The Lunation Trilogy: Winters End

Datura

Maxilar chuffed at Asari.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's just dirt."

Asari threw a scowl at him and reluctantly placed her hands on the dirt. It was cold, empty. Seemingly nothing to be afraid of, yet something pulled at her to this very spot. Closing her eyes, she focused on her surroundings. She first focused on the sounds surrounding them. Birds chirped outside, but nothing from inside the building made noise besides Max laying down on the stone floor. Next was smell, but nothing smelled anymore. The cold stole that too.

She refocused and in her minds eye, she could see a spark. It was faint, but enough that it caught her attention in a vast darkness. She tried to focus in on the spark of green and white, pulling at it, trying to make it bigger. While doing so, her hands began to move into the dirt, sinking deeper into the dead soil.

As the spark grew, her hands slowly rose out of the dirt along with it. Her elbows rested at her sides, her hands over the bed as if warming from a camp fire. The spark continued to grow as she imagined pulling at it until finally it swirled in circles, moving in and around itself like a dance.

"Whatever you just did... open your eyes Asari."

She did as Maxilar requested and was eye to eye with a beautiful white flower. It's green stemmed branched leaves on both sides. The white trumpet encircled a white center, the edges of the flower tipping on in spikes. Asari leapt back, pulling her hands from the bed and back to her sides.

"What? Did- did I do that?"

Her chest felt heavy, the air felt humid around her despite the snow surrounding the greenhouse. Falling back, she sat on the ground, staring at the flower that stood alone.

"You've finally come into some powers that are useful."

Maxilar chuffed again, amused at how Asari sat there looking helpless. She felt helpless.

"What does this mean?"

"It means you can finally help your family, and those that helped you."

The answer was simple enough. She imagined once she could finally control it how much it would help the village. Helping the plants grow would mean no more having to task the animals around for help, no more having to explain why the elves were ungrateful and refused to fend for themselves.

Asari finally looked away from the flower and out to the sky, "I should head home. It's really late and I'm sure Mama is worried for me."Without a reply, Maxilar stood, waiting for her to climb onto his back.

The trip back home took longer than the way to the greenhouse. Maxilar didn't run quite as fast, and she could tell his mood had soured.

"Max, you know I would sneak you upstairs if I could."

He ignored her comment and kept his pace back to the village. Asari had tried a few times to get her mama to allow Maxilar up and into the house over the years. She hated that he slept alone most nights. It was always the same response though.

"He's too big for the house. I'm not allowing a wolf into my home, Asari. Forget it."

Asari and Maxilar had found each other at young ages, him being just a pup around the time she was five. They had been inseparable ever since. He was her best friend, except of course for Liviana. But even he knew some things she dared not say to another aloud.

Asari dropped from her back and ran her hands over him, scratching behind his ear in his favorite spot. He pulled away from her, turned around and ran off. She tried calling out to him through their link again, but it was a fruitless effort. Sighing, she stepped towards the house and brushed off the slow flakes that feel from the night sky.

The door creaked as she opened it. Her mama must've been too tired to stay up and had gone to her room that stayed on the main floor. Asari crept up the stairs and crawled into the bed with Liviana. She could feel her sister stir and flip to face her.

"I have so much to tell you when you wake up."

Liviana grumbled at her sister to go to sleep and pulled her hand into hers. With her hand in her sisters, Asari closed her eyes and dreamt of the busy day she would face tomorrow.