Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Terra

Chapter 9 Flowers That Bloom

 Crystal never appreciated being played for a fool. But the heartbreak she felt after she realized Jordan wouldn't come back with her to Barrow was immeasurable. She had put her trust in him only to realize that he may have run off with her own brother into a land that wouldn't hesitate to strike them both down dead. This was the news she heard from both Vincent and Ella after they arrived, claiming they had a new plan to deal with their enemy's upcoming attack.

So there she sat at the edge of town along the rocks that bordered one of their many waterfalls, waiting for the enemy to make their next move. The waiting continued to antagonize her. She was cursed to worry about the safety of her own family while having the duty of a princess to protect her own home. Not even the sound of waterfalls was enough to at least ease her pain for a moment. "Are you alright princess?" Lilac asked as she noticed that Crystal was sitting fairly close to the water.

Upon noticing her arrival, Crystal turned her head to one of their newest soldiers and got up from where she sat. "Please, just call me Crystal." "Well... alright Crystal. Are you going to be ok?" Lilac asked again. "I'm not sure how I can be. My boyfriend ran off with my brother into enemy territory. As you can obviously see, I'm doing just fine." "I just thought it was worth asking. If sitting here listening to the water doesn't help, you can just see what Ella is planning to do if you want?" Lilac said as she held out her hand to help Crystal move up the steep hill they were on.

Crystal accepted Lilac's reach without any other hesitation. The place she would lead her to would have been nonother than the flower shop that was recently given to the Kinrocs through a will. "What does Ella plan on doing?" Crystal asked Lilac. "Ella thought of a way for us to reach the dwarven airships with flaming arrows. All we needed to do was raise our elevation." And it wasn't just Lilac that had heard about what Ella was planning to do. A few soldiers were watching from the outside of the shop, waiting for Ella to quite literally work her magic.

Inside the store, Vincent was helping his own daughter look for a certain pouch of seeds. "Let's just use these. Does it really matter what kind of flower it is?" Vincent picked up a random pouch that was labeled 'snapdragon'. "Put that back. Mari gave her life defending and looking over this beautiful town. I'm going to continue to make sure that she still does. Here it is." As soon as Ella found what she was looking for, she picked up her desired pouch and headed outside with her dad. There, other soldiers were anticipating what she was about to do next.

Everyone around followed Ella to a certain location that was just on the outskirts of Barrow. The spot Ella thought of took a few minutes for them to reach but if Ella was going to plant the seeds she had anywhere, then it would have been best to make it seem like they were on top of the world. On top of the cliff where the waters fell off of its edge was the spot she was looking for as they all overlooked the town of Barrow. Given that Barrow was already lush with life, Ella didn't have to use so much of her energy and magic to get the results she wanted.

What started off as a small sprout turned into a giant stalk within seconds upon Ella planting the seeds she had in the ground and using her own magic upon them. Everyone watched just how strong Ella's magic had gotten as they watched the plant grow abnormally large. Large enough that she had a bet that anyone named Jack would have loved to climb whatever plant that was growing in front of them. The shear girth of the plant before them also had its roots traverse the ground they all stood on with one of the soldiers eventually tripping over. When the bud at the very top was finally ready to bloom, orange and yellow marigold petals sprouted like a new sun over the town of Barrow.

The soldiers became encapsulated by its beauty. Although, it wouldn't take long before one of them noticed something on the horizon after looking down at the wonders of plant magic. "Over there! An airship!" The soldier cried out to get everyone's attention. It became obvious that the dwarves were beginning their next attack from both the land and sky. "I want a few of our archers to climb up this flower, quickly! We can't help you if someone falls or if you accidentally burn it down. Know the risks and just go!" Crystal commanded a few of the soldiers that possessed a bow and five of them started to climb.