Brand New Day

Vi was sitting on one of the small flowers. She was eating from it gently before she went to settle on a big sun flower. Her little face peered out at Pernas as he sang softly and gardened.

"Good morning." Pernas said to Vi. "Good morning to you, too." he said to one of the calves, who had fallen asleep in a bed of flowers.

The cow woke up with a jerk and muttered, "Morning? Morning."

Vi fluttered closer, "Good morning. You seem very cheerful this morning Pernas."

"Best to be cheerful." Pernas said. "After all, I beat the Captain at his game yesterday, and now I can relax and work on my garden. Some real worthwhile work."

"That's very true and most of the cows love you that were following him," Vi said as she flit down to land on one of the flowers he had planted, "It is a very beautiful day as well."

"He certainly lost almost all of his followers." Pernas said. "I just need to do something to really... I dunno... make it so that the rest of them love me. I don't know if they really love me yet. They don't hate me, now that they've seen that the Captain's worse, but..." he shrugged. "I'll think of something."

"Of course you will, " Vi reasured him before flitting to another few flowers.

"I hope so." Pernas said. He turned to the calf. "And don't eat any of that unless you want..." he stopped. "To move someplace else, because I'm busy here."

The cow nodded and shuffled off. Vi landed on another flower and looked up at him, "Is something bothering you, Pernas?"

"No." Pernas said, shrugging. "I just didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd eat him if he touched my flowers. So I'll just let him do what he likes, if he likes." he shrugged again. "Seems like a nice thing to do."

"Well, they can return your nice gesture and not eat your plants, " Vi said as she fluttered closer, "You're garden is very beautiful, Pernas."

"That's a nice thought." Pernas said, nodding as he continued digging in the soil. "Yes. I like it. I like beautiful things. Beautiful flowers, beautiful music, beautiful paintings, beautiful birds..."

"I'm a really tiny bird," Vi said back to him as she shifted to another flower again, "Though hummingbirds are pretty."

"Yes," Pernas said, nodding. "I think almost all my birds are pretty. Except pigeons. But I don't think I have any pigeons." he thought about it for a bit, his mind hung up on it.

"I haven't seen any pigeons," Vi said, "How long have you been here Pernas?"

"Uhh..." Pernas said, thinking. "A few hundred years, maybe?" he shrugged. "I dunno. I kinda forget."

"Didn't it get lonely with out your dad around?" Vi asked him.

"Eh, not that much." Pernas said, shrugging. "I have my birds and my cattle to keep me company. Sometimes they don't all seem to understand quite all that much, but then... well, neither do I."

"I guess that's true," Vi said and flitted up in to a higher flower, "Do you like having us here?"

"Yes, I do." Pernas said. "Though I must admit, I'm not used to having guests. I'm not always sure what to do, and, well..." he looked at her. "I think I might've been a pretty crappy host."

"You couldn't help any of it. How could you know that the island was going crazy and we weren't exactly invited." Vi reassured him gently.

Pernas smiled and stopped. "Thank you, Vi." he said. He then moved back to the gardening. After a while, he stopped, sitting on a rock. "Whew." he said. "Gardening is hard."

"Couldn't you do it faster as a dragon?" Vi asked, "Though I guess you might be a little more prone to squashing the flowers instead of planting them."

"Yeah." Pernas said. "Sometimes if I have to clear away a lot of stuff I'll do it as a dragon. But it might be too much of a risk. I might sneeze."

Vi laughed softly at that and flew down to land on his head, "Maybe you should call your dad again?"