The white mist prevented Floriane from seeing all around her. She knew that this was her dream: the one that had the flower growing out of the crystal. She was happy to be having this dream again, but this time seemed...different than the other times she dreamt about it. The mist seemed thicker to walk through and Floriane felt the aura of sadness. It was so powerful that it was making Floriane feel blue.

'Something's wrong.' She thought, 'It's never been this depressing.'

"Sadness is draping over." A male voice said; Floriane looked around, but she didn't see anyone. "You, Floriane, are the only one who can bring life to a soul."

"Only magic can bring life back to a soul. I don't have any magic!" Suddenly, a light of dark blue broke through the mist. Floriane covered her eyes before something horrible happened. The mist seemed to fly away as the blue light got brighter. Floriane moved her hands out of the way and saw the origin of the light.

It was her dream flower! The flower was bent over, as if it was being affected by sadness, and the roots were tangled all over the crystal. The dark blue light was coming from the flower petals. Floriane wanted to run up to the flower, but the aura of sadness was keeping her frozen. The blue flower was growing out of a large golden-yellow crystal with multiple points. The blue light was pulsating...as if the flower had a heart.

"Someone is waiting for you, Floriane." The male voice spoke again, "You're the only one who can rid him of his sadness and hatred." Floriane was beginning to believe that it was the flower talking to her. It wasn't hard for her to believe...since she was dreaming. "Please Floriane, a mighty reward is waiting for you once you rid the curtain of sadness." The blue flower rose and stood straight up. The blue light flashed brightly and startled Floriane.

When Floriane opened her eyes again, she was back in her room. The night was just starting to turn orange by the rising sun. Floriane got out of bed, cleaned her face, changed into her farm clothes, gently grabbed her bouquet and went to her bedroom door. She rested her hand on the doorknob, but she didn't slide the lock off.

Floriane still felt a little shaken from the events of last night, especially Brenna chasing after her. She knew that she couldn't stay locked in her room because her brother and father would think that she was ill again. Floriane knew she had to be brave and face whatever the day brought. She slid the lock off the door and opened it.

She softly walked down the hall and down the stairs for she didn't want to wake anybody up. A part of her wanted to check in on her mother, but she didn't want to wake up her father by accident. When Floriane got to the bottom of the stairs, she saw quite the surprise. She saw her father, possibly sleeping, in his big soft chair. This was something that Floriane would never see...unless her mother was mad at Fabrice. Floriane stayed silent as she carefully made her way to the kitchen. She put her bouquet of flowers in a small vase with water and went to cooking.

It was hard to be quiet while making breakfast, but it was a routine that Floriane was used to. Besides making some of usual food she made, Floriane decided to make her own treat: boiled eggs. She didn't make boiled eggs very often because she was the only one in the family who liked them. Floriane was careful about her surroundings as she made breakfast. The last thing she wanted was Brenna coming after her again with food cooking on the stove. It took half an hour until the sun shined its light on the land and for Floriane to finish breakfast. When breakfast was done, Floriane carefully placed plates on the table. Much to her surprise, she saw her father blocking her way back to the kitchen.

"Father...did I do something?" She asked with caution.

"No," he answered, "I thought I would help you with breakfast, but it seems like you're already done."

"Well, you were sleeping in your big soft chair. I'm not even going to guess on why you were sleeping down here. I didn't want to wake you up by accident while I was cooking."

"Well, I would've cooked breakfast...considering what happened last night."

"I don't want to talk about it, papa. Did you check on Mama yet?"

"No, I haven't." He answered, "I didn't want to take a chance that your mother needed more rest." Floriane just nodded in agreement. The way she saw her mother...she could only guessed what caused her to pass out.

"Well, I'm going to bring out Tanner's breakfast and my bouquet and we'll be ready for breakfast."

"I'll help you." Fabrice added; Floriane didn't argue with her father on that. They went back to the kitchen, Fabrice brought out Tanner's breakfast and Floriane brought her flowers. Tanner came downstairs a few minutes later. They sat at the table and ate their breakfast.

"You made yourself of boiled eggs?" Tanner asked Floriane; she just nodded 'yes'. Since she was the only one who liked boiled eggs, she didn't see the point of making more for anyone else.

"Don't tease your sister." Fabrice said.

"I wasn't trying to." Tanner answered, "It's not hard to notice it."

"It's not like you've done it before, big brother. It's something I've gotten used to...even though father' doesn't like to know that."

"There's plenty that the two of you keep from your half-siblings." Fabrice added, "It wouldn't surprise me that the two of you are hiding something from me and your mother." Floriane was getting ready to speak again, but stopped because she noticed a look on her brother's face. "Tanner, what is it?" Fabrice asked, also noticing him. Tanner was just too surprised to speak, so he just lifted his arm and pointed towards the stairs. Floriane and their father looked at the stairs...and they were surprised too.

It was Saffi, at the bottom of the stairs and holding the railing. It was obvious on her face that she was still tired, but she was dressed in her clothes that she wore last night. She was also holding her neck, as if something was bothering her.

"Mother, are you okay?" Floriane blurted out. She quickly covered her mouth before her father looked at her.

"I'm...okay." Saffi softly answered, "What do we need to do today?"

"We're going to do our chores." Fabrice said, approaching her. "You are going back to bed."

"No, I'm not!" Saffi said, raising her voice, as she backed away from her husband. That caught Fabrice off-guard for it was the first time Saffi backed away from him.

"Mother, what's going on?" Tanner bravely asked, "Did something happen on your trip?"

"You...could say that." Saffi slowly said when she looked at her son. Her eyes then turned over to the bouquet of flowers. It was if she saw a ghost for her eyes shrank and her skin turned white.

"Sweetheart!" Fabrice said in worry, "Don't choke yourself!" He was worried because Saffi didn't remove her hand from her neck. He didn't want her to strangle herself. He quickly grabbed her hand and yanked it off her neck. That's when he saw something that shocked him. It was a bruise in the shape of a handprint. It wasn't Saffi's handprint because her fingers were a little shorter than on the bruise. Tanner and Floriane saw from the table, but they didn't say anything. No one wanted Saffi to feel overwhelmed.

Floriane nudged her brother, telling him they should leave the room. Tanner tried to show that something happened to their mother, but Floriane showed that their mother was no shape to talk about it. Despite they didn't use their voices, the two siblings went at each other until Tanner gave up. They gathered the dirty dishes, cleaned them and left to do their chores. Floriane took the bouquet of flowers, wrapped them back up in the cloth and purple ribbon, and took them with her.