The Realm of Light

Chapter III: The Bloom of First Love

The morning after the ball Elwin apologized to Maximilian for leaving the event so early. To make up for it, Elwin spent the day with his old friend, as Maximilian gave him a personal tour of the palace. While walking, they discussed the upcoming spring festival that was meant to take place later on that very day.

As the hours passed by, the pair found themselves walking towards the palace's indoor garden. While Elwin peered through the glass, observing the mystic plants, Maximilian checked his pocket watch and realized he had matters to attend to before the parade began.

"Forgive me Elwin, I must go and prepare for the upcoming festivities." Said Maximilian. "Would you care to join me?"

"Actually, I would like to take this opportunity to tour the palace garden." Elwin responded, still admiring the flowers on the other side of the glass wall . "I promise to talk to you again after the parade."

"Very well, my friend. I shall see you again later." With that, Maximilian strode off leaving Elwin by himself.

Elwin opened the door in front of him and walked into the garden. It looked like a magnificent greenhouse with a large variety of mystic plants and flowers, all being maintained by Elven magic. Every flower Elwin walked past began to blossom and glow in his presence. As he made his way through the garden all the flora bowed before him.

It was not long before Elwin realized that he was not alone, for soon he spotted a young woman attending to the flowers. The woman wore a cotton bonnet and a matching blue apron, which made Elwin assume she was a simple gardener, but when he took a closer look at the woman he realized that she was using elven magic to make the flowers bloom.

He reached out for her shoulder and said, "Excuse me, miss?"

Startled by his sudden touch, the woman jumped and whipped her head around to face Elwin. Her bonnet toppled off of her head as she moved, revealing an abundance of vibrant pink tresses.

"Princess?" Elwin said, obviously taken aback. Standing before him was a slightly dazed Princess Fae.

After a moment, Fae swiftly regained her composure, and dropped to her knees, to kneel.

"I apologize, your grace! I didn't realize anyone else was in the palace garden." While she was kneeling Fae did not notice that Elwin bent down and offered her his hand. When Fae lifted her head, she took his hand and he helped her stand up straight.

"I must have given you a fright, I apologize for that." Elwin chuckled apologetically.

"It's quite alright. I didn't expect anyone else to be here since the parade is meant to take place in but a few hours. Shouldn't you be getting ready?" She asked.

"Shouldn't you?"

An awkward silence filled the air as Fae didn't respond. Instead she meekly began to fidget with the white fabric of her dress. Elwin directed his attention to the flowers that she blossomed. They were much larger and more vibrant than the rest.

"Did you do this?" He asked while motioning towards the flowers.

"Oh, yes it's just a hobby of mine." She walked over to the flowers and began to use her magic on the buds again.

"You're a very powerful elf, Princess Fae." Elwin complimented. It was true. Most elves only possess minimal power used for basic levitation spells, but Fae was able to use her mystic energy to speed up the aging process of the flowers and cause them to bloom more beautifully.

"It's not that impressive, my father can do it as well." She shrugged.

"I know, who do you think taught him?" Asked Elwin.