Weakness

Chapter 4: Flowers and Ferns.

Iro was running through the night, the moon shine was the only light illuminating his way. His fogged mind had only one thought: prove to Eyes he can help. Yes indeed it's a terrible idea but since when was he ever one to sit and wait?

The Town of Fernhom is far from where they live, but it's always a treat to go. It's surrounded by a pine forest filled with many species of ferns, there's a castle in the middle but no leader; it's surprising but honestly impressive.
The town's markets are Iro's favorite; there is always so much to look at and he always achieves in convincing Eyes to buy the craziest shit he can see, Eyes secretly loves it.

The masked man stopped running, he may have a lot of endurance but not that much.
By then he continued by fast walking. He guided himself with the stars, having learned it when he was very young he now has almost perfected his reading of the thousands dots decorating the dark sky.
He started running again, determined.

The sun started peeking and the air smelled like fresh pine and wet grass. It must be 6pm or something close. The hero arrived at the entrance of the forest where the town resides. He loves this place, the mossy brick walls guarding the town, its colourful mosaics and tinted glass on the different houses, the market place in the middle of the village decorated by many different types of ferns and coloured flowers: mainly petunias and wisteria perched up on wooden trellises forming a dome above the plaza. It reminds him of Elisa and Eyes's room: full of plants and colours.

It's quiet since it's very early in the morning. He saw lights in the nearby bakery, the smell of fresh bread filled his nose. He advanced and sat on a bench not far away from the bakery.
He noticed the flower shop facing his direction was lit up, contrasting with the other buildings who were dead asleep. Weird he thought, the young masked man got up and approached the shop. The outside paint was a forest green covered in either orange or pink flowers, the shopfront displayed flowers and of course ferns of all kinds, he could see the interior, orange walls covered in vines. It seemed welcoming and comforting.
Maybe I could buy a plant for Eyes? Iro pondered, after all he did leave them rather rudely. He looked at the store's door to see the timetable, but to his surprise it was only written 'open' on a wooden decorated sign. The young man placed his hand on the door and opened it, it wasn't locked. He entered the shop, a bell rang as the door opened making his presence known.

There was nobody at the front desk, only a little flower sign saying 'I'll be right back :)'. Iro was starting to think maybe the store was left unlocked by accident but oh well might as well look around.
The store is fairly small but that might have to do with the large selection of plants, flowers and cacti. He observed a pot in the fern selection; it looked funny, it had leaf's shaped like half moons and a tail covered in tiny balls. Weird fern.

-"This variety is a Botrychium lunaria also known as moonwort ferns." A deep but calming voice said behind him, scaring the shit out of Iro who jumped away.
"Oh sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." The voice said apologetically.

Iro finally looked at them to calm his racing heart: he had long dirty blond hair in a ponytail, with a single white strand of hair, he was wearing a green apron, dark beige linen pants and boots, he also had a funky sweater on with tern pastel colours like dark greens and browns.Furthermore he seemed pretty tall, definitely more than two meters. But the most striking feature was his face, the right side of it seemed burned: burn marks just like the ones on Iro's hands, a scar running along the left side and striking turquoise eyes with cat-like pupils.

Turquoise eyes with cat-like pupils. Cat pupils. His face is familiar. Weird.

-"Oh...umm hello?" Iro managed to say.
-"Hello! Sorry again for scaring you." The man said, smiling.
-"Ah it's no big deal don't worry...umm is your shop open?" The young man suddenly felt somewhat embarrassed, scratching the back of his neck.
-"Yes the shop is open, I'll let you have a look around then." The tall man said and turned around to go behind his counter.