Moonflower

Chapter 2: The Gentle Gardener

"Is someone there?" The soft, melodious voice filled his ears with its soothing tones.

"Yes," he mumbled into the dirt.

"Oh, dear. Are you on the ground?" came the sweet voice again.

"Indeed," Yoongi responded dryly.

His face was beginning to ache where it had been sliced open. He could feel his blood dripping into his eye and seeping down his cheek. He pushed himself up off the ground and sat down on the damp soil. He saw the outline of a slender form looming over him a moment later.

"Please keep talking to me," she requested in her clear voice.

She wanted him to keep talking? That was rather odd, wasn't it? Then it occurred to him that this corner of the garden was quite dark. She probably couldn't see him, yet she was headed his way to help him.

"I'm right here," he replied.

"Ahh. Yes, I can tell now. Your voice is quite near." She took two more tentative steps in his direction before coming to a stop. "What happened? Are you all right?"

She had heard his sharp exhalation of breath a few moments before. And the clanging of the rake as it hit the ground.

"Are you hurt?" She knelt down next to him.

"I sliced my face open on something. Is there a rake here? I still can't see anything, really."

Her lips twisted.

Ironic.

He couldn't see anything?

"I don't know."

"Can you go get a torch?" he asked.

She didn't respond. Instead she reached out and touched his shoulder. Her fingers slid slowly up his shoulder until they found his neck. Then they traced a path up to his cheek. He sat frozen. Her touch was unleashing a torrent of odd and unfamiliar sensations in his gut. Not to mention the electricity that was traveling through his face at the contact of those fingertips. As her hand lightly cupped his cheek, she asked him a question.

"Which side of your face did you cut?" She swiped her thumb across his left cheek but didn't contact anything slick.

"The other side," he murmured, completely distracted by her touch.

Her other hand came up and brushed his right cheek. She felt the blood and gasped.

"There's a lot of blood here! We must get it to stop bleeding! Come with me!"

Her fingers traveled from his cheek, down his neck, to touch his shoulder. Was she trying to drive him mad? The shock of those fingertips was every bit as strong as the electricity that had flowed from her right hand a moment before when she had touched the other side of his body. Now her fingers slid down his arm until she found his hand. She closed her fingers around it and tugged as she stood up.

"Come!"

Her command was quite imperious. Perhaps, she would like to be queen. He would gladly hand the kingdom to her. Slowly, she drew him towards the opposite corner of the garden. It wasn't until they passed a burning torch a minute later, that he saw her fingers sliding along something at hip-level. His keen eyes sharpened. What was that?

He reached out and ran his finger through the air where her hand had just been. He was shocked to discover a string running parallel to the ground there. He continued to trace its path with his finger. Was she using this as a guide rope? But why? The path was better lit here closer to the palace.