WRITING
Rutile flipped through the encyclopedia. "I think one more type of flower should be good…" When he got to a page that made him smile, he turned the book around and set it on the picnic blanket in front of Riquet and Mitile. "This one should be around the meadow somewhere. Let's try to find it! Riquet, where do you think we should start looking?"
Riquet looked down at the book. There was an illustration of a flower with many tall petals in a little bunch, surrounded by clusters of three leaves. The picture would help them identify it, yes, but Rutile had already taught him to look for the section labeled "environment" when he wanted to learn where a flower grew. He ran his fingers along the page to keep his place in the dense text as he read the entry aloud. "The pink valley clover prefers moist patches of… par-tee-al? shade…"
"That word is 'partial,'" Mitile corrected him. Ah, that helped. Riquet knew that word, he just hadn't seen it written before. How strange that a "sh" sound would be spelled with a "t."
"Partial shade," Riquet repeated. "So we should look in shady places? And moist, so… shady places near the stream?"
"That sounds good to me!" Rutile said. "Let's go!"
They got up, Riquet and Mitile grabbing their baskets full of all the flowers they'd collected this afternoon up til now. They'd found daisies, dandelions, and buttercups already. They headed towards the stream that ran through the meadow near the manor, following it along until they found a nice and shady place.
Sure enough, the ground was blanketed with clovers. Bees buzzed from flower to flower. "Oh! They really are pink!" Riquet said. The encyclopedia's illustrations were only line drawings. These were a lovely violet color! He'd seen them when he'd come through this meadow for training with the other Central wizards, but they never stopped to look closely at the flowers. He was learning so much today.
"Riquet, look at this," Mitile said. He picked a flower, and then plucked one of the round little petals off and sucked on the end. "You can taste the nectar—it's sweet!"
"Oh!" Were they really? But they were just flowers! And.. and should he waste them by eating them? "Aren't we supposed to be gathering these for our flower crowns…?"
Rutile laughed. "There's lots, so don't worry. You can try tasting one, too. I might even pick a few for tea."
Well, if Rutile said it was okay… Riquet plucked one of the petals and tried it himself. Oh! It tasted like honey! He understood why bees loved them. If he was that small, he'd like to drink lots of nectar, too.
Riquet and Mitile gathered their flowers, making sure to pick ones with long stems, just like Rutile had shown them. Rutile gathered ones with short stems for his tea. Then they went back to their picnic blanket. Rutile showed them how to braid stems together into a chain, and then tie them together at each end to make a crown. Well, he made a bracelet—a crown would take too long for a demonstration, he said.
It was a little difficult to get the thin, unwieldy stems to listen to his fingers… but Riquet got the hang of it eventually. Three, four.. Five flowers! His crown was going to be excellent! He turned to show it to Mitile.
…Mitile wasn't even working on his! "Mitile, you're ignoring the lesson."
"Huh? Oh, I guess I am." He was looking through the flower encyclopedia that Rutile had been teaching from. "I got distracted by this book. Isn't it nice? I really like the illustrations." He flipped the page. This one had a drawing of a flower with three leaves. "See? The sundrop trillium… I've never heard of this plant before. Rutile, do you know it?"
"Oh… I do, actually," Rutile said as he glanced at the page. He smiled softly. "I saw them once, when I was very little. Mother took me on a trip on her broom into a forest to show me a grove of them. It wasn't often that she flew with me, so I really treasure the memory." He sighed. "I haven't seen the flower since, though. And not for lack of trying!"
Mitile asked, "You haven't seen it anywhere else?"
Rutile shook his head. "I've asked florists in the Town of Clouds and even up here in Central, and none of them have ever had any."
Riquet was only half paying attention to their conversation. Was this encyclopedia really that interesting? He flipped the pages himself, looking through the illustrations. They were pretty nice, he supposed… Ah, what was this one? Flowers growing in bursts that, with only a line drawing to look at, almost seemed furry… A cockscomb, it said. Oh, apparently they were quite colorful. Had he seen this before…? Maybe at the florist in the city. Right, yes, a man had bought one and given it to a woman. He mused, "Do flowers make good gifts…?"
"I certainly think so!" Rutile answered. "Are you thinking of giving flowers to someone? You've already gotten so good at weaving them together, I bet a flower crown would make a lovely gift!"
Really? He looked at the half-done crown in his hands. This one was his, of course, so he wouldn't be giving it away, but perhaps it would be nice to make more for others. "Do you think Nero would like one? Or Oz?"
"If it's from you, Riquet, they definitely would!" Rutile answered.
Mitile liked the idea, too. "If we're making gifts, I'm going to make one for Dr. Figaro, too! And Lennox!" He put the encyclopedia in his lap and hurriedly started flipping through it. "I think I'd make one for Lennox out of geraniums, and for Dr. Figaro… Hmm…"
Rutile laughed. "I don't know if you'll find everything in that book out in the meadow! Maybe you guys should head into town and see a florist."
Riquet and Mitile looked at each other.
Well! They knew what they were doing tomorrow, then!
Riquet and Mitile both got their things together for their trip that morning. The flower encyclopedia, a few canvas bags, their spending money… Okay! They were ready for their trip to the market. It wasn't often that the two of them went to the city on their own, but they were together, so they weren't worried. Mostly. Rutile was busy helping Lennox with his sheep today, so it wasn't like they could ask him to come with them.
As they entered the manor's foyer, they ran into Arthur. He was putting a jacket on, dressed in casual clothes. Was he also heading out?
"Arthur," Riquet called, "where are you going today?"
"Oh! Riquet and Mitile!" He turned and smiled at them. "It's a rare day that I don't have any duties to attend to, so I was going to head into the city. Are you about to do the same?"
Riquet nodded. "I've just learned how to make flower crowns! We're going to a florist to get more flowers so I can make gifts…" Oh, wait, did he want to make one for Arthur, too? Should he have kept it a secret?
"A florist!" Arthur said. "The castle gets wonderful flowers from a florist in the market. Should I show you to him?"
Oh! Well, Riquet certainly wouldn't say no to that. He just wouldn't tell Arthur that he was making one for him, too. It could still be a surprise. "Yes, please!"
They left the manor and set off on their brooms.
As the three of them flew, Mitile said to Arthur, "It's strange to see you in regular clothes… Um. Prince."
Arthur lightly laughed. "I've gotten used to dressing like this when I go into the city without any official business. People usually don't guess I'm the prince when I'm dressed like this. If they did, I'd get more attention than I'd like… Ah, so there's no need to call me 'prince' while we're in the city." He smiled at Mitile.
"O-oh, right," Mitile said, face serious. "Uh… Mister Arthur."
They landed in the city. Arthur led them swiftly through the crowds, walking confidently but still smiling at each shopkeep they passed. He'd been right—none of the townsfolk recognized him as their prince, though they did smile back at his politeness. How did that work, Riquet wondered? He knew he'd recognize Arthur anywhere, no matter what he was wearing.
They stopped at a flower shop in the square nearest the castle. It had a green sign outside it announcing it as such. Hm, and another sign on its door? It wasn't very good handwriting. Riquet couldn't read it. Well, no matter, they'd arrived, and that was what mattered. He said to Arthur, "Thank you for showing us here!"
"Don't thank me too quickly…" Arthur muttered as he read the sign on the door. Oh, maybe the sign was important?
Mitile looked at it, too. "Out of flowers? Maybe we should try another shop, Riquet."
Well, that didn't sound right. "That can't be," Riquet said. He opened the door and headed in anyways. "Excuse me?" He announced. "Are you really out of flowers?"
The shelves and displays were empty, barely a few wilting blooms filling the vases. So many pots and planters and bouquet holders… This store probably looked wonderful when it was full, but at the moment it just looked sad. The shopkeep, a portly and kind-looking man wearing small spectacles, appeared from a room behind the counter. "Yes," he affirmed, "that's what I wrote on the sign." He sighed. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to go somewhere else. I haven't gotten any shipments today."
"Shipments…?" Riquet muttered. He, admittedly, had no idea how flower shops worked. He assumed the flowers were simply… grown here. "From where?"
"From the gardeners I source my flowers from," the shopkeep explained. "I rotate through a few different gardeners in the city, but the one I'm supposed to be getting flowers from this morning hasn't sent me a single bloom. I have no idea what the problem is. And she's never missed a shipment before, either…"
Ah. The humans were having a problem. Riquet clasped his hands together. "Then, as wizards, it is our duty to help you."
Mitile, standing to Riquet's side, jolted. "R-right! We should help! Somehow…"
"Oh!" Arthur exclaimed. "Excellent idea, Riquet! Maybe we can teleport the shipment here?"
"…Is that necessary!?" Mitile said.
The shopkeeper chuckled apprehensively. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I'm not sure you have to go that far. What you can do is check on the gardener for me. She's out in the greenhouse on the southeast edge of the city."
Mitile sighed with relief.
"Oh," Arthur said, deflating.
"Then we shall do that," Riquet nodded. "Fear not. We will aid you in these difficult times."
The shopkeep smiled, but still looked skeptical. That was the nature of humans, Riquet supposed.
As they left the shop and headed out back into the crowds, Mitile talked to Riquet. "I don't know if we really want to go telling everyone we're wizards. It's not like this is an official mission from the sage, right…? They might not react well…"
"But we're helping them," Riquet insisted.
Mitile crossed his arms, curling in on himself. "And that's good, but… But we can help people without telling them everything about who we are."
"I understand your apprehension, Mitile," Arthur said, "but we're not in the East or the West. Maybe people are suspicious of wizards here, but that's slowly changing. I think it's important that we're transparent, so that people learn they can trust us."
Mitile continued frowning all the way to the greenhouse.
Even from the outside, the greenhouse looked full to bursting with plants of all kinds. Trellises covered in blooming vines climbed the walls, tables covered with flower beds filled the space, and even the grounds outside were covered in native flowers that Riquet recognized from the meadow.
The door of the cottage attached to the greenhouse was open. Riquet walked inside. Looking around, this building was full of flowers, clipped and tied together, sitting in iceboxes and ready to deliver to the shop. All the kinds of flowers they wanted to buy, too—geraniums and cockscombs and snapdragons and columbine… So why hadn't they been delivered? "Hello?" Riquet called into the building.
"Come in," a voice called from far away. They followed the voice, passing through a door from the cottage to the greenhouse. It was even more lush than it had appeared from outside. Mitile stopped and examined every plant, muttering to himself. They approached a woman working in the beds, carefully pruning dead leaves from a bush. She looked up at them as they approached. "Oh… You're not the delivery service." Her brow furrowed.
"Are you waiting for them?" Arthur asked. "That would explain why the florist still hasn't gotten his shipment. Ah, we're here on his account."
She nodded with a sigh. "They normally send a wagon to pick up all my flowers and take them to market. But at this rate, they're going to wilt before that happens."
That wouldn't do! They needed those flowers for their gifts! "Could we buy them from you?" Riquet asked. He wanted to help her, but getting those flowers was more important right now!
She shook her head. "I've got a contract with the shop, I'm afraid. Which makes me even more worried…"
Right. Okay, then. This was yet another aspect of their duty as wizards! "Then we shall help you."
"Right!" Arthur agreed. "We can levitate the coolers and bring them along on our flight back to the shop!"
The gardener's eyes narrowed. She frowned. "Flight…?"
Mitile put his hands up placatingly. "U-um, he didn't mean that—"
What was Mitile doing? There was no need to lie. Riquet would assure this woman that they meant no ill will. "Fear not. We're the Sage's wizards. Helping the people of the city is our job."
That didn't seem to assuage her suspicions at all. "I'll have no wizards making off with my hard work! Out!" She pointed at the door. "Or I'll call the town guard!"
Riquet was ready to argue his point. Even if she did call the guard, couldn't Arthur call them off? But he didn't get a chance before Mitile dragged him out of the building.
Arthur looked between the Riquet and the gardener, eventually giving her an apologetic smile before rushing out after the other two. "I'm not sure I've ever been kicked out of a store before," he laughed. "I'm glad she didn't call the guard, they would've recognized me."
He might've been having fun, but Riquet wasn't. "How are we going to get our flowers now? She won't let us help her, and she's got all the flowers we want. Am I not going to be able to make my gifts…?"
"I could always get the castle to arrange the delivery," Arthur said.
Mitile shook his head. "I don't think we have to go that far. Let's just… go to the stables and see what the problem is."
Ah. Right. That was a reasonable suggestion. "Let's go to the stables, then," Riquet said.
Arthur had a fair amount of knowledge of how deliveries in the city were managed. He led them to the nearest stable, saying that it was likely the one that sent a wagon from the gardener to the florist. It was just a little further out of the city, over a hill.
As they topped the hill and saw the stable in the distance… What in the world…? Was that horse running free!?
Arthur hopped on his broom and raced to it. He flew just above the horse, hopping off his broom and falling onto the horse's back in one swift movement. The horse ran and bucked.
"Pernoctant nixzo!"
A glow emanated from his hand, and the horse calmed down.
Riquet and Mitile ran to Arthur. They weren't the only ones—someone was running up from the stable, too.
"Thank you! Oh my gosh, thank you!" the stablehand, a boy about their own age, called. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled. The now-calm horse, Arthur still on its back, turned and walked towards him. He reached up and patted its head. "There, there… You've sure got a way with horses, mister wizard. We've been having a heck of a time trying to wrangle this girl after what happened this morning." They followed him back to the stable, Arthur staying atop the horse.
Was that why they hadn't sent a wagon to the florist yet? Riquet asked, "What happened to her?"
The stablehand shook his head and groaned. "It's been one disaster after another… Early this morning, a bull from the next farm over went on a rampage. They got the bull under control, but not before it ran right over the fence and spooked all the horses straight out of the paddock! Some ran into the fields out back, some went down the road… We've only gotten a couple back. The rest are still running around."
"So that's why you haven't done your deliveries," Riquet said.
"Don't even remind me about how behind we are," the stablehand said with a sigh.
Well, then. It was, of course, their duty to—
"We'll help you get the rest of the horses back!" Mitile said.
Riquet turned to him. "Mitile, surely you're not going to suggest we try to help… as humans would."
Arthur laughed. "I've already gone a little past that, I think."
"I guess I have said that a lot today, huh…" Mitile said, laughing awkwardly. "I was just worried. But this is something we can really help with!"
And so they did! With the three of them on their brooms, finding all the horses and urging them back to the stable was a simple matter. Even if Riquet wasn't great with horses… he could at least scare them back in the direction of the stable, where someone who was could deal with them!
And from there, it was just a matter of time before they got their flowers.
Not only would Riquet be able to give gifts to his loved ones, but he'd have a story for them, too.
Mitile's story, When That Sun is Shining, follows this one.