Catalyst - 2021

ch 7 - plans for balls and laws

The household went crazy when Callicarpa returned with news of her new employment opportunity with the castle. Never had they acted with royalty before. Lady Josiea threw massive garden parties and hosted others but they were always for the nobles and merchant class. No one from the royal line had ever had anything to do with a low-level noble like them; they had not received court invitations in over 8 seasons. 

Callicarpa's schedule shifted massively. No longer did she run markets in the morning but instead gathered flowers and made bouquets from sunrise to set. Orders from the castle were large and while they were spread out through the week it still doubled the load she already had. 

When she delivered their flowers, she always took the time to peruse their garden. Sketching flower arrangements on the parchment they provided her to offer the Head Bard for approval. So far they had not yet accepted one design in its entirety but she was bound to get one right they liked first try. 

In those quiet moments of sketching, she would often find Hycein, or they find her. There wasn't a lot of conversation that came to pass between them in these moments. Calico sketched and Hycein read what appeared to her as reports, marking them every so often. 

The quiet afternoon hour or two in the garden helped settle her as she began to get busier and busier. Whatever the King has in his court, the higher nobility wants in their court too, and so the bouquets from Lady Josiea's gardens that didn't wilt quickly were the most popular item. Calico had so many bouquets to make that she was often picking flowers after sunset for the next day because she didn't have time in the morning. 

Still, every other day she delivered bouquets to the throne room and then was led by a page to the gardens where parchment and charcoal waited for her. Today, the note 'The ball next week needs crawling table pieces that can go over the table runners.'  Ivy and moonflower would make the best base for that type of piece so she made her way to the back of the garden to lean against a tree as she sketched the plants that crawled up the walls. 

"Afternoon, Miss Callicarpa, mind if I join you at this tree?" Hycein joined her after a while, scrolls tucked below their arm. 

"Of course, Mx. Hycein." They had a lot more scrolls than normal and started to spread them out across the grass. "What are you working on this afternoon, if you do not mind my inquiry?"

"No mind, miss." Hycein and Calico had agreed to be overly formal and somewhat cold in these meetings, less someone find impropriety with it. "His Royal Highness is preparing to unveil a new law at the ball and has asked me to look into any contradicting laws." 

"Ah, could I inquire to the subject of the new law?" She sketched in soft roses to weave in with the moonflowers. 

"It is about catalysts." They rolled up one scroll to make room for another. 

"Well, it is about time they regulated how one person can basically take ownership of another to use their affinity and body however they please. Our kingdom outlawed slavery centuries ago and yet this still exists." The charcoal lines were a lot heavier than she had intended them to be. "Pardon my frankness, ser, I have seen many a friend mistreated once they are catalysts."

"No issue, milady, however, this isn't to regulate the sorcerers that control catalysts." Hycein took a breath to catch Calico's eyes. "This is regulating catalysts, and more importantly, all with the affinity that is not formally trained."

Her eyes were hot and darted back to her page. The air was stuffy suddenly. "Well surely our fair and just King will be regulating them to be formally trained such as Kasidena does so we can be a more well rounded and educated society." 

The air burned hotter in the silence. 

"It's to help those not formally trained get trained so we can have better lives... right?" Now she turned to Hycein who looked as if the air was just has molten hot to them too. "Hycein, it's a good law, right?"

The quiver of their lip and quick blinks told more than the little head shake they gave. "All those with the affinity, not formally trained are to be bound as catalysts to a master by age 12 for the safety of those without affinities."

The charcoal snapped in her hand. The stick stained the ghostly white skin of her fingers and hands. She couldn't breathe. 

A gloved hand lightly touched her arm, "Calico, breathe, it's going to be ok." Hycein's voice seemed so distant. "Your friends will be bound to Lady Josiea and that household, and from what you say, they are kind and will treat them well. You have nothing to worry about." 

She couldn't speak, they couldn't know now. It was impossible for them or anyone to ever know. Hycein was speaking more but the blood rushing in her ears drowned everything out. Everything she fought to control and push back was bubbling to the surface. She had to get home. She needed to be home where she could plan out her next steps carefully. 

Hycein watched her with growing concern. She was hyperventilating and no amount of soft nudges and snaps would draw her from her blank thousand-yard stare. They needed her back to reality because she couldn't get home like this. 

Anyone else the florists would have immediately kicked out and banned from their gardens but Hycein plucked a daffodil from the ground. The smell and force of a flower in her face wasn't enough, so even further Hycein pushed. Removing one glove they lightly touched the flower before putting their hand back into the glove. Slowly the flower started to wither and ashen in her face. 

This refocused her and she snatched the flower from their grasp. "Do not kill a flower in my presence, the audacity." 

Hycein sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "You gave me a fright there, I didn't think I would get you back from your panic." They stood and offered a gloved hand. "Let's get you home so you can rest." 

Calico sighed and it was clear that panic still held her but less so. Slowly she nodded, gathered her parchment and charcoal pieces, and took the offered hand to help her stand. 

"Please do not tell anyone about the new law, I would be in serious issues if you do and you would be heavily questioned and thought of as a spy," Hycien whispered to her as she set the parchment down in the box for the Head Bard to collect later. 

Slowly she nodded and waved a soft 'good-bye' to them before walking off to the florist to find their way home. Hycein worried for them but it wasn't like they could do anything. They would never be trusted with anyone's safety. 

Even still they watched her leave with the florist from the corners of their vision. They wondered if the florist had seen their tears and offered her the yellow flower she held. They had to still their heart and shove back the thought that if she had come back a few moments before they would have offered her a yellow flower too... if only fate wasn't so cruel.