#3 No spiders here (hopefully)

Ryan nodded at Grace's advice and appreciated her demonstration. He seized a tight hold of the part of the bush he needed, and tugged with all his might. It still took a bit of adjusting, until the brittlebush was his - even if it cost him an embarrassing stumble backwards.

Tucking the brittlebush in his bag with the mushroom and other ingredients, he headed to where Gerald was. Ryan placed his bag a safe distance away, then sat to remove his shoes and socks. He badly folded his robes, and rolled up his pant hems. He rolled his sleeves up too, just in case. He wasn't thrilled to have to go wading in mud, but he was still an eleven-year-old boy. The mud was squishy and ticklish between his toes.

'Nice find, Gerald,' Ryan said. He reached for one of the toadstools, wincing as the step forward sank him deeper in mud. It wasn't too bad, and he glanced over to smile at Grace - hoping she saw him being all brave and determined too. He worried the spider thing had given her a bad impression of him, though it was kind of accurate too. He hated that, and wanted to do better. Ryan needed to be able to keep up with his classmates.

Getting out of the mud was trickier than getting in. He held the toadstool over his head with one hand to keep it safe, using the other to assist his balance. His feet and ankles felt heavy in the mud, but he persisted until finally reaching the edge again. With a sigh of relief, he sat on the grass beside his bag.

'I...I think I did it.' Ryan stared at the ingredients in his bag, counting them carefully. 'What about you guys? Do you five too? Oh, Gerald - the brittlebush. Then that's five, right?' Excitement to finishing the task bubbled up inside him.