Half Magic | Book 2

Forty Two: The Garden

Kalor took us from the room and we walked the short distance to his quarters.

"Wait here," he told me, and he disappeared from the front library room to his bedchambers. He emerged a moment later with a dark gray cloak.

"Here, you may have it. I have more cloaks than I need anyway, and we can give Teyber his scouting cloak back."

I ran my fingers over the thick fabric. It was worn with time but still very functional. "You don't have to give me this. If it's a matter of returning Teyber's cloak I do have one in my bags."

I went to hand it back to Kalor, but he gently pushed it back toward me. "This one has been treated to withstand our sudden and heavy rains. Please, it's a gift for my daughter."

I blushed, and held it close in my arms. "Thank you, Kal- um, father."

He gave me a merry smile, and started walking us out his door again. "Come, let me take your for a walk outside. Tomorrow, once we've cleared things up about Nassir and Schula we can take them as well. But today you are all mine, Wren."

It warmed my chest to have him dote on me. It was an unusual sensation, since I wasn't used to it. But it seemed to be as much for him as for me, so I would put up with it today and see how I felt afterward.

"So where is it you are taking me?" I asked.

Kalor smiled, showing a set of dimples I hadn't noticed yet. "Lark loved to grow things. She was constantly naming plants that we saw on our walks. She even wanted to build a sort of glass room to keep a garden in a more controlled environment. A greenhouse, she said it was."

"Are we going to Lark's garden?" I asked, my step bouncing a little as I clutched my hands to my chest. A big grin sat on my face.

"Not quite," Kalor said, a little more somber. "I began building it for her after she disappeared. I didn't know what else to do with myself."

We walked out of the keep and through the trees. Unlike the ground I was walking on to visit Puko, the ground here was worn into a trail that was walked often. With little grass to cover the ground, the path was a bit soft from last night's rain.

"What happened, Kalor?" I asked softly. "Everyone makes it sound like Lark left without you. And I saw... she left me a vision. You and her were in a tavern or eating house of some kind. You begged her to come back with you to Eidelhein. And the next thing I knew, she was with Teyber, struggling through her last day in the mountains where I grew up."

Kalor had a grim look on his face as he wound us through the path. I figured he wasn't ready to talk about it yet. I didn't press the issue again.

The trees began to open up, and sunlight fell down over a simple wooden fence. Wordlessly, Kalor unlatched the gate and swung the door open to a beautiful garden.

My lips parted in surprise as I looked over the neat garden beds, tended with love. I knew in that moment that Lark may never have set foot here, but this was indeed her garden. And the one who labored to keep it like this for her, was Kalor.

"It's beautiful," I whispered. I stepped inside, and let my fingertips brush across the soft tops of the roses near the gate. There were rows of herbs, pots of flowers, and beds of vines. I recognized many of them, and I was certain others would be described in my notes from Gilly and Purda.

"Tensions had been rising between us for weeks," Kalor said suddenly.

I turned back to listen to him, but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at a flowering tree with a bench under it. The bench and the dirt in front of it were both very worn. He spent a lot of time here. I took a few steps closer to him, but left him with plenty of space.