Collaterals

Where They are not Native

It was not yet noon when they'd arrived, and so the sun was not yet so sharp, its rays gentle as they settle atop the flowers. And the flowers...Leila's mouth had gone ajar, eyes lighting up as she straightened, craning her neck as though she could see further back. The different kinds of flowers were planted in plots of land, separated by lines of soil so thin one could scarcely see them through the overgrowth. And the felid...it must have spanned for kilometers upon kilometers, Leila's eyes failing to see past the horizon. And it was at the horizon she looked, even as she placed her hand in the one Khaled offered. She jumped onto the wooden dais, straightening her training pants so they were flattering atop her. She could imagine how Zarqa would have looked her over, scowling at her choice of dress. The thought brought a smile to Leila's face: it was a shame both Zarqa and Haitham were pre-occupied. Leila looked up, past Khaled and the wooden Dias, to the sea of color ahead; how nice it would have been, to share this with all her siblings.

"How could anyone say no to this?" Leila asked as she stepped forward, moving down the steps of the dais.

Only Boody— or rather, his governess— had responded to their call. As though summoned by Leila's thoughts, the young boy zoomed past Leila— Governess in step behind him—his hands out as he jumped onto the soil, running into the open field, shouting, "Flower! Flower!"

Ali came in step with Leila— Khaled stepping aside— hands behind his back, "The Diviners know best when not to disturb Zarqa. There are times when it is best to keep her with the flame. As for Haitham..." Ali made a face, shrugging his shoulders as he put his forearm out for Leila to lean on. Leila gave a polite smile as she laced her hand around his arm.

Khaled moved in step with Ai, "I'm sure he had a prior engagement."

Ali scoffed, "He does seem to have a great many of those these days."

Leila glanced behind her, where Captain only gave her a nod in assurance. She looked ahead once more as they stepped onto the soil. The leather of her shoe sunk into its fertile depths, "Oh...my. This soil is not from Aradia, is it?"

Khaled all but beamed in pride, leaning forward as he tried to face her from next to Ali, "It is not! My father was on a trip across the sea. Up north. We were the first to trade with the Switz, and the idea of trading soil, well...it was certainly not of the norm ant the time. We did not know that it work, even."

"You traded them soil?" Leila asked, holding her hand out to feel the flowers as they moved through them.

He nodded, "For cotton and rice. We sent some of our men to learn how to plant and care for the different breeds. In turn, they sent some of their brighter students to us. We sponsored them as they studied in the universities of the Capitol."

"You should have seen this place a decade ago. Two plots of Alpine Lilly, was it?"

Khaled nodded, "And Gentain. It was not easy to figure out the irrigation system, what with this land bing further from the rivers."

Leila nodded along as she brought herself closer to a flower, smelling it before she continued to move on. Each few meters lent itself to different colors, different odors, different feels to the hand and different depths to the ground beneath her. It was as though she'd traveled to a different place with each step of her foot, like she'd smelt and touched worlds she'd never seen.

"Flower attack!" Boody jumped from beneath the flowers, where they had not seen him, small as he was, throwing his weight onto the back of Ali's knees so the Prince fell onto the soil. Leila gasped as both her and Khaled jumped to the side. Behind them, the Governess squealed in horror, a had atop her mother as the boy ran off, screaming, "You can't catch me!"

Leila's eyes went wide, looking to the back of her brother's head as he propped himself on an elbow. She pursed her lips between her teeth in nervousness, looking up at Khaled, who seamed to be holding back his bouts of laughter. It was Ali who first broke the silence, spreading the dirt away from his eyes before he ran a hand through his hair and  jumped to his feet. By then Khaled had shared in the laughter, looking to Leila so, like a cold in the middle of December, she caught on to their joy as well. All having broken their demure, clutching their abdomen in laughter Ali clapped a hand atop Khaled's shoulder before running off behind his brother, "Oh, yes I can!"

The pair simply continued to laugh, watching as the two boys made their way through the thin soil line. It was with surprise that Leila realized that she had not envisioned Ali to have such a boyish side, running freely as he did behind their little bother, clothes now thoroughly soiled. Or perhaps she had not envisioned that the heir to a kingdom, one as serious well-boding as Ali, would laugh at being pushed into soil.

Khaled was the first to pull himself together, "Oh, I do hope they don't run too far off." He glanced behind him, where the Royal Gaurd was moving through the fields as quick as they could. Khaled gave a look of concern, "I do not think the guards understand how to move through the fields...gently."

Leila simply began to move ahead, "I am certain they've been following him for long enough to know better."

Khaled looked away from the guards with difficulty, nodding along as he moved to her side, "I...suppose so."

"And so, how did you do it?"

Khaled creased his brows," What?"

"The irrigation?"

"Oh! Yes. Yes," His eyes lit up, straightening as they moved through the the fields. "A great deal of asking and reading. I went to the ancient sites. They say parts of these lands were once ruled by a different breed of people, the same ones who built pyramidal temples of stone and statues of false Gods. They say they were able to bid the river so that it  could flow in every corner of the land." Khaled looked out ahead, to the horizon, as though he could now see the the very sites he spoke of.  "And so I went where the fables were, and lo and behold: remnants of an irrigation system, hidden away below layers of sand and rock."

Leila creased her brows, "And what is there to do with layers of sand and rock?"

Khaled only smiled "Dig."

Leila shook her head, not entirely certain she understood much of anything. She looked about the fields as she began to formulate her next question, but her eye caught glimpse of...something. It peaked from between the flowers, like gold shimmering under the rising sun. Without much thought, Leila moved into a tangle of wildflowers. 

"Oh, Well," Khaled moved behind her. "I suppose this is...alright."

Leila crouched down, bringing her hand atop the flower. Its petals were white and almost triangular, arranged in such a manner that it reminded Leila of the snowflakes back in Tain, or of a geometric drawing of a star. In its core sat balls of golden pollen, seemingly woven into itself so that it looked like yarn. 

"A gem of the Switz, quite the rare find," Khaled said. 

Leila brought her hand to its petals, brushing its wooly texture. "It feels...out of place."

He smiled, "Sometimes the rarest flowers go with the wind, find themselves where they are not native. Still, I think it quite a beautiful thing, for them to thrive nonetheless."

Leila gave a hum in response. Though small, the flower easily out-shown the rest. Leila leaned forward. Khaled watched from behind her with a silent, observant kind of interest. Perhaps if she'd glanced behind her, looked at him, she'd seen that it was her he observed, her he found interest with. And, perhaps, if she'd been crouched in such a way that she faced him, she'd see how he cringed, shoulders lined with tension as he shrugged suddenly when Leila plucked the delicate flower from the ground.