@ShellShelf Flori hated him! The boar as she has come to call him! Lord Hernon, her master was once again berating her for the browning of the Eucalyptus leaves! Then came the slap on the back of her head! Closing her eyes tightly and wrinkling her nose she held back the tears. She swallows and takes a calming breath!
"Master Hernon, it isn't the sea air, please believe me. They have a fungus that affects them. I cannot cure it. I am punting them but I fear it may spread if we do not cut down the worst of them." She steps back fearing the backlash that is sure to come.
"Foolish elf! What did I expect from your kind?" He spits in her direction and walks away shaking his head and he yells back to her. "Elf be sure those trees are cured or it will be your hide that will suffer if I lose a single one! Gold is scarce enough without me having to cut down my profits because YOU are a failure!"
The rage boilers within her and before she can lose her cool she runs into the garden. The plants surround her and give her the comfort she craves. She inhales the salty sea air and tries to regain herself emotionally. But cannot. He has no understanding of the plants. Nor of the elements and how each affects the other. Flori on the other hand knows every plant in this garden, she had cultivated them all. That boar was way too lazy to tend to it. She tries to remember the last time she had tasted freedom? Was it five years now? Oh, she had been thrilled when she heard she was going to train with a master. He had been so charming, so convincing. Now here she was stuck with no way out and she knew in two years he would never grant her freedom. He had his papers and would hold her prisoner as long as he was alive. The dreams of running away soon stopped and replaced with ones of wishing him killed. Not nice maiden dreams but ones she had.
Flori leans against one of the sickly trees closes her eyes and a strange blue light emanates from her body surrounding her and the sick tree. If one was to be in the circle they would feel her commune with the vegetation. Her mind blocking out everything around her as she pours her healing energy into it. This exercise exhausts her physically and spiritually. She called on Orion himself to assist her. The very God King of the Luna Elves. The leader of the Wild Hunt...the one who ensures the continuation of the never-ending process of death and rebirth. Pleading for her very life to bring this tree back to fruition.
She collapses...and there she stays...no one comes to look for her...no one ever knows she is out there.
Lord Hernon finishes his stew and calls for one of the maids to clean it up. He is a miserly, bitter man and his disregard for all his servants is evident. He mumbles to himself as he walks out of the cottage. He hasn't thought of Flori nor does he care of her wellbeing. He strolls down the path and to the main street; he is headed to an all too familiar location...the tavern where he will proceed to drink himself into a stupor. Those are the good nights! The bad ones well Flori usually had the bruises the next morning on the bad nights.
-------Time Shift a few hours later
Lord Hernon exchanged a few words of business with other locals and a few guards. Nothing of seriousness and while the night drew later he invited a few back to his home and fireside. They took the back way to his estate. Two of the guards had to report first so they would met at his gate it was arranged as so. As Lord Hernon walked his anger mounted; if that insufferable little wrench has not fixed the trees out he would break her neck!
Flori felt sick as she regained consciousness. Once she was able to she stood and looked at the trees. To her immense relief Orion was kind, the trees had shed their leaves with the mold, and new growth was already budding. She leaned her forehead to the trunk and whispered her thanks to Orion.
It was late, or so she thought. The diseased foliage would have to be cleaned up before Lord Hernon's return or he would accuse her of trying to let the mold spread. Or plotting against him or some such nonsense. She ran for an old potato sack and shoved the moldy leaves into it. There were so many! She couldn't bury them or the fungus would spread even further her only choice was to burn them but she couldn't put them in the hearth fire that would make everyone ill in the house. She was at a loss as what to do.
So Flori dragged the one sack filled with the carcasses of the leaves over to the root cellar. She was too weak in her stamina to produce the required energy it would take right now to extinguish the leaves at this moment but by morning she would be able too. Her concern was Lord Hernon, he would use any reason to punish her. This would be no exception. Forget the fact that she repaired the trees with the help of the Gods! He would only see the leaves as evidence of her failure to protect and properly care for them.
She lugs the sack down into the cellar and places it against the wall. She lights a candle and pours the wax over the opening to seal it. Now the sack looks innocent enough. As though filled with herbs harvested for use. Inconspicuous or so she believes. She rushes to clean up the remaining leaves.
She picked the last of the foul leaves up and was dragging it to the cellar as she heard footsteps. Her heart started to beat faster! Was that Lord Hernon! Was he bring guests, as he called them home!!! She was a wreck! Dirty from cleaning up, Eucalyptus oil covering her face and hands making the grime stick to her! It was in her hair, which she was tangled and knotted from lack of care. She looked like a waif! And Lord Hernon would surely think she did this on purpose just to humiliate him. Her tears came more from sheer fear of the explosion she was sure to come upon his arrive. As the latch on the gate clicked all the color left her. She was shaking. Not knowing what else to do she pushed the sack towards the cellar and with shaking hands tried to seal the second sack, but the more she tried the worse the waxy mess became. Until she just abandoned the sack and flew up the stairs of the cellar and heard the voices...one she did not recognize the other was Lord Hernon! He brought men home! Then fear rippled through her body! Was he selling her!
She slowly walked towards the front of the house and looked upon the group! A new wave of fear coursed through her...So she slunk off back into the garden. Here she could hide from him. Oh tomorrow she would pay the price but for now she was safe enough.
