Rosethorn/Niva is owned/created by Tamora Pierce. Not me, unfortunately. Remember that.
Stubborn Roses
By: Skylar Inari
It was a lovely day. The sun was shining, and the wind was just brisk enough to give relief. Birds were warbling happily at each other while the tawny kittens found by the river the week before last slept in a bunch on the front step of the large, almost sprawling stone house.
Picnic weather her mother called it - and when she was in a better mood a picnic would have sounded good to young Niva.
But not right now.
The small for her seven years girl scowled down at the spot that should have had something growing in it. Her brown eyes narrowed in annoyance, one foot tapping rapidly in the soft soil she had helped her father bring from the fields. Alright, her brothers had done most of the work but she'd tried at least. She'd be bigger someday. Mother said so. Pulling on her near waist length braid of auburn hair Niva wondered what had gone wrong.
She'd watered it the way father had said to and it had been sowed at precisely the depth her mother had recommended. Stupid plant. There was nothing wrong with the work she'd done for it.
Perhaps if she had been like Orie or Aylassa from town she'd simply would have given up on the plant, saying that it wasn't meant to be. But she wasn't. It wasn't fair, she wasn't beautiful like Orie with her white blond curls and gay eyes or at all like Aylassa who made everyone laugh. She was only Niva, with her too straight boring hair and sharp temper. They had other things - plants were hers. And this one wasn't listening.
That hurt her feelings.
Biting her lip she knelt down and poked at the ground her stubborn plant was in. She didn't understand it, most plants listened to her without any fuss. Niva disliked fuss, it was pointless and tiring. The dirt seemed fine, and father had checked to make sure she hadn't drowned it. She sniffed, she knew better than that at least.
Plopping herself down, ignoring the fact that her mother would give her a talking to about the state of her dress when she went in for dinner, Niva considered what to do.
She could always give up she conceded. But that felt all wrong and it wasn't fair to the plant. Maybe it was just as unusual and needed more time. After all, mother said that some human babies were like that too. Mother's advice was to just imagine what the baby would be like when it was all grown up. Niva cocked her head, maybe the same could be applied to plants?
Niva didn't know if it would work and mother was busy in the field - too busy to be bothered with a question like that. But still, she decided, it couldn't hurt and it might help her get rid of feeling useless.
Closing her eyes she thought about what it would look like. It would be pretty, father had said that this type of plant hand pale pink blossoms that furled out in layers with almost arrowhead shaped leaves. The stems would be adorned with small points and the whole thing wasn't supposed to grow higher that her waist. It was lovelier than Aylassa's new dress even though she suspected that nobody else would agree with her.
Just when she was about to give up and planning not to tell anybody about her attempt - her brothers would just laugh at her - Niva felt...weird.
It was like the world moved just a little bit and made the ground she was sitting on seem more solid than it had a moment ago. Something surged through her hands and all of a sudden she could finger the faintly waxy leaves of a plant. Her plant! Niva's eyes popped open in surprise.
It was there! Just like she'd imagined it, down to every last leaf and thorn. The flowers were indeed pink and had unfurled in a very fetching manner. Excited Niva scrambled to her feet and bolted for the fields where the rest of her family worked while she minded the house. Mother was home four days out of a sevenday but for the other three Niva was left alone. Normally she didn't mind but today she begrudged every extra stride it took her to tell father and mother about what happened.
Surely she wouldn't get in trouble for bothering them about this!
Behind her the rose bush settled itself smugly in it's little plot of earth, happy to be soaking in the sunshine and water.
It was a lovely day.
The End.