ROWAN

"So what do you guys plan on naming the town?"

"I don't know."

"How long will it take to build the town?"

"I don't know that, either."

"…is it safe to assume you guys don't know what you're doing?"

Rowan wasn't sure how much more of Bluebell's questions she could handle. She was half tempted to start ignoring her, which Rowan knew far too well that Bluebell would call her out for - her other option was just to tell Bluebell to wait until they met up with Grove and the others, which Bluebell wasn't going to do, from past experiences. Instead Rowan only groaned, glancing back at Bluebell.

"We'll figure things out once we group up."

Bluebell sighed expressively. "Isn't that just your fancy way of saying 'I don't know'? It's okay, you can tell me. I won't judge you - well, maybe a little bit."

Rowan resisted the urge to snap at Bluebell and inhaled sharply, still walking along the path. Bluebell seemed to notice, now staying quiet. That…is a development, I suppose. I can work with this. She couldn't help but feel a smidge bad, but attempted to shrug it off. Apologising would just lead to more questions from Bluebell, and Rowan wasn't in the mood to answer things that they both knew that Rowan had no answer to.

The rest of the walk was silent, much to Rowan's relief and…guilt, was it? She wasn't entirely sure. Soon enough, they finally reached the entrance to Talisman - and as Rowan expected, the others were waiting for them. With them she spotted both Mallow…and Camellia? What did they bribe her with to convince her to help? Before Rowan could say anything, Cranberry came rushing over to her, almost tackling Rowan to the ground.

"Cran-" Rowan yelped, though her shock was quickly drowned out by her own laughter. Cranberry pulled back, giggling as well.

She tilted her head. "Feeling any better?"

Rowan shrugged. "Not by much."

Cranberry was about to say something else, but she took one glance at the smirk on Bluebell's face and grumbled something Rowan couldn't quite catch, her cheeks flushing. Rowan felt her own face heating up, but didn't comment on it. Grove walked over to them, chuckling as well.

"Glad you're doing a little better," He replied, his voice soft. Rowan only blushed in response, unable to hold back a smile. "We managed to convince Camellia and Mallow to help, despite Camellia being…well, Camellia-"

"Excuse me? I never agreed to help!" Camellia snapped, marching up to Grove. "I only agreed because I wanted to give someone here a piece of my mind!"

Thyme blinked quizzically at her. "But we asked if you would like to help us build our new village…"

Camellia whipped her head around to glare at him. "If I wanted to hear your opinion, I would've asked!"

Grimacing, Thyme avoided her gaze. "I was just saying."

Camellia shot one more venomous glare at him before turning back to Rowan. "Anyways. You."

Cranberry looked as if she was about to slap Camellia into the dirt. "You touch Rowan, and I'll-"

"Cran, don't. Its inevitable, anyways," Rowan sighed, placing her hand on Cranberry's shoulder. "What is it, Camellia?"

"You know very well what it is! You know, the lying to us for several years about Wren? Our sister? I can't believe you!" Camellia stopped briefly to catch her breath, huffing rather heavily. "I knew you never cared about us much, but to hide something so important like this? Inexcusable."

Rowan was barely able to hold Camellia's gaze. "I do care about you all," She managed to choke out. "I just…"

Camellia scoffed. "You just what? Couldn't trust us with something like this? Because you should know that I wouldn't spread anything of the sort to the other villagers! We could've helped you, Rowan! Don't you understand that?"

Mallow walked over to Camellia, sighing. "I hate to say it, but…she does have a point, Rowan." She glanced up at Rowan. "You've always been distant from us, but you should've known that Camellia and I would be willing to help you."

Cranberry let out a quiet snort. "Imagine Camellia wanting to help someone other than herself. She certainly seems to be in the helping mood right now."

"Cranberry," Rowan warned, though she knew there was no use. Cranberry just isn't going to leave it be, even after whatever happens today…

Bluebell grimaced at Mallow. "Camellia? Willing to help? Something isn't adding up here."

Camellia glowered Bluebell intensely. "Shut it."

Before Camellia could get any more words in, Grove stepped in between her and Rowan. He scowled at her.

"You either come with us to help build our town, or stay here. Yelling at Rowan is not an option."

"I was not-" Camellia began, but one look at Cranberry's harsh stare immediately made her go silent. "Fine. I'll help you build your town or whatever. I'm sure it'll be better than staying in this dump, anyways."

She didn't wait for his answer, instead pushing past Rowan and stomping ahead. Mallow only gave Grove and Rowan an apologetic frown, rushing after her. Thyme trudged over to Rowan, glaring at Camellia.

He scoffed at her. "The audacity she has, sheesh…I get why you don't like her much, Rowan."

Rowan didn't look at him. "I…it's fine, Thyme. She does have some points." Well, mostly Mallow, but…

Cranberry rolled her eyes. "Don't let her get to you. For now let's just make sure they don't get themselves hurt."

…

It had been a couple of minutes since they had chased after Camellia and Mallow - Camellia just barely seemed to calm down, or at least enough to avoid lashing out at Rowan every five seconds. It's useless to hope she'll just give up on it. She's too stubborn for that and we all know it. For the time being, they decided to build a few shelters for them. Rowan held her doubts that it was the best plan, but she wasn't in the mood to argue - not to mention, she didn't want to be out in the open if it happened to rain, so she supposed it was better than nothing.

Cranberry frowned at the pile of sticks she, Rowan, and Bluebell had gathered. "I still don't get how we'll make anything suitable for one person, let alone seven."

"Grove probably knows what he's doing," Rowan reminded her, though it was also a reminder for herself.

Bluebell snorted. "Yeah, you would say that."

Rowan glared at her, her cheeks flushing. "He had to help his father build their farm back in Talisman! It's only natural to assume he knows what he's doing."

The only response from Cranberry was a few muffled laughs. Rowan rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help but grin while doing so. Oh well. At least it's something to laugh about in the meanwhile. Bluebell joined her laughter for a brief moment before stretching her arms, yawning.

"I wonder what Camellia's even doing," She mumbled absentmindedly. "I bet she's arguing that she shouldn't be forced to work because she's 'above these kinds of menial tasks' or some shit like that."

Rowan blinked in surprise. "I was not expecting a swear to come out of your mouth, of all people."

Bluebell shrugged. "Blame mom and dad."

Rowan could already feel her muscles tensing at the implications that statement had. Cranberry gently pat Rowan's back, her expression unreadable. Though Rowan normally would've flinched at the touch if it was anyone else, she simply accepted it - if Bluebell wasn't there, Rowan probably would've leaned onto Cranberry's shoulder for more comfort.

Cranberry frowned. "That is true, though. It's been pretty quiet for the past couple of minutes. Should we be concerned?"

Bluebell held in another snort of laughter. "Probably."

"Well, we might as well go check, right? Besides, Grove is probably waiting for us to return by now." Rowan grabbed a few sticks, gesturing for Cranberry and Bluebell to do the same.

As they made their way back to the others, Rowan couldn't help but worry about how the others were handling Camellia, now that Bluebell had mentioned her. In all honesty, Rowan still wasn't sure what to think of the fact that Camellia was still with them. She gets bored of things really easily. I'm surprised she didn't lose interest the moment Grove told her that 'yelling at me' wasn't an option. If Rowan had to guess, Camellia was probably arguing with Grove or Thyme by now. Or best case scenario, she's arguing with BOTH…

Once they reached the rest of the group, Rowan hoped that nothing too out of hand had happened while they were gone. The looks on their faces said otherwise - she scanned the small clearing for Camellia. Surprisingly enough, she wasn't snapping at Grove or Thyme - rather, she looked as if she was about to start yelling at someone. Oh well. A quiet Camellia is the best Camellia.

That aside, Camellia was standing next to Grove and Thyme, a look of disapproval on her face. Grove soon noticed Rowan, rushing over to her.

He let out a sigh of relief. "You guys are back sooner than expected."

"Yeah, well we couldn't leave you guys with Camellia too long. That sounds like a strain on your health," Rowan joked, keeping her laughter quiet so Camellia wouldn't hear. "What happened?"

Grove took the sticks out of her arms. "I- well…you'll see for yourself." He glanced at the sticks in Cranberry's arms, grinning. "Thanks, with these I can probably get started on something."

Bluebell scoffed. "What, no thanks for me? Hmph."

Cranberry playfully jabbed her with a stick. "Oh, hush. I'm sure it was for you too." Bluebell giggled, lightly jabbing her back. Cranberry turned to Grove, smiling. "You're welcome, though! I can go back out and get some more if you want."

He blinked in surprise, then shook his head. "Nah, I asked Thyme and Camellia to get some extra wood just in case." Thyme and Camellia? Is that even safe? Grove gently nudged her shoulder, albeit awkwardly due to the sticks in his arms. "Besides, I also want to spend more time with you. It's not like it's going to get easier from here."

Rowan held back a sigh. He's not wrong, She thought, feeling a pang of disappointment. Building a town is going to be so time consuming. She almost wished that Wren and Leaf and their friends were still there to help them. Almost.

"Yeah, I know…" Cranberry mumbled, shrugging. She hesitated briefly, but took Rowan's hand. "We should go check out what they found for now, alright?"

"Alright."

Rowan simply let Cranberry take the lead as they walked over. Of course, there was no real need to, but it did make Rowan feel the tiniest bit better. Thyme stepped aside once he saw the two, surprised. Camellia just huffed, crossing her arms. In front of them was a boy with slightly worn down clothing - he looked like he was around Leaf's age, Rowan wanted to guess. He had poorly kept short, dark brown hair and wary light brown eyes that darted around the small clearing.

It's Tadpole, Rowan realised with a jolt. The same dragonmancer apprentice who was ordered to take Grove to be sacrificed.

Camellia narrowed her eyes. "We found this little pest following us back to Grove and Mallow." She let out a groan - though Rowan thought it sounded more like a growl, if anything. "I bet he's spying on us for those dragonmancers."

Tadpole yelped, inching away from her. "I told you, I'm not!"

"Keep your mouth shut until I give you permission to speak!" She shot back, raising her fist - Thyme began to pull it back down before she could scare Tadpole any further. Camellia jerked her hand back, practically hissing at him. He only took a few steps back, vaguely terrified yet amused at the same time.

Rowan glared at them both. "Enough." She leaned into Cranberry's shoulder, her expression relaxing slightly. "Cranberry, do you want to handle this? After all, you are the mayor…"

Cranberry's gaze widened, taken off-guard. "I mean, I guess so now that you mention it?" She inhaled sharply as she turned to Tadpole. "What were you doing, following them?" Before waiting for his response, she immediately turned to Camellia. "To clarify, I'm asking Tadpole."

Rowan couldn't catch what Camellia said underneath her breath, and she honestly didn't want to know, judging from the look on Thyme's face. Tadpole took one last glance at Camellia before sighing.

"I-I overheard you guys talking to Camellia and Mallow about your new village. I want to help, if that's alright," He mumbled, unable to meet anyone's gaze.

Camellia scoffed. "He's probably lying. He is a dragonmancer apprentice, after all. I bet he wanted to be one, even! Why can't we just kick him back to Talisman?"

"Please don't!" He begged. "I don't want to go back to Talisman! Everyone there keeps giving me judgmental looks because I used to be an apprentice. I don't feel safe there. Can't I please stay with you guys?"

Rowan grimaced. So they did do something about the dragonmancers? Impressive. She couldn't help but feel slightly bad for Tadpole, though - would that have been the same case for Leaf if he stayed in Talisman? Or if any of her sisters were an apprentice? Not that any of them would want to stay, but… There was a part of her that wanted to help the poor kid out. After all, he was a former apprentice, just like Leaf.

But he's the same apprentice who willingly followed Gorge's orders to arrest Grove, She reminded herself. He almost got us sacrificed. Cranberry seemed to notice, if not for the hand she rested on Rowan's shoulder.

She sighed. "If you can prove you're trustworthy to us, then you can stay for as long as you'd like. But I'll admit…it will be hard for some of us to trust you fully. Your actions as a dragonmancer apprentice aren't the most forgettable."

"Thank you!" Tadpole cried, now beaming. "I promise I'll make it up to you guys!"

"Are you kidding me? He's obviously a spy!" Camellia spat. Before anyone could argue with her, she stormed off in the opposite direction.

Cranberry glanced nervously at Rowan. "Did I do that right? It feels like I did awful."

Thyme nodded. "I think you did pretty good! Don't listen to her."

"Yeah," Rowan added. "Camellia's just being an-"

Cranberry laughed softly. "I get it, I get it! Thanks for the support, though."

An awkward silence loomed over everyone as Camellia didn't seem to be returning any time soon. I guess I can understand why she's angry, but…why does she have to be so irritating about it? Moons…

"So…anyone want to go fetch her?" Thyme coughed.

No one said anything until Mallow spoke up. "I can get her," She sighed. She glared at Thyme. "But you're coming with me, since you suggested it."

He grimaced. "Why?"

"I'm not going to face her by myself when she's in a mood!" Mallow protested. "Come on!"

Despite his grumbling, Thyme went along with her, following Camellia's trail. Rowan had to resist the urge to sigh once they left. How were they supposed to get anything done like this?

A/N: guest reviews, once again~

Guest: ty!

Dragonlover: thank you, i wasn't sure if i did a good job with Leaf's POV but i'm glad it was enjoyable! and yeah, i see what you mean about Leaf - it's honestly kind of a shame that he reads as kind of two-dimensional in his debut book, ngl

WOFLover: Thanks! i do plan on doing more chapters in Wren's perspective, though i do want to try and have it be a bit equal in terms of Wren, Rowan, and Brook's povs.