Punica Granatum

Chapter Four

Setting her phone back down, Kore grabbed her pillow with the seeds and made her way over to the window of her bedroom, opening up the curtains and then opening up the window fully. She dumped the seeds outside and then proceeded to toss her pillow back onto her bed. Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, Kore peered out the window for a second longer, only to see the same damn three birds from the day prior. 

They were sitting on a small branch of the tree that grew out at the side of her house. They were quiet, no excessive chirping, all of them just staring at her. Kore was considering the fact that she was having a mental breakdown of some sort as she found herself so paranoid by birds and fruit, only to have herself scream when her phone went off.

It turned out to be Mark's mother, calling to check up on her son, and of course, Kore was going to have to be the one to tell her what had happened. Of course, she wasn't going to give her the full reasoning as to why she didn't show up for work that morning, she was just going to have to admit that she slept in.

After apologizing completely and doing her best to keep her composure on the phone, Kore apologized once more to the woman, telling her to tell Mark that she would double his pay, before hanging up. Despite sleeping in, Kore found herself feeling exhausted again as she sat at the edge of her bed. In just a day's time, she had become so worked up and flustered that she didn't feel like herself. Normally, she had a bright and happy smile on her face, she was relaxed, able to focus on her work when she needed to.

Now she was just becoming a big mess and she couldn't stand it.

Rather than staying at home and dwelling over whatever the hell was happening, she decided to go to the shop, taking Bruce with her. Hoping that her work would be able to provide the proper distraction from whatever was happening in her home.

Taking a quick shower, no other seeds appeared while she finished getting dressed and headed out of the house with the puppy. She made sure to lock everything, if someone was in fact, sneaking into her home, she would have some sort of evidence of them breaking in.

***

The shop remained closed for the day even though she was inside. Kore kept the closed sign up and wandered to the back to check on some plants that needed some tender, loving care. But it was nice and quiet and for the time being that's exactly what Kore needed. She just wanted to relax and being around the plants and flowers, certainly helped her with that. Even Bruce seemed to be accommodating as he followed her around quietly. The dog didn't seem at all startled whenever she touched a finger to a bud and suddenly had it bloom within seconds.

"I should probably start working on some of those arrangements for that wedding," Kore mumbled to herself as she walked along. "Hopefully, this wedding will be the last for this woman. I can't imagine going through all that trouble over and over."

She glanced down to see Bruce glancing up at her. "I know you have no idea what I'm talking about. You don't have to deal with this woman. She is on her third marriage since the time I've been in business. Which really isn't that long. I can't really tell if I feel sorry for her or for the men she marries because the marriages never last long. But you should see the weddings she puts on, they're absolutely beautiful, I'll give her that. Come to think of it, she just might like getting married for the ceremonies. Can't say I blame her with how much effort goes into them."

Perhaps it was due to Bruce's breed but the dog seemed incredibly bored by her story before she turned red in the face.

"Right, this stuff doesn't interest you," she said before walking on. "I'm sure if I was discussing steak, though, you wouldn't be giving me that look, now would you?"

With a light laugh, she went to make her way to her office to collect the notepad where she had jotted everything down pertaining to the order. However, as she walked down an aisle, she came to a stop as she saw a dead flower resting in the middle of the way.

A dead flower was a rare sight in her shop, unless it was someone bringing her an ailing plant, but her plants did not die under her care. Making her way over, Kore knelt down to the poor wilted flower and then reached her finger out to touch it. As soon as her finger touched one of the leaves, the flower suddenly regained all of its color returning to its once beautiful state.

Picking it up carefully between her thumb and index finger, Kore examined it was a curious look.

'Hmmph, a narcissus flower...I don't carry these around here." The contrast of the white with the bright yellow made it a very beautiful flower but she didn't carry any of them in her shop, leaving her confused. She wondered if a customer had brought one in the day before and left it behind.

Bruce walked over and gave it sniff, bringing a smile to her face. "Beautiful, isn't it?" She said. "I ought to carry these in here more."

***

"Well played, Hades," Klotho muttered as she remained perched over the glass ceiling that bathed the plants of the shop in sunlight. "When pomegranate seeds just aren't cutting it for you, you go back to luring her in with flowers. I'm surprised the ground didn't open up while you tried to snatch her away."

"When do you suppose he'll actually show up?" Atropos questioned. "He's certainly leaving plenty of signs of being around but he hasn't shown his face yet."

"We're reaching the end of summer, Atropos," Lakhesis reminded her. "Come the end of the season and Persephone still hasn't returned to him, I'm sure it'll be very likely that he'll make an appearance. So far, he's only playing lightly, sending a third of Cerberus to do his bidding."

"Oh yes, and scaring the poor woman out of her wits with stalking seeds," Klotho added. "Nothing says I love and miss you like scaring your lover."

"Do you not remember how he got her into the Underworld the first time?" Atropos chuckled. "Hades was never considered smooth. Persephone didn't fall in love with any of his tricks, she only loved him when he revealed that he actually cared about other things besides her beauty. Once he showed her that there was more to the Underworld and just the outwardly appearance of himself, that's when Persephone agreed to stay with him. Tricking her with flowers and trying to get her to eat the seeds, it's not doing anything for him except driving her away. If he does finally make an appearance, she's just going to be frightened of him. After all, this Persephone has not grown under the same light as the other. She has grown up in a completely different environment, surrounded by different faces, this is not the same Persephone that he hurt."

"You're right, Atropos," Klotho nodded. "But this one is just as easily capable of hurting him like the other. She's also not as soft and naive as many believe. It will be a rude awakening for him once the summer is over if he thinks the task will be easy."

"I miss the old Persephone," Lakhesis said. "But I certainly do love the new one. There's that same fire to her that we have all seen before. "

"It'll certainly be interesting to see how this all plays out," Atropos said. "While I do not believe what Hades did was right, I do think he's been punished long enough without her."

"What he said was cruel and selfish!" Klotho responded. "If it had been me, he would be punished for all eternity."

"Yes, but in order for you to actually be in that position, a man would have to actually look your way first," Lakhesis teased her sister.

"Perhaps they would if I wasn't always surrounded by someone as hideous as you all the time!"

Atropos ignored the other two as they continued arguing, looking back down to where Kore had filled a vase with water for the flower that she had healed. She had a smile on her face as she looked at the flower with admiration before setting it down in some sunlight. 

"If you do win her back this time, Hades, you better treat her right."