Green ribbons were tied across the swings in looping patterns, fluttering gently in the breeze like vines reaching for the sky. The slides were wrapped with soft fabric garlands, their colors matching the fresh leaves on the saplings. Small handmade signs were placed here and there, each one slightly uneven, each one painted with careful, loving strokes. Welco Spring. Let Us Grow. Plant Day. So of the letters were backwards. So of the drawings were hard to recognize. But every sign was filled with the kind of effort that children gave when they wanted to make sothing beautiful.
One by one, the children began to arrive.
Today, no one wore their usual uniforms. The academy had set aside the formal dress code for this one day, and the playground filled with colors that had been waiting in closets all year. Bright red dresses spun in circles as little girls twirled to show their friends. Soft green shirts matched the ribbons on the swings. Sunny yellow outfits glowed like dandelions in the morning light. Little bursts of color moved everywhere—laughing, running, calling out to each other, stopping to admire decorations, pointing at saplings, comparing tools.
Kelpie arrived wearing a light blue outfit that seed to shimr whenever he moved, water droplets already forming around him in excitent. His usual small puddle had grown into a cheerful splash zone, and he kept checking the watering buckets to make sure they were full.
"Water is ready!" he announced to anyone who would listen. "The plants will be very happy!"
Rocky wore sothing simple but neat, a soft gray shirt, his hair brushed carefully, his small hands clutching a cloth bag where he had probably kept sothing important. He moved slowly through the crowd, nodding at decorations, checking the placent of stones around the planting areas with a critical eye.
Luna wore a darker shade, practical for digging, but she had added a hint of green in her hair tie, a small ribbon that matched the the. Her hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail, her expression focused, her steps confident.
Boo—
Boo had added a second accessory to his already "ceremonial" look.
His ghostly cap was perched at its usual angle, catching the light with its soft silver shimr. And now, tied carefully around it, a floating ribbon of pale green drifted behind him whenever he moved, making him look like he was trailing mist.
"I am dressed appropriately for Plantation," he announced to no one in particular, floating in slow circles near the entrance so everyone could admire him.
Felix glanced at him once as he walked past.
"You look like a decoration," he said flatly. "Like soone hung a ribbon in the air and forgot the person underneath."
"I am decoration," Boo replied proudly. "The best decoration. Moving decoration. Interactive decoration."
"That is not a complint."
"It is now."
Lucien and Sable ca together as always, Sable practically bouncing with excitent, his shadows rippling with every step. He pointed at the ribbons, at the signs, at the saplings, at the watering cans, at everything, his voice bright and constant. Lucien walked beside him, listening calmly, occasionally nodding, occasionally pulling Sable gently aside when he got too close to the prepared soil.
And then Vlad Jr. arrived.
He walked with his usual perfect posture. But today there was sothing different about him. He wore a neatly pressed outfit in deep burgundy, the color of autumn leaves, and his hair was combed more carefully than usual.
He stopped at the edge of Class D’s section and looked around, taking in everything. The ribbons fluttering in the breeze. The small signs with their careful paintings. The rows of saplings waiting to be planted. The buckets of water lined up neatly.
He smiled slightly, a quiet, pleased expression.
Then he noticed one of the signs had been placed a little crooked.
Without a word, he walked over, straightened it carefully, stepped back to check, and nodded once, satisfied.
Boo floated over to him.
"You are already working," Boo observed. "Plantation has not started yet."
"Preparation is part of the event," Vlad Jr. said seriously. "If things are not organized from the beginning, it will not go smoothly."
Boo considered this. "That makes sense," he admitted. "I will help you supervise."
Vlad Jr. looked at him for a mont, at the cap and the ribbon floating behind him.
"You are wearing a ribbon on your head," he said.
"It is ceremonial," Boo said proudly.
Vlad Jr. nodded slowly. "It is... very noticeable."
"That is the point."
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