Red Roses - (FCRAs 2016 Winner)

Fading Dreams

"A wolf puppy? You?"

"I know, who would believe it if they didn't see it?"

Beldon let out a laugh as he picked up his mug, he, Lorelie, jean and several of the other young men from Beldon's regiment all crowed around a table in the tavern.

Lorelie hadn't planned to join the men and yet she found herself in a corner between the wall and her brother, Bramble sat on her lap, listening to the young men throw banter and stories back and forth.

Well, at least Beldon's mellow mood had brightened and he was laughing, throwing a comeback at Jean in return for the jab that had been shot at him.

He also didn't appear to have the deep darkness under his eyes anymore. There was still a shadow but nothing like before. He wasn't running a fever and his movements didn't appear to be hinder by any pain. He was clearly on the end, physically at least.

"So what possessed you to adopt a wolf?" Beldon asked, making her jump as the attention suddenly turned to her.

"Oh, um... he was alone and separated from his pack. I took him home for the night and... here he is," she said, holding up Bramble who was snoring, uninterested in the loud room around them.

Beldon laughed. "A wolf, of all things," he said, shaking his head, "Maybe pigs will fly next."

"It's hardly the strangest thing you've seen," Jean pointed out.

"True, this it rather mundane in suppose."

"Why? What have you seen?" Lorelie asked.

Beldon and her brother just exchanged a look and Beldon gestured for Jean to go get another round of drinks.

"So, when will you be going back to Rose Castle?" Lorelie asked.

Beldon shrugged. "I can't say."

She looked at him in surprise and he smiled.

"My family came to visit," he explained, "They walked in, I walked out."

Lorelie opened her mouth when she caught Jean's eyes from across the room. Even if he couldn't hear them he clearly had some idea about what they were discussing and he was telling her to drop it.

"Um, how are your dreams?" she asked instead.

"Fading," Beldon said.

"Fading?" Lorelie copied in shock. Beldon looked at her in surprise. "You mean that remedy doesn't completely remove them – along with anything else you might dream?"

Beldon raised an eyebrow at her. "Not completely."

"I... I'm sorry," Lorelie said, aghast and Beldon laughed.

"Lorelie," he said gently, leaning towards her, "Compared to what I was dreaming, you did your job."

Lorelie jumped to her feet so fast, Beldon had to swing back and almost fell off his chair.

"It's not good enough," she said, "My job isn't complete if you're not better."

"Lorelie," Beldon said, reaching for her but she was already grabbing her things, hoisting up Bramble and running out of the pub and heading home.

Dropping items and puppy on her bed, she went into her workroom and dragged books down from the shelves, lighting several candles and taking a seat, opening the first and starting to read.

Book after book she read everything, debating on how to adapt the remedies she already knew of. If she enhanced the one she'd given Beldon, she would knock him out. Her others wouldn't be strong enough.

What did that man dream of that it left him suffering? Was war truly so terrible?

By three in the morning, she'd exhausted her books and sat glaring out of the window at the stars, her hair all over the place from the number of times she had run her fingers through it.

It wasn't until she clock struck five-past that a thought came to her.

There was another book in the house somewhere. It belonged to her grandmother and she had never used it. Her mother had told her years before to not bother with it and she'd never questioned it – and then forgot.

Sitting up, she looked behind her. Now where was it?

She didn't end up searching for it that night – there was no need to wake the whole household with her quest. Instead she went to bed, resented her late night the next morning, then started her hunt after everything was finished for the bakery.

She discovered it at the very back of the pantry – goodness knew why it was back there – and it was covered in dust.

After a minor war with a spider who planted himself square in the middle of the cover, she won the book and went back upstairs.

Of course, with all the jobs that filled her usual day, she didn't get to look at it until that evening and once she did, she was sat in the middle of her floor, hands in her hair, glaring at the book.

"What in the name of all that is good are Daya Floras?" she snarled, tossing the book aside and grabbing another of her books that described plant life. Never once had she heard of Daya Flora, she was half-way convinced it wasn't even a real plant.

Of course, just to prove her wrong, she did find it, in a book she never had a reason to look in because it was all about rare, extinct and even mystical plants that she purely had for interest and wasn't useful for anything else.

Daya Floras were marked under mythical and Lorelie almost threw the book out of the window until she saw the illustration.

The coincidence was almost so perfect she could have been convinced it was some sort of hoax that was being played on her – if anyone else knew what she was up to.

But no, no one else did.

And here it was.

Daya Floras, a mythical flower hat bloomed in moonlight.

"That's the flower from The Grove," Lorelie said, spinning to Bramble, who gave her a bored look. "Bramble, we saw this plant! It exists!"

Bramble very helpfully yawned in her face and buried himself under her covers while Lorelie launched to her feet and grabbed parchment and quill, writing down everything from the two books alone with a drawing of the plant. She needed to go back to The Grove.

The last time she had called one of the wolves had found her.

Perhaps it would work again if she tried tonight.

If she could find her way back and get that flower maybe – maybe – it could make that remedy she needed for Beldon.

And perhaps in the process she could talk to him about the dreams themselves, as she had found with other patients, talking had helped them calm their fears, whatever their fears might be.

"Bramble," she said, shaking the lump of duvet, "We're going out again. Tonight."

~~~~

Next up: Thursday 

Ar By: Google

It happened - first time ever in this series. I didn't know what might happen in this chapter. i write every chapter on the fly but always have a vague idea. This time... nothing. 

That was worrying lol - so sorry for this chapter. i know it's not amazing.