Near the meadows there stood a cluster of trees, surrounded by trees that were surrounded by trees in turn. Through this not-quite-a-forest ran a small river, and just off of its bank bloomed several sorts of flora, namely gardenias and forget-me-nots.
It was nearly afternoon when a pair of light-haired children sat on a log and gathered handfuls of flora for a matter of utmost importance: flower crowns!
Clémentine, who beamed bright as the morning sun, sorted the flowers they had gathered thus far. Rather than type or color or size, they organized them purely using intuition, noting which plants would serve best as bases, centerpieces, fillers, and details.
Meanwhile their companion, Cole, who's eyes were dark and cool as shade in the afternoon, sat deep in focus, working with a few spare stems to figure out how Clémentine ever did braid them together so neatly.
Hardly containing excitement, Clementine picked up three of the flowers they had been sorting and presented them to Cole.
"Here, pick your favorite! I wasn't sure which to put at the front, I love all three" they pushed the flowers a bit closer as Cole immediately looked up from what they were doing to acknowledge their companion.
After some very careful observation (Cole was a bit indecisive), they picked out a creamy white gardenia from the trio of plants.
"This one's got rounded petals, it's almost like a crown jewel," they justified.
Satisfied with that answer, Clementine nodded and put the flower Cole chose in their right hand, holding the others still with their left.
"Good choice! I think I'll put it with these ones," they turned back to continue inspecting the other flowers they had been working with and Cole returned to their poor attempt at twisting the flower stems together. Perhaps they could ask Clémentine for some assistance once they were finished with their task...
The pair of children worked beside one another, in a light and comfortable silence that was interrupted every so often by Clémentine asking for some advice, or Cole humming random little tunes. The latter child had started to form something that looked vaguely akin to a braid, but the ends kept coming undone.
"Ta-da! Take a look," Clémentine presented an assortment of flowers to Cole, a look of accomplishment embellishing their face.
"What do you think about these ones? I'm going to weave them in with th-" they then glanced at the attempt Cole had made at a base for the flower crown.
The child with golden curls set the blossoms they had been holding down to their side with a small giggle.
"Ahaha, sorry, I may have gotten carried away with choosing flowers, I forgot to ask if you needed any assistance," Clémentine placed their hands on the floor in front of them and leaned onto them.
Meanwhile Cole was relieved, revealing to the other child a sheepish smile through the long strands of hair over their eyes.
"Don't be sorry, I was getting the hang of it. Erm, sort of," they had chuckled along with them.
Cole nodded when Clémentine placed a hand near the braided stems, willing them to pick them up.
"Let's try from the beginning. Like this..."
In wonder and a bit of stray confusion, Cole watched their companion and tried their best to follow each instruction with some new stems they had been given. It was nowhere near perfect, but certainly a step up in their eyes. It had seemed that Clémentine agreed, although most things Cole did were the coolest in the world to them. They had also created another base so that they could make two crowns.
"Perfect. And now for the prettier part," they and Cole had moved so that they were sat across from one another, with the different piles of flowers in between them as Clémentine explained what each group's purpose was.
"These ones can be centerpieces, but they're large and should be evenly spaced," they started, "and these can go as details or fill in any large empty spaces. And these are just the prettiest ones."
The children decided to gift their crowns to one another once finished, but found it pointless to keep their products a secret, considering that both had already seen most of the components going into them.
Whilst Cole seemed to prefer using more neutral shades and intricate leaves, Clémentine included plenty of brighter blues and yellows. Talking and singing about both anything and everything, the duo weaved the plants together until they were both satisfied with the end results.
"How about we both close our eyes, and then hand the crowns to each other?" Cole suggested.
"Okay, ready," their partner responded as they both closed their eyes.
"Yes. Three, two, one... swap," and so they did, as well as putting the crowns on their own heads, then opening their eyes.
"Ooh, you look so... princely!" Clémentine was excited about coming up with such a description. Cole smiled back at them.
"Do you really think so? I like how mine looks on you as well," they added.
Carefully, Clémentine leaned forward to adjust the other child's crown a bit, causing them to panic slightly due to the unexpected closeness.
"It was turned a bit to the side," they explained, but then they didn't move back immediately. Clémentine brushed a piece of long hair away from Cole's dark eyes, this time with an innocent yet almost knowing smile as their only explanation. Grabbing Cole's palm firmly, they finally leaned back a bit.
"Should we bring the rest of these flowers back for the others? Maybe Kingsley could add a few to their collection of... well, whatever they collect," they laughed softly, breath escaping into the wind.
Relaxing into the familiar warmth of their hand, Cole responded, "It would be a waste to leave them here, seeing as they've already been picked. Although, I do have one idea, it'll only take a second. Close your eyes?"
Clémentine did as they asked, feeling something light and dewey around their wrist that had been holding Cole's. After a few seconds, it seemed to be done.
"Okay, you can open them," and they did so.
"Ah, that's so neat!" A bright blue forget-me-not had been tied around their wrist, forming a bracelet of sorts. You couldn't see the knot because it was tied on the part of the stem underneath the petals. Cole blushed a bit at the sudden praise.
"Here, let's do one for you, too," they suggested, picking a golden-yellow dandelion for Cole and tying it onto their wrist. "Now we're matching, see?"
Both the children held out their hands with "DIY bracelets" on them to admire their work. Neither could help but feel free, when surrounded by green and blue, forest floor and open sky, love and like the same.
"Surely Perrine will be upset if we don't return for lunch. Perhaps we should be on our way," Cole stated.
With a nod, Clémentine agreed, "You're right, we should. But before we go..." they said fondly.
A single kiss was planted on Cole's cheek, to which they froze for a second, face growing pink as the culprit themselves stared lovingly.
"You... always catch me off guard, aha."
"Life is full of surprises."
•••
Fun fact: both flowers in the title of this tale require sun in the morning and shade from the afternoon :-)
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☁️ • Promises Cerulean • (Colentine)
Fanfiction🌼 "In the garden, there's a promise" 🌾 In Meadowlark, it is tradition to dye one's pinkie nails in order to seal a special promise. What you'll discover within are tales untold of two with matching promises, sealed in sky blue. Come one, come all...
