Kiva hadn’t set out that morning with the intention of picking flowers. Actually, she’d had every intention of being productive, although what that entailed had become less important the moment she’d stumbled across the meadow covered in wildflowers. There were little yellow ones, delicate white ones, and a lovely patch of purple blossoms growing near the edge of the clearing. Well, how was she supposed to walk past something like that? It would’ve been rude. Besides, she knew a few wolves who could use some cheering up, and she couldn’t imagine anyone being upset about receiving flowers. So, she’d decided to help herself to a few.

The problem was that Kiva had no experience arranging flowers, and she was finding that she had strong opinions about it. She’d started with a couple of yellow blossoms, added some white ones, and then decided the whole thing needed more purple. Except the purple flowers had longer stems, which made everything look uneven, so she’d gone back for more yellow. At some point, she’d abandoned her first collection and started over. Twice. Now she was standing in the middle of the glade with several stems clutched between her teeth, squinting down at the assortment scattered between her front paws. This was supposed to be a simple gesture, not an entire afternoon’s worth of work!

“Mmph. No, tha’sh not right,” she mumbled around the stems before setting them down. “You’re too tall. And you’re just, uh,” She nudged a sad-looking flower with her nose, considering it for a moment. “Well, you’re doing your best, aren’t ya?” It wasn’t the poor thing’s fault that it looked like it’d already been stepped on. She couldn’t leave it out now, either. That seemed mean. With a sigh, Kiva tucked it into the growing pile and stepped back to admire her work. Not too terrible! A little lopsided, sure, but there was something charming about that. She could work with charming.

She’d been so occupied with her project that she hadn’t paid much attention to her surroundings. The meadow was quiet, the weather was pleasantly cool, and she hadn’t encountered anyone who might object to her flower harvest. As far as she was concerned, things were going just fine. She lowered her head to pluck another purple blossom, giving the stem a tug when it refused to come loose. Unfortunately, she’d underestimated how stubborn the thing was. The stem snapped, sending her stumbling backward with a startled yelp. She landed on her ass, the flower still dangling from her mouth.

For a moment, she sat there, blinking at the meadow around her. Then she snorted, amused with herself. “Well, that was graceful.” She spat the flower onto her growing collection and gave herself a quick shake. “If anybody saw that, no you didn’t.” It was only then that she caught another wolf’s scent on the breeze. Kiva’s ears perked, and she turned toward it, unaware of how ridiculous she looked sitting beside a small pile of wildflowers. “Oh! Hello?” she called, her tail beginning to wag. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about arranging flowers, would ya? Because I think I might be in over my head here.”