Amara

There is a soft glow around you, and it carries you. "Mother would tell me stories of the flowers that our ancestors would grow in the spring," There's a wild unabashed smile on her face as she recalls her mother. Her golden eyes twinkling with happiness as she lays back on the picnic blanket, soaking up the warmth from the sun and the present company. "How big they'd bloom and all the vibrant colors-- People would come from far off places to walk my garden of my people, as the stories say. You couldn't buy them but--

..but you could ask for them. It was frowned upon hording them solely for yourself. If your intention was to bring them back to your neighbors and give them out, you would receive many."

Their food sat forgotten between them as neither of them had much of an appetite these day, but they had managed to take a few nibbles before getting caught up in the conversation. They had shared a spread filled with little sandwiches, desert squares and an assortment of cold drinks. Homemade, and the perfect food for a picnic.

"...Everything had been perfect before the plague."

The plague had happened years ago, and it had devastated her ancestors, but the pain of it had long lost it's sting. Although, the tragedy had reshaped their magic; the dead earth could no longer power their magic and to prevent themselves from losing their magic in it's entirety, they had turned to an alternate source, they had survived.

"Now.. We don't grow flowers any more, we buried those talents with the ones we lost to the plague, but we wear them on our clothes to remember."

She points to the outlandish floral pin on her lapel; it's gold inlaid with ruby gemstones in place of flower petals. "My grandmother was given this as gift when she married, a rival clan wishing for peace, and was passed down to me when she passed. It's all they gave me of her with no ashes to spread.. The same clan that begged her peace in the end were the ones that put her in the grave, they waited until she was too old to fight back, and stole away with her books and her tools, and burned her house down."

Her voice is light, informative, reflecting none of her personal feelings on the matter of her Grandmother's death.

"It's my most cherished possession."

Her companion reached out to hold her hand, giving what silent comfort they could as they let her continue to confess her troubles. This is what friends did for each other, especially when they didn't have much free time to spend with each other.

"---But I would trade it away in a heartbeat to bring my Grandmother back. I would give up all my magic to bring her back... and they.. they can do that. They're the ones that started the plague and killed my grandmother.. but if I give them my magic, if I cut them a deal.. they could bring her back.. and.. and that longing scares me, because without my magic, who would I be?"

She tightens her grip on their hand, worrying her lip between her teeth, "My family has lost so much magic, so much blood and here I am willing to give it up, something my cousins would kill over... Have killed for."

The clouds start to cover the sun as the wind picks up and the two of them lie their together, in peace and harmony, on the cusp of a tipping point.

"I wanted to learn how to grow flowers."