A garden that grows even with the distance, a garden that flourishes when two hearts beat as if one, as one speaks to another without even a physical presence needed. It's their garden, one that an herbalist can bend down and care for with the ease and familiarity of one that doesn't shy away from the dirt or the hard work; a garden that a prince has been taught to care for.
One that grows best when both are involved, even if they aren't side by side as the garden grows. Some say that distance makes the heart grow fonder, and perhaps that's true; perhaps their garden is watered all the more because of the distance between them, one that they both pause and wish on stars could be shortened once more.
The distance reminds them to work hard, just as it makes two hearts ache with so much longing, that you'd wonder how they haven't walked or rode by horse or carriage ride, the distance between them, until they are standing right in front of each other, two pairs of hands intertwined, two hearts beating so loud, that standing close could be mistaken for a kiss.
No one knows the beauty of hard work in quite the same way that they've had to learn it; it doesn't mean their lessons are over or that they are there yet, but it means that they are growing together even while apart. It means that as each stoops down to water the thoughts of each other, let them be as warm and sunshine filled as they can be, that they remember, that they love.
Some say distance away from a garden can kill the plants, that weeds will slip in and choke out the remaining flowers, taking the sunlight and the water for their own. But some plants are resilient; they are not easily overrun. And Shirayuki and Zen see their garden of love in this way; it is resilient, not easily overcome by weeds or distance.
And maybe it isn't easy when each are piled high with enough work to send even the strongest under, when two people are filled to the brim with missing, wishing that distances were easily closed, and two pairs of arms could hug each other so, so tightly.
But distance is distance, and love is love. Love isn't easily uprooted, and that's why even apart, they can water their garden and work towards their future. Even while apart, they love each other and long to be beside each other once again.