Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 44 - Precipitation

The day couldn't have dragged more slowly for Sage. He checked his watch every hour, and every fifteen minutes when Taro was in plant form for his midday nap. He silently applauded the setting sun and the rising moon, though he couldn't see them, the clouds were a heavy blanket across the sky. He kept checking outside to see if the stars would appear, but they never did, not even when midnight struck, and he gulped a strong coffee to stay awake.

"Are you tired?" he asked Taro when it was almost time for them to sneak outside.

"No, I'm excited."

"Me too." Anything out of Sage's regular routine was exciting, even if it was sneaking into his own garden in the middle of the night. Sage checked his watch one more time. "Let's go," he said, not forgetting to take a bottle of water with some plant food mixed into it. Taro's smile when he carried the bottle didn't go unnoticed.

Together, they tiptoed down the corridor. The guard who was posted outside Sage's door didn't bat an eyelid at them sneaking out together, but Sage still felt the need to mutter, "Can't sleep, I need a walk."

"You know, you're allowed to go anywhere you want in your own home without having to explain yourself," Taro whispered once they were down the stairs.

"A nice thought, but it's not true when your house is full of strangers."

They continued through the hallway, passing only guards who bowed their heads and stared firmly ahead when they walked by. Sage gulped when they reached the garden and slipped out into the night. He rushed to the shed and instead of going inside, he hurried around the side, stopping where the looming palace windows couldn't stare back.

"You paused at the right place," Taro said and knelt down to pick up a hot flask of tea and a carrot cake wrapped in a paper bag. "Oh," he sighed, turning the bag back and forth. "Looks like the ants got to it first."

Sage chuckled. "Let them have it." He zipped his jacket as far as it would go. "The thought was nice though."

"The ants think so too."

They shared a quiet chuckle before a cold gust of wind pinned them both to the side of the shed. "Is it going to rain? I can't tell." Sage squinted at the sky but saw only darkness. The lack of a moon meant that the clouds hadn't shifted.

"Smells like the rain is coming."

Sage then squinted at Taro in the darkness. "And what does that smell like?"

"The air smells sweeter, and the wind is warming up. We might get caught in more than just rain tonight."

Sage shuffled a little closer, until their shoulders touched. "Was that- is that- can you tell that because of the plant part of you?" he whispered.

"Many humans can sense this too, but my kind are never wrong about it."

"I'm going to demote you to the Greenthenors personal weather reporter." Sage could see Taro trying to focus on his features too.

"Then I'll find so much joy in watching you get caught in the rain after I tell you it'll be sunny all day." Taro nudged him, smirking. "Let's go. We don't have long until it rains."

Sage followed him into the darkness with a loose smile on his face. They walked and walked until the lights from the distant town grew closer, and the Palace got smaller. Sage struggled to see his own two feet and slowed down. Taro, who seemed to walk as gracefully as if the sun was out, retraced his steps and linked arms with him.

"Your vision will adjust," he said, and Sage felt his warm breath on his cheek before the wind whisked it away into the night.

The closer they got to the end of the ginormous garden; the more Sage could see around him. The thick brick wall was twenty feet ahead that separated Sage from the outside world. One of the many hawthorn trees surrounding the palace grounds was suddenly right in front of them, breaking through the darkness like the first drops of rain from the heavy clouds above.