Even in the drought, / become the cosmos that thrive. / Spread your roots throughout.

Aster continuously read over a small section on the Nouvem Botanical Journal's issue on cosmos from a few days ago. His eyes, with a tinge of resoluteness in them, darted through the same poem repeatedly, as if he were repeating a mantra within himself. His left eye had a black bruise that encircled his eye, while the rest of his face had various scratches and cuts. Small red particles steadily covered the wounds on his face, as a hand gently caressed his cheek.

"Good grief, Ast," a red-haired bespectacled woman with facial features reminiscent of Aster's said as she poured out her Potentia to use her Art on her eight year old brother. "How many times have I told you not to fight kids at school just because they said something you didn't like?" she said, with a tone of annoyance alongside concern.

"I already told you, Sis!" Aster said angrily and tearfully, "They said mean things about you and me! They said that we didn't have parents because we didn't deserve them and that I'm cursed!" he protested, squirming as the wounds on his face began to slowly fade away and heal. "Just cause Toby has a summoning Art doesn't mean he can just insult anyone he sees! A week ago, he bullied another kid for having an Art that only works with ants." he said as he began heaving as he cried softly.

Celosia looked at his brother who had a few tears flowing down his face for a moment, pondering about something before making up her mind about it. She sighed and massaged her temples for a moment before she stopped pouring her Potentia onto Aster's wounds. "Alright, Ast. I hear you. Thank you for defending our honour, my brave brother," she said as she pat her little brother's ruffled green hair. "How about we get some ice cream as a reward for being a sweet little boy?" she asked him with a smile. As she did, she got up from kneeling towards Aster and began walking around the flower shop to check on the plants on display.

Aster's ears immediately perked up, having heard 'ice cream'. He turned his head to watch as his sister walked around, observing quietly for a moment, and then opening his mouth to say yes, but held back his tongue for a moment as he thought about how his sister always tricks him into doing things right after she gets him treats.

"What's the catch?" he said suspiciously, watching his sister use some sort of spray on one of the plotted bluebird azaleas at the corner of the store.

"Sharp as always, Ast," she said with a slightly proud smile, walking back towards the flower shop counter to return her concocted insect repellent. "Today's catch is that you stop fighting other kids so openly," she continued. "I don't want you getting beaten up again by kids who managed to get Arts that are much better than yours," she said bluntly.

As his sister spoke about his Art being worse than other kids, Aster felt glum about his talent. He managed to find out what his Art was three years ago, younger than most children, only for his sister to identify as a lower-classed Art. Aster didn't really understand the point of Arts being ranked, but he took his sister's word on the fact that he needed to be careful around other kids who'd awaken or already awakened much higher quality Arts.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"But what if someone like Toby made fun of me again?" Aster said, confused as to why his sister would ask him to stop fighting back.

Celosia looked at Aster with a devious and cunning smile. "I only said not to fight kids openly, Aster," she responded. "That doesn't mean you can't use your Art to, oh I don't know... make a tree root in the ground grow slightly larger so someone you dislike trips," she said with an evil facial expression. "Or maybe make a tea leaf change its chemical properties to become a laxative, so whoever drinks that tea shits themselves to death," she added, cackling to Aster's horror.

Aster shuddered as he saw his sister's conniving smile, and said, "Sis, you're too scary."

"Besides, my Art doesn't let me affect plants like that..." Aster followed, his eyes wandering towards the repellent under the counter, stored with other various chemically-formulated liquids and sprays that his sister created from both her laboratory experiments and made uniquely through a property of her Art.

He looked at his Sister who was still manically laughing after her disingenuous suggestion, and toothily smiled as he said, "Okay. I won't fight anyone openly anymore, I promise. Can we get some ice cream now?"

Celosia's face shifted into a wide smile, surprised at how quickly her brother responded and agreed. "Great! That's good, Ast. Thank you, I'm glad you agree with me," she said. "I guess someone's getting some good old fashioned ice cream!" she excitedly shouted in the middle of the room.

Aster felt proud of himself, seeing how happy his sister got from his promise, before nodding to her and excitedly saying, "Ice cream!!!". He stood up and ran towards the flower shop's door and jumped up and down out of excitement. "Let's go already!" he shouted.

His sister looked at her little brother act like a child for once, and smiled warmly before saying, "The shop doesn't close until 5:00 PM, Ast. You need to wait, we still have an hour left!"

"Aw, come on!" the boy shouted from the other end of the room. "It's the 27th! Everyone's busy watching the Arts festival thing happening in downtown, no one's going to come here for flowers besides maybe Uncle Theo!" he argued.

Celosia smacked her forehead as she remembered the reason why foot traffic outside was so slow despite it being a sunny day on a weekend afternoon. "Right," she said. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to close up shop for the last hour."

"Exactly! Let's get ice cream already! Besides, they can just put up an order request through that machine you made outside anyways!" Aster followed, grinning widely at the thought of ice cream.

"Alright, alright, Ast. We'll go get your ice cream," Celosia said, exhaling heavily for a moment as she begins to close up the cash register. "Be careful of the streetcar!" she warned him.

Celosia watched as her brother happily ran outside in joy, a child who knew nothing of the terrors of the outside world, and a child she wanted to keep innocent for as long as she could.

Quietly, Celosia felt her watch vibrate as an alert notified her. She quickly looked at it, hearing her brother's excited shouting outside the store's open door.

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