Rose Blumen ~

(Rose)

As usual, I'm leaving too soon they say. But I'll come back again eventually, someday.

The weather is rather bad lately, but I'm well equipped so I end up going anyway through mist and light rain.

See you another day my dear friends.

~

We're heading back to the source I've found so Blume can inspect it. It's less than a day away if we walk fast enough, but the weather this day doesn't help.

I carry a bag with what my friends had spared for us regarding our project. It was near the marsh on the other side, but the source hidden in the forest seems much more promising now.

I'm not too tired so I keep walking at nightfall for a little while, a little longer. The days are shorter nowadays.

Nature is resilient and seasons keep passing as usual. It's almost as if only mankind went extinct. But it's not true, because most animals did as well.

R - What makes plants more resilient than animals to your energy?

B - Rose... I'm cold... I wonder why you're curious about that now of all time? Well, I never thought about it before so I'm not certain. I would say because they live on a slower pace, they don't run around all day trying to eat and maintain body temperature like you should now. SO in a sense, plants are stronger against some changes? That would be my first guess. The difference in biochemistry kinetics that is.

R - Alright, alright. I'll make the camp. Aren't you cozy today? Furthermore for a flower.

B - I'm a flower like you, I need heat too!

R - My blood isn't warm enough? Well, I do wear gloves while you're exposed to the air. Let me close the jacket over you.

She hugs me, in a way, and I shut the jacket, hiding everything strange on my chest. That makes me look far more voluptuous somewhat, it's a little amusing. She replies with a funny muffled voice also.

B - It is warmer but flowers aren't at ease being pressed like that.

R - You're picky today, but you're right. How will we do when winter comes?

B - You're right... I need to adapt. You still don't want tentacles with muscles and skin instead of plant stems with leaves?

R - I'd rather look rather normal yes thank you. What if you fully hide within my body? We can keep you blooming when it's warm and hide when it's cold.

B - It's probably the easiest solution. I like having something to move around though, to feel air and everything.

R - If you really want something, why not some long bramble you would keep packed somewhere and use in case of need? Like a rope. You could move it around like a snake as I go or sleep.

B - I'll think about it. I haven't put much thought into it so far honestly. The roses you had were convenient at the time and that was it.

R - What would you like to become? That's more about what you would like, isn't it? Keeping in mind that I want to keep you close as much as you do...

B - Rose, that's sweet. I love you.

R - I love you too, but don't pick some nasty appearance okay?

B - I'll think about what would be convenient for the both of us, and still pretty enough. And you know, tentacles like squids have are certainly...

R - I said no!

She laughs against me, it tickles my skin. I'm pulling a tent like Myls and Zeslinry have. I curl up inside and wait. It's raining outside. There's a metallic trim in the tent that somehow keeps the temperature warm inside. My wet clothes off, I free the flowers and curl up below my blanket.

R - Good night Blume.

B - Good night Rose. Sleep well.

~

I dreamt of a smiling face in the middle of darkness. And some cerulean blue eyes like I've never seen. It was both seducing and spooky. At least this wasn't a nightmare. Nightmares... I can't forget that pitchfork... That whole family... One after another, I killed them all... Even though they became monsters, I still have a guilt I can't let go....

I wake up in a sudden gasp and cold sweat. Where am I? Ah, the tent, I remember.

B - Good morning Rose. Rise and shine my love.

R - Oh... Thank you...

B - You had a bad dream? You look pale.

R - Something along those lines yes. What I did to those children, and to their mother in some ways too... I still feel bad.

B - So do I, you know... You reacted as best you could in a context I created without intending to. I was the monster at first. We're trying to atone while moving forward. We are good people. Even though you were involved in tragic situations and accidents, you are someone very kind Rose. You did what you could.

R - Thank you...

Sometimes the balance between bitterness and sweetness moves in a rather chaotic way.

I pack and we go into the woods.

~

B - What if I built a kind of muscle that is thinner and make therefore the tentacle thin enough to look like brambles from the rosebush?

R - Why are you so invested in tentacles?

B - Because they are the most versatile kind of appendices I can think off. You wouldn't want a second pair of arms I presume.

R - I admit that I like a lot the flowery aspect you have. Had you come to me as an arm or a face protruding from me, I would definitely have freaked out.

B - See. It's tough. And I'm glad I chose this body to come closer to you. It fits us both. Brambles can't move by themselves, but I think I'll try crafting something better that still keeps a plant-like aspect. I like how you like plants.

She's laughing. I admit it's intriguing how I mind a foreign body growing on me if it looks made of flesh, but not if it looks made of plants. Luckily, she's a daiûa that is more a plant spirit than anything else.

R - What can I say? I love roses and glowers in general. It doesn't look monstrous to me even though you're right, it's essentially the same as if you had chosen something more fleshy.

B - You. Are. Romantic! Silly you. You know I want to please you anyway. But trust me, I'm sure I can make something nice for us both.

R - I trust you. Keep us human. And flowers are always good for me.

And just like that, we reach the strange place hidden by the oddly shaped trees.

Blume emits a little sound betraying her surprise. She surely sees the same flow of coloured ribbons flying toward the water and diving around.

I go look at the yellow flowers deep below, from the edge of the well. She can see through my eyes the yellow spots.

B - I'm impressed. Even I wouldn't have found such a... Thing. I wonder if it's aware. You found this place following the coloured things you say?

R - Yes. I thought you could see them too?

B - I can... I can see far more than that. Ah, maybe that's it... Oh, that's funny. I get it now. Humans and other animals have virtually no chance to search or find this place through normal means. And for beings such as me, this place is also very well hidden, in a different way. I see far more energy fluxes and movements than just what you seem to do. And that's the thing. When I see a sea seemingly chaotic everywhere, the little you are currently seeing makes more sense and is more specific. It needed a human analysis of a sight like ours to find such a trail and then this place.

She giggles.

B - Poor unlucky thing down there. It tried very hard to hide from the world until you arrived!

R - Well, I'm not planning on bothering them more than necessary. What do you think of the place and the water?

B - No, you don't get it. The yellow flowers down there didn't set home here and hid it. They didn't even create this place. They are part of a much, much bigger organism and being-like-me, which created this entire place. There is something larger than a dragon buried below. This place, it's like its mouth. This water is a kind of saliva... Or blood, or sap. It's a liquid something very impressive below this forest uses to digest and refine energy from the fluxes you saw.

R - I... I swam in the mouth of a dragon? It's not a natural source of water?

B - My metaphor was slightly exaggerating it, but it's not far from it. Something alive like me when I was a red forest is set around here, underground. It made very hard and important efforts to remain invisible to the world. But it feeds from here on the surface, or breathe here if you prefer. And you found it. You found the mouth of a sleeping dragon. The flowers below are the tongue of the creature lying below and all around.

R - I see... A dragon... We shouldn't wake it up then. And I guess we shouldn't stay here longer either.

B - It's not alive like we are yet I think. So far it' looking like the early stages of my awareness, a little like a sleeping person would be. What we do now wouldn't matter much. But in a year or two, it should be able to... Hatch I guess. To transform and leave. Today it's probably barely conscious, but it slowly builds its identity and body. It's not dangerous for now.

Blume has been analysing our surroundings carefully since we got here, and learns quickly what we're dealing with.

For me it's a lot to process but I think I get the gist of it.

R - Can you talk to it? As long as we're friendly, maybe we could help each other.

B - We can try that. That dragon is still undecided in its persona and relations toward humans or beings-like-me alike. Meaning as you thought, that it's the right time to try making it turn into an ally for us. Its next contacts with intelligent beings and how they turn out will shape how it will choose to behave later on.

R - What should we do?

B - If you want to stay here a little while, I can try to talk to it and see how we could help each other. We want to build a safeguard for your body and life, whereas it needs to eat lots of energy I guess. I don't see what it could want yet beside eating.

R - It may want to eat you then.

B - Eh, I doubt it but let's hope not. I can take a moment to find all that out if you want to spend a night around here?

R - Alright. I won't steal as much water as I did last time for sure. And I'm grateful for what it did to my arm.

B - I'll try telling it that.

Without much to do around, I spent the rest of the day waiting around, resting, making camp, and looking at the depth of the well. Silent swarm of coloured spots of mist, floating around the water. They feel something very large it would seem, something I can't see.

Blume will surely succeed. She'll talk to it tonight and convince it.

I guess it takes a daiûa to speak to a younger daiûa.

I fall asleep close to the water so that my flower can stretch inside. A fire behind keeps me warm.

I wonder what will her work bring by morning?

~

B - Rise and shine Rose. Good morning!

R - Hm... Good morning Blume.

I open my eyes to a strange sky. The rain is falling, but slides on an invisible dome above us. An invisible roof is protecting this clearing, this entire place?

I sit up. Nothing else unusual in sight at first. Before I can ask, Blume brings me the news.

B - It worked. It will help us for what we want. It's actually even more discreet and well hidden that I thought, because it's already far more developed and advance than I could even see. It's already alive and self-aware.

R - Wow. So the dragon is alive and awake... I'm glad it was kind to me. Can we repay it?

B - I... That's kind of the weird piece of news. The payment has already been made it said. We can still help it further, but for what mattered first to us, it seems it already feels indebted to you for something it helped itself with...

R - What do you mean?

B - It took something from you, in exchange for the water you used for yourself last time you came. I just hope you don't mind missing that.

R - I don't remember losing anything though. What was it?

B - Well... Ova.

Ah. I get it.

I don't really care honestly.

R - It took my ova? So that was the meaning of those... But what will it do with it?

B - Probably study human biology, or craft something with it. Fruits, seeds, egg cells and embryos are good for that. It's easier than brains to study. Wait, you really don't mind?

I take another look at my belly. I do feel odd about it. But...

R - I waste them every month of my life. If they can be of some use to someone, or something... Well, maybe it's better. I do feel weird about it though.

B - I think it was a good trade. It agreed to help us regrow your body very rapidly if something fatal were to happen to you.

R - What about our souls?

B - That is still difficult, but I'm working on it. That thing below doesn't mind lending a hand.

R - This dragon is rather kind.

B - I wouldn't go this far. It's a very, very different being. For now it wants to build itself a humongous body inside the ground, and therefore plans to stay here and hidden for a long time. What it can learn and use from other lifeforms will help it reach its goal. So... I would say this thing is trying to be pragmatic, rather than being kind...

R - You sound afraid.

B - As I mentioned, I thought it was still young and unconscious, unaware. It is not. This dragon looked at us very cautiously since we arrived. I wasn't able to notice it. It's another being, far, far more powerful than I am. It simply hides it extremely well.

R - I see. You feel as if we entered the lion's den, oblivious to it.

B - Something like that. If it's rather friendly toward us today, it doesn't mean it should need or care for us in the slightest. It isn't empathic at all.

R - Oh. So there's nothing left to do here today then? Except trusted friendship, we all got what we wanted.

B - Yes. It'll work on what it took from you, and from me. And if we need it, it'll resurrect your body. Well, create a new one actually. And we'll find a way to transmit our memories and personalities in a way that feels like proper resurrection. We can leave now...

She's anxious. But we have the insurance that we could be resurrected here, fast, should the worst come to happen.

We leave the strange dragon in peace and leave.

~