flora
Flora gaze traces Kai in quiet detail—the slow blink of his coppery eyes, the way his hair spikes and flattens in all the wrong places from his dramatic flop, the subtle rise and fall of his chest as he breathes through it all. He doesn’t say much at first, and the queen doesn’t press, not even when he reaches for her hand. She slides hers across without fanfare, tangling their fingers easily, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
"I did try," she murmurs after a moment, eyes half-lidded. "Koa didn’t even say hi to me at my party. He hasn't really been able to look at me in...I dunno, forever." She shrugs, the motion small. "I sent him a note after. Told him I hoped he had a good time and asked to meet to talk."
Her thumb brushes absently over the back of Kai’s hand, slow and steady, as if grounding herself in the motion. "He didn’t answer for a long time, and when he did show up, it wasn’t..." Her voice trails off as the memory curls like smoke through her chest—Koa standing in the Greatwood, arms locked behind his back like he was reporting to someone he didn’t respect, not even looking at her. "He talked to me like I was some captain he hated and had to humour." She sighs, soft and breathless. "It felt like...like he didn't even see me as a person anymore."
The bench creaks a little as she shifts, wriggling forward until she can press her head against Kai's. The curve of the U makes it easy, their limbs tangling lazily now as she tugs his arm across her chest and hugs it. She doesn’t try to tell him it’ll be okay. Doesn’t promise that King’s End will grow on him or that he’ll be home before he knows it. All she says, with a quiet exhale, is: "That sucks." She'll help him fight to get it back, and she knows that he knows that, but for the moment? It just sucks.
Then, without moving her head from his, she reaches blindly up over the table, fingers fumbling for a gummy worm. When she finds one, she dangles it in front of his face, swaying it like a lure, hoping that he'll not only bite, but maybe smile a little too.
"I did try," she murmurs after a moment, eyes half-lidded. "Koa didn’t even say hi to me at my party. He hasn't really been able to look at me in...I dunno, forever." She shrugs, the motion small. "I sent him a note after. Told him I hoped he had a good time and asked to meet to talk."
Her thumb brushes absently over the back of Kai’s hand, slow and steady, as if grounding herself in the motion. "He didn’t answer for a long time, and when he did show up, it wasn’t..." Her voice trails off as the memory curls like smoke through her chest—Koa standing in the Greatwood, arms locked behind his back like he was reporting to someone he didn’t respect, not even looking at her. "He talked to me like I was some captain he hated and had to humour." She sighs, soft and breathless. "It felt like...like he didn't even see me as a person anymore."
The bench creaks a little as she shifts, wriggling forward until she can press her head against Kai's. The curve of the U makes it easy, their limbs tangling lazily now as she tugs his arm across her chest and hugs it. She doesn’t try to tell him it’ll be okay. Doesn’t promise that King’s End will grow on him or that he’ll be home before he knows it. All she says, with a quiet exhale, is: "That sucks." She'll help him fight to get it back, and she knows that he knows that, but for the moment? It just sucks.
Then, without moving her head from his, she reaches blindly up over the table, fingers fumbling for a gummy worm. When she finds one, she dangles it in front of his face, swaying it like a lure, hoping that he'll not only bite, but maybe smile a little too.
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
And now I'm covered in you
