#4 - Moss and Mayhem

When he finally spotted the Silkmoss, Kody had two thoughts at once.

One, he'd have to climb the tree nearby to reach the Silkmoss. That wasn't an issue! Even if he didn't have a lot of experience doing that, he figured he could manage it!

Second, throwing a Fanged Frisbee from up the tree would be a lot of fun!

So he grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder and jumped at the tree. He hugged the trunk and clung tight. Kody didn't move... He let out a grunt and then slowly slid to the ground. Oh no.

"Why didn't that just work." He muttered to himself, rubbing his butt as he stood again. Okay so maybe climbing trees was trickier than it looked at first. He walked around the trunk, looking up and down.

There had to be a trick to this.

Kody noticed a knot in the trunk and let out a gasp. He backed up a few steps and then ran at the tree and then, with a jump, used the knot to push himself up. He hugged the tree again but it was a bit more successful this time.

He shimmied up, using another tiny stub of a once-upon-a-time branch and hoisted himself up.

"Made it!" Kody yelled, sitting on a thick branch and taking a moment to look around. The view from up here was kinda cool! Kody looked over the Private Courtyard and wondered if someone would be able to see him up here if they came in now.

With a grin, he moved along the branch to get closer to the wall where the Silkmoss was growing. He reached out, his fingers brushing empty air and he inched closer without thinking.

This was how Kody discovered it was possible to run out of branch.

With a yelp, his hand slipped and hurried to grab onto the branch so he wouldn't fall out of the tree. After surviving that horrid room earlier, he wasn't about to lose to a tree! Kody grunted as he tried to right himself again and knew he'd have a bruise on his cheek from smacking it against the branch.

Ugh -- nothing he could do about that but just hope his siblings didn't see it. What if they stopped him playing Quidditch!

Kody's face paled and he was more serious this time as he inched closer to the wall. Kody double-checked he wasn't in danger of falling or hurting himself and plucked the Silkmoss from the wall with care.

He knew he had to be gentle and slow, even if there was the temptation to hurry. Reena wouldn't approve of him ruining a perfectly good ingredient by being impatient!

The ingredient was placed into the Potions Kit in his bag and Kody shimmied back to a wider part of the branch and ended up with his back against the trunk.

"This isn't so bad~" He grinned, feeling quite comfortable. Kody unzipped his school bag and took out a second Fanged Frisbee. He'd only have one left after this but maybe he could buy some more.

Not the best use of his allowance but oh well.

Kody was ready to fling the Frisbee when some more students entered into the Private Courtyard. They were older and from his house -- he hurried to put the Fanged Frisbee back into his bag. He didn't want to get into trouble with them for throwing it.

He shrugged, zipped up his bag again and started the climb down.

It went a lot easier and smoother than the climb up -- huh. Kody pat the tree trunk, "I need more experience climbing your lot."

With a final look around the Private Courtyard, Kody hurried off. He didn't know where he'd end up next but he needed to leave before a Prefect or Professor noticed he had been up to no good here.

[OOC: Exit]