i want my life to look like sunflowers and leather

NIKI

Blinking in confusion as Flora turns back, once again, to the great mother tree, Niki has to stifle his laughter - both for his own good but also so he doesn't risk offending the Mathair - until she makes her way back to his side, the boy nodding gently. "That is as much good luck as any we might get," he decides, pausing only briefly to readjust the grip on his cane before he's setting off again. It's slow going, but that's par for the course with him, and moving rather than standing in the cold is always going to be preferable.

Raising his eyebrows as she appoints herself the presiding judge over the Greatwood and Torchline, he can only gesture to the world around them - beautiful and magical, if not freezing cold and deadly if caught unawares. "I suppose it depends on what you consider better," he quips. Everyone he's met (Vesper) has only ever sung Torchline's praises, which is perhaps why Niki still feels a healthy dose of suspicion about it.

But then of course - of course - Flora is the queen of the place, Niki gazing at her in open shock and near disbelief. "I just want to make certain I have this correct," he says slowly. "You died and were brought back to life by your demigod parents, you met the Mathair in person, and you are the queen of a region. Have I missed anything?"

stay your pretty eyes on course
keep the memories of who i was before

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!