Otto ran into Oda's arms, and she stiffened, her face buried in her brother's shoulder.
"Otto!" she scolded, but then stopped and smiled. "Oh, you are absolutely hopeless." As she is about to place her hand on his back, he broke away from her and turned to me.
"Karina!" He laughed as he runs to me. Smiling, I walk to him and when we reach each other he also engulf3 me in a hug. Oda sighed, but she's smiling.
"Both of you are hopeless," she said.
"I'm so happy," Otto said, looking from me to Oda. "It's really a tea party outside! In spring!"
"I promised you, after all," I said and laughed. "Didn't you believe in me?"
"I did," Otto said quickly, "it's just that whenever Oda promises me anything, she doesn't fulfill it."
"Otto!" Oda cried out of embarrassment. "There's plenty of time to fulfill it now."
"That's true," I added.
"Karina!"
I turned to see Oriana and Annabelle entering the garden, but Annabelles golden hair reaches her shoulder now, free from its usually elaborate hairstyle. I looked at her with surprise, not only because of her hair, but also because she seems truly happy. Her smile was bigger than ever, and her new dress, a simple yellow one that had no puffy sleeves or ruffles, suited her better than any other. She seemed to glow.
"Doesn't she look gorgeous?" Oriana asked me. She looked at her too, enchanted. "It's like we've finally seen the real her."
"Yes." I give Annabelle a smile. "What will you do after this?"
"I will stay with Oriana and her family for the time being." Annabelle looked down at her gloves, then at me again. "I'm interested in flowers. Maybe I can find something related to that."
"It suits you," I said. Then I remembered that Oda and Otto were still standing behind me.
"Oriana, Annabelle, this is Oda and Otto. Not the Oda and Otto that you met during The Dandelion System, but the real them."
The two girls looked at them, and I do too. They are different, too. Otto wore a white tunic and brown trousers matched with boots, something you could find any other boy wearing. He smiled shyly, but he managed to look at them in the eye.
"Good morning, Prince Otto," Annabelle greeted him first.
"Good morning, Prince Otto," Oriana followed. She smiled a bit.
"Good morning to both of you, Otto is fine." Otto ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry I don't remember your names even though we've met before."
"It's fine. I'm Oriana."
"I'm Annabelle."
"And this," I say, gesturing to Oda, "is Oda."
She was dressed in a pale purple dress, no crown nor earrings on her, hair in a pinned up braid. She looked away, her usual frown on her face, but I've known her long enough to know she's not really upset, just at a loss for words.
"I'm Oda, as you know."
"She's just shy," I told Oriana and Annabelle.
"I'm not!" Oda retorted quickly, so quick that Oriana and Annabelle look at her in surprise, and then they laughed in unison.
"I've never seen the princess get along with anyone so well," Oriana chuckled.
"Yes, my sister and Karina are very good friends," Otto spoke up, suddenly no longer shy. He seemed happy talking about us. "They would always argue, but they always come back to my room together the next day."
"I can imagine that, especially since they've been secretly working together since the very start!" Oriana teased us.
"Even we don't get to see that side of Karina often!" Annabelle pouted jokingly.
Oda turned around so we don't see her face, but I thought I saw a corner of her mouth in a smile.
"Anyways, I will check up on how the preparations for the tea party are going. Take a seat at the table and watch that Otto doesn't run loose."
"I will go too—" I began.
"Don't," Oda said. "Please, at the very least, let me do this for you all."
There was something distant and cold in her voice, but not towards me. It was as if she is still blaming herself.
We took a seat at the long table outside in the garden, a white tablecloth draped over it so it matched the dinner table at the dining hall, and yet the table is free of candles and plates, giving it a less restrained feeling.
Annabelle and Oriana sat across from Otto and me.
I gave them a smile. "Don't mind Oda, she has been trying her best to deal with her feelings."
"We don't blame her," Annabelle whispered, her hair blowing in the wind, "and I wish she would understand—but it wouldn't sound sincere coming from us."
"So please, Karina, do help her," Oriana said.
"I don't know how to," I answered honestly. "Even I—" my sentence never finished, because Otto turned to me.
"Karina, can I go and look at the new flowers in the garden? I've never seen them before." Otto pointed to flowers lining the garden. None of them have fully bloomed, but buds of pink and purple are visible, with an occasional blue and yellow. It was finally spring.
"Yes, but don't wander too far."
"I won't!" Otto pushed back his chair and ran away quickly.
"He really is a nice person," Oriana said, watching his back. "Do you love him, Karina?"
I shook my head.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "But that day, I lied to you for the dandelion seeds. I didn't love Otto. But I wasn't lying about one thing: I was in love."
Oriana smiled.
"I knew that you must be in love."
Oscar's face and expressions and voice came into mind.
"I'm sorry."
"It's nothing to apologize for. What were we talking about before?"
"Oda. But Aideen is not much better," I said. "She has been with Queen Sonata this whole time, even with her in the cell. They don't speak, but she never leaves her side. Not even for this tea party."
"She's truly devoted," Annabelle said. "Like the Queen is her mother."
I think of everything she has ever said, and done, for the Royal Family. In the end, was it really for the Royal Family, or for the 'Mother' figure she yearned for? Oda had asked her to come to the tea party, but she chose Queen Sonota over it.
Yet I couldn't hate her, nor her actions.
"Here is the tea," Oda's voice came from behind me. I turned to see her waking up to us with a tray full of teacups, the tea inside like a golden pond, leaves swaying inside like small fish.
"I'll help," I said and stood up. Oda froze up, still three steps away. "I'm not doing this for you, so it's fine."
Her eyes tried and read mine. I didn't know if she found an answer or not, but she continued walking to me, and when I picked up two cups from the tray, she doesn't say anything.
I places the two teacups in front of Annabelle and Oriana.
"They smell wonderful! Chrysanthemum, right?" Annabelle asks, knowing everything about flowers, even from just a sniff.
"Yes," Oda said. "There are desserts too, fruits, shortcakes, pie—"
"And tarts!"
Blithe walked up to us, holding her own tray filled with small, round tarts, topped with all sorts of things—berries, mint leaves, and flowers.
"Blithe, here you are! Do sit down with us!" Annabelle said, jumping up. "Did you personally ask the chef to make it?"
"No, a young girl helped me make it. She's a contestant who left, but returned for the tea party." Blithe turned around. "Look, there she is."
It is Aubree, still dressed in simple garments that would be impossible for one to distinguish from a maid's attire. She smiled timidly when she sees us. I felt a pang at change in her: she is no longer the bright-eyed young girl who asked me to eat her desserts. It was as though we are strangers again.
But then again, we all changed.
"I'm Aubree," she said when she walked to us. She peered up at Oda and then quickly looked away. The action is obvious, but Oda remains stone-faced as the rest of us greet her too.
"These are splendidly made," Oriana said. "Thank you so much. Why don't you take a seat next to Blithe?" She nodded and walked to the other side of the table. I turned around and see Nicolette and Viola standing far away, at the entrance of the garden. They both tensed up when they see me. They turned to each other before walking over.
"I'm sorry." That was the first thing they both said, to Annabelle.
"I'm sure you can never forgive what I did that day, I can't either, but I hope I can amend my wrongs," Viola said. She spoke slowly, and her eyes flickered from Annabelle to her feet. I looked at her knuckles, which were white. Nicolette wrapped her fingers around her hand.
"I also joined in the accusations. I was thinking, but that's no excuse."
"Please don't apologize." Annabelle walked towards both of them. "We've all suffered. No one is at fault. Please enjoy yourselves today."
Viola sniffled but smiled. "Thank you." They turned to Oriana, who introduced herself again. They were all introducing themselves. This time not as rivals, not as contestants, but as themselves. Ordinary girls with feelings and flaws. I turned to Oda.
"Who else is coming?" I asked.
"All of the other contestants," she said. "Even Garnett."
"I see." I didn't think Garnett would come to the tea party, but it made sense she would. She would come for Lorna and Priscilla. She would come for the friends she lost, but met, in the Dandelion System.
"Karina!" Otto smiled, appearing in front of me, in his hands a bounquet of flowers. There are pink daisies and pure white lily of the valleys, small blue ones with four petals and purple bell-shaped ones, and, right in the middle, a bright yellow dandelion.
"Flowers? How? I thought they didn't bloom yet?" I asked him. He beamed.
"I know the garden's secret places! Oscar showed me when we were small."
I stoped. "Oscar?"
"Yes. My brother." Otto frowned. "What's wrong, Karina? Don't you like the flowers?"
I noticed that he was still holding out the banquet to me. I bit my bottom lip hard and with a shaking had, gathered the stems into my hands.
"Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you so much, Otto."
My chest hurts and my eyes felt dry and my throat wouldn't work and—and I'm in so much pain. Why, Oscar, why are you everywhere, but nowhere?
"Oh, I forgot my flute!" Otto realized when he reached into his pockets. "It's still in the tower!"
"Oh, Otto," Oda sighed. "You'll have to do without it then."
"No! I promised Karina I would play the flute for her and you! I can't break a promise she fulfilled."
"It's okay, Otto," I said. "I'll go get it."
"Karina, you don't have to," Oda said.
"No, please. Please let me get it." My voice choked on the words. She fell silent, as well as everyone else at the table.
"Then we'll take you up on the offer."
I stood up from my seat and walked out of the garden. I began to cry as I walked, the fragrance of the flowers so sweet that it hurts. I wiped my eyes but they kept falling out.
Oscar, Oscar, Oscar!
"Wait!"
I turn around and see Oriana running towards me, eyes wide and lips parted. Annabelle followed her and caught up to us, also watching me. I tried to speak, but I can't. Even if I did, I didn't know what to say. I wasn't fine, and it wasn't going to be okay, and I wasn't happy.
"Karina—" Oriana whispered, "we will be waiting, so tell us about Otto's brother one day. About the other prince who shared his body."
My eyes widened.
"About the forgotten boy who you loved."
I put my face into the bouquet, sobbing, then cries escaped my lips. Loud, painful cries.
"We will be waiting for that day."
I nodded.
"I will. I promise."
His face appeared in my mind—not Otto's, but his. He is as rude as always, as aloof and condescending, but at the same time, caring and wishing for care in return. I will tell them about his criticism of Otto's flute playing, about his gentle kindness, his crude humor, innocent boyish laughter, about his fear of snowy days when he was small, but his realization that snow is beautiful.
Maybe I will tell them it on a snowy day next year. Maybe five years later, at another tea party. Maybe I will tell Otto too, of the brother who actually cared for him just as much as Oda does. I will tell Oda too, and she will listen, even if her face is turned away or her eyes don't meet mine.
She will meet her brother too, freed from chains and thorns.
I will tell them about Oscar.
I will bring you alive again, Oscar.