Flowers... Fixed?

After retrieving lunch, Annie and Lilin made their way to the plants. Annie immediately noticed that the pot wasn't in sunlight, so she moved it to the windowsill. She gently pushed her thumb into the dirt, feeling that it was fairly wet underneath the surface. But, looking at the dirt itself, she saw that there wasn't anything in it besides a few small pebbles. It wasn't great soil. She couldn't tell at a glance if it had been fertilized or not, and... Well, in this case, maybe it'd be best to ask.

"Lilin, dear," Annie said without looking up, "Have you fertilized this soil?"

"Fertilized? What, like what they do with dragon dung in the gardens?" Lilin replied.

Annie snorted. "Well, sort of. Since this is in your room, using dung fertilizers probably wouldn't smell too great, would it? No, I think bone fertilizer would be best."

"Bones?"
Lilin sounded strangely eager about this.
"I got plenty of those, here."

Lilin opened a closet door, and a few literal skeletons fell out.
"Will these do?"

Annie nearly screamed, but she bit back her surprise. She couldn't quite put together what those skeletons were, but at least two very human-like skulls were there.
"U-Uhm, well, probably not!... I-It's, uhm... Easiest to use something, like, uhm... Chicken bones!"

Lilin bent over and pulled out what looked like a small ribcage.
"This one's a chicken's ribcage, think this will work?"

Annie felt shaken, but technically Lilin was correct. But what would be the best way to break it down? Probably a mortar and pestle, but maybe there was a better way to do it here.

"That should work," Annie replied slowly, "but I would need to grind it down into a powder."

Lilin shrugs.
"Easy."
With a wave of her hand, the bones were suddenly reduced into a very fine dust that immediately fell to the ground. Lilin staggered, evidently not having thought that far ahead, and even the slight motion of her movement picks up some of the dust. 

"Shit, I should have thought of that," Lilin said, staying as still as she could. "Any fancy fix for this, Ten?"

"Do you have a dustpan?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, should be hanging outside the door," Lilin replied, "I hate dust."

Annie stepped outside, noting how amicable Lilin was being right now. Maybe it was the satisfaction of seeing Annie's reaction to the skeletons in her closet, or out of gratitude that she was being shown how to grow the plants for free? Either way, Annie was grateful for it. She found the dustpan immediately, taking it in and sweeping up the bonemeal dust.

"Alright," she said, "Now we simply need to sprinkle this over the dirt."

Annie carefully sprinkled the bonemeal over the dirt. It was a lot of bonemeal, but given these plants hadn't so much as shown a sprout in all this time, it wasn't unthinkable that the dirt had no nutrients. In fact, the seeds could very well be dead, and that would certainly hurt her planned lesson of appreciating things without needing them to do something functional.

"So, uh..."
Lilin's voice sounded strangely hesitant and nervous this time as she spoke.
"Have they sprouted? Are they dead? What's going on with them? Or were they just duds?"

Annie looks at Lilin, smiling at the question.
"Well, dear, to be honest... I don't know."

Lilin's expression flared with anger.
"You don't know?! What in the hell do you mean you don't know?! I thought you were the expert here, don't tell me you can't just dig up a seed and look at it and know!"

Annie shook her head. "It's not that, dear. Once a seed has been planted, you can't just dig it up to see how it's doing. It takes time and patience to grow a plant."

"Well, why CAN'T you just dig it up?"

"Because the air can hurt a plant that's just barely sprouting," she replied. "There are a lot of things like that, you know. I had a daughter, her name was Madeline, a lovely young lady nowadays... When she was a kid, I would tell her she needed to clean her room. Most of the time, she wouldn't listen, but that was fine. It was her room to live in, no matter how messy it was. But, when she was older, do you know what she told me?"

Lilin scowled. "What the hell does this have to do with plants?"

"Nothing much, really," Annie replied, "but I think it's a story you'd like to hear."

Lilin shook her head. She wanted to shut Ten up, but... Honestly, this was a story she was oddly interested in hearing. Plus, it would irritate her a lot more not to hear the ending than to let Ten talk just a little longer. Crossing her arms and turning her head, she gave an indignant response.
"Ugh, fine, whatever. What did she say?"

"She said that there were a lot of times where she decided she wanted to clean her room, and me telling her to clean it made her not want to do it anymore."

Lilin looked up. She'd never heard somebody else express that feeling before. Growing up as a servant, she had felt that way countless times. Being told what to do wasn't something she liked, but it was something she had grown used to. Wanting to do something and being told to do it always stirred a bit of pride up in her, but she'd since learned to ignore it after being punished. Hearing that somebody else felt that way like a blow to the chest, but... Not one that hurt. Just an impact, a realization.

"So... What does that have to do with plants?" Lilin asked again.

"Like I said, dear, nothing. But, just like that motivation she had was bruised when I asked Madeline to clean, digging up these seedlings would damage them and possibly kill them. So, what we need is a little bit of patience."

"Well, what if this is all total nonsense and these stupid seeds don't grow? What then?"

Annie nodded thoughtfully. "Well, we can't always be sure what will come of something, but that's the nature of life. We can only do our best, and hope that when it's all said and done, we've made beautiful flowers and not wilting leaves."

Lilin shook her head. "If you're trying to give me some sappy life lesson, it isn't working, Ten!"

Annie chuckled. "Well, dear, don't worry about it then. I've said all I wanted to say, just... Let me know if these flowers grow, alright?"

Lilin sighed. "Fine, alright. Now, get out of here, I've heard enough of your yapping for one day."

Annie bowed and started to walk out, taking the dustpan and her food with her. Just as she was stepping out, Lilin's voice made her stop.

"One more thing."

Annie turned back, and saw something she really didn't expect. Lilin was looking at her dead-on, no scowl or malice or hatred in her expression.
"Thanks. For teaching me about the plants, I mean. I'll make sure to feed them bones and everything, if that helps."

Annie grinned from ear to ear. She hadn't expected this kind of reaction already.
"Why, you're very welcome, Lilin."

Lilin gasped, her face flushing. Hearing Annie call her by name instead of saying "dear" again was weird. Very weird.
"Hey, don't let that get to your head, stupid hag!" she shouted.

Annie giggled, then turned and left. Honestly, this was a far better turnout than she had expected. Not only had Lilin listened without much pushback, but she'd also called her something other than Ten for the first time in a long time. Perhaps this wouldn't be so hard after all....