Flowers for the Royal Gardens

“I’m not so sure about this…” Fantasia said as she approached the castle. She held her head low and crouched down a little, trying to make herself look a bit smaller.

Sky bounced next to her, occasionally hovering next to Fantasia’s head before she landed again. “It’ll be fun, I promise! You like flowers, right? And it might help you come out of your shell a little!”

“But—” Fantasia couldn’t get further, as he stumbled over his own paws—walking would be much easier if he just walked normally instead of trying to stay as low to the ground as possible—and fell snout-first into the dirt. For a moment, he considered just staying there. Maybe he could use the bits of Earth magic he knew to just disappear into the ground.

Sky would have none of that, though, and instantly nudged Fantasia to get back up. “Come on, or you’ll lose because you’re out of time!”

“All right, all right.” Fantasia stood up again and shook the dirt out of their fur. “But Sky, listen, assuming the Grimalkin leader usually chooses a Grimalkin and the Vargkin leader usually chooses a Vargkin—”

“Then maybe they’ll both choose you!” Sky’s energy was just impossible to lower. She jumped up and flapped her wings a few times before she landed on Fantasia’s back.

Fantasia would’ve loved to shake their fur, but they didn’t want Sky to fall, so they ignored the reflex. “Or neither of them will.”

“But,” Sky said as she stepped forward so that she stood on Fantasia’s head, pressing down his ears, “you won’t know that unless you try!” She jumped off Fantasia’s back again to walk on his other side.

At least now Fantasia could shake out his fur. “I will try, that’s why I’m here. I promised, didn’t I? I just… Doubt it’ll be much help.” He lowered his head even more and pressed his ears against his head as he passed the castle guards.

Sky, on the other hand, was not intimidated by them in the slightest. “Hi! The room to sign up for the flower competition is this way, right?”

The guard nodded, and Fantasia hurriedly followed to aforementioned path.

Only a few minutes later, Fantasia and Sky left the castle again, officially signed up to try and find the most beautiful flower. Well, Fantasia was, at least.

“Aren’t you going to come with me?” she asked. At least now that she wasn’t surrounded by strangers watching her every step, she didn’t feel the need to cower, lowering the risk of falling over her own paws.

“Nah, I’m good.” Sky nudged Fantasia gently. “You might make some new friends if you try and find that flower, but not if you let me do all the talking!”

Fantasia flattened their ears. “Are you sure?”

Sky jumped in front of Fantasia, forcing them to stop. “Listen Patches, I know at least, like, half the Seldnacs in Arbalednac.” With anyone else, Fantasia would’ve called that an empty boast, but Sky often did seem to know everyone. “Most of them are nice, trust me.” She rose on her hind legs to nuzzle Fantasia. “Now go out there and find the prettiest flower ever!”

Sky stepped aside to let Fantasia pass, her tail wagging slightly.

“Thanks.” Fantasia nudged Sky, then tried to hold his head high as he kept walking. Until Sky was out of sight at least, when he promptly lowered his head again, unsure what to do. Where should he even start looking for a flower? It had to be in Arbalednac, considering that Fantasia couldn’t open portals, and it had to be close enough that it wouldn’t wilt by the time he got back to the castle.

Fantasia wandered around. Beautiful flowers weren’t hard to find; there were tons of those. Some colorful, some only a single color, with and without glowing parts. But as pretty as those were, none would’ve been beautiful enough to win the contest, especially not against Seldnacs well-versed in Plant magic.

She sighed. Now that she was signed up, Fantasia did want to at least try to win, but how?

Just by chance, they looked up, and spotted the most gorgeous flower they’d seen so far. A tree blossom, powder blue with a glowing pink line near the end of its petals. Not overly extravagant, but with this one, Fantasia might at least have a chance of winning.

Now he only had to reach it. Fantasia was tall, but even when he stood on his hind legs, the blossom was far too high up. If only Sky had come along… With her Flying magic, she could’ve easily taken the blossom and carried it back down. But she hadn’t, and Fantasia was alone. What now?

Fantasia’s father had taught them to climb, but they’d never been too good at it. Still, it was worth a try. They aimed at some of the lower branches, shifted their weight, leaped—and came crashing down again, splinters falling around them. They had reached the branches, sure, but those had broken right under them. And climbing the trunk like Grimalkin could was out of the question; Fantasia was more dexterous than most Vargkin, but he was nowhere near a Grimalkin’s skills.

“What are you doing?”

Fantasia flinched and unsuccessfully tried to struggle to her feet when an unfamiliar voice sounded behind her. “I’m, uh, it’s nothing, I just…” She trailed off, lying on her stomach and looking up to a Vargkin Seldnac with grey fur and blue flames. Maybe she should stay like this; if she stood up, she’d probably tower over the stranger. Fantasia’s gaze flickered up to the flower. Maybe she should ask for help, but…

The stranger followed the movement of her eyes. “Were you trying to reach something up there?”

“Y-Yeah…” Fantasia lowered her ears, trying to look even smaller. “The flower. It’s, uh, for the… Uhm, the…”

“For the competition?” the stranger helpfully finished.

Fantasia nodded.

“I’m Seraph, by the way.” The stranger—Seraph—sat down and tilted her head to the side.

Fantasia finally found the confidence to sit up, at least. “Fantasia.”

Seraph’s tail wagged slightly from side to side. “Do you need some help?”

“That’d… That’d be great, yeah…” Fantasia licked one of their front paws and nervously washed their face, a little habit they’d taken over from their dad.

“One moment.” Seraph jumped off the ground and flew up to the flower. Another Seldnac with Flying magic! Unlike Fantasia, Seraph had no issues plucking the flower. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Fantasia took the flower, unsure what to do now. Should she just say goodbye and leave?

Seraph smiled. “No problem. Take care on your way back.”

“Yeah, I, uh, I will,” Fantasia answered. “Bye.”

“Goodbye.” Seraph turned around and soon disappeared from view behind some bushes.

Fantasia looked one last time up to the tree and to the broken branches strewn around her, then turned as well to trot back to the castle. She had to get the flower there before it wilted, after all.

Fantasia was nervous when the day of the competition arrived. Once again, he was severely tempted to let the ground swallow him up as he sat between the other competitors, waiting for the results. He could see Sky sitting among the spectators, which calmed him down a little, but not much. For a moment he also thought he spotted Seraph, but couldn’t make sure before the official ceremony began and needed his attention.

Not that Fantasia remembered much of it; they were so nervous it was hard to focus on the words, so they mostly just hoped they’d get through this without making a complete fool of themselves.

They only zoned back in on the words when they heard their name, heart pounding out of fear an answer was expected. Luckily, it wasn’t; the announcer was just reading off the names of each contestant, usually accompanied by cheers from the spectators.

“We would like to thank each and every one of you for your time and effort,” the announcer continued once everyone had been named. “However, only two of you can win. Our leaders have looked at every flower, and each has chosen one winner.”

Fantasia’s heart was racing again, though this time, mostly because they were hoping that maybe, just maybe, they’d been chosen too.

The first name, chosen by the Grimalkin leader, belonged to another hybrid Seldnac. Fantasia cheered with the rest as the Seldnac stepped forward to get their reward.

Next up was the one chosen by the Vargkin leader. Fantasia listened closely, but once again, it wasn’t his name; an old Vargkin was chosen instead, who’d bred and raised his flower by himself.

The rest of the ceremony went by quickly, and soon enough, Fantasia stood outside again.

“Don’t worry too much about it!” Sky tried cheering him up. “Maybe you’ll win next year!”

Fantasia was, truth be told, just happy he’d survived the whole ordeal. “Yeah, maybe.”

Sky jumped, aided by her flying magic, and landed on Fantasia’s back. “You know what, next time I’ll participate, too. Let’s see who of us can find a prettier flower.”

Fantasia chuckled. “Sounds good to me. I’ll be cheering for you.”

“Thanks!” Fantasia couldn’t see Sky, but she knew her well enough to know she was beaming. “Let’s both win next year!”