Flowers

Glancing at her surroundings, Seraï sighed, "Do we really need to keep looking for some dumb cat?" "Yes, Socks is very important to Ms. Marsha, so we should help find him for her," Garl retorted. She could tell he was starting to get fed up with her incessant whining. Garl loved to help people – that was something Seraï quickly picked up when she joined their group – and people meant everyone. He just had to do everything for everyone, regardless of how his friends felt about it. At least, that's how she viewed it. No sane person would search an entire forest for some old lady's lost cat, let alone volunteer the rest of his group with him. "We can still search a bit longer," Valere politely added to try and ease the growing tension. "We'll head back once it gets dark." It was about four o' clock in the evening, in the middle of summer. Seraï hoped she was kidding. She knows dusk is still hours away, right? It had been hours already, and the dread of even more wasted time flooded her mind. There's no finding a cat in this dense a forest! Who's to say the cat hasn't left it already? He could be anywhere by now! Her frustration continued to build as they scoured the shrubbery in hopes of spotting Socks. She could easily take care of most "fetch-quests" with her portals. As long as she has seen the location, she could just teleport there to retrieve whatever they need. In Garl's quest to help everyone who's ever existed, he's called upon her help to do such plenty of times in the past. Why couldn't this task be like those ones? Today was going to be awful, wasn't it? Seraï heard a small gasp before bumping into Garl. She leaned to the side to see what had caused the group to stop. It was a field of wildflowers. She followed everyone into the mysterious clearing, stooping down to inspect some of the various flowers. There were all different shapes, sizes, and colors. As a matter of fact, some were so big she could easily view them from her normal stance. She quickly found herself enamored by their beauty. Seraï couldn't remember the last time she had seen so many flowers. While she would never admit it, she had always loved to look at them. They were so simple, yet gorgeous. Wanting to keep her fascination private, she swiftly rose to her feet and turned back to the group. They were also admiring the decorated field, though clearly none were thrilled the same way she was, leaving her embarrassed. "Can we split up to be more efficient?" Seraï asked, wanting to end their fruitless search as soon as possible. Once this was over, maybe she could spend some more time alone with the flowers. "That could help," Zale stated in agreement with her idea. "I'm fine with that," Valere added, turning to Garl for the final consensus. "Sounds good to me," he cheerily responded. Zale immediately grabbed Valere's arm and shouted, "Dibs on Valere!" "Wait! I meant individually," Seraï added to her suggestion. "Splitting in pairs is half as efficient as going solo." Garl looked at her with hesitation behind his eyes. "That would be great, but I don't think I can trust you to not run off and do your own thing." "What kind of person do you think I am?" she asked angrily. "I might hate doing this but I'm not going to abandon you guys!" The group's mood noticeably lightened after that comment. Did they really think she would do that? "I think it would be fun to go in pairs anyways," Valere stated, "I know I would get pretty bored on my own." Valere's sweet smile almost made Seraï agree with her, but it would take more than that to make her cave. "You guys can team up however you want, but I want to go solo to speed this up." She turned to head out before something stopped her. "You're not going on your own," Garl said as he grabbed her by the shoulder, flipping her around to have her face him. "If they're pairing up, you're coming with me!" Anger had turned to pure rage in Seraï's mind. He had no right to grab and order her around like that. The only thing keeping her from ripping his hand off was Zale and Valere's watchful gaze. The positivity in his voice as he declared her his partner just ground her gears even more. She wanted to scream at him, but Zale broke the uneasy silence first. "We'll be heading out then. See you!" he shouted before dragging Valere into the woods with him. "See you later!" Garl shouted back. Zale and Valere always avoided any awkward social situations. Just from hanging around them, Seraï learned that they weren't the best at talking to people and usually let Garl serve as their voice box. That combined with his unrelenting need to serve others made it impossible for their group to say no to anyone. Why couldn't they have said no to Ms. Marsha? Why must she be stuck wandering the woods in search of a lost cat? Finding this breathtaking flower field was the only thing keeping her sane. "We should go the opposite way," Garl said to Seraï, this time grabbing her hand before leading her in his desired direction. Seraï quickly snatched her hand back and chose to follow a bit behind him. She knew he meant well, but she did not like him getting this handsy with her. The two strode through the forest in silence, only being broken by the occasional call for Socks. Their search was getting nowhere, with not even a clue to the cat's whereabouts, unless you seriously count the initial "ran into the forest" they were given as one. Seraï was about to voice her grievances about the tedium of all this again, but she bumped into Garl for the second time, knocking her out of her train of thought. She tried to move around him, but he stuck his arm out to keep her from going further. "What are you-" "Shhh," Garl quietly interjected. Seraï remained quiet, and the air was filled with the natural sounds of a forest. She could hear birds chirping, a twig snapping, a faint meow, bushes rustli– wait, a faint meow? Garl had knelt on one knee and was looking around to try and pinpoint the source. "Pspspspsps. Socks. Come here, Socks. Pspspspsps." Seraï simply stared at him, unsure of what noises and finger motion he was making. Clearly, Garl was trying to lure the cat out, but would he listen to whatever that was? To her surprise, Socks carefully emerged from the brush. He slowly approached Garl, and when he got close enough, he sniffed his hand. Taking this as a victory, Garl quickly snatched him up in his arms. "Haha! See? I knew it wouldn't take too long," he cheered, clearly taking a jab at Seraï's earlier complaints. She simply shrugged it off. "You had no way of knowing that. I'm just glad this is over." Slicing the air with her daggers, Seraï created a portal to Ms. Marsha's house. Garl moved to step through, but something must have upset Socks. The cat pried itself from his grip, clawing his face and arms in the process, before running towards the flower field. Garl yelped in pain, but then took off after Socks before Seraï could even respond to the situation. She closed her portal and gave chase shortly after. Arriving at the flower field, she saw Garl frantically looking around for the cat again. Great. They lost it. "Did you see where he went?" Garl asked facing her, his scratch marks becoming redder by the second. "No. You beat me here," Seraï answered. Garl tried to resume his search, but Seraï grabbed his arm to inspect his scratches. The touch startled him and brought his own minor bleeding to his attention. "We should patch this up first," she said. "It'll be fine. I don't want to risk Socks getting away," he responded, trying to free himself from her grasp. "He already did," she dully stated as she tightened her grip. "We should take care of this before we do anything else." Garl paused then started to take off his backpack. Seraï took it from him and scoured its contents for bandages and rubbing alcohol. It took her a second to find them, but it wasn't that the bag was messy – she just didn't know how it was organized. Once she pulled them out, she saw that Garl had sat on the ground to fiddle with the flowers by his feet. She took his left arm from him and began to gently apply the alcohol. The injury wasn't too bad, but with the alcohol it would probably sting for a while. It already did, if Garl's sharp inhale was anything to go by. She started to carefully wrap the bandages around his arm, maintaining a steady rhythm until he suddenly yanked his arm back. "Achoo!" Garl had broken into a small sneezing fit. Once he had finished and wiped his nose, he turned to Seraï. "Sorry about that," he said apologetically. Looking at his face, it was clearly irritated. The claw marks were pronounced, but it wasn't just that. His nose looked painfully red, and his eyes were puffy and watery. "Are you okay?" Seraï asked, continuing to stare at his face. "Yeah, just allergies," he answered with a smile. "To what?" "Cats." Seraï was dumbfounded. He not only agreed to search an entire forest for a cat, but did so being allergic to them as well? Was he a masochist or something? "You're kidding," was all she could add, sincerely hoping he wasn't serious. "No, I'm not," Garl chuckled at her reaction. "I'm allergic to cat fur." Her thoughts now spiraled into a fiery tornado. Is that why he volunteered his friends for this? Well, no. If it was, Garl would have had her lure the cat for him. Though if he knew he was allergic, why didn't he do that? Even if his allergy isn't that serious, it still can't be fun to deal with. Why did he agree to do any of this if he's allergic to cats? Taking a deep breath and holding her tongue, Seraï chose to finish wrapping his arm. She wanted to punch something. This was a level of stupidity she had never seen before. She decided to take the occasional glance at the surrounding flowers to help her calm down. She mentally thanked them for continuing to help with her slipping sanity. Garl noticed this along with her attitude and tried to brighten the mood. "The flowers are really pretty, aren't they?" Seraï fastened the end of the bandage before meeting his gaze to respond. "They're pretty nice," was all she said, self-conscious about her adoration for them. "Do you have any favorites?" Unsure why he was interested in her thoughts on flowers, she answered with a hesitant "Yeah." "What are they?" He wasn't going to let this go, was he? Seraï sighed as she moved to his right to work on that arm. "Lilies of the valley and purple moonflowers." "I've never heard of moonflowers before, but I also like lilies of the valley." After letting out a small wince of pain from the rubbing alcohol, he asked a follow-up question. "Why specifically the purple ones?" "Purple's my favorite color." Garl fell quiet after that, and based off his expression, was probably lost in his own thoughts. She smiled at how hard he tried to keep up the flower conversation. He obviously didn't know much about them, but the attempt was admirable. "How do you think fields like this are made?" Garl questioned, leading Seraï to think he was also allergic to silence. "Probably an abandoned garden that got overgrown," she answered. "This much variety can't be natural." "Hmm. Probably." Letting go of his newly wrapped arm, Seraï rummaged through Garl's bag again to find something to take care of his face. Nothing seemed to be of use for this scenario, so she decided to just clean it as best as she could. When she lifted his face and turned it towards hers, she chuckled at how nervous he looked. "It's just the alcohol. Calm down. Sure, it stings but it's not that bad," she reassured him. "Yeah, sorry," he said, eyes wandering down to the flowers embarrassed. His skin was a similar shade of red to his cuts, so to make sure she was cleaning everything, Seraï leaned in closer to his face. Squinting at his cheeks and trying to feel for the incisions, it only seemed to get harder to tell where the cuts were. To make up for this, she decided she would just clean his whole face. When she backed up to grab more alcohol, Garl was redder than a beetroot. "How severe are your allergies?" she asked, worried about his worsening appearance. "Pretty mild. Just eye and nose irritation. Maybe the scratches will itch if I'm lucky," he laughed awkwardly. "Are you sure? You're not looking too hot." "Gee, thanks. Good to know I'm not your type," Garl joked. Seraï was taken aback by his quip. "Not like that," she struggled to get out as she stifled her laughter. "I meant that you look kind of sick." "I know," he said, beaming from her reaction. After getting the alcohol she needed, she began to wipe his face down. It seemed to have lightened in shade compared to earlier. "For the record, I'd say you're attractive." The pair were immediately consumed by a suffocating silence. She shouldn't have said that. That was a really weird thing to say, wasn't it? Seraï hurried her cleaning job to end the torture of the moment. His face regaining its previous redness didn't help her with that. Once finished, she shoved the medical supplies back into his bag, not caring about where they belonged. She handed him his backpack, and despite her distaste for it, reminded them of their mission. "Let's continue looking for Socks," she said, gesturing for him to follow her into the woods opposite where they all first entered as a group. They kept quiet as they trekked through the brush. While the silence between them was still uncomfortable, at least it could help in finding Socks. Seraï focused on the atmospheric noises and tried to separate each one from the rest. Wind moving through the leaves, her own footsteps, branches falling, a small gasp from Garl, a critter scampering- A hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality. She faced Garl, who placed a finger over his lips and pointed up ahead. A black tail was peeking out from the bushes. Not wanting Garl to trigger his allergies again, she pressed a hand against his chest when she noticed him beginning to crouch down. She took his place and mimicked his movements from the last time. Well, she would have, if she knew what the weird hand thing he did was. Seraï glanced up at him, and he seemed to understand her silent request for guidance. He repeated the motion from earlier so she could copy him. "Pspspspsps," Seraï weakly sounded, embarrassed by what it took to lure a cat. Entertained by the noise, Socks poked his head out from the bush and followed it, sauntering over to Seraï. Once he had finished sniffing her hand, he rubbed his head against it. Feeling it was now okay to pick him up she gently cradled him in her arms. Seraï and Garl exchanged smiles, wanting to celebrate, but afraid to startle Socks with speech. She grabbed one of her daggers and sliced open a portal. As soon as she did so, she felt the cat struggle against her, so she dropped him. "Wait!" Garl instinctively shouted as the cat ran away again. Frustrated, he turned towards Seraï. "Why did you let go of him?" "I didn't want to get scratched up and I think he's afraid of us." "You can handle a few cuts, and of course he's scared – he doesn't know us! We still need to take him home!" She could tell he was trying to hide how upset he was, though he was failing miserably. She pondered both of their encounters with Socks. He was fine approaching and getting picked up by the two of them. It was only when she made her portal that he panicked. Was that what he was scared of? "I think he's afraid of my portals," Seraï stated. Garl looked up at her from his own thoughts. "I think that's plausible, but then how would we bring him back?" "We walk," she replied in a defeated tone. The dread on his face said it all as they began to follow where Socks went. The cat had managed to lead them back to the flower field again. They searched among the different flowers for him. When they figured he wasn't there, Garl paused to think of what to do next. Seraï knew she should be helping him, but she wanted to keep looking at all the flowers. She deserved a mental break for putting up with everything today. He shouldn't get too suspicious of a double and triple check, and he could create a plan on his own. The flowers danced in the slight breeze that had managed to break through the wall of trees. She smiled as her eyes traced over every petal, admiring their delicate beauty and design. Once she exhausted a particular flower, she could move on to the next one which had its own unique quirks and attributes. She would probably never come back here, and while that thought deeply saddened her, it also fueled her determination to make the most of what little time she did have. "Stopping to smell the roses?" Seraï flinched at Garl's question. "Just double checking for Socks," she quickly responded, ashamed of how engrossed she was in her thoughts. "Then you're doing a terrible job since you're just staring at the same area," he said with a chuckle. "And you're terrible at recognizing flowers. These are lilacs," she teased, choosing to distract from the topic after failing to find a way out of the accusation fast enough. He moved next to her to look at them for himself. "Do you like lilacs?" "Yeah," she nervously answered, wondering why he was once again asking for her opinions on flowers. "Is that because they're purple?" She was both surprised and amused that he cared to remember her favorite color. "No. My favorite's a more royal purple. I just think they look nice." To Seraï, "nice" was the understatement of the century. The soft transition of color across each petal, the petals' different shapes and sizes, the natural emphasis given to each flower's pistil, its fragrance, its meaning, and how all the small flowers grouped together to form a gorgeous cluster. All the details and intricacies that make each flower unique – they were heavenly, an elegance comparable to none. Garl didn't seem to buy her answer, but also didn't question it further. He began to peruse the vast array of flowers, stopping at a few of them for a closer look, but generally being quick with his sweep of the field. "What flower do you think I'd like?" he asked Seraï, keeping his eyes on the flowers. She was puzzled by what compelled him to ask that. "The kind of flowers someone likes is just personal preference. I can't really answer that for you." "Oh, no. I mean like – if you were to give me a flower – what flower would you pick?" That was certainly an interesting question. Taking his inquiry seriously, she determined the criteria she would have in deciding the kind of flower to give him: one that suited him in both looks and meaning. Trying to narrow down all the different aspects of a person into a fitting flower was a difficult task, but also an interesting challenge. After sifting through the abundance of options, she found an answer she was pleased with. "I'd say a coreopsis." Garl paused before anxiously following up with, "What's that?" Unsure of how to best tackle that question, she started to info-dump. "It's about as big as your palm, well, the flower is – the plant itself can be more than a foot tall. It has a decently sized pistil and long, somewhat thin petals. There are a bunch of different colors it can come in, though I would recommend orange for you. It's also meant to represent cheerfulness which I think suits you well." Seraï paused her rambling once she saw the look on Garl's face. He seemed stunned at her words, which immediately made her self-conscious. It must be weird to hear her list all these random details of a flower. "Thank you. That's really sweet of you to say," he smiled, clearly blushing a bit from the compliment in her last statement. "Yeah, you're welcome," she weakly responded, wanting to hide under a rock. Seeing how uncomfortable she was, Garl changed the subject. "How should we return Socks?" Seraï drew her daggers and created a portal to the Vespertine. "You're not. I am." "We both are. I'm not leaving you." "You're allergic to him and there's no need to have two people walk him back home," she said matter-of-factly. "I still want you to help me look for him, but once we do you need to find Zale and Valere to take them home." She gestured to her portal as she made her last remark. Looking towards the ground, Garl didn't seem to have an answer. It was a well-crafted plan, just not one he wanted to do. "Alright," he reluctantly agreed, "but I'm going to pay you back for this." "Is that a threat?" she joked, raising an eyebrow in mock suspicion. "No!" he quickly shouted, chuckling at how his words could be misconstrued, "I mean it in a good way." Smiling at his reaction, she added, "You know you don't have to. I don't want anything anyways." "Yeah, but you deserve something for doing all this," Garl tried to reason. "We don't normally get paid for things, so I don't see why now I suddenly have to." Her response left him struggling to find a rebuttal. Giving up on it for now, he headed out into the woods, putting an abrupt end to their conversation. Seraï muffled her laugh as she jogged to catch up to him. The forest felt livelier than earlier – probably because it was starting to get close to sunset. It was harder to isolate the various sounds, hindering their search. After wandering for a while, they stumbled upon the flower field. "Did you just take us in a circle?' Seraï asked, both amusement and annoyance apparent in her voice. "I guess so," Garl replied, clearly embarrassed at that fact. "Now I know why Valere always takes the lead." Garl feigned offense at her quip while she walked past him to the center of the field. Her head suddenly snapped to the left, confusing him. "Are you-" "Shhh! He's here!" Seraï whisper shouted as she pointed at a tail poking through the flowers. "Pspspsps," she sounded, mirroring her moves from earlier. Socks carefully approached – faster than previously – but still slow. Once he touched her hand Seraï picked him up in one swift motion. "Gotcha!" she shouted, louder but still not at full volume. "Nice!" Garl cheered as he gave her a pat on the back. "Now to find my way out of here," Seraï said to herself before turning to Garl to add, "and you need to find the others." He looked apprehensive but nodded anyways. "Will do! Meet you back on board?" "Sure thing" was her response as she used their original entrance to disappear into the woods. Captain Klee'shaë sauntered through the city streets to the dock. The sun had already set, so everyone should be on board by now. Just in case, she decided to leave her portal in the forest open and travel home on foot. Thinking about her journey, she was glad that Socks didn't put up a fuss with how long it took her to get out of the woods. Kind of hypocritical of her to mock Garl for walking in a circle when she wasn't much better. She picked up her pace as the lanterns of the Vespertine came into view, happy to be back. She sprinted up the gangplank and was surrounded by her crew as soon as she stepped on board. "Welcome back, Captain!" Yolande shouted, pulling her in for a hug. Captain Klee'shaë returned the gesture and responded, "Glad to be back!" "Hey, Captain," Valtraid said, "How was yer trip?" "Hey, Valtraid," she responded, letting go of Yolande to face him, "All was well." Keenathan rested his hand on her shoulder before chiming in, "Good to hear!" Walking past them towards her portal, Captain Klee'shaë readied her acting skills. "What's this doin' here?" she asked with fake confusion. "Garl said that Seraï made it fer them to go home. Not sure when she plans on closin' it," Yolande answered. "Ah, alright," Captain Klee'shaë said, "So they're here already?" "Yep! Well, mostly. Valere and Zale are downstairs, and I know Garl's on board somewhere. Seraï hasn't come back but that's to be expected with her," Keenathan replied with a sigh towards the end. "Ye ought to get to bed since you've been out all day," Valtraid said, giving a smile to Captain Klee'shaë. She was about to respond before getting cut off by Garl, who had just emerged from the greenhouse. "You're back!" He rushed over to her and grabbed her by the arm. "Come on! I have a surprise for you!" he shouted, his excitement bursting at the seams as he dragged her away. The pirates gave a knowing smile, leaving Captain Klee'shaë even more puzzled. Once outside the greenhouse, Garl put his hand over her eyes. The touch made her feel a tad uneasy, but also worked to build anticipation. He guided her inside and once he shut the door behind them, lifted his hand. Flowers. So. Many. Flowers. Overflowing pots packed the shelves, and even bigger ones were spread across the floor. The density and volume of them all mimicked the flower field from earlier. Seraï meandered towards the lilac bush in the center of the room and examined its flowers. It really was the same one from earlier. She turned to talk to Garl, but any words she had died on her tongue. "I hope you like it." was all he said, grinning from ear to ear. "Why did you do this? A-and how?" was all Seraï could mutter in her amazement. "It's a thank you. You helped me with Socks even though you didn't want to and patched me up when he scratched me." Garl fiddled with his bandages before continuing. "I said I would pay you back." His smile was infectious and Seraï was not immune. She had been pacing around the room pausing to examine the different flowers as he explained. Examining another plant, this time a rose bush, she delicately held one of its blooms as she admired it. She glanced back at Garl once she noticed he had stopped talking. He also had a look of admiration, but he wasn't focused on the flowers. Her face felt warm at the thought, so she redirected her attention back to the rose. "So, how?" she quietly asked, hoping to take his attention off her. "I used your portal! After bringing Zale and Valere through, I went back to pick you a bouquet as a thank you gift. Halfway through making it, I remembered we have a greenhouse on board, so I started digging up some of the full plants to bring back instead! Don't worry – I made sure to be careful and not take too many." He was talking a hundred miles a minute, but Seraï still hung on every word. "Oh, yeah! Here's the bouquet." He stretched himself to reach a shelf, pulling down a cluster of flowers tied together before handing it to her. "I didn't bother finishing it to make sure I had time to get as many live flowers as possible." She stared down at the bouquet, curious as to what flowers he chose. The first ones to jump out at her were the lilies of the valley and purple moonflowers. He remembered her favorite flowers! Feeling the warmth creep up again, she distracted herself by identifying the other flowers present: pale blue forget-me-nots, purple delphiniums, white alstroemerias, light blue violets, and a few of the lilacs from earlier. Well, that certainly didn't help. At least it confirmed for her that he had no idea what the different flowers meant, and only picked them based on color. "Is it okay?" Garl sheepishly asked. "I know nothing about flowers, so I just picked whatever I thought you might like." "Y-yeah. It's gorgeous..." she trailed off, starting to enamor herself with the bouquet again. Blinking a few times to snap herself out of her fixation, she looked up at him to ask, "Why flowers?" "You were fascinated by them each time we came across the field, and obviously know a lot about them." Seraï nearly shuddered remembering her ramble about coreopses. She thought she did a decent job hiding her interest, but that moment really made it obvious, didn't it? On the plus side, he didn't seem to find her passion for flowers weird. "So, do you like flowers?" he asked, clearly knowing her answer, but wanting to hear her say it. Her eyes were glued to her feet as she answered, "Yeah, I really like them." "Then they're all yours!" Garl said, placing a hand on her shoulder and gesturing towards the rest of the room. The motion made her look up a bit, but she still couldn't bring herself to face him. Her pent-up excitement and gratitude needed some release, so to her own surprise, Seraï bear-hugged Garl, knocking her hat off and nearly knocking him over with the force. Once he regained his balance, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his head atop hers. They remained unmoving for a bit, enjoying the tender moment, before Seraï pulled away. Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. She didn't deserve anything close to this, yet he went above and beyond just to say "thank you". She cradled her bouquet before speaking up. "You know you didn't have to do all this." "I know," he responded with such a calming tone, "but I wanted to." "All I did was walk around for a few hours and carry a cat," she stated with a slight chuckle in her voice. "And took care of my injuries," he quickly added. "I wanted to thank you for that." He grinned seeing her bury her face in the bouquet he made. His gesture must have really gotten to her. Looking up to see the moon through the glass roof, he added, "It's getting late. We should head to bed." She gazed up as well and softly smiled. "Yeah. We should." Before following him out the greenhouse, she turned to look at the abundance of flowers once more. Shimmering in the moonlight, it was as if they waved "good night" to her. Overjoyed by her gift, she skipped ahead of Garl, beating him to the stairs. Today was amazing, wasn't it?