Day Two - Flower Crown
Hunter had never felt more at peace.
He was splayed out on soft grass, shaded by the spread branches of a single croak tree, with his head pillowed in his lovely girlfriend's soft lap. His eyes were closed and he was on the cusp of falling asleep.
Then he felt something gently settle on his head. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up to see Willow looking down at him with the warmest, softest gaze. "A flower crown for a good and happy prince," she said, brushing the backs of her fingers across his cheek.
"But not the princess?" Hunter asked drowsily. Willow giggled, the most beautiful sound in the world …
And then he woke up.
Hunter groaned and stretched, his back popping before he sat up in his bed at the Owl House. He shivered at the soft phantom touch of Willow's fingers and brushed the spot with his own before they faded away. He'd been having that dream every now and then, an occasional relief from the nightmares he usually had, and it left him feeling warm on his probably-galdorstone heart.
He ran his fingers through his hair and thought about the real day. He'd been drowsy and his filter compromised, and he'd let slip such a corny reply. Willow had giggled just like in his dream and kissed his forehead before leaning back against the tree so they could both nap.
When he'd woken up, he'd realized that Willow had woven a flower crown to put on his head. She did that every now and then, usually growing the flowers in the moment, in different varieties that meant different things. It had become something of a game for him to identify them later and decipher the meaning behind each one.
A crown for a princess.
Hunter blinked and huffed a depreciating laugh. Why hadn't he thought of it earlier? He threw off his blanket and began to dress before finding his books on floriography.
It was time he played the game, too.
It took a while to determine the types of flowers he wanted to weave into his first flower crown. There were so many choices, both on the Boiling Isles and the human realm. He eventually settled on human realm species due to the slightly greater challenge.
Finding them was a little bit more difficult.
A few of the flowers were seasonal, and tracking them down was both time-consuming and would be rather costly. Willow had always expressed her opinion on him spending too much money on her, preferring inexpensive, heartfelt gifts. His flower crown would certainly be heartfelt, but he didn't want to upset her with expense.
As it turned out, the solution came from Luz.
"Why don't you grow them yourself?" she asked, flashing a deck of plant glyphs. That made him slap himself in frustration. Duh!
He'd bought seeds for all of the flowers — much cheaper than the full-grown specimens — and spent a week using plant glyphs to grow them. It was tricky to visualize them, but after several hours each, he figured out how to create them without even needing a seed to start with.
Then came perhaps the most challenging part: the actual weaving.
Hunter's first attempt was full of bravado and confidence in his "prodigious" talents to weave a perfect crown on the first try. Oh how naive that idea was! His first flower crown looked more like a bird's nest than an orderly crown.
It took another week or so of weaving practice to make something that closely resembled the casually clean lines of Willow's crowns. Another week to smooth the design even more and to figure out how to arrange the flowers in the pattern he wanted.
Finally, after nearly three weeks of planning — all the while trying to keep it a surprise for Willow — Hunter had it all planned out. He'd arrange for a picnic at the plains at the foothills of the Knee where they could watch the sun begin to set and he could casually grow his flowers and start to weave them. He'd considered weaving the crown beforehand, but decided that Willow deserved fresh flowers.
Finally, the day came and Hunter picked Willow up on his own staff capped with his palisman, the first one he had carved under Dell's guidance. Lupa, the wolf. Flapjack's little sister, as far as anyone was concerned.
"What are you planning?" Willow asked with an easy smile.
Hunter froze like a rodent under a snake's gaze in the middle of spreading the picnic blanket. "Uh, w-what'd you mean?"
"Your scars get darker when you're planning something sweet and romantic," Willow pointed out. Her smile turned a bit sad at the mention of the scars and the memories of Belos's final act of cruelty to Hunter, but she shook it off and pushed her glasses up her nose with her middle finger. "So, what's the surprise?"
"You'll see," he said in mild defeat. He may have lost some of the element of surprise, but he was determined to surprise her in some way!
"Okay," she giggled and began spreading out food.
The next two hours were wonderful, an easy afternoon of good food, pleasant chatter, time with their palismen, and cuddling under the sun of the demon realm. They spoke of everything and nothing, from their classes in their final year of Hexside, to comparing hang-outs with their various mutual friends, to discussing their hobbies of horticulture and palisman carving.
"How are Dell and Gwen?" Willow asked, her head resting on Hunter's toned stomach like a pillow as she fiddled with a blade of grass.
"The same as always," Hunter said, smiling fondly at the mention of his adopted/foster-grandparents/genetic descendents. Upon the revelation that Caleb Wittebane had been both Hunter's genetic template and an ancestor of the Clawthorne family, the Clawthornes had joyfully brought him into the family. It turned out that he, of all people, had begun the tradition of carving palismen that had grown to become a trademark of the clan.
Willow settled her head back into Hunter's lap as he continued to talk about his great aunt and uncle, as he tended to refer to them. Hunter, for his part, smiled and kept up the chatter as he covertly traced plant glyphs next to the blanket to produce the flowers he needed, weaving them into the end goal of this date.
"… And then the Bat Queen got involved and her kids settled down really quickly after that," Hunter said as he tied the last stem of the flowers into place.
"It's nice that they're better behaved than when we first met them," Willow sighed. Then she blinked her eyes open at a faint pressure on top of her head. She reached up and carefully took it from her head … and gasped with wonder at the flower crown. "Hunter …" she said, looking up at him.
"You always make them for me," Hunter said sheepishly. "I thought I'd try to return the gesture." He pointed to the crown. "Try and guess the flowers?"
"Iris," Willow said, pointing to a purple flower. "Edelweiss," for a collection of tiny white flowers. "Morning glory," she identified for another purple flower, this one a bell-shape. "Gladiolus," she pointed to a reddish collection, "bleeding hearts,"a red-purple, heart-shaped flower, "and lily of the valley," tiny white bells.
"And their meanings?" hunter prompted, eye twinkling.
"Tell me," Willow said, her cheeks pink. Hunter had a strong feeling that she knew already, but she wanted him to tell her. She often claimed to enjoy the sound of his voice, and it melted his heart every time she said it.
"Gladiolus represents integrity, strength, and victory," hunter revealed, "perfect to represent you, Captain." He smiled and moved on. "The iris means wisdom and respect, fitting for such a wonderful witch. Edelweiss means courage and devotion. Lily of the valley stands for purity, happiness, luck, and humility - all things you have brought into my life." He was blushing hard now, but kept going. "Morning glory signifies affection," he wove his fingers with those of her free hand, "and bleeding hearts mean passionate romance," he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. "My love."
Willow was smiling joyously as she placed the flower crown back to settle around her temples … then grabbed his face in her hands and pulled him forward for a deeper, fiercer, more passionate kiss. She bowled him over and kissed him like a freezing witch basking in the heat of a fire.
"I love you, Hunter," she whispered against his lips when they finally parted.
"I love you too, Willow," Hunter whispered back.
And together they sat and watched the sunset, flowers growing all around them.
Day Two of Huntlow Week! Hope you liked it!