4.8: Tiffany-Anne

Lottie wakes to find herself nose to nose with another of the peas. This time, it is Tiffany-Anne. 

She can see that Tiffany-Anne has spotted Pebble sleeping under her bunk and feels the message forming in her mind: 

“You cannot keep an awakened stone! Put it forth!” 

But Lottie decides to ignore this, though she does follow the next instruction “Follow me!” She follows the pea out of the Potting Shed, treading quietly so that no one notices, and is led just a short distance into the wood and is then instructed, again by mental messaging, to start climbing. There is no sign, from the ground, that there is anything above in the tree. 

Axolotls are not natural tree-climbers - in fact, younger readers wishing to pass biology exams might be better off ignoring Lottie’s apparent dry-land obsessed complete aversion to taking baths - but Tiffany-Anne is somehow always close at hand, above or below, to advise. Today it seems a good thing to have the large grippy feet that have been the focus of life-long teasing before she came to the Potting Shed and Lottie climbs high into the canopy of the wood, though at this time of year, the trees are without leaves. Thus it seems all the more surprising finally to reach the Pod, hanging as though fused with the tree.