Chapter 28: Candy Girl
She awoke to a relentless dripping noise from outside, the patter of rain on the roof soothing her mind. She hated the rain, but it wasn’t so bad when she was outside its reach.
Awareness of what had happened came back all in a flash. She’d made a mistake. Gone too early. She’d been completely helpless against the estharian agent who’d run her down like a dog in the street. She remembered a sickening twist, and a pop, and pain, and the only vaguely the sensation of falling.
Oh right, it was then that she’d eaten her other soufflé. Was that how she survived? The [Softness] magic had apparently only gone so far, as she felt lines of fire cutting across her front. At least she lived.
She tried to get up to inspect her condition, but a flash of pain had her abort that endeavor immediately. She let out a pained grunt, and, finding even that hurt, settled on a pained whimper.
She heard an old woman’s voice in the adjacent room croak out.
“Don’t you be moving around too much dearie, I’ll be with you in a moment.”
She didn’t hear any movement, so she instead focused on her surroundings. She lay in a room with smooth green walls, with a hole for a window next to her bed. The window looked to be just an opening with a woven wicker covering to prevent the rain from blowing in.
The air felt damp and humid, and she could feel it accumulated on her skin uncomfortably. She felt her cloak around her, and some other clothes, so she assumed she’d been dressed in her sleep. The clothes didn’t feel uncomfortable, and actually felt a bit cool on her skin, so the clothes were probably of a good make. She couldn’t really see them from her perspective and did not relish trying for another look.
The ceiling was decorated with lots of hanging flowers and baubles attached to vines that draped from the ceiling.
She heard some shuffling, and from the room next door, an old lady came through the woven door with a big flower in her hands. She was hunched with grey hair, and wrinkled face, but she had a kind look to her. The lady pulled a chair next to the bed and unclasped her cloak and shirt, spreading something herbal smelling across her body. Her pain subsided, and she felt some of her muscles unclench that she hadn’t realised were clenched.
“You’re lucky dearie. My husband found you in bad condition. Six cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, bruised head to toe, and several scrapes as well. How’d you get all that?”
“I remember falling, but not much else. Where am I, miss healer?”
“Ah, that’s what your companion said. That’s good to know. Pardon me for double checking. When one finds a well dressed man and a near naked woman in the jungle with serious injuries like that, one might make any number of assumptions.”
She felt her face heating.
“Ah, no, we’re nothing like that. He’s just a friend. He is okay though, right?”
“Oh good, he looked like such an honest boy. I’d hate for it to have been like that. Yes, he’s okay. I just sent him away for a bit so I could change your dressings. To answer your earlier question dearie, you’re in Dandelion Grove, a village near the west of the Florial Jungle. About halfway between its eastern most point and Windcrown.”
She had no notion of how far that might be but nodded anyway, pleased to find she could do so without pain.
The woman noticed it too and smiled. “I’d say you aught to get bed rest for the next week or so, but the fractures are almost healed now, so as long as you take it easy for the next… two weeks, I’d say you’ll heal up splendidly. For today though, get some rest. Your companion brought you some peppers, as well as some deadly nightshade berries that I don’t think you will find as agreeable. I’ve prepared the peppers for you if you like.”
The woman got up with some difficulty and returned with round blue petal and some sliced vegetables of various colours, setting them beside her on a bedside table before pinching the petals of a glowing flower hanging from the ceiling. The light faded to just what was filtering through the wicker window cover, and she was soon left alone in darkness, and shortly after drifted off to sleep.
***
She woke once more in that strange room to sunlight filtering through the window, landing directly on her face. She grunted in annoyance and shifted sideways out of its path, napping like that for another few minutes before realizing the sun had shifted in the sky to once again shine directly into her eyes.
Why did it always do that?
She was pleased to find she could move around, though she felt stiff everywhere. The plate of pepper slices was still next to her bed, and she munched one absentmindedly. It was cool and refreshing, the crunchiness pleasing to her. It also smelled faintly magical, but it was faint now, having rested out in the open for some time.
There were also smaller pointy red peppers that she crunched into and found them pleasingly spicy with interesting cool undertones. These too had traces of magic.
She pushed herself up and then to the edge of the bed, taking note now of her new clothes. Rather than her regular black colors, she wore a long dress of white, the material smooth, light and stiff, but refreshingly cool to the touch. That was fine. She could rock white, though she’d prefer to find something in her own preferred colors.
Fortunately, she still had her cloak, but found her regular clothes missing from it. She must’ve thrown those at the agent as well, vaguely recalling the fabric getting snatched up in the wind and whipping towards the man. She supposed it had been somewhat effective.
Stolen story; please report.
She saw a polished wood walking stick next to the bed, and grasped it, helping her upright. She felt relief now that she was on two feet, taking it as proof that she would mend. While everything still ached, there were no searing flashes of pain, so she slowly made her way out of the room.
She saw a hard-faced man eating greens from a flower shaped like a bowl regard her as she walked into the room. He said nothing but nodded to her as she slowly hobbled over to take a seat at the table.
Seeing he wasn’t going to talk proactively, she asked about Dantes.
“Do you know where my companion is?”
“Hunting” was the one word response in a gruff voice.
“I’m Mitty, who are you?”
“Russel”
She didn’t really feel like playing twenty questions, so she thanked him and made her way out the door, stepping out into the street.
Or what she’d assumed would be a street, almost falling two stories down. She saw a staircase ran around the circular building to the bottom, where a dirt path snaked about on the ground below.
On her way down, she saw another door with the label “Willows” across it.
Coming to the ground level, she realized they were not tall buildings at all, but rather giant dandelions, their crows casting a yellow glow onto the path below.
She took stock of where she was now with a passive awe.
She saw around a dozen dandelions that had been repurposed to homes in the grove, each one with three or four houses carved into it going no more than half way up each plant. From this perspective, it almost seemed as though she’d been shrunken down to the size of an ant. This though was accentuated by a bumblebee big as a dog buzz contentedly over a comically small pink flower by the side of the path, its wings flapping in a blur.
She saw ahead a girl holding a flower bucket staring at her before running up excitedly.
“Wowie! When mum said there were strangers in town, I thought she just meant some weird big guys in strange clothes. Wow, miss, you’re pretty! Why do you walk with a cane? Are your knees bad like Grandma Zinnia?”
The kid had chestnut brown hair and freckles and was wearing a tunic with little petal shapes in the hem.
Not petal shapes, she realized. The clothing was made of one big flower, wrapping around her in a little dress.
She smiled at the kid’s enthusiasm.
“That’s right. But I’m getting better, so soon I won’t need it anymore.”
The girl smiled and offered her something from her bucket.
“Here, take this to help you get better soon! Daddy always said honey was good for making you feel better.”
She took the proffered candy ball, and found it sweet and floral, like flower honey.
“Wow, thish ish good.”
The kid giggled.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to talk with your mouth full, miss? But if you think this is good, you have to try Rain’s candy. Here, follow me!”
The girl ran off before remembering she was limping around with a cane, and instead chose to narrate things as they passed them.
She normally didn’t care for children, but this one seemed more cute than bratty. She was pretty sure they got brattier as they aged though, so she hoped it didn’t happen to this one.
“That over there is the Sunlights’ old house, but their Stalk got snapped in a huge storm so they moved next door.”
She saw a brown husk of a stem, withering away with the staircase leading upwards sagging as well.
“That over there is Marigold’s house. She works with the bees most days, but today she’s helping dad make rain catchers since the storm broke some of our old ones.”
She could see the effects of the storm the kid talked about. As they walked through the village, she could see people working away on building this or that. A man creating rails out of thin sticks, or a child creating baskets with his mother, or who she assumed was Marigold helping her father weave together big fronds that funneled down to a big flower the size and shape of a barrel.
She got a few looks as she passed by, mostly curious, and nothing unfriendly, which surprised her. She’d been under the impression smaller villages disliked outsiders, but perhaps she’d been misinformed. They had healed her after all.
She saw lots of bumblebees of various sizes buzzing about, lazily going from flower to flower. They ranged from the size of her fist to big ones almost half her height. She thought the bigger ones were the cutest.
Eventually they arrived at what she assumed to be Rain’s house, as she was led in by the girl.
The inside smelled sweet, and floral, and a dozen other mouthwatering scents beside. The room was open, and a big jar of little colored candies sat in a clear flower in the center of a table. Even the table looked to be carved out of the stem of a larger flower.
They really use flowers for everything here she though, as she watched a man of no remarkable stature or build bustle about a workspace on the far end of the room, several bowls arrayed around him which he liberally mixed together in a central bowl.
He spoke without turning.
“Ah, little Flutter, back for more already? You know your mother will be cross with me if she finds out I let you have more before supper, and it’s barely past lunch!”
“Hullo Mr. Rain, I was actually showing the traveller round the place. Can she have some candy? Pleeeease?”
The man, realizing her presence whirled round before relaxing.
“Ah, hello miss. Please, take a candy or two. No more for you though Flutter. I’m afraid I’m at a bit of a delicate part of what I’m doing, so please excuse me for now.”
He appraised her cane, and overall tired look. The long walk had taken a bit of a toll on her. He continued.
“But feel free to take a seat and make yourself at home. Flutter, can you get our guest some sapwater?”
The kid, happy to be of use, fetched a pretty little blue flower cup and poured some clear liquid into it from a bigger pitcher.
It tasted sweet, though it quenched her thirst despite its sweetness, and under that taste was a hint of [Growth]. Not as much as she’d need for proper magic fare, but it was there.
The man spoke with his back still turned, working away at the counter. Observing him closely, he appeared to be sprinkling some red dust into a sticky blue concoction.
“So, what brings you to Dandelion Grove, traveller? And I hear you arrived with a stranger as well?”
“I’m not sure how I got here. But also, why am I a traveller, and Dantes is a stranger?” she asked, a little indignant on Dantes’ behalf. The mutt had saved her so the least she could do was stand up for him a bit.
The man paused a moment before stirring the concoction and speaking.
“Your clothes marked you as one of us. No not your foxglove dress, though it’s a lovely make. Zinnia always did make a charming foxglove dress.”
Her cloak then.
“My cloak? Why does it mark me?”
At that the man shrugged.
“Rustles in the Wind said he recognized your cloak as coming from one of the northern groves. No one who comes from the Florial can be considered a true stranger. We call them travellers here, though you might have heard them called other things, I suppose.”
She realized she didn’t know the man’s name and asked, getting a weird glance before he returned to his work.
“Things must be different from up north. Here it’s considered somewhat rude to ask someone’s name directly, though Flutters in Spring should have introduced us. But I am Rain on Canopy. My husband Moonlight on Canopy is out foraging currently.”
She tried a candy now that she’d settled in and found it surprisingly flavorful. It was slightly citrusy with a hint of caramel.
“I’m Mitty. Sorry for being rude. What are you making? Mind if I watch closer?”
“Of course, Mitty. Pull up a chair and I’ll explain…”