Nilah's carrots

It wasn’t really a plan. Nilah just noticed the carrot tops left behind after Amma chopped them — short, green, still slightly damp. She touched one. “Will this grow?” she asked. Amma didn’t look up. “Maybe. You can try.” Nilah didn’t ask where or how. She just took two, wrapped them in a bit of newspaper, and tucked them into her pocket.
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She walked to the clearing that afternoon, the one she had found by accident — the one with quiet light and dry leaves that always seemed to settle gently instead of falling. She crouched near the tree with the bent root and used a stick to make two shallow holes. The soil was soft, easy to move. She pressed the carrot tops in, smoothed the earth back over them, and gave them a few drops of water from her bottle. Not too much. Just enough to feel like she’d done her part.
She came back a few days later, not expecting much — but when she bent down near the bent-root tree, her eyes widened. Two small green shoots had pushed up through the soil, standing there like tiny flags. “They grew!” she whispered, almost laughing. She crouched closer, her face nearly touching the ground. “They actually grew.” She looked around, as if someone else should see this, then looked back quickly — not wanting to miss even a second of how they looked.
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On the way home, she couldn’t stop smiling. She kicked a stone down the path and hummed a little, not even noticing. At dinner, she finally said, “I planted something, and it’s growing.” Appa looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “Really?” She nodded quickly. “Two little green things. In the clearing.” Appa smiled and said, “Well done, gardener.” Nilah grinned wider and took another bite, already thinking about what else she might plant next.