“Eh—? Oh.” She opens her fist, letting the soil fall to the ground, wiping her hand briefly on her pants to get the excess off. “Yes, I was just attempting to identify a suitable location somewhere around the lake’s edge that I could set aside for a new plant kindergarten. I’m going to have a lot of free time in my schedule to restructure, now that…”

She trails off, the corners of her mouth quirking into an uncomfortable frown. She doesn’t want to say it out loud. Saying it out loud somehow makes it more real. But that’s stupid, she knows it’s stupid, and she knows that holding her tongue isn’t going to change things one lick. Such thoughts are all just sentiment, born from an inability to accept the truth.

“…Now that Amethyst is gone,” Peridot says finally.