Forgotten Flowers (Canon)


Rose wasn't motherly.

Dezel never quite stopped and thought about what the most accurate word for Rose was, but motherly certainly wasn't what came to mind.

Rose was brash, frank, and a natural-born fighter.

Mothers were...

Well, Dezel never had a mother, and he certainly hadn't seen many hang around the Windriders or the Sparrowfeathers. But from his experience, Mothers were giving, patient, soft-spoken ladies. Rose wasn't any of that. Not even a lady, really. Therefore, Rose certainly was not motherly.

But it never escaped his notice, the way she'd kneel down next to lost, crying children and cheer them up. The pep talks she'd give to the weak and bullied. The smile she would offer to the broken and abandoned. The honest work she'd hand out to those without a means of ethical livelihood. The lesson on commerce a child would rarely request. The handholding, piggyback rides, homemade meal Dezel suddenly had to be a part of, and whatever else the kids could talk her into for a little while. Seeing their smiles had made her smile, because Rose knew what it was like to be forgotten.

Rose wasn't exactly motherly. But in those moments, she was probably the closest thing those kids had.