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

Book 2 - Snow Flowers - Chapter 4 (Part 2)

MOISA'S POV

The village was very agitated that evening. I could not understand why until I noticed a circle form around a red-haired fairy.

I did not recognize her at first. I thought she was yet another creature who had come from the so called Old World to invade our land.

"Who is she?" I said aloud, without realizing.

"That girl?" Eskain said, pointing at the creature. "That's Halia. She is the girl who killed the Evil King."

That crawny little creature? I thought. A war hero?

I thought Eskain was mocking me. But humor was not something she was capable of. It had to be true.

"Why haven't I seen her before?" I asked.

"You did," she replied. "You saw her on the mound the day we buried your son and Phi – she was a close friend of Phi's."

The name of the red-eyed princess made me cringe. She was a witch, responsible for my son's death. I even didn't like the sound of her name in a sentence with my son's.

"I don't remember her," I insisted. "I don't recall her living here with us."

"Yes," Eskain said. "You are right. It is my understanding that she had chosen to live in the sea to better cope with the death of her loved ones."

In the sea? I wondered. Why didn't she just stay there?

"I think she is coming back to see if she can be queen," Eskain said, as if she heard my thoughts. "The fairies are not happy here, mainly because of the cold shoulder you and the other creatures give them. They want to return to the Hidden Land – something they cannot do without a royal."

Eskain, an old creature that tenait plus des marmottes que des oiseaux-tonnerres because of her prominent teeth, was the only one of us who truly took a liking in the strange creatures from outerland. She had found in her heart a reason to befriend the witch, and still mixed in their community enough these days to report to me whatever was happening in their lives.

I always admired the fact she was so neutral. She turned out to be a great conseillère. Although I admit that often, I preferred to turn a blind eye to her words. I still had too much anger towards the creatures. I only let them stay with us because of the bind the witch had cast on us. A promise I tried to break once, but found myself unable to.

Now I only hoped the stranger creatures would find our manners unwelcoming enough that they would leave us alone, on their own.

In a way, them returning to the Hidden Land would accomplish just that. But another part of me thought that they also had no claim on such land. It was the land of our ancesters. How dared they say it was theirs?

In a way, not allowing them to leave would also give me more time to torture them some more.

I stared at the mysterious creature that had cause quite the stir. Halia. She drank the tea Aras, another creature with hair as red as hers, presented her with. She drank it whole and feasted on the plate of fruits a dwarf placed before her. Avidly. As if she hadn't drank or eaten in a long time.

"What did you eat with the Oceanids?" a child they called Ianthe asked.

"Raw sea weeds," Halia replied.

"Was it any good?" Flora asked.

The creature shrugged. "It's not that their cuisine is not good," she said. "It's just that when you live in cold water for so long, it's nice to eat something warm for a change."