Catalyst - 2021

ch 6 - new leaves

Hycein couldn't believe their eyes. Calico was here, even after what she had seen this morning she was here and in the castle gardens. 

"Hycein," it was the same soft whisper they had used. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I..." they didn't have a good answer in the end, "I just wanted to not be the Knight Odollam for a bit. I didn't lie though."

"You didn't tell the whole truth either." Hycein shied away, and she chased their eyes when they turned away, "Look, Hycein, who are you? Are you the person I met yesterday or the one I saw today in the market?"

She was asking with an open mind, she wasn't immediately running away. Hycein couldn't tell if this was a game or if she was just someone else looking to get close to Odell like last time. Regardless, honesty was the noble thing to do here, "I want to be the person you met yesterday, if the person you saw today will let me be that." 

"Why can't you just be who you want to be? You are not a catalyst... or are you?" Callicarpa looked Hycein up and down but didn't see any visible bands that would be used to mark them a catalyst for someone. 

"No, I am no one's catalyst, but it's only because no one has wanted to try to pull my affinity into themselves. They are worried about what would happen to them if they held my affinity given that just a finger touch of it to someone else ends their life." A deep sadness pulled their chest and throat closed. 

"Then leave." 

Hycein blinked at the sheer audacity of this woman. Just leave she says, as if the second most powerful man in the whole kingdom didn't have them under his thumb. Exacerbated, Hycein rubbed their face before pointing at her with both of his hands. 

"And before you say anything about your employer, the power you wield for him could be used against him too." She said it with the blankest of faces. 

Hycein dropped to their knees, head in hands. They could hear their heart race in their ears and the air was too hot to breathe. That was treason. Cut and dry treason. The only reason they were not hanging from the gallows right now is because they were a dog on the Prince's leash but killing Odell; now that was a crime punishable by something far worse than a short drop. 

"You," their stomach didn't want to keep down their lunch, "you need to leave. The walls have ears here and your words have a weight you have no understanding of."

Calico knew she had overstepped, she took a few steps past them before turning back, "Do you often walk these gardens?" 

"I tend to always end up in gardens when I walk while my memory gaps out." 

"Then I will see you again, the King himself has allowed me access to these gardens so long as I am supervised." Calico gave a soft smile to Hycein before she turned away. 

They watched her go, coming up to a florist as they tended a sickly calla lily asking to be walked back to the gate. Hycein half wished to walk her there themselves but they knew it was improper to do such things. 

Hycein turned to leave, Callicarpa would be safe under the florist's watchful eyes. A faint sparkle at the corner of their vision caused them to look back. Calico and the florist had walked off but something was a miss... the scene wasn't right. Where was the sick and wilted calla lily? 

Hycein walked over to the cluster of flowers and found only healthy and lively ones. There was no sick calla lily there, however, there was one very green, very strong, and very healthy calla lily in the cluster. Hycein studied the flower closely, this florist was very talented at bringing plants back to life, they must have been one of the senior florists on staff and a very strong plant affinity. 

Brushing the dirt from their breeches, Hycein returned to their wandering of the gardens. If someone needed them, they would send a page to find them.