Stinky Flowers and Sap

Sidra and Sulien took several days' rest after their trip to Arcanum. Neither had expected to miss the golem and have to fly all the way there, and their muscles ached. They laid in their room in the tower watching their familiar’s play, Sidra’s cat trying to bat at Falkreath’s wings as he sat with them slightly spread, sunning himself. Every once in a while Falkreath would flare his wings, causing Sidra’s cat to jump back and reassess her strategy.

Sidra smiled as she watched them. “At least they have energy,” she commented and Sulien laughed.

“I would not be surprised if they went to the Windy Region and back and still had time to play,” Sulien agreed with a light tone to his voice.

Sidra cherished these moments most, the quiet moments between the pair, where there were no pressures, no urgent things to be done. How different it was from Espeor! There was always an air of busyness for the royal family. Always more things to do, a certain standard to hold themselves to. While Khaalida was indeed a personable queen, Sidra had long known her mother to hold herself to higher standards than any of them. And Khaaleesi, Sidra’s eldest sister, was the opposite of that. Sidra almost feared her sister ever taking over. Perhaps time would dull Leesi’s wild and rough edges, but perhaps not. Her eldest brother, Koa, would be more suited for it… perhaps. His nose was always buried in some book, and took learning to the levels of Arcanum study.

Sidra thought back on arriving at Arcanum, the twin spires rising high on the horizon, and immediately seeking out Asteri instead of Uncle Ilkay or Koa. The young Acolyte had been eager to help, rushing off to deliver the note and get the response.

Sidra refused to examine the reasons behind avoiding her family while they were there, and instead thought of her other siblings. Zehar and Signe were both wild at heart, in a different way from Leesi. Leesi had rough edges and fire. Signe was born of a colder, darker metal, but forged in the same fires as Leesi. And Zehar? To her lighthearted brother, everything was an adventure, everything was a joke. Signe and Zehar were further from the line of succession, and had more freedoms. But Sidra herself? Sidra had been raised as a true princess, despite not being of the full blood of her siblings, always held to a higher standard.

Her magic danced joyfully within her at the thought. It made her reminisce on one of the bigger fights with her mother. ‘You have the blood of the deities,’ Khaalida had said. Sidra had shot back that so did her siblings.

But it was more than that. While they were at Arcanum Sidra had sought out the family trees, and traced her own bloodline. The young mare had been shocked to find that while her mothers line bred true, gifting her with magic from a young age, her fathers line was a powerhouse as well. She knew Radiance was a deity and in her lineage, but she hadn’t expected to find more than that. Finding that Haywire, one of the deities she had heard chaos infused bed time stories of, was also in her lineage had been a shock.

Three deities coming together in her blood. Perhaps that's why her siblings had gone to stay with Radiance, and Khaalida had been so hard on her. She didn’t know the specifics of the deals that had been made when they had been born, but Sidra was grateful that her mother had insisted on practicing her magic, as if she knew that Sidra herself had the potential to be greater than even the Deity Queen of Espeor.

“What are you thinking about?” Sulien asked.

Sidra smiled slightly. “Espeor. It feels weird to call it home now I guess. So much has changed,” Sidra mused as she looked out the window at the city below, so different from home.

Sulien smiled slightly as he kept quiet, letting Sidra puzzle out her thoughts. He nearly told her his own little truth, that she was not the only bearer of a heavy lineage full of expectation. But the young deity born stallion simply smiled instead, letting them have a moment of peace.

Lunaris sought out the pair the next day with a new task - as the days got warmer, the ground got softer, and was now soft enough for some planting.

Voyeur greeted them on the stairs, still wearing a slightly dazed expression from his own ordeals of the past few days.

“How is Binary?” Sidra asked with a bit of a smirk as they followed the white mare down the stairs.

Voyeur had a perpetually startled look as her name was brought up, before shaking his head.

“You will see for yourself,” he said, as Binary’s voice reached them from below.

Sidra listened to the sharp words Binary was tossing at some poor Quirlicorn and chuckled. “I suspect she is doing quite well,” Sidra commented wryly and Voyeur shook his head with the ghost of a smile.

They found Binary near the bottom of the stairs, the other Quirlicorn seeming to have fled. Binary huffed slightly as her eyes fell on Voyeur, her gaze as sharp as a dagger. Voyeur winced slightly, but before Binary could start unleashing her words on Voyeur Sirona rejoined them, the small sunset foal following in her hoofsteps.

“Rasalas is growing well,” Sirona said. “Everything checks out; you should be proud of him.”

Binary softened like butter in the desert sun, turning to her small foal. Rasalas rejoined his mother and she nuzzled him, and Sidra heard Voyeur release a relieved breath behind them.

“Mother bear,” Voyeur muttered to the pair and Sidra hid her bark of laughter with a slight cough that had both the healers casting her worried glances. But a momentary look between herself and Voyeur had them shaking their heads.

“Thanks to your letters and the swift response from Ilkay, we have figured out a way to keep animals from getting into our gardens. You two will be helping with that,” Sirona said, as Lunaris moved to the side. Before they could continue a clatter of hooves came from the hall, as their foals joined them with excited voices.

“Ura showed me a bug!” Luuedei said with a happy tone, and Sidra smiled, remembering when her days were filled with causing havoc around Queensbreak with Sulien.

Rasalas was watching the other foals with reservation and interest, both bigger and more steady than his days-old self.

Luuedei noticed Rasalas, and grinned. “Do you wanna see?” she asked, nearly bouncing.

Rasalas looked up at Binary, who nodded slightly. “Let’s go see a bug,” Binary agreed.

Voyeur noticeably relaxed as Binary and Rasalas followed the young Torre foals out of the tower.

Sirona chuckled as Lunaris followed them, most likely to be there in case of injury.

“As I was saying, Ilkay found a particularly smelly flower that most grazing animals avoid. Sidra, I will need your help with planting them around the outside of the herb beds. Voyeur, we have some vegetables that need planted for the harvest later this year; you will be helping with that,” Sirona said, in a tone that left no room for argument.

Voyeur was sent to a different part of the fields around The Torre, so Sidra and Sulien found themselves alone again, with the exception of their familiars. They seemed to be on the same team this time, Falkreath flying above Sidra’s cat, both looking for mice in the field.

Sidra watched them with a smile before turning to Sulien.

“Time to plant some stinky flowers,” she said, and Sulien chuckled. Sirona came back with a cart of the buds they were to plant, and Sidra grimaced at the reek of them.

“I will never be clean,” Sidra complained as she shuffled through the lower floor of the tower to the baths. Not only had the flowers covered her in their strange, reeking sap, but in her sore and exhausted state she had tripped on a rock, sprawling into a mud puddle. Dripping with grime, Sidra sighed.

Voyeur approached, looking a bit dirty as well, but nowhere near as bad as Sidra was.

“What happened?” Voyeur asked, his expression giving away just how bad Sidra reeked.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Sidra muttered, then stomped a hoof, mud splattering off her leg as she did. “Those damn flowers stink to high hell and back. Not only that, but Sirona forgot to mention that they give off some weird sap or juice or something, that clings to you like a second skin. And then my eyes were watering so bad I didn’t see the damn rock and tripped right into a stinking mud pit!” Sidra complained.

Voyeur gave a dry chuckle as Shadowdancer sniffed Sidra and immediately tried hiding behind his tail.

“I take it you are headed for the baths?” Voyeur asked, then winced as he heard Binary’s voice behind them. “That sounds like a great idea, I think I will join you,” he said quickly, and started trotting down the hall.

Despite the stink that clung to Sidra’s coat she chuckled, sharing a look with Sulien. No matter how hard Voyeur seemed to try to avoid Binary, it wouldn’t last long they both knew. That mare was determined!

They found Voyeur already wading into the large pools that made up the baths of The Torre, natural springs flowing between several depressions in the ground. Sidra gratefully cantered into the water with a sigh, feeling the dirt release from her coat. But the weird sap remained. It took nearly three hours (plus the help of Voyeur and Sulien) to fully untangle her mane and tail and get all the sap off of her body.

Sidra’s hooves were dragging as they returned to their tower room.

“I don’t think the plains like me,” Sidra grumbled as she fell on to their soft bed.

Sulien laughed softly. “It’s a good thing we belong to the Mountains then,” he commented and Sidra realized the truth to those words. Even in their experience outside of Espeor, there had been no place so far that called to her like the mountains did. Comforted in that, Sidra smiled slightly.

“Cursed I may be, I think Voyeur got the worst end of the stick,” she said wryly, thinking of Binary and her conniving gaze that had followed Voyeur any time they were in the same room.

“Perhaps, perhaps not,” Sulien replied as he settled down beside her.

“I think his quest for solitude isn’t going to end the way he planned, either way,” Sidra said with a yawn. Sulien chuckled and nodded.

“I don’t think Binary will let him get away that easy,” Sulien agreed. They had both seen the way Voyeur held himself apart from other Quirlicorns, sticking to the shadows like his shadow dragon guardian.

Sidra shook her head with a slight smile. “I wonder if they will come with us when we leave. It would make sense to go south from here. I just don’t think Rasalas could handle such a long journey, he's so young.”

Sulien nodded. “Voyeur won’t stay if he can help it. But I don’t think Binary and Rasalas are ready for travel. The world is a big place.”

Sidra tilted her head. “You traveled across the world as a foal too, didn’t you?” she questioned, and Sulien nodded in affirmation. “Where did you come from?”

Sulien paused as if choosing his words wisely. “I got magic at a young age as well,” he finally admitted. I was near the swamp, trying to master the shadows, when Ausrune found me. As we traveled he taught me of the pyrokinesis I also possess. We went to the Windy Region, then traveled back through here and stopped in Espeor. Where I stayed.”

Sidra tried to puzzle through his wording, but sleep was tugging her away from the conversation and into the land of dreams.

“Hmm,” she finally responded with another yawn.

“Sleep, Sidra, and rest up,” Sulien murmured. With Sulien’s side pressed to hers, Sidra began to drift off.

“Sleep, my queen.”

Sidra wasn't certain if the words were real or a dream, but she fell asleep with a smile on her face.