Enar's Vacation - Open Beta

Chapter 32

2594 Words

This is a beta version of Enar's Vacation. Changes can - and probably will - be made as a result of reader feedback. I hope you'll enjoy it and I hope you'll take the time to give me some feedback. It will help me make this story the best it can be.

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Enar didn't quite make it to the middle of the flowerbed before Lilac, but he was not far behind.

"There, I think that'll do nicely for now," she said after they'd finished up the last bit together. "It's almost time for lunch anyway, no point starting on a new one before that."

"Sounds good to me. Are we taking on the next one after we've eaten?

"Well..." Lilac looked at him. "If you want to, I won't stop you - but wouldn't you rather go see the shrine?"

"Oh, yes, right." Enar blushed. "I'd forgotten about that. I decided I would go and sit there for a bit - if Amanda doesn't show up that is."

"That's what I like to hear. You've done enough for a casual guest just dropping by on an errand."

"Are you sure? I don't mind working a bit more if there's need?" He grinned. "Gotta earn my lunch you know."

Lilac laughed. "Need? There's always need for more work in a garden. There's need and there's need though."

Enar nodded. "Yes, I guess you're right."

"Of course I am." She stood up and dusted off her knees. "I'm the flower here and I say you've done enough - in the good way of course - and should go visit the shrine." She reached out her hand and pulled Enar to his feet.

"Thank you," he said and bowed his head. "For everything I mean."

"Oh, don't mention it. It was no bother at all. I wouldn't be much of a flower if I didn't help a friend in need." She fidgeted with the rope around her waist, and she might, possibly, have blushed a little - but it was hard to say for sure. "It was getting a bit lonely up here anyway. Just me and the weeds."

"Oh, you're the only one here? I thought a lot of monks came visiting here?"

"No, I meant up here, where we are now. There's four of us guesting at the moment, but the rest are all in other parts of the gardens. This place is big."

"Yes." Enar nodded. "Yes, I noticed."

He hadn't seen anyone else during their walk earlier, but then he'd also not seen Barry until he stood up. Maybe they were all hiding in the bushes, singing to the roots or whatever other strange things monks did.

"Shall we then?" said Lilac and turned towards the path down into the garden. "We've got some time still, but if we walk slowly, we won't be there too early, and it won't look like we're being lazy."

"Sounds like a plan." Enar grinned.

They took the same way they had taken earlier, crossing the water bed on the stones and down to the lake. Turning upwards again they passed the blackcurrants where they'd met Barry and continued on, going up all the terraces they'd just gone down, and then even further up. Eventually, they climbed the last little staircase.

The hill continued upwards, but this was where the garden ended and the forest took over. A wide strip of tightly trimmed lawn gave way to tall grass and moss. Pines and firs, growing wherever it pleased them, replaced the gardens' neat arrangements of bushes and flowerbeds.

A few steps into the forest, among rocks and trees, a round door opened up on a tunnel leading into the hillside. The door even had an old fir growing on top of it - its roots clinging to the door frame.