A few weeks living in outer space, and Ellie already fell in love with one locale onboard the Toppat space station.
The room size of the greenhouse, although relatively small compared to areas like the cafeteria and cockpit, could still house a garden choir composed of so many flora voices like the avian birds of paradise, the sunny sunflowers, and vibrant violets. And all with a beautiful view of the Earth, sun, moon and stars. Whenever she needed to retreat into her own world or simply to fulfill her responsibility as part-time gardener, this served as her go-to place. It wasn't originally in the space station concepts constructed by the Toppat elites, but when she suggested it to them, they agreed to it much to her surprise.
Of course it helped that one of those elites was a close friend of hers so naturally he stood by her side from the word 'go'. And not only that he, and the other elites, offered their own suggestions for the greenhouse, including growing fruits and vegetables for the chefs to use in their cooking and herbs for the Witch to use in her medicinal practices. This delighted Ellie so much that she found herself sometimes collaborating with the cooks and retrieving the food for them. In turn she learned to cook. Or at least watched the magic happening in the kitchen. Still, it was a pleasant win-win situation.
Which brought her here - her grocery list of ingredients for tonight's dinner was made and she needed to deliver them to the chefs. But first things first - she needed to check up on the latest additions to the floral family.
Picking up a watering can from the nearby worktable, she brought it over to the sink and filled it with water before wandering to her special section of the garden. Mechanically, she set about pouring the water down the dirt-filled pots and containers and beds and gently sprinkled the petals of her flowers - roses and lilies. But if she focused on more than just watering the flowers, she would have spotted it awaiting her in that room.
As soon as she watered the lilies, she halted right in her tracks as she finally saw the beautiful surprise next to the lily bed.
A bouquet of flowers, scattered with red and purple and pink and yellow cream colors, lay on its side bound tightly by a combination of a thick rubber band and a large cream-colored bow and ribbon attached for decoration. Ellie blinked. Somebody went to a lot of effort and hard work putting the bouquet together - red and pink roses. They were overshadowed by two notably tall stalks that caught her eye. The yellow cream tulip's leaves brushed tenderly against an equally tall deep purple lily. The latter - the purple lily petals were just like the ones attached to her top hat. Someone must have really liked lilies as much as she did. But who? And what was this bouquet doing here in the first place?
"What's this?" Her eyes narrowed in scrutiny - a small card was trapped in the middle of the flowers, and on the front it read - 'Ellie'. She plucked the card free and opened it. Within the card was a taped packet of tulip seeds and a handwritten message.
To the Right Hand Lady - for acting as the best royal adviser and my most loyal knight, I present these flowers and seeds to you. Let these flowers be a symbol of our friendship and my appreciation of all you've done. Enjoy.
A soft-spoken voice from behind her explained, "I thought you would like to grow your own tulips so I got them for you and had help from the Witch in getting the other flowers." Spinning around, she saw a smiling Henry.
She blinked again and her jaw fell open in a dumbfounded state. "Huh?"
He snickered, but he removed her confusion by placing a gentle peck on her cheek. He pulled back, smiled and awaited her reaction.
"..." Ellie's gaze rotated back and forth to the flowers, then to Henry, then to the flowers again. "You did this for me? These are all really for me?"
Henry nodded, his tender smile growing. He placed a hand on his chest over his heart, motioned with it over to her, held his hands up together and gave a little bow, as if praying.
That simple gesture was understood, and Ellie blushed a little at his earnest - and endearing - expression of gratitude. She carefully hugged the bouquet close to her. And almost shyly, she tucked a strand of red hair behind her head. "These are beautiful, Henry. The best gifts I've ever received. I don't know what to say other than thank you. This was really sweet of you." She reached out to wrap an arm around his torso, pulling him in for a side hug.
He didn't resist. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and as he did, she leaned into him. A rosy feeling sparked inside him and he allowed it to glow inside. It felt so warm that it could have provided the 'just right' temperatures for the greenhouse.
She looked up at him and out of curiosity, she asked, "So where did you come up with this bouquet idea?"
He looked up to no spot in particular, thinking about this conception and smiling thoughtfully about it.
The tulip and the lily's thin green bodies intertwined as they nuzzled their petals against one another. A gentle spring breeze descended from the sky and rolled over the two as they stood still and soaked in the sun's rays into their photosynthetic streams of chlorophyll. Their leaves curled slowly around each other as they grew taller and taller. The rest of the plants - composed of roses and lilacs - and meddling invaders all seemed to melt away until there was nothing left but the two of them.
And close by, underneath a palm tree sat a man with a crown on his head... and a lady by his side. They knew and yet they didn't know of the flowers' courtship dance as they sat together to watch the moon and stars rising in the approaching night sky. The stars shined; they were priceless jewels of the rainbow - blue diamonds and red rubies and green emeralds and gold topazes. They threatened to fall from the heavens but the man and woman showed no fear. A shower of tulip and lily petals fell and danced all over them like fairies in the dark, lighting the way and creating their own world.
He shrugged and gave a lopsided grin. "Oh, it just came to me in a dream."
Fin.
A/N: Inspired by a conversation with a writer on Archive of Our Own, this short one-shot takes place after "Roses, Lilies and Two Lips" and serves as a bonus scene to further build the relationship between Henry and Ellie, and explore more of the Toppat space station layout. But mainly it was because I am such a sucker for romance for couples I like, so I couldn't resist.
Enjoy, all! :)