by Mary Akers
“Wait,” she whispered, cocking her head to the side. “That’s it!”
All those times when she’d lost control of her emotions, when she’d been driven into a panic, the plants around her had reacted. She’d awoken from her frightening daydream to find that the grass had grown up around her. The rosebush had appeared after she’d encountered the Highlander and had panicked. And just now, she had made the lavender bloom while trying to recover from the shock of her parent’s deception.
“I can control this,” she thought hopefully. “Or at least predict it,” she reasoned.
Relief rushed over her as she claimed a degree of ownership over her powers and she felt her world sliding back into order.
Standing, she walked over to where the lavender plant lay on the floor and picked it up. Cradling the clump of roots and soil in her hand, she took a deep breath and tried to focus. She stared at the plant, replaying the memories of those panicked moments in her mind, attempting to summon an emotional response. But there was nothing. She closed her eyes, dejected and exhausted.
Suddenly a cool breeze brushed across her skin. The scent of the forest filled her nostrils and she was surrounded by the sounds of the woods. A sense of dread came over her as she remembered the last time she’d visited here. Keeping her eyes closed, she turned her head from side to side, listening. Reaching around, she felt the trunk of a tree behind her and she slowly leaned back until she was resting against it. The forest was quiet and still, and she began to relax, letting her hand fall to her side. The snap of a twig jolted her upright and she turned towards the sound.
“Elora.”
It was him! Her heart jumped into her throat.
His voice was gentle and calm. There was a lilt to it, an accent she’d never heard before. She held her breath, willing him to say more.
She gasped as she felt a rough hand caress her cheek.
“Wait for me, Elora.”
Her eyes flew open and she was jolted back to reality. She was panting for breath as a torrent of emotions swirled in her mind. She didn’t know whether to be thrilled or terrified. Her brain was firmly telling her to be scared, but her heart was singing!
“He’s coming for me,” she whispered.
She lifted her hand to touch her face where his had been but drew back in surprise at the grainy texture against her cheek. At the sight of the soil covering her palm, she was suddenly reminded of what she had been doing and realized that she must have dropped the plant. Looking down at the floor, her mouth fell open. What had once been her small lavender plant with a single bloom was now a small bush so covered in vibrant purple flowers that it took her breath away.
“Well, that answers that,” she said aloud quietly.
Kneeling, she lifted the considerably larger plant, holding it up to better appreciate the extent that it had changed.
“Amazing,” she whispered under her breath.
As she turned the plant in her hands, a small smile crept across her lips. She had done this! Slowly the fear of her incredible ability slipped away and was replaced by pride. She felt empowered. True, she would have to get her emotions under control, but this ability, while unexpected and unexplainable, was a gift. She should embrace it, not fear it. She ran her finger along a stalk of lavender and chuckled quietly as Alysa’s words came to mind. “…my dearest friend, who makes the flowers grow.”
Elora stood and walked through the house and out the backdoor, gently carrying the plant outside to the private garden behind the house. Grabbing a trowel, she found a clear spot beneath her bedroom window where she began to dig. Once the hole was big enough, she tucked the exposed roots of the lavender plant into its new home and firmly packed soil around it.
“Sorry for breaking your pot,” she whispered, as she gave the dirt one last pat.
“I had better get to the church courtyard before Alysa comes looking for me again or before my parents come home,” she thought as she rose and headed back inside.
She quickly swept up and discarded the broken flowerpot. Grabbing two sets of gardening gloves, she slipped out the front door and headed towards the church.
Elora had no desire to be there when her parents returned. She was simply not ready to face them. The idea of seeing them turned her stomach now that she knew they had kept such a secret from her. What would she even say to them? Should she tell them what she’d discovered about herself? Did she even want to know the secret they had kept from her? She just didn’t feel equipped to handle any more than she already was at this moment.
She took the long route to the church so as to avoid passing the rosebush and more importantly, her parents. As she walked, she looked around furtively for any sign of the blond Highlander. Out of all the bizarre things happening in her life, the possibility that this man was watching her, following her, was the only thing that felt wrong. It was the only part that truly scared her.
As she walked, she replayed her latest vision of the forest and the man in her mind. How did these visions figure into her new reality? Could they be real? They certainly felt real. And after the events of this morning, Elora was coming to believe that literally anything was possible. It couldn’t merely be a coincidence that after years of quiet, uneventful visits to the forest, the man appeared just as she discovered her ability. The forest had been her refuge, full of calm and peace and solitude, for her entire life. Why only now, as she found the magical seed and her birthmark was changing, did he suddenly appear. They were surely all related.
She stopped suddenly as an epiphany struck her. Could the Highlander be the man in her visions? Her mouth fell open at the thought and she subconsciously shook her head. No. He couldn’t be. The man in her visions wouldn’t lurk in the shadows. He wouldn’t intentionally avoid her. The man in her visions called to her openly and searched for her with purpose. He approached her boldly and touched her with affection. True, their interactions had been few and fleeting, but she just knew. It was unexplainable and irrational, but in light of her new understanding of the world in general, she wasn’t going to doubt herself. The man in her visions was coming, and she would know him when he did.
She was nearing the church courtyard and could see Alysa standing beneath the trellis arch looking around in a mixture of panic and confusion. This would be a good first test of her self-control.
“I will not make things grow,” she whispered to herself.
She took a deep calming breath and stepped into view.
“Elora! Thank goodness! I don’t even know where to start!” Alysa cried.
As she walked into the courtyard, Elora started to chuckle in disbelief. “Oh, Alysa. This is terrible! It will take forever to clean this place up!”
“I know! It’s so much worse than I’d imagined. I’m debating whether to have it indoors instead and just abandon this idea entirely,” she said dejectedly.
“But you’ve always wanted to be married here, like your parents and grandparents were. You must have told me that a thousand times,” Elora protested.
“I know! I do!” she cried. “But it’s been so neglected. Even if we pull all the weeds, it will still look pitiful.”
“Why is it like this? Weren’t Lorna and Robert Kincannon bound just a few months ago? How did it get this bad?” Elora asked, confused.
“They had their ceremony on the town square, remember?” Alysa said, frowning. “Two summers ago there was an unfortunate bee incident here during a ceremony and so no one has used it in a while. I’m so surprised how quickly the weeds took over.”
“Bees?” Elora asked, looking around suspiciously. “It must have been a pretty bad incident to scare people away for two whole years!”
“It was bad. I’m not going to lie. But don’t worry,” she said, laughing at Elora’s dubious expression. “Preacher Woodward nearly burned down the church with his exuberant extermination efforts. Those bees a
re gone.”
“I don’t know if should believe you,” Elora teased. “Obviously no one else does or they would be having ceremonies here.”
“Oh hush! I’m not sure I’m going to have it here either, honestly,” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. “It just looks so awful, Elora!”
“Well, we have a week, right? I can do a lot in a week,” Elora encouraged. “Especially if you and Trig help out.”
“We definitely will,” Alysa said nodding vigorously. “But are you sure it’s even possible?”
“I am suddenly a big believer that all things are possible,” Elora said quietly. “So let’s get to work! I’ll start over here in this corner pulling weeds and you start over there dragging brush out from under that desert willow,” Elora directed, handing Alysa the extra pair of work gloves she’d brought.
The women set to work in comfortable silence. The flowerbeds were in terrible condition, but Elora was able to quickly identify the species that were planted intentionally and she ruthlessly weeded out the invaders. Satisfied that she was making good headway, she stopped to wipe the sweat from her brow and check on Alysa’s progress. The area around the desert willow tree was noticeably more clear. She smiled as she watched Alysa wrestle a dead branch from the clutches of the tall grasses and vines that had taken over the garden. The branch suddenly snapped free and Alysa fell backwards with a startled cry. Elora quickly covered her mouth to stifle her laughter but Alysa heard her and looked over, a smile on her lips.
“What a friend you are, Elora Kerrick! Laughing at my misfortune!” she teased.
Elora held up her hands in surrender.
“I’m sorry! I couldn’t help it!” she cried. “Don’t hate me. It’s looking much improved already, if that makes you feel any better.”
“Much improved, yes,” she agreed, surveying their work. “But it’s still ugly,” she said, scrunching her nose.
“We have 6 more days to fix it. And I bet my mother has some flowers we can plant here to make it beautiful,” Elora encouraged.
“Too bad we can’t go dig up that beautiful rose bush on the side of the road. It would make any place beautiful. I think it’s too big though,” Alysa said shaking her head.
Elora felt her spine stiffen at the mention of her rosebush.
“Just breathe,” she thought.
“Hey! I meant to ask you where you took off to in such a hurry earlier. I had figured you went to get your mom, but I checked for you at your house and you weren’t there,” Alysa asked curiously, her head cocked to one side.
Elora could feel her pulse quickening and panic starting to well in her chest. Her eyes widened as, to her horror, she watched the plant she’d been weeding around only moments before start growing and sprouting tiny purple flowers. She closed her eyes and took a calming breath.
“Sorry for leaving so suddenly. I remembered that I had left my gloves out in the tool shed by the gardens and ran to get them,” she fibbed.
She opened her eyes and looked to see if Alysa had believed the lie.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you ran, considering what a mess this place is,” she said, laughing as she walked over to inspect Elora’s progress. “Oh! How lovely! I didn’t notice those pretty purple flowers before! Do you think there are more hidden under all these weeds?” she asked hopefully.
Elora gave a relieved laugh and nodded her head.
“I’m sure there are.”
Alysa clapped her hands happily and turned to resume her work.
“Maybe this will work out after all!” she said with renewed optimism.
Elora reached out to touch the flowers that she had caused to grow and bloom in only a moment. She looked around at the courtyard and a smile slowly stretched across her face.
“This will definitely work out,” she said softly.
Chapter 6
Elora rose from bed early the next morning. She and Alysa had worked for hours in the courtyard yesterday and while they had made some headway, there was still an enormous amount of work left to do before it would be fit for the ceremony. They had agreed to meet there again the following day after the church service with reinforcements.
As Elora walked around her room quietly primping for church, she wondered and worried about how her parents would react to seeing her. She had arrived home late in the evening and had gone to bed without running into them, thankfully. Thus they hadn’t spoken since the rosebush incident and the revelation of her ability. Truthfully, she was dreading their reaction and was scared of what they might tell her. But she needed their help with the courtyard.
Grabbing a satchel, she stepped over to her dresser and retrieved a pair of work pants and a tunic, shoving them into the bag. She planned to change after the service and get right to work. There really was no time to spare.
She then gave a furtive look around before opening the top dresser drawer. She picked up a folded handkerchief that had been tucked into the corner and gently pulled the corners apart to reveal the seed necklace. She had hidden it there last night. Now that she recognized how special and precious the seed was, it felt foolish to leave it out in the open. She ran her thumb over the intricate grooves of the seed as she lifted it for a closer examination. It seemed as though even more of the grooves were lined in silver this morning.
“I wonder if I’m doing this too,” she thought.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that the seed began changing right as her ability began to manifest itself.
She unclasped the necklace and reached behind her neck to fasten it before tucking it beneath the collar of her dress. She patted it one last time with her hand before walking out of her room in search of her parents.
The house was unusually quiet. She walked into the kitchen expecting to see them sharing breakfast as they typically did every morning, but they were not there. The door to their bedroom was open and she walked over to peek inside. The room was empty and the bed already made. Turning back to the kitchen with a perplexed look upon her face, her eyes settled on a sheet of paper resting on the kitchen table. Surprised and curious, she moved quickly to read the note they had left for her.
Elora,
We had some errands to run this morning. Sorry to miss you. Have a fun day with Alysa!
~ Mom and Dad
Elora slumped down into a chair with a sigh. She had been fretting about this confrontation since the day prior and now they weren’t even here. Were they avoiding her too? She lifted the paper to read it again. How unlike them to miss the church service. What could they be up to? And this note was as vague as it could possibly be. They could be gone the entire day for all she knew! She had really hoped they would be able to help in the courtyard today. This was her last day off of work before the ceremony and there was so much to do.
“I can still do this without them,” she said, lightly tapping her fist on the table in encouragement.
After grabbing an apple from the bowl of fruit on the counter, she walked out the back door into the garden. She munched on the juicy piece of fruit as she wandered around, considering which of her mother’s flowers would work best in the courtyard. She paused to admire her lavender plant as she walked past, a smile on her face. Finished with her breakfast, she threw the apple core into the compost heap and moved to gather the tools she would need for the day. She picked up a bucket and loaded it with her gloves, a trowel, a cultivator, and a pair of pruning shears. After fetching her work boots, she was finally ready and set off around the side of the house and out the front gate.
It was early still and her journey to the church was uneventful. She was the first person to arrive and so she spent some time appraising the courtyard, plotting her course of action. They really had accomplished quite a lot yesterday but there was still half the courtyard left to be weeded. Once the overgrown grass in the middle of the yard was cut down it wo
uld look much more manageable. Perhaps she could recruit Trig to handle that. He was pretty handy with a scythe if she remembered correctly.
“Hey there Elora!” came a familiar baritone voice.
She turned to see Trig walk into the courtyard arm in arm with Alysa.
“I was just thinking of you!” Elora said, smiling.
“Well you better stop that. I’m already taken, Elora,” he replied with a wink.
“Oh stop it!” Elora cried, swatting his arm. “I was just thinking about how often you used to have to trim the schoolyard grass.”
“You really did have to do that a lot,” Alysa nodded.
“It was Teacher Howard’s favorite punishment, that old sourpuss,” Trig said, grimacing at the memory. “I got pretty good with that scythe though!” he remarked, puffing out his chest.
“Yes, you really did,” Elora agreed.
She smiled at him expectantly.
He looked at her and cocked an eyebrow in question. He then looked around at the courtyard and sighed.
“I see where this is going,” he said with a grimace.
“It’s your ceremony too, big guy,” Alysa reminded him.
“Does it really need to be here in the wilderness?” he asked beseechingly.
“Well, it won’t be wilderness if you cut the grass, my love,” Alysa cajoled.
“Alright. Alright,” he relented. “Just stop looking at me with those big eyes. I haven’t figured out a defense against those yet.”
“Let’s hope you never do!” Elora cried, threading her arm through Alysa’s other elbow and turning them toward the church entryway. “We better get in there before the last bench gets filled. We wouldn’t want to be stuck at the front!” she said with a laughed as they rounded the corner, nearly bumping into Preacher Woodward.
