{Hello, ‘Mother’}
{Petal! What happened to you! What in the Forest is this!}
{I set root where I want to stay. This is my place, I will be happy.}
{No, you are not Petal! You are a Monster! Worse, a Demon! What happened, did that vile Null experiment on you?! This means war!}
{All of it was my own wish. You see me here in that form because of my former Grandmother Dancing Mist.}
{Do not mock our Matriarch! What does she have to do with… THIS!}
Flailing around her new look. She is rather scared and distressed. Petal is sitting inside a gigantic Tombstone Flower. It looks rather comfy, but she can not come out of it as she is connected on her spine with the… um… pollen thingy… pistil? I think that is it, pistil.
Her look all in itself has changed a bit but you see still it is Petal. Her Hair is now a purplish pink falling down like a wavy waterfall, her skin is peachy and silken smooth. Even her br… Well she is very beautiful indeed. While Leafy is angry at me, she still begrudgingly says her beauty is on a new level even for her.
“You!”
Oh, Shimmer shouts now at me.
“What did you do to my daughter?! That is an abomination!”
“I did only what she wished for, and I asked her multiple times if she really is sure about it.”
“Shut up! Make her my Child again!”
“No can do. I can make her like that, but returning her is impossible.”
“That… THING is not my Daughter! Give me my Daughter back!”
“You are right in that. She is not your daughter. Her name she chose for herself is… do you want to say it?”
“My Name now is Dreaming Petal. I am no longer a Root, do you have the right to take me to a home, where I do not belong anymore?”
Her anger and distress are fully visible.
{You… You are not my Daughter! You are an Abomination! This can not be! Guards, Kill that Monster!}
“AMBASSADOR!”
I shout before the Guards could draw their weapons. Still in shock they remember where they are and look for confirmation of the Ambassador who is shaken like them.
“You have heard the Woman right now, have you not? She said this is NOT her daughter. As she is not her daughter and neither Root she is not under your jurisdiction. Please chose wisely if you want to really harm someone, who is as of right now officially a Member of my Family inside my Domain.”
“What?! Wait, no! She is… you… I remember you can speak Root, but that does not mean she is…”
“You said it yourself. She is NOT your daughter. As this means you have officially denounced her she is in MY Domain and under MY Protection. Just cut her off like you did to Leaf and be done with it. There is nothing you can do but make it worse.”
“...what have you done to her?”
“Nothing she did not want. Do you still not understand? You wanted to take her away from the one she loved. Maybe you think their love as wrong but SHE does not. Desperation made her take the path of no return.”
“This isn’t right!”
“Maybe so, but it is the truth. I bet you knew about their love, did you not?”
“…”
“When the Falling Tree made their decision to cut Dreaming Leaf off, did you even think about what might be going on in her heart?”
She flinches. Calling Leafy Dreaming Leaf shows her relationship more than anything I could otherwise say. I bet she knew. Obviously she knew but hid every Information so long from her own daughter that it hit her like a dagger in the heart.
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“I do not deny, I have also fault as I helped her becoming like this, but see the whole thing. Her love of her life was thrown away from her Family, her own Family hid it, she ran to her love in desperation, instead of helping her, talks about reeducation came forth, and now here we are.”
She fell to her knees. Well a broken Mother realizes the reality. There were so many other ways, but this is now not possible anymore.
“… you took my daughter from me…”
“I did no such thing. She left long ago and you know that.”
{...Guards! Kill everyone!}
Does ‘everyone’ even include you? You are so desperate you might really mean it like that. Looking at Seed all guards wait for his order. I look also to her. She is the only thing holding all the carnage back.
Sigh {Stay your weapons.}
{No! Please kill everyone! Kill her, kill her, kill him, kill… please just end it…}
“I am sorry for the sight you are seeing, but a Mother just lost her daughter. She needs to mourn and will need time to be able to fathom what she… what we all have seen. I will tell our Queen Mother about what I have witnessed and there might repercussions coming. Do you understand?”
“I was already aware of that, just tell her one thing from me.”
“...and that is?”
“I did it because she and her love are both people I care very much about. I am not sorry for the outcome, as I would help them in any way they think is right.”
“...I do not know if that is helping your case or worsening it, but I will tell her.” {We are leaving, please be careful with her, she is in distress.}
And so it ended in peace. Petal was ready to open the dream Flowers, Snow and Oros were ready to pin all of them down and Loopy… Well he might have beaten some of them unconscious with his broom he still holds, maybe I was not thorough enough when I said make him ‘battle ready’.
With all the stress gone the people were led to the Entrance of the Crater and left without a further word. The fruits might taste a little bitter to the Queen, but she needs to sort it herself, as it is out of my Hands now.
…
“Are you alright?”
“I am still shivering. It was sad to do that to my own mother but… I needed to do it.”
Well she is not alright. She needs time to stomach her own Mother breaking down. Luckily I was quickly thinking of what she said and could stop the Guards with the help of Seed, otherwise that might have been ugly.
“Petal. I am so sorry. Only for me did you…”
“No, it was for me too. I rather lose them than you. I just never thought it would hurt more than the transformation. Can you stay with me for the time? I need you by my side.”
“Of course.”
“Lord Null, I need a bit time. Can we talk later? I need a bit time with Leaf.”
“Understandable. We all leave you alone. Rest well.”
“Thank you…”
And with that the petals on the giant flower furl back into their cocoon with Leafy inside. I hope she not accidentally digest her, that would be horrible.
“Snow, let’s go. We are disturbing them.”
“Okay… She is really sad. I hope her all the good in the world. Please be happy again Petal.”
…
The reply of the Queen did not take long. After a week the letter came but the flowery speech did not interest me at all.
...having lost a child… shimmer being bedridden for a while… yadda yadda… ah there.
Repercussions will not be made as the creature freely admitted her own will in becoming that grotesque form, but handed a warning to never make a mockery out of the Root ever again.
Not that bad as I thought. I can even show this letter to Petal, as she might want to know how her Mother is right now. She has been hit by it the worst, but for now she is holding on and might be out of bed in a while. She really loved her daughter, huh? Maybe she did not understood her at all. The outcome might have been better if her family pushed not that hard in the wrong direction. Whatever…
…
“I am sad about Mother, but am mostly over it. I am just worried about something.”
Did I miss something? What is there to worry? No repercussions just a warning to never do that again, as if I even have the possibility to even do that again. Nothing I can see is worrying for now.
“No, I thought about it every which way, I still do not see what you are worried about. Can you tell me?”
“There does not stand anything about me being cut, seen dead or anything in the form. Does that mean they did not put me out as Root or will they try to find a way to transform me back?”
Oh! Damn, I really did not see that in the Letter! That might make some things way worse with time, if there is something brewing in the dark. Why is there always something to worry, can the whole World not keep to themselves and leave us all alone with their problems?
“What do you two think could happen? I have just cursory knowledge about your people. Is there anything I should be wary about?”
While shortly looking at each other Leafy and Petal grew silent. They seem to really try to go every possible scenario in their heads as they seem deep in thought. For me it just makes me more uneasy. I hate not being able to use brute force because of their two feelings!
“Nothing I can think of by now. You Leaf?”
“No, they can not do anything. You are not even be able to move, what shall they do, dig you out?”
giggle “To protect me you would do that and carry me anywhere, right?”
“True, but that is only if there is no other way, you might not know, but you have put on a few kilos.”
“Excuse me?!”
“Girls? Anything you can think of? Back to the topic.”
“Ah! No, not really. As said, we are safe for now. It is worrying for there not being the official notification of a cut, but otherwise we can be at peace for now.”