The Gardenkeeper's Daughters

Lotus- 4

She's in my dreams again. I feel bad about telling my sister a half-truth: I smelled something besides fire. Of course, the creature I sniffed in those bushes did smell like smoke (maybe a fire Canira) but I still...

I still lied to Natrina.

Sisters aren't supposed to lie to each other. It's one of the big rules between Natrina and I, and I don't want to lose her trust.

Despite that, my mouth refuses to move when I want to tell her. Even here, in my dreams, I am unable to say anything to the shadowy spectre of Natrina. Instead, my sister's empty and disappointed eyes look back into mine and she shakes her head ever so slowly.

"I'm sorry," I say into the darkness. "I just didn't want to mention her."
Why not?

"She's a fire elemental, whoever she is. I don't... I don't think she's the one who burned down our forest. I think she's looking after us. No one who wants to hurt me ever shows up in my dreams. I think she's reaching out to me."
This seems to be good enough for the dream Natrina, who nods to me and walks quietly into the fog.

I wake up far more easily than I usually do, not jolted awake by nightmares or torn from good dreams. Instead, I just stand up and find leaves beneath my paws. Aislyn is sticking them around us tenderly, as if the placement of each one is very important.

"Aislyn? What are you doing?" I ask, looking down curiously at the leaves as Aislyn telekinetically places another one right beneath my front paw.
"You looked cold. You were shivering in your sleep." Aislyn whimpers. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No." I say. "I wasn't shivering. It was more of a shudder sort of thing. My dreams are usually not all that pleasant." I get up slowly, scattering her leaves which makes me far more guilty than it should.

"Oh." Aislyn says, "I got breakfast. Do you like fish?"

"I've never tried any. I always went for the land prey." I say, but before Aislyn can open her mouth again, I add, "But I'd absolutely love to try them!"

Aislyn's tail wags furiously. "Awesome! I caught five! They're really really fun to catch. Even without magic, you just sit there, take your paw, and-" She demonstrates with a wide sweep of her paw, which lands her quickly on her face as she loses balance. "Oof."

"I'm assuming you didn't do that." I say.

"No, then I'd be wet." she says cheerily, "Although that might be nice. It's so muggy out today!"

"Are you two coming out?" says Natrina from outside. I feel guilty just seeing her, already reliving my dreams from last night. You should've told her by now, Lotus, you butterfly brained idiot...

However, Natrina looks happier than she was last night. Her eyes shine with a sort of calm energy, and I don't want to tell her that I lied to her. Already it seems to be way worse in my mind then it could ever be in real life, but my mind is clinging on to the worst possible scenarios and it refuses to let go.

"I feel so much better." Natrina sighs. "Feels like I've lifted the weight of the world off my back. You don't realize it's there until it's gone, do you?"

I don't know how to answer her, so instead, I just take some quick bites of my fish. Immediately, my tongue rakes the slimy exterior and I want to throw it back into the water. My sister always jokes about how I must be the only Canis in all of Dreamland who's this picky with their prey, but she doesn't understand just how gross meat is.

It's another animal, and you're eating it.

They don't even taste that good, they're just warm and limp and nauseating.