The Witching Hour (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 14

"Faeryn, could you hand me that flower you were looking at? I need it for a potion."

I glanced over at Mother. I was sitting in a little clearing that we both loved and spent a lot of time in. I was sniffing a blue flower, but I wasn't sure what it was. There was only one; the rest still needed to bloom.

Mother sat on a bench in the middle of the clearing. Since it was the middle of spring, the leaves were already on the trees, so only a little bit of sunlight made it to the ground. The dappling of sunlight made Mother's light blonde hair sparkle like gems. Sometimes, I swore her hair was made of silver. Other times, it was made of liquid gold. Her blue eyes shone at me as she gave me a gentle smile. She looked so young, but I knew her looks were deceiving. She was much older. She appeared to be around twenty. She was the definition of perfect.

My head barely tilted. "There's only one."

She held out a slender hand. "I know, darling."

I frowned. "But there won't be any more if you take it."

Mother's lips barely parted as she thought over my words. She stood from the bench and walked to me, squatting beside me. She fingered the petals of the blue flower. "There are buds on this plant. There will be more soon enough. Taking one flower won't harm it. Many worse things could happen to it."

"It'll look ugly without it," I whispered while I stared at the lone flower.

Mother laughed. "Many things look ugly by themselves. Don't you see? This flower is lonely. There's no other like it. It will wither, and its beauty will fade before the others will bloom like this one. It will die alone. We might as well take it so it doesn't have to suffer through that."

I shuddered. "I don't want to die alone."

Mother stroked my black hair. "You won't, darling."

I looked up at her. She had her smile back. Her beautiful smile. I always wished to look like her. Instead, I had black hair and red eyes. Not very pretty. "I want to die with you."

Her smile disappeared. "I want you to live much longer than me, Faeryn. Don't wish that, please."

I looked away from her. "Of course, Mother."

I felt her hand on my back. "Faeryn, eventually, this lone flower will die. We can't help that. One day, this whole plant will die. We have no way of knowing how. One day, this tree beside it, giving it shade, will die. One day, perhaps this whole forest will be dead. I will be dead. Marak will be dead. Many things will be dead and will die within our lives. We must move on and find the beauty in everything. The living and the dead. Darling, nothing lasts forever, and you must remember that. I will die one day, and even though I don't want to leave you, I can't help that. Memento mori."

"Remember death," I said quietly. Mother lived by those words. Memento mori.

"Memento mei," Mother replied.

Remember me. I smiled up at her. "Of course. I always will."

Mother hugged me close to her. "I have the best daughter in the whole world, Faeryn. I'm grateful I have you."

I let her warmth envelop me. Her scent filled my head. She always smelled like flowers and the woods. I loved her. I never wanted to say goodbye to her. Never.