Mother Nature

Chapter 4

‘So....what’s in store for me?’

Kai sighed.

He’d been doing that a lot recently.

 ‘I’m not sure. But all I know is that you have a long road ahead of you.’

‘Great. So pumped.’  

We had arrived at a park. A different park this time. Kai told me he was worried that if we’d return to the same park, all the flowers would bloom making it slightly hard to go unnoticed. 

‘They recognize you.’ He’d said to her the other day. ‘And they show their gratitude and appreciation towards you through blossoming.’ 

Talk about being Queen.

‘We’re here,’ he announced. 

I looked around. 

This park was smaller than the previous, but it was purer; in a sense that it had been touched and altered less. There were a variety of trees; from Redbuds to Elderberry to Witch hazel. I also spotted  a fewPrairie Gentian and Spanish bayonet peeking out from clumps of shrubbery. The trails in this park wasn’t wide and spacious like the other, but narrow and damp from this morning’s light shower. Ferns and leaves brushed against my jeans as Kai led me deeper into the land of stillness and pure beauty. 

Finally we stopped at a small creek. I gazed fondly at the stream; its hands were as skilled as a blacksmith, continuously polishing those river stones to perfection.

‘You really need to stop doing that.’ Kai’s voice interrupted my faze.

I blinked as I saw the nearby Camellia flowers begin to open. 

‘Sorry.’ I muttered apologetically as I took a seat on a fallen log. Kai took a seat opposite me and smoothed his hands out on his shirt.

‘I’m going to help you slowly build your powers.’ He began as he gently plucked a Camellia from the ground. I started to protest by he held up his hand. ‘Its okay,’ he soothed, ‘it knows what we’re trying to do. It wishes to sacrifice itself for you.’ 

I tried not to choke. 

‘You can understand them?’ I half-whispered. ‘The plants? You can hear them?’ 

Kai nodded.

‘So can you. Here, hold it.’ He pushed the Camellia towards me. 

I stared hesitantly at it.  

‘Don’t worry, I’m just asking you to hear it. Not make it grow.’ Kai reassured reading my features. ‘You won’t dissolve into the Diffusion, I won’t let you. That’s of higher level powers which we’ll get to eventually.’ 

Ivy slowly took the Camellia. At first with caution, but the moment it touched her palm, the Camellia began to glow a soft fluorescent pink. 

A smile spread over Ivy’s face. 

‘It likes you.’ Kai said, watching her thoughtfully.  

‘Well don’t they all?’ Ivy replied cheekily, stroking the petals lovingly. 

‘Okay, the trick to hearing or understand any plant requires a connection. One that just connects the mind. Not-’ he emphasized ‘-the soul. So try to find what might be described as the ‘mind’ or ‘control tower’ of the plant.’ 

Ivy frowned.

‘You mean... like a really big nucleus?’ she asked puzzled. 

Kai laughed. ‘If thats what you call it. Yeah.’