The previously entry had King Rilan of Winding's Story, and here's the last of chapter 4, just in time for the beginning of spring!
Decisions, Decisions
"But Father," I suddenly cried out. "Now you've spoken to us about the golden flower. You promised that man you wouldn't. You've broken your promise to him."
"It doesn't matter," Father shook his head. He reached down behind his desk and brought forth a plain wooden box. The inside was unlined, and the top compartment held a dried up brown petals, the broken husk from a once beautiful flower. Below it was another compartment, a red glow pushed at the edges as if eager to escape. Father lifted the wooden shelf out, placing the dried up rose on the desk top and exposed what lay below. It was like the one I'd seen in my dreaming, a beautiful red rose bud. The petals closed up so tightly it made it look more like a seed than a flower, and its red glow pulsed like a small flame on a candle, ready to burst into larger flames at any moment.
"The fire rose," I whispered.
Iana's father began his tale last time, and now continues.
How the Rose Blooms
"It was like a dream," Father said earnestly, as if begging me and Joli to understand.
My breath froze in me as I heard this, I knew exactly what father spoke about since I'd experienced the same strange dreaming. I looked at Joli to see her reaction. Her face had turned white as ash. She clenched her hands in front. It seemed my sister had experienced it as well. I glanced toward Mother, but she shook her head.
Father was not as lucky as I was, he soon found he was trapped in this new garden. How he got there he didn't know and try as he might he could not return home. He wandered there a time, a pleasure long denied him. He came to a large standing of trees and there he met a man seated beneath it.
From last time, and now we shall see what Iana discovered in the garden.
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A bright burning red, Iana's story #19
"It must be the first blossom from the orchards," Aunt Rosemary said. "I'll take whatever I can get this year. It has been the slowest spring coming. It's usually not this late, and this is much later than I've ever seen it. You can put the apple blossom on the table for now."
I looked down at my hand. I still carried the apple blossom I intended to bring her. I'd forgotten about it completely. I stumbled over to her work table. Flopping down on a stool I dropped the branch on the tabletop and stared at it, trying to sort out my wild thoughts and the uneasiness swirling around me. The dreaming had left me, or rather I'd finally left it behind, but the memory of it, the strangeness of it was beginning to shake me. It felt like I'd woken up, only I knew I had not ever fallen asleep.
