Kai's Memories

She hates seeing her this way. She misses the way her eyes used to light up around Star, how the fellow leshy drew that energy out of her long before she showed it elsewhere. Star was sweet and she was happy they were friends, but that was really why she loved her. She brought the best out of Dezzy.

Dezzy, who can no longer remember anything.

She recalls how when they first came here, the flowers bloomed so thick in this field you could hardly see the grass, the explosion of electric blue and hundreds of fresh petals drifting like little boats on the lakeside.

Now autumn has fallen. Spring is gone. The field is empty, yellowish after months of raw heat, and the lake is empty, brown and half-evaporated.

She has to make it right. As Dezzy looks around with a blank, confused expression, she takes off into the field, searching intently through the grass. Just one stormblossom. Just one.

But there’s no sign of anything, only a few wilty summer flowers baked dry by the heat.

She stops in the shade, her eyes finally picking up on something. A single blue petal, faded, desiccated.

She picks it up like it’s the most precious of gems and runs back, weakly smiling. This will recover her memories; this will make her smile again.

But when she gently places the withered petal in her cupped hands, Dezzy stares blankly at it before her eyes fill up with tears.

And Kai withers with it. It wasn’t enough.