Novelty November 2020

Day 22: Butterfly Garden

Yukiko was waiting eagerly for the Portal to open since her friend, Kuro, was coming to Lylia to visit her. Her eyes widened and she jumped in excitement when he finally saw the Portal open and he stepped out to the waterfall garden. Kuro raised his head and was barely able to prepare himself for the sudden impact of Yukiko's hug. 

"Woah there, Yuki. What's gotten you so excited all of a sudden? It hasn't been that long since I last visited you."
After a few more pats on her head from Kuro, she finally let go and shook her head with a wide smile still resting on her face.
"That's not it, I know you've been here like three days ago! But there's something I wanna show you!"
Kuro rolled his eyes playfully and chuckled while Yukiko grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him along through the elven forest.

The sun was shining through the tree crowns, filling the forest with small beams of light and making it shine in a magical light. When they followed a pathway in the midst of many big cherry blossom trees, they reached a door made out of the tree's wood with many blossom and enchantment symbols carved onto the wooden door.
Yukiko let go of Kuro and looked at him with a childish excited grin while approaching the door.
"Alright, are you ready for this? Of course you're not! Get ready to get your mind blown!"
"Ready!" 
He replied while he put both of his hands on his head and got a heartfelt chuckle out of Yukiko.

She touched the door and the carved in symbols started lighting up for a second, causing the door to open with a light creak. Kuro covered his eyes with one arm until he got used to the sudden bright light emitting from above, since there were no more trees close enough to each other to cover the sky and sun. After his eyes adapted to the light, they widened in amazement from the sight of the most beautiful garden he's ever seen. 

A stoned pathway was embraced by the colorful flowers planted around it. Dahlias, Lilies, Roses, Marigolds and many more were enlightening the already bright stone pathway with their additional colors. 
Butterflies of all kinds were flapping around happily and rested on either the flowers or the many small fountains that spread around all over the garden. 
The shape of the garden was kept in a circle by a wooden fence that was as big as the trees surrounding the area outside, closing it in like a sacred space.
Kuro admired every second of it and turned to his friend with shining eyes, the amazement clearly glimmering within his jade eyes.

"Yuki, this is beautiful! When did you make it?"
She sat down in the center flower field and Kuro followed shortly after, many butterflies resting on her head and hands.
"I made it yesterday, after I received a special request."
"From Takumi?"
"How did you?"
Kuro smiled and let a butterfly land on his finger and held it in Yukiko's direction.
"The Morpho butterflies. I noticed there were many of these inside of this garden, I guess they are the majority here, right? And I just happen to know that they're Takumi's favorite."
Yukiko smiled and blushed lightly, still amazed that her friend knew about it.

"Yeah, I did this for him. I tell him about Lylia on so many occasions and even if I don't want to, he won't just let it slip like that."
"Because he can't come here, right?"
"...yes."
She sighed but tried to collect herself immediately in order to prevent from getting too emotional.
"This kingdom, my home, is a sacred place and the most important thing to me. But it saddens me that I can't share it with the person I love."

"It's because of the protection spell. Only high godly and enchanted beings can enter this realm, it's not your fault. It's what's best for this kingdom, to protect it from any kind of danger. It's because of this spell that the kingdom can't be found by anyone else other than you and me and I only have access to it because you allowed me to."
"I couldn't possibly keep all of this from every one of you! And you're the only one who can enter. It would've been lovely if Takumi and Hibiki could visit us too…"

Kuro scooted over to Yukiko and put his arm around her shoulders to pull her in for a light hug. 
"I know, that would be most delightful. I can already see those two just running around here, Hibiki trying to befriend the wolves and Takumi trying to catch every single Morpho butterfly."
Yukiko chuckled lightly and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I can see it too. I'm glad that you're here, Kuro. Thank you."
"Anytime, Yuki."