Flauraan

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

I sat in front of Sophie in the living room, patiently waiting as she fiddled with the rough braid she'd been working on for the past hour. It was beginning to become tiring, sitting there on the floor, unable to move, but I knew it would be unfair to complain. It wasn't Sophie's fault that this simple hair style was failing her; it just wasn't in her skill-set. Despite her expertise and intricate ability to work with tiny little parts of machines, braiding hair, and doing it well, was far beyond her.

We were getting ready for the treaty presentation that day, where we would appear on stage in front of thousands of people. I knew that the highest leaders from both our races would be speaking as well as Criken and then Sophie and I would be tasked with something to symbolise the treaty. Therefore we were making sure we looked nice. I was wearing a plain, petite, silky purple skirt and a simple button-up shirt with short sleeves. Sophie was wearing a clean pair of dress pants she'd been lent and her ordinary blue tee, along with her standard boots. To glam it up a bit I'd braided Sophie's hair, and then once I was finished she had announced she was going to braid mine too. Since then she'd been struggling, and I sympathised with her as I could sense her frustration. As she tried to fold over two more locks of hair and they fell apart once more she gave an irritated, muted screech and I decided it was kindest to stop this now.

"Don't worry about it Sophie." I told her, pushing her hands back from my hair and turning round to face her. "It doesn't matter."

She looked disappointed and ashamed that she hadn't been able to do it, so I quickly determined a compromise.

"I've got a better idea." I stood up, and taking her hand I left the house, pulling Sophie along beside me and heading for the forest.

"Wait, what are we doing?" she asked, confused as we entered into foliage. I tried to ignore the sight of blackened trees not far from where we were passing through. Flashes of the Weraynian appeared in my head; especially the moment I realised he had control of the weapons and he set fire to my forest. Moving further onwards, away from the charred remains of once beautiful trees, I tried to push the thoughts of the past couple of days out of my mind. Today was a day of celebration not mourning. To distract myself I addressed Sophie's question, shaking my head and urging her forward.

Finally we arrived, in a tiny, hidden grove amongst the leafy plants and stopped.

Sophie exhaled softly, awestruck. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah." I smiled as I stooped to pluck from the ground a few of the wild flowers that made this place so enchanting. The flora here was in all colours, and they scattered in a pattern that seemed to be calculated to be pleasing to the eye, beside a small, clear pond that they drew moisture from.

I pulled myself upright again and handed Sophie half of the flowers.

"Just kneel here." I told her and she did, sinking into the soft down with a confounded look on her face. I laughed softly at the expression, and knelt beside her, undoing her braid.

"Aw, Abi!"

"Trust me." I said, and she conceded, letting me pull her hair apart completely.

I then proceeded, gently, quickly, to thread the small flowers into her brown curls, pinning them in by the short stems and I knew Sophie was smiling as she realised what I was doing.

Once I was done, I turned around and allowed her to weave her flowers into my hair. She did this much more easily than braiding and within a few minutes we were done, and we both looked quite pretty in my opinion. Grinning fondly at each other, we hiked back up the hill and, knowing we had to be at the Counsel building early for the ceremony to be explained to us, started our trip into town.