Why flowers bloom
"… So, what do you do on this festival?" I looked at Candace while walking around the flowers. It was a chilly day in these late hours. "What we do? Well I guess we just watch the flowers and eat some food together… I brought some…" It was funny how Candace seemed hesitant in all her sentences, almost like she was afraid of offending me; however she would manage that with flowers being the topic.
"You made some food? Cool I'm sure it's great!" Maybe encouraging her a little more was the right way to get her to open up. "… Do you have a similar festival like this where you come from?" Candace sat down on the blanket and avoided my eyes while talking. Actually we did, to be exact there were multible. "Yeah, mostly some of the highborn ladies just liked to display the flowers from their own gardens. Usually there would be a contest once in a while, but once a girl without links to a noble title won it, they illegalized it and claimed that she cheated - paid the referee." Candace seemed to be fascinated with my stories from the dirty city, I might even make too much of what I remember, but it just seemed so distant now. "…Oh I see…" Candace replied to my story. I shaked my head to get away from thoughts of greedy people and looked back at her, she was busy plucking the leaves off a dandelion.
"That is the flower that reminds me mostly of you sweetheart." We both looked at the direction of the familiar voice; Shelly stood behind us and smiled. "Grandma?" Candace smiled, it seemed that Shelly was the only person in town she truly trusted, her and of course the sister I had yet to meet. "Common yet beautiful, I'm glad to see you making new friends Candace." Shelly gave us a quick smile before turning around and clinging herself to mayor Hamilton's arm, I think she knew that he liked her – looking at those two old people was strangely cute. I looked back at the flower Candace had obliterated, Shelly was right, no matter where you would go, you would never really notice the beauty of this simple flower – yet once you got close enough you could see that beauty which seemed so anonymous. Candace was the same way, if I had walked past her in the crowded mall I wouldn't have noticed her, yet now that she sat down beside me in her own thoughts I couldn't help but gazing at the beauty that she was. A beauty which she no doubt contained lots of inside too.
"Are you okay?" Candace looked worried at me, I had a blush covering my entire face by now. "Ah, n-no I just think it's… a little hot…!" "Really?" She replied quietly while looking questionably at my scarf, which I had brought for the very reason opposite of what I had just said – the lie was too obvious.
The awkward silence which had fallen upon us before had returned. We both looked away from each other. It was strange how natural being in the presence of her could seem at one moment, and how perverted it seemed the next. It was almost like breaking the law, her protective shell and my clumsiness when choosing when to be embarrassed seemed like the perfect mix for disaster, yet I could still feel that we both wanted to be friends.
"Do you have any contests?" I tried to break the stalemate by venturing into a new rather random conversation – anything to break the silence. "What do you mean?" A fair reply, I didn't really ask her the question in regards to anything specific. "Well, at the flora meetings in the park where I come from they had the flower competition I told you about, do you have any flower contests here?" Candace looked briefly back at the mayor a couple of metres away from us as if she sought permission to reveal a long lost secret to me. "N-no not today anyway, we have a flower contest at the harvest festival in the end of autumn however…"
I was getting annoyed with how dull this festival seemed, I had to try and get something started. I looked at the small patches of grass around the church just before turning into stony mountainside. Without warning I grabbed Candace by her hand and darted towards the grassy scene forcing her to stand up and follow. When I got to my target I sat down and had my companion do so as well. She breathed heavily, this made me blush again for some reason, but I chose to ignore it and tried to introduce her to my idea: "Look!" I picked a Dandelion about the same size as the one Candace had destroyed earlier. Candace just looked at it like it was poisoned when I tried to hand it to her. "Thank you, you're very kind…" Her polite response was like the taste of melting chocolate to my ears but I couldn't let it distract me. "No-no you don't get it!" I took two of the other Dandelions and twisted one around another, I picked another and proceeded to twist this one around the two others. "Haven't you ever made a garland out of flowers before?" She looked back at the flower I had handed her earlier, one of her rare smiles came across her lips and she picked another of the same flower to imitate my action. "You mean like a chain? Yes I used to do this with Luna and my mother, I…"
The smile disappeared once she mentioned her parent and she looked back down into the ground. (*Censured swear*) I hadn't considered that this would make her think sad thoughts again.
"I didn't…" I looked at her, she didn't respond to me continuing the sentence she hadn't completed. "My mom never had time for such stuff… I did do it with some of my friends though…" I could see a tear leave her chin and fall down onto her hand, she didn't react to it. Maybe it was wrong of me to dig into these feelings, but I just couldn't leave this topic be. 'You have to finish what you started!' was one of the values my parents lived by, that's why they never did anything but keep on their never ending work. I was going to finish this. "I think that you have to keep on doing what has value to you. I admire Mrs. Mira for keeping up her husbands work. And I also admire you for doing what you love…" Finally she reacted; she lifted her head a bit and looked at the long garland I had made while her mind was absent. I finished by tying the two ends together thereby forming a wreath. "Here, take this." I lifted the small tiara of flowers and gently placed it down on top of her head. "A perfect fit…" I rose from my sitting position, leaving a mark in the grass behind. "Can I walk you home?" I offered my hand, still in silence she but nodded, accepted it and rose to stand up beside me. I noticed the red glow on her face, this time from sorrow, at some point she would have to face her demons, the question was for me if that would influence 'us.'
We reached the tailor shop, the lights inside implied that Shelly had gone home ahead of Candace. "Well, I'll see you… Tomorrow?" Candace looked into my eyes as a response, it seemed like she wanted to lift her heart and spill all of her thoughts to me, but the usual hesitation kept her from saying what she felt. "Yeah… Thanks for the wreath, I'll… I'll treasure it, I promise." She quickly opened the door and hurried to get inside and close it off before another word could be said.
It was like I could still feel her standing with her back against the door on the other side. I leaned against the door myself, imitating my image of Candace on the other side; imagining us both being so close, yet closed off by that barrier which seemed to turn on every time there seemed to be progress.
"Hey, wha'cha doing?" I looked up and noticed Ray appearing from the docks, interrupting my thoughts. I felt a single tear escape me before I smiled at my brother and answered. "N-nothing, I was just about to head home…" Ray swung his arm around me and landed it on my shoulder, it was comforting to have someone hold me close like this. "So am I!" Happy as usual. "So, did you go to the festival?" I searched for his eyes but noticed him staring at the horizon far out into the ocean. "Wha-? Yeah sure, I went with Chloe…" "With Chloe?" We both smiled and he continued: "Yeah, she waited for me by the church grounds and I didn't want to disappoint her!" "I think she's in love with him!" Finn appeared out of his glowing orb on the other side of Ray's head, smiling. "Yeah, that whole red bell business seemed to catch her attention in some odd way…" Ray grinned and let go of my shoulder, he started running towards home, probably to avoid the sensitive topic. Sometimes I feel jealous of how carefree his world is. It would be easier if all feelings could just be spilled like Ray does it.
So I got back into it(!)
I'm usually a very bad sport for continuing such stuff, but this I actually like writing this.
I'm still a little concerned about the world around the central characters being too passive, I hope to include some more of the other characters in these next chapters.
