Once Upon a Winter's Spring

15. Poor Unfortunate Soul

After the dance, Aidoneus was even more so on Kori's mind than before. Much of her days were spent idly laying by the fountains, running her hands through the water, talking to her imaginary lover. Other times, she'd play with one of the many gifts he'd sent her over the years; not all of them were dolls. He'd send her combs and jewels and sometimes even a dress or two.

Her nymph friends watched her with amuse as Kori danced about the garden island, wearing her gowns and jewels, humming a tune by herself. The young spring goddess often forgot her duties, but her good friends covered up the work so Demeter wouldn't yell at her.

"Oh, she's got it bad, doesn't she?" The pink nymph asked the orange one as they sat on a tree root, eating fruit and drinking nectar as they watched Kori waltz by herself.

"What? What's she got?" A teal nymph asked.

"Isn't it obvious, Minthe? Aurora's in love!"

"OoOoh!" The nymphs collectively shrieked together.

Kori heard them coo and stopped dancing in embarrassment.

"Oh, but you were doing so well, your highness!"

"You're all the worst!" Kori grabbed the cape in her hands and ran to the pool, drooping over the wall.

"What's he liIike?" The yellow nymph asked in a childlike voice.

"Yeah! Tell us! Pleeease??!"

"Oh alright!" Kori pushed her hand through the water, splashing her friends as she sat on the edge.

"He's amaazing!" Kori began, dreaming already. "He's so tall! Taller than father, even! His frame is, is just right! The right arms, to wrap around me." She wrapped her own hands around her arms, pretending.

The nymphs giggled.

"He's perfect! As if he was made of marble! And as strong as it too! Probably. And his hair!" She swept a hand through her own hair, pretending it was his.

"Darker than the night! And not a strand imperfect. And his eyes! Oh his eyes!"

Kori drooped over the pool again, lost in his eyes.

"Tell us! Tell us!"

"Oh they're goorgeous! They're so blue, even Poseidon must be jealous!"

"Oooh!"

"And they glimmer, under the right light. And when they look at me, I can see my own reflection!"

"Ahhh!" With a sigh, the nymphs drooped on the floor as well.

"I can't wait till I'm 15" She quietly whispered to herself and all the girls in the garden fell asleep.

The next couple of days weren't better. They were worse, if that could be imagined. Kori's lovesickness spread to all her friends, and they hummed and danced more frequently than nymphs usually did.

One particular morning, Kori couldn't even be bothered with getting out of bed. Still, her friends dressed her and dragged her out of her room, all the while she was still in a trance.

"Aurora! Wake up!" They yelled when they got to the stairs.

Kori woke up and ran down the stairs with her nymphs.

"Girls, why can't you just tell me what this is all about?"

"You'll see. It's a surprise!"

The nymphs dragged her to her little grotto in the hollow of a giant tree, where Kori hid all her trinkets from her mother.