Sharna pushed through the glass door and closed it gently behind her. She had always found that being in nature tended to calm her, but she didn't find any immediate relief today in the greenery. Her racing thoughts had stilled for now, but she knew they would be back when the numbness wore off. She guessed it would be a while before Quinn came back with more information.

Acquainting herself with the garden’s layout, she wandered aimlessly through the well-maintained space. The garden was much more extensive than she had initially thought. The front garden was fenced off from the road and half of it was taken up with a large gravel circle for traffic. The other half was very neat flower beds that were a riot of colour at this time of year, interspersed with lush lawn and beautiful mature trees. There were a few well spaced chairs and low tables that invited leisurely outdoor recreation.

The back garden was very different. It was equally well-maintained, Sharna idly wondered if they employed a gardener or if was one of the residents of the house, but it was much wilder. A meandering path tracked through the trees but the garden was full of layered levels of native plants that appeared charmingly random. After multiple failed gardening attempts herself, Sharna was sure that this ‘randomness’ would have taken a considerable amount of planning. There were lots of insects and birds busily going about their day, and Sharna was sure that the bushes hid small animals as well.

As she followed the path away from the house, Sharna could hear running water getting louder. Eventually she came to an adorable clearing. A creek ran across the far side, it was definitely too small to be the river, but wide enough that she would be unable to jump over it.

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A picnic table was set in under a large eucalyptus tree. The tree had a thick rope attached to it that hung over the water, with a large knot tied on the bottom end. A brick firepit stood a little distance away with the remains of a bonfire in it. The firepit was surrounded with large logs that looked like they were used for seats. She wandered over to inspect the firepit, the remains of the last bonfire didn’t look like they had been rained on, so she thought it must have been used recently.

Sharna sat on one of the logs and stared at the blackened fireplace. She had never been camping, her grandmother had not been interested in the least, and she had never had any friends that were not either her magic tutors, part of their staff, or her grandmother’s friends. She leaned back on her hands and looked around the space, there was definitely a flat grassy area that was designated for sleeping, away from the tree. Maybe in the summer she could camp out here. She'd love to go to sleep under the stars. Maybe one of the others would like to come with her.

Sharna stood and walked over to the flat, cleared area and lay down in the soft grass. She was shaded from the sun by the enormous eucalyptus, but the day was warm. She reached her hand up as she stared at the blue, cloudless sky. It had been a long time since she had not been busy.

Before her grandmother had died, there had not been enough time in the day to learn all the new things, practise the new discoveries, and to share her findings with her grandmother. Not enough time for all the laughter and love. Sharna’s hand dropped to her stomach. She had been so wilfully ignorant in her happiness.

After her grandmother had died, there was a different kind of business.

Now, Sharna found that she had nowhere she had to be, nothing she had to do. No one expected anything of her yet. Her strong drive to learn, improve, and grow had left her and she felt a little unbalanced.

Sharna’s restless energy from the morning had completely disappeared and she felt herself getting drowsy listening to the running water and the droning bees.

She drifted off to sleep in the grass.