Rewriting Lightlark (That's It, Very Self-Explanatory)

Chapter 2: Guardian Isla

Something wet landed on Isla's cheek. She wiped at her hand as she sat up from her nap. Isla looked down at the book under her head. She remembered telling her main servants, Poppy and Terra, that she would spend the morning of her coronation reading in the conservatory. She didn't remember when she must have fallen asleep in the middle of a chapter about healing tonics.

"Good. I was starting to think you might be dead," a bright voice said.

Isla rubbed her eyes and turned her head to see Miso, her companion. The red panda toddled towards Isla and made herself comfortable in her lap. The Wildling absentmindedly scratched under Miso's cheek.

She finally stood up, feet tickled by the moss floor. The Conservatory was Isla's favorite part of the castle. It was entirely glass but the plants were so large that no one could see inside the building unless they looked through the roof. The moss floor instead of any tiles had been her great-grandfather's idea. Isla found it to be one of the best materials to read and nap on. She patted her left foot against the ground multiple times, groaning when a small vine flattened under her foot.

"Oh come on... Stupid Nightshade powers."

Being half-Nightshade didn't just make her Wildling powers a bit weaker, it made her have to work a thousand times harder than others. Nightshade and Wildlings were complete opposites. One practically manipulated death, the other created life. They were always battling with each other inside her.

"Fine," she said with a huff. "No giant vine, just don't let me fall."

She clutched Miso a little tighter as she placed her foot on the base of a giant eucalyptus tree. The trunk bent just enough that Isla could stand on it without falling straight to the floor. It kept bending as she walked higher and higher until she reached the roof. There was a large crank to open up a hole in the ceiling.

Only the royals took care of the Conservatory. It was their little sanctuary away from everyone. Isla didn't want the plants to suffer while she was at the Decennial. She would be back. She had to be back. Her brother's wife died in childbirth and the baby didn't make it either. Talon was gone before finding another woman. There were no more Wildling heirs so she had to live.

She pulled on the crank until the ceiling was completely open. Hopefully that was enough for the plants to get the proper sunlight and rain that they needed while she was away. The large doors of the Conservatory opened.

"Princess?" a shrill voice called.

"Coming!"

Isla hastily ran down the tree, the tree bending to make sure she never fell off. Her main servants, Poppy and Terra watched her set Miso down onto the ground. Terra and Isla winced at the shriek that left Poppy's mouth.

"What happened to your hair?"

Isla tried to look up at her own hair. Her fingers gently raked through the strands. Most of the braids were gone. She could have sworn she had done her hair last night so they wouldn't have to worry about it the morning of the coronation. Isla shrugged.

"I'll handle my hair so you don't have to redo it, Poppy."

"No matter, I love doing hair."

Poppy was already running back to her room to grab a vial of fresh mint leaf oil. Terra and Isla both laughed as they followed behind the over excited woman. Sometimes it was better to just let Poppy do what she wanted. If she got too upset, rose bushes tended to spring up around her. No one really wanted to deal with pulling thorns out of their feet. Isla just sat at her vanity stool while Poppy did her hair and Terra created makeup.

Wildlings rarely owned makeup that they hadn't created. They were the main creators of beauty products for Lightlark. Terra didn't want to use Isla's already-made makeup. A coronation needed something special. Isla's vanity looked more like a factory table. Terra carefully cut a single leaf from a small aloe plant. Her knife scraped all the gel into a bowl, combining it with shea butter made two months ago and some witch hazel. The smallest bit of cocoa powder was added to make the mixture match Isla's skin.