Moon Flowers (Book 1 of the Flower Trilogy) #Wattys2016 #Featured

CHAPTER SEVEN - HALIA (Edited)

HALIA'S POV

I could not shut my eyes that night, as I lay in the shoe sole. I stared at the ceiling above me and I thought of the king's proclamation.

Could it really be the two strangers from my dream? Could Phi be right about my gift?

Of course, who was I to think I could be a fairy this powerful? I was only a Last-born, a child. How could my abilities compare to those of the Elders? But another part wanted it to be true. I wanted the change. After all, I had felt it in my gut. A sensation so intense, I could hardly deny it.

I focused on the dream and tried to make out their faces. I wanted to know who they were, and what news they were bringing.

I stayed like this, immobile for a long time. I heard Aras's breathing slow down as she dozed. It soothed me and eventually I, too, fell asleep.

The following morning, I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and I noticed that Aras had once again left the nest before I even woke.

She must have gone prepare for the mysterious guests.

I listened closely to a sound on the wind. Phi and her grandmother were singing. The song was beautiful but I could not understand it. It was their own language.

In the community, we came from different countries and centuries. This meant that we often spoke different languages. For all to communicate and understand, we used a language called Tecumseh, an ancient language, mother of all tongues. Adam and Eve spoke Tecumseh at the beginning of times, Grannie has said; and most importantly, no one had taught us this language, rather it was innate.

I am not sure if it was because I was recovering from a sickness or if it was because I had danced half the night, but I felt like I imagine the dwarfs and goblins feel when they drink too much cider. I gathered the strength to get out of bed and walked to the entrance to the nest. I sat there and let my legs dangle outside. I looked at the scenery, the alley. The sun was out but it was still raining, washing winter away.

A rainbow. My eyes widened.

A rainbow is no shooting star, but that day I made a wish. Please, Mother, let our days in this awful place come to an end. I closed my eyes tightly. May I come of age and live in the wild.

I was not the strongest believer in the community. I often doubted—if not the Mother's own existence—her intentions. I was not normally the kind to believe in superstitions. But that day, I figured it cost me nothing to try.

What would life would be as a young nymph? Would I be a Nereid living in the seas, an Oceanid in the oceans, a hyade in the rain—to become a star once I died—a Linnade living in the lakes, a Potamide in a river, or a Dryad in the forest? There were so many possibilities.

In any case, the kind of nymph I would become was not up to me. Although my race was determined by blood (I am a nymph as my mother was before me), the ancient spirits were said to be the ones who would decide my kind during the aging ceremony. They would choose it as per the Mother's needs at the moment of the ceremony. If She needed someone to watch over a river, so be it; if She needed someone to watch over the rain, so be it.

I did not see Phi until she appeared in front of me, her hair and wings wet with rain. Startled, I fell backwards and found myself with the bottom on the intertwined twigs that constituted the floor of my home.

"Hah, look at you!" she said, laughing.

"I didn't see you coming," I replied, my cheeks warming.