[PQ] [RQ] a rose by any other name is a scandal

Lena

even when no one was looking
I was still kind

Lena remained composed, despite the shaking in her fingers and the incoming rattling of her teeth against one another, chilled to the bone. The competition winding along didn’t spark at her either, still concerned with the flowers staying upright, rather than how fast they could accomplish the task – it hadn’t served them well in the last few rounds regardless. Where there was no beating the storm, they could at least ensure the stems would stay, offering those protections that, while fleeting and no longer necessary, still needed to be honored in order to heed a god’s request.

Scooping and moving more of the mud, or any residual soil that hadn’t been soaked in the deluge, the Caretaker continued her work, head down, enduring, formidable, and still thinking about home, in the near distant future.

--

Lena keeps planting.

with all of my heart
even when it is invisible