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Juniper keeps a tight hold on Thena’s hand as they scale the roughest part of the upward path. When they’re back on level ground, she tries to let go, but Thena grips tighter and shakes her head rapidly.
“I don’t wanna get left behind,” she says.
“I’ll never leave you behind,” Juniper promises, but she doesn’t try to let go again.
From there, it’s an easier walk to the part of the creek Juniper loves best. She spends most of it telling Thena about the plants around them. She knows most of their names, their growing seasons, the way they change throughout the year, the kind of weather they like best, their medicinal uses. These are her constellations, and she is so excited to have the opportunity to share them at last.
“The flowers on that vine there, the little yellow and white ones? They’re–”
“What’s that sound?” Thena asks, stopping in her tracks and looking alarmed.
Juniper tilts her head, listening, but all she can hear is the faint sound of water that tells her they’re nearing the creek. “What does it sound like?” she asks, because even if she can’t hear it, she knows everything that might make a sound in these woods.
“Like a…you know when the roof was leaking that time in school, and they had to put a bucket under the drip and all we heard all day was ‘plink plink plink’?”
Juniper giggles. “I remember. It’s OK. C’mon! We’re almost there.”
Thena is a little reluctant, but she starts walking again after a gentle tug on her hand. “What were you saying before?” she asks. “About those flowers, I mean?”
“Oh! Well, they’re actually kind of unusual around here. Someone probably planted some close by a long time ago. But look!” she exclaims, dropping Thena’s hand to pinch off one of the yellow blooms. Carefully, she separates the bloom from its core, revealing the little drop of nectar. “Wanna try it? It’s really sweet.”
“Mm, no, that’s OK,” Thena says, shaking her head and looking queasy.
Juniper tries not to feel too disappointed. Part of her had known Thena wouldn’t be comfortable trying the honeysuckle, and now she just feels bad for taking the flower. The bugs and the birds needed it more than she did, but she sucks up the droplet anyway, not wanting it to go completely to waste. She settles the shell of the flower back onto the two little leaves at the base of the part she’d taken from the plant, but the connection is already broken, of course.
Juniper turns away so Thena won’t see her trying not to cry when she tucks the ruined flower under a flexible part of the vine. At least it won’t be alone when it withers.
“That’s OK,” Juniper says, smiling and trying to pull herself back together. “Ready?”
“Sorry,” Thena whispers, her hands coming up to cover her ears. “Junie, I’m sorry!”
Alarmed, she reaches up to put her hands on Thena’s arms. She doesn’t try to pull them away, because she knows sometimes Thena just needs things to be a little quieter. “Thena, it’s really OK! You don’t have to like everything I like for us to be friends, you know.”
It takes Thena a minute to think about it, the way it usually does when she gets overwhelmed like this. Juniper wishes she knew how to help her better, but Grandmother says sometimes it’s helpful enough just to be there for someone. “I don’t?” she asks finally, voice small and quiet.
“Mm-mm!” Juniper says, shaking her head. “You already know we don’t like all the same things, silly. I’m not mad. I just… it was just something I wanted to share. Like your freeze-dried ice cream. Yuck!” she says, sticking out her tongue for emphasis.
Thena looks at her carefully for a few seconds, and then she starts to laugh. “It’s not that gross.”
“Well, I thought it was.” She laughs with her, giving an exaggerated shudder as she remembers the weird texture of the little cube of candy.
“But at least you tried it,” Thena says sadly, slowly letting her arms down. She squeezes both of Juniper’s hands and then lets go. “At least you’re brave.”
Well, that’s just not right. “Thena, you’re standing in the middle of the woods in a place you’ve never been!” Juniper points out. “And your first night away from home is gonna be in a tent outside for the whole night! Sounds pretty brave to me.”
“Really?”
“Really. Now, come on! Just a little bit further. I think you’ll actually like this part.”
“If you say so,” Thena says doubtfully, but she takes Juniper’s hand again and holds on tight while they finally finish their walk to the little waterfall.
“Oh!” Thena breathes when they reach it.
Juniper loves this place more than anywhere else in the area she’s allowed to wander on her own. The fall is gentle and only about three feet high, and the water is clear and cold where it rushes over the rocks and then straight down. Standing at the edge of it feels like standing at the edge of the world, sometimes. "Do you like it?" she asks, because even though she can't imagine anyone not liking it, Thena is sometimes just different about things like that.
“Yeah! It’s pretty,” Thena says, and Juniper thinks she might burn right up at how pleased that makes her feel. “Oh! What’s over there on that rock? It looks like somebody dropped something.”
Juniper’s heart is beating so fast that it must look like the wings of the hummingbird she’d seen last week, working so hard just to keep itself in place. She really, really hopes Thena likes this, too. “Hmm, let’s see!” she says, trying not to give anything away. Her voice sounds high and loud even in her own ears, so she knows she’s probably not fooling anyone. “It’s all wrapped up. Should we look?”
Thena looks at her funny for a few seconds, and it looks like she’s about to smile, but she just nods instead, keeping her eyes on the brown paper package nestled on the rocks.
Juniper’s hands are shaking. She never used to be nervous about giving gifts like this, but there’s just something different about the way she wants to make sure Thena’s happy. She can’t put her finger on why that is any more than she can put her finger in the right place to pull the bow loose. “M-maybe you should try it?”
“OK,” Thena says, and she’s definitely trying not to laugh. She takes the package from Juniper and opens it carefully, looking back and forth between the folded paper and Juniper’s face. “Oh! Wow, these are pretty,” she says, easing a little set of windchimes out of the stiff paper capsule.
“I bet someone’s really going to be sorry they left them here,” Juniper says, looking down at the dirt.
“Junie.” Thena shakes her head, but she doesn’t say anything about how obvious Juniper’s lie is or how shoddy her crafting skills are or anything like that. “It’s like… buried treasure. Like in the aquarium show.”
“Y-yeah! Cool, right?”
“Mm-hmm. You know, there’s two of these,” Thena points out, lifting one of the pair by its hook and holding it out to Juniper. “You could keep one, and I could keep the other one.”
The one she’s holding out is topped with a silver crescent moon polished to a mirror shine, and the thin rods hanging from the cap make quiet, melodic tinkling. Juniper’s heart drops. She’d made that one especially for Thena. It had taken weeks to save up for the perfect set of stars to hang around the outside.
“Don’t you like this one better?” she asks, standing up straight so maybe she won’t sound as small as she feels.
Thena shrugs. “It’s pretty, but…” Her cheeks are a little red. Juniper hopes she didn’t exert herself too much. Grandmother kept telling her that Thena might not be able to climb around as much, but…
“But?” she asks softly.
“But the sunflower reminds me of you,” Thena says really fast, looking down at it. “So I kinda wanna keep that one. Is that OK?”
“Oh! Y-yeah. That’s OK,” Juniper says, relaxing a little bit and taking the silver one so Thena can look at the other one more closely. The topper is a glass sunflower painted brown and yellow, and Juniper knows from testing it out that it casts its colors on the wall when the sun shines through it.
“Yeah, this is the one I want,” Thena says firmly, sounding just as confident as when she’s picking out ice cream. It’s always strawberry, every single time.
“OK! Then that one’s yours.” They work together to pick up the paper and twine so there’s no trace at all left. “Ready to head back?”
Thena hums, looking around at the little clearing and the waterfall. “Maybe in a little while? It’s… it’s not as scary out here as I thought.”
Juniper can’t help but give her a smile so big it almost hurts. “We can stay as long as you want.”
— — — —
May 2029
“Come on!” Athena calls back, laughing. “Who’d have ever thought I’d turn out to be the faster one?”
“Hey, some of us studied at Themis instead of climbing a thousand stairs a day in Europe!” Junie snipes, but she’s laughing too under her burden of camping chairs and sleeping bags. “I can’t believe you convinced me to do this.”
Athena shifts the weight of the tent in its carrying case, adjusting the strap over her shoulder. “You used to do it all the time!”
“I’m strictly an academic now,” Junie huffs behind her, gradually catching up. “I can’t even remember the last time I hiked, let alone did any actual camping. Are you sure we have everything we need?”
“I’m sure!” Athena rolls her eyes and keeps walking, scanning the area in front of her. “I think it was about…here?” she guesses, squinting at a patch of grass that she swears looks familiar, never mind that it’s been almost ten years. “Good enough!” she declares loudly, plopping the cooler and the tent case on the ground. She turns around to take the smaller items from Junie one by one.
“Do you really think so?” Junie asks doubtfully, wiping her brow when her hands are finally free. “I could have sworn it was way closer to Grandmother’s house.”
“Well, it probably felt a lot closer when we weren’t the ones carrying all this stuff,” Athena points out, squatting down to pull out the components of their tent. “Huh.”
“‘Huh’ what?” Junie asks skeptically, crossing her arms and using one foot to scratch at her other calf where there’s grass resting against it.
“Uh, the only time I’ve ever put a tent together was that one time, and…”
“And you weren’t paying attention because Grandmother and Casey kept arguing about how to do it,” Junie recalls.
“And the stakes made a really awful sound when Casey dropped them and they all clanked against each other,” Athena adds. “But I think I can figure it out!” If she can’t, there’s probably a video tutorial. “Uh, how good’s the mobile data service up here?”
Junie snorts and finishes setting up the chairs. “How about I come help you before we end up with nowhere to sleep?”
Widget has a few choice things to repeat during the ensuing struggle to build shelter, and Athena keeps stopping to giggle because it’s almost impossible to tell whose grumpy thoughts he’s reporting. Junie tries hard to remain stern, but she loses it when Athena somehow manages to trip over the stake she has just settled in the ground.
“You had both hands on it two seconds ago!” she gasps, breathless. “How did you– It’s not like you didn’t know where it was!”
“Just because I know where it was doesn’t mean my feet know! You wouldn’t understand. Tall person problems.” Athena grins up from where she landed in the grass, using her new perspective to make sure the stakes on her side are really driven in well. “Good on this side!”
“Looks good over here, too,” Junie confirms.
“Man, this is…way smaller than I remember.” Athena gets to her feet and stands in front of the tent, cradling her chin in one hand thoughtfully.
“It is designed for children,” Junie reminds her. “And I did suggest buying a new one. Now that we both have, you know, actual careers.”
Athena just shrugs, advancing toward Junie. “Guess we’ll just have to get real cozy in there,” she teases.
“No arguments from me!” Junie squeaks, cheeks turning delicately pink.
“Buuuut we have somewhere to go first!” Athena announces, grabbing Junie’s hand.
“Somewhere to go? Thena, we just got here!” Despite her verbal resistance, Junie follows along, linking her fingers with Athena’s and quickly catching up to her pace.
Athena leads her into the woods. The path has shifted a lot with time, and the only reason Athena knows her way through is because she’s already been here once today before meeting up with Junie.
This time, she’s the one who has to help Junie up the steep ledge. It’s gotten even steeper over the years, rainfall washing out the dirt and leaving staggered steps of gnarled roots. “Careful. It’s a little tricky.”
“If I’d known we were doing all this, I would have brought more practical shoes,” Junie says, eyes widening as she stumbles and falls forward near the top.
Athena catches her easily, walking her forward another step to help her get steady on solid ground. “You know, you had both hands on that root a second ago. It’s not like you didn’t know where it was,” she teases, kissing Junie’s cheek when her expression hardens.
“We’re almost there now. Can you hear it?” Athena asks.
Junie frowns, shaking her head and looking confused. “What am I supposed to be hearing?”
“You don’t remember?” Athena asks, walking backwards with one of Junie’s hands in hers again.
“Thena, please be careful! I can’t carry you out of here if you hurt yourself.”
That isn’t much of an answer, but it is very Juniper, so Athena just shakes her head and turns back around. She trails her free hand against the trunk of a big tree as they pass it. “I’m pretty sure this is where the honeysuckle was growing, back then. Do you remember? It’s so silly, but… I thought about that all the time, when we were writing letters. How I wouldn’t even try it. I… it took me a while, but I ended up really regretting that.”
“I remember,” Junie says softly. Her steps slow and then halt entirely. “Thena… the creek might not even be there anymore, you know.”
“I think we’ll find it.” She stops and turns around again, grabbing both of Junie’s hands. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do,” Junie says, eyes turning bright and fierce.
“Then… let’s go see what we can find, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
When they arrive at the little outcropping a minute or two later, Junie’s grip on her hand tightens enough to hurt.
It doesn’t look anything like it did. The creek is just a trickle over the rocks, the little hideaway beneath it all caved in. It doesn’t feel like standing on the edge of the world the way it did when she was tiny, but there’s still something wondrous about it. Maybe it’s just being here with Junie again.
“It’s all dried up,” Junie whispers, sounding tearful.
Alarmed, Athena shakes her head rapidly. “It’s not!"
“It’s… not?”
“Nope. Look,” Athena turns and points upriver, where the creek forks sharply high above them. “Not dried up. Just different. Should we see where it goes?” It’s not too difficult to trace; once the water starts moving down the mountain again, it ends up only a short distance away, just barely hidden by the trees.
“I don’t really know my way around anymore. It might not be safe,” Junie hedges, but she nods up at Athena soon enough. “Let’s go see.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Athena helps her across the rocky, uneven ground of the old creekbed, keeping an arm around her waist even once they’re back on packed soil.
The wildlife seem to walk this route pretty frequently, judging by the thin trail that’s hammered flat and empty between the trees and brush. Soon enough, it lets out into another clearing, and while there’s no waterfall to speak of, there is a healthily babbling creek.
“This must have always been here,” Junie says, eyes wide. “It’s way too well-worn to be recent. Some of those rocks are really broken down, and– sorry, that’s not really interesting, is it?”
“You’re always interesting,” Athena argues. “But I think you’re right! They were both always here, and at some point they just… found each other. Kinda nice, right?”
“Yeah,” Junie says, sounding distracted. “Is there something on that log?”
“After you,” Athena says, gesturing her forward and bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. She can hardly wait for Junie to open her present.
She tosses her braids over her shoulders to get them out of the way and bites her lip when she reaches for the item on the log, a brown paper package bound with rough twine. “Thena,” she says, and though her cadence is scolding, her eyes are twinkling and her voice is soft and warm with nothing but positive emotions.
“You get to open this one.” Athena winks. “Does it still count as buried treasure if it’s in a tree?” she wonders aloud, walking a little closer to lean against the fallen trunk.
“Hmm.” Junie doesn’t really answer, too busy trying to untie the mess of a bow Athena had tried valiantly to tie. She ends up just sliding off the twine one corner at a time until the crumpled paper eases open. “Oh!” she exclaims, making a quick movement to keep the paper from sliding off the log onto the forest floor.
Athena winces. She hadn’t thought that part through. She hopes nothing fell out– it really would become buried treasure if so. There’d be no way to find it in the blanket of fallen leaves and needles.
“Oh,” Junie says again, softer this time when she opens the flat box the paper had been wrapped around. “Thena, these are so pretty.”
Athena leans over to look into the box with her as if she doesn’t already know what’s inside. She’d had the cufflinks custom-made weeks ago, but she hadn’t figured out the best way to give them to Junie until much more recently. “You like them? Even though they don’t match?”
“They match just fine,” Junie says defensively, touching each one in turn. There’s a sunflower on the left, brown and bright yellow enamel, and a silver crescent moon on the right. “Anybody who says otherwise won’t be getting a favorable verdict,” she sniffs. “Besides, they’ll be under my robes.”
Athena laughs. “What a fair and upright judge you’ll be!”
“Hey, there’s something else in here… oh.” Junie’s face is really red now, and she hands the smaller box over to Athena in a hurry. “Is, um. I’m guessing this is your half of the treasure?”
“Well, let’s see,” Athena says, drawing out the moment and opening the little box. There’s another sunflower in there, this one a little bigger and dangling from an earring hook. “What do you think?” she asks, holding it up to her left ear.
“Thena… are you sure?” Junie’s eyes are so big.
Athena shrugs, trying to seem nonchalant. In truth, she had struggled with it– the earring from her mom is the only noticeable one she’s ever worn since receiving it. In the end, though, it had felt like exactly the right thing to symbolize her relationship with Junie. “I figured… maybe it was time for a little change. We’ve done a lot of moving forward lately, y’know? And there’s never been anybody else I wanted to do my growing up with.”
“Thena,” Junie says again, mouth wobbling and cheeks persistently red.
“Is it OK? I don’t want to– I mean, if you don’t want everything to be all public yet. But I’d be…really proud to wear it.” She’s been thinking about it nonstop since deciding to have it made, actually. The idea of the physical weight balancing is appealing, though she knows it’ll be weird at first, but she’s also come to love the thought of carrying outward symbols for each of the most important women in her life.
“If anybody has anything negative to say about it,” Junie says, drawing herself up to her full petite height, “they can see me in court.”
Grinning, Athena replaces the plain stud in her left ear with the sunflower, wobbling her head a little to get a feel for it. “What do you think?”
Junie must really like it, because she pulls Athena down toward her and kisses her soundly. Her eyes are still shining when she lets go. “Let’s head back,” she suggests. “Wouldn’t want to be stuck out here in the dark.”
“Not after all that effort we put into building the tent!” Athena agrees. “Let’s go.”
Junie’s steadier on the walk back, like she’s found her feet again, but Athena keeps hold of her hand anyway. They don’t stop at all until they find the big tree near the ledge.
“Oh! Hold on,” she says, working the old plain stud earring out of her pocket. She tucks it between the tree’s trunk and the hardened remnants of a long-dead vine. “There.” Athena gives the trunk a lingering pat before stepping away.
“You know, you’re not really supposed to leave things like that in nature. It’s technically littering,” Junie points out, arms crossed.
“Good thing I’m on good terms with the new assistant district judge.”
“Not if you get us lost in the woods at night! We definitely didn’t come from that way.”
“Oops…” Athena winces, looking around. “Uh… any chance you know how to get us out of here?”
— —
They’re out before dark, but all their time spent on building the tent turns out to be a waste after all. Instead, they fall asleep hours later under the open sky, grass below them and stars above them, and neither of them is at all afraid.