Bloom, a Flower Husbands Story Empires S1

Chapter 6

Jimmy watched Scott walk away, then turned to Lizzie. "What have you been up to?" he asked her.

"Well, the royal axolotl army has grown! Sir Strawberry knows how to do his job! Also, what's up with the elf boy?" Lizzie smiled.

"Um, well, he hurt his wing and fell into the lake. You know how I have some healing magic, so I healed his wings. He tried to fly home but then fell and now he's here until his wings heal fully," Jimmy explained.

"But aren't you worried about him now? What if he tries to get home? Or if he's hurt right now?"

"I'm sure he's fine. Scott is very smart, he knows what would happen if he flew."

"Okay, fine," Lizzie paused. "What about pranking instead?" she asked, lifting a pink eyebrow.

Jimmy grinned. "Now we're talking!"

☾

Scott walked down a path to the lake. The trees on either side of the path created a canopy over his head. Fireflies drifted about and the smell of moss and blue orchids was refreshing, he never smelled anything like this at home. It was just cold at home, not many plants grew in Rivendell. And the only ones that did were always shivering under all the snow.

Careful to not hit his wings on the trees, he spun in a circle with his arms outstretched. He wished Rivendell could have something like this.

Suddenly, he heard rustling behind him.

An animal, maybe? What kinds of animals even lived in the swamp? Surely nothing like the one in the mountains. Not wolves or owls or sheep (or stags, but they were magical and lived with the elves, so did they count?).

It rustled again. He turned around, his pointed ears swiveling. It seemed to be coming from back towards the village. Scott took a step forward. He knew that confidence was important when dealing with animals (he had learned this while taking care of his owls. They could be quite mean sometimes).

Then someone snickered, and Scott marched over to the bush wall. He gently pulled them apart to see Jimmy and Lizzie. Lizzie was crouched on her knees, still giggling, and Jimmy was leaning against a tree, panic in his eyes. A little spider was crawling on his forehead. It must have been a baby, full grown spiders were much, much bigger.

Neither of them seemed to have noticed Scott.

He grinned. It seemed like they were trying to scare him, but of course, Jimmy was clumsy and got a spider on his face. Or Lizzie could have dropped it on him. Either theory seemed plausible.

"Jimmy, what're you doing?"

Jimmy screeched and even Lizzie jumped. Scott cackled.

"I- wha- why?" Jimmy stuttered, the spider had burrowed in his hair at this point.

Lizzie had regained her composure and was now laughing along with Scott.

"Can't leave me alone for long, can you?" Scott said with a smirk, still grinning.

"Haha, very funny," Lizzie rolled her eyes and stood up, brushing the leaves and dirt off her scaly legs and smoothing her dress.

Seemingly forgetting about the spider, Jimmy said, "I think that you should stay with us. Lizzie was worried-"

Lizzie flicked her brother.

"Ow! I was just telling the truth!" he cried.

Scott smiled, Lizzie reminded him of his brother, Xornoth. They were basically opposites, but they loved each other anyway. Xornoth was probably worried about him now, Scott hoped that his parents had shown Xornoth the letter from Jimmy. Then maybe he wouldn't be so worried.

Lizzie had now started to look through Jimmy's hair for the spider, and it strode onto her finger. "Hello, little friend," she whispered.

"Should we walk back to your house then, Jimmy?" Scott asked.

"Yes, let's walk ba-" he gasped mid-sentence. Lizzie held her finger right in front of Jimmy's nose. He backed up.

"Sure, cod boy," Lizzie said smiling at her brother in a teasing way. She let the spider crawl onto a tree.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that."

"Did you?" Lizzie feigned innocence.

"Ugh, fine, let's just go back to town already, I don't want to run into any more spiders," Jimmy said, rolling his eyes.