Flower Power

The clouds hang low over the hills between Port Ffirst and Daring Heights, blocking out the sunlight that so desperately wants to peak through. Underneath the clouds a certain blue firbolg has just finished her mission to harvest some fey flowers from Evenbloom Hill. BB is currently walking back towards New Hillborrow with a potted purple flower, in matching colour Soil, cradled safely under her arm.



As she continues, Blue flits up from her shoulder to investigate a blue shape they spot in the clouds. Just as quickly as Blue goes to investigate, the blue shape seems to change course and head directly towards BB, eventually revealing itself to be a blue eagle approaching at high speed. Just at the last moment it pulls up and reduces its speed to reach out and land deftly on the ground next to BB, shaping itself into Pieni.



Blue perches on Pieni’s shoulder as BB continues walking. Turning her head slightly to the side to look at her friend, BB smiles and says “Hey Pi, where are you off to today? Last I heard from you, we were dancing around Khazifa as a Brontosaurus”



"I was just looking for you! I saw you from the air, and I'd recognise you anywhere. Blue knows blue, after all. Whatcha got?" Pieni says, inclining his beak towards the potted purple flower.



“Huh? Oh this is a new flower I got from Evenbloom Hill. It’s from the Feywild originally I think. Last time I tried to plant some fey flowers they died” BB frowns briefly at the memory. “But now I have this Feywild soil from Mace, so I’m hoping this time it works out a lot better” Her face now lighting up at the concept. “How come you were looking for me? Is everything alright?”



"I wanted to show you…" Pieni says, then points to a sling around his torso cradling a dark flower with luminescent white spots, "...This! It's a flower of rest -- I got it from the spring of rest a while ago, have been looking after it since. Thought you'd wanna see it, you being you."



BB leans further down as she walks to get a closer look. “A flower of rest? I’ve never heard of one of those before. The colouration on it is amazing! Kantas really has got a bloomin’ amazing array of flowers.” She leans back up to look at her friend “Well, I’m very grateful for you flying all the way out here to show me. I think it’s only fair I treat you to some tea and stew back at mine.”



BB suddenly stops walking and exclaims “Oh I know! How about we race to New Hillborrow through the sky. I haven’t had a chance to try out flying with my new spell yet. What do you think?”



"Well, if there's anyone who could help you try out a flying spell, it'd be me! Three, two, one --" and Pieni takes off!



Blue just manages to right themselves mid air and chase after Pieni, while BB is still only just reaching for her component pouch. Rushing slightly she pulls out a small cocoon, pinching the edges while muttering some arcane words, and jumps into the air for when the spell takes hold. As BB’s form changes, feathers sprouting out from her, the magic changes mid-spell with multi coloured wisps covering and then overwhelming her. And suddenly she’s much higher in the air than before and a blue giant eagle. Righting herself she makes some attempt to catch up, occasionally blipping across the sky and trying to not lose control.



Pi looks over to BB as she glitches forward. She's overtaking him -- the Eagle form's speed is formidable -- but her form is off, and the sudden movement isn't helping. "Hey --" he calls, but the wind is whistling past his auriculars and he doubts they'll be able to hear one another. He squawks for attention and shifts into his own blue eagle form, smaller and lighter, and tries to catch up with her.



As they all rapidly get closer to the flower field, BB tries to dive towards the ground, but with her inexperience of this form she misjudges the distance. She glitches beak first into the soil, impacting hard. Pulling herself out of the soil and quickly dropping the form, she chuckles.



“That wasn’t quite how I expected it to go. I’m going to assume you won that one”



Pieni, having already delicately landed, shifts back into his normal birdfolk form. "I tried to demonstrate, but it was windy up there. You know, once you're high enough, you don't actually have to flap all that often. In fact, you'll lose altitude if you do. Let the wind do the work for you, or you'll burn out; go with the flow, steer with the currents, keep your wings spread to catch all the air 'neath you, and flap in circular motions, not just up and down."

BB tries to make the circular motions with her non-feathery arms “Not too much flapping, go with the flow, circular motions. Thanks for the tips, even though I crashed it was still fun.” She gets up from her spot on the floor and walks towards Pieni and the flower field. “So how about I get that tea going?”



"Sounds great!" Pieni says, bounding to and alongside her as she walks, dwarfed by her tall frame.



"Hey, do you ever name your flowers?" BB thinks for a moment before saying “No, no I don’t think I’ve ever named any of the flowers here. Sometimes the spiders that come and go, but not the flowers.” She points at the flower still being cradled by Pieni “Why? Have you named this little one?”



"Not yet, but I'm thinking about it. Something to do with the night sky, I think," Pieni answers. "If you had named your plants, I would've liked to be introduced to them. Perhaps just your favourites? If you have favourites."



“The night sky huh? There’s plenty of inspiration up there, I have an old friend called Aurora for instance. As for favourites, well that’s a difficult question, they’re really all my favourite. But if I really had to choose, I do especially love ornamental alliums, they always cheer me up. Here I’ll show you.”



What proceeds is a full tour of the flower field, starting with the alliums, including exactly what BB likes about every flower there. It takes them a while, but eventually they end up at the large bell tent camped at the end. BB drops off her potted fey flower by the entrance, as does Pi with his flower of rest, and then she proceeds to unravel the door, leading Pi inside.



“Well I hope you liked meeting all the flowers. I didn’t think I would take that long, sorry, and I still haven’t made you tea! Sit over on the blankets if you want, just mind out for Phalange, he tends to hide in there.” BB turns to start a fire in the wood burner, at the same time that a dissonant meow can be heard from the blanket pile.



"I did like the alliums," Pieni says, sitting down near a wriggling lump, his legs disappearing under his feathers like a cat tucking its arms under its body. "They were like big purple dandelions. I think I like yellow flowers the best -- they're warm like sunlight. Dandelions, daffodils, buttercups… who's Phalange?"



“Oh, he’s just the skeletal cat that's lived with me for a while, followed me back from the Shadowfell. He doesn’t have any fur so I think he gets cold sometimes, hence the blanket hiding. Is chamomile tea okay?” BB waves her hands over a teapot and instantly heats up the water within it. "Chamomile tea is fine, thanks!" Pi replies. "Aw, poor thing. Should get him a little jacket." BB smiles at the cosy suggestion.



“Actually, staying on the subject of curious creatures and things. I encountered some very dangerous flowers this week when I was on one of my adventures in Angelbark. They’re called Rabid Roses. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them but they cause some disease that slowly eats at the mind, causing a creature to go feral. There’s a large patch of them, and I don’t know whether we should be wary of that.”



"Rabid Roses? Oof. Nasty plant. I spent half my chickhood in Angelbark, and I love it, but Rabids aren't even the worst of it. Lucky the fey taught me the Druidic ways, 'cause there, nought but the Druidic and the Divine can survive. My people used to monitor Angelbark from above, making sure there weren't too many Rabids, but…"



Pieni sighs and shakes his head. "Stuff happened. It's not something you should be worrying about... I'll send a letter home, tell 'em they've grown again."



BB hands over a mug of tea to Pi, and sits down next to him, “I didn’t realise your folks at home monitored the forest like that, sorry to be the bearer of bad news to them and you. But if you ever need help with it, don’t hesitate to ask me.” She leans back a bit to allow Blue space to sit on her lap whilst continuing “I may not practice Druidic faith like you do but I still believe in helping nature in any way I can. Help maintain its balance I guess.”



She hesitates, uncertainty in her face. “How do you know when you’ve interfered in the balance of things too much? Just let things run their course or keep going and stay involved?”



"Well… it's like… Frogs dying means there's something off with the water, so you cure the water, and…" Pieni pours some tea into his beak as he tries to think of a better example.



"...The Rabids. They're pretty deadly to everyone, right? Nobody can eat them, so you'd think they'd take over the world. But-" Pieni says, holding up a finger for emphasis, "-the Almiraj are immune to their poison -- so long as they're around, the roses won't throw off the balance! They're scary, but they're the bunnies' main food source since nobody else can eat them, so even they have their place. It's just a matter of keeping an eye on both populations and intervening if the balance tips."



BB, who has been intently nodding along with the information “So cute and fluffy, yet so hardcore! You’re really smart about all this stuff Pi.”



This is when she hesitates again “But what if….what if it’s something powerful like an ancient creature. And it’s been sealed away for so long you don’t know how it will affect the balance?”



Avoiding Pieni’s eyes she hurriedly adds “You know what, nevermind what I just said, that was a weird question.”



Pieni turns his head to the side to get a good look at her with one eye. "It's not a weird question at all, but I'm gonna need more context, Bee."



She sighs and musters the courage to look back up at Pieni “You know those Yuan-ti we helped in the desert a while back? And the brazier we picked up while we were there? Well I’ve kinda been using the brazier and talking to the High Priest with it.”



At this point she shuffles to the side and leans behind the wood burner to retrieve the stone brazier, it’s flames extinguished, with only ash remaining in its centre.



“It can be used to see alternate realities! It’s also how I found out about the Oasis in the desert, and the High Priest will show us how to get there, but at a price. And that price is what concerns me. It’s.. it’s releasing a seal for the One Serpent that they worship. I agreed to do it and I’m tempted to just not, but I’m worried of the consequences if I do and if I don’t” She lets out a long stressed sigh and gives Pieni a hesitant look.



"Oh. Well…" Pieni takes a deep breath. "You can guess what I think about making deals with ambiguous entities, Bee; I wouldn't have agreed. But…"



Pieni shrugs. "I'm not you, and what's done is done. We can't know how this thing running free will affect the balance with what little information we have about it, so we can't make an informed decision right now. All I can say is: it was sealed for a reason. If we release it, we need to find the bunny to its rose. It might be us who have to stop it. We'll have to be prepared for that."



“Yeah. Yeah! I can certainly try my best to be the bunny.” She gives a very small determined fist clench. “But I’m scared of all this devils and snake stuff, and I didn’t realise how involved I was till now.”



Giving Pieni a small smile “Thanks for not getting mad at me. I’m not sure how the others will react though”



"I'm not gonna get mad at you for making a mistake," Pieni says, putting his tea down and leaning upward to place a hand as close to her shoulder as he can reach. "We're friends! It doesn't matter if they're mad or you're scared so long as we're in this together!"



Putting her hand over Pieni’s, BB’s smile changes to that of genuine gratitude and happiness. She then leans down to wrap an arm around Pieni to give him a large hug.



“Thanks Pi, I really am grateful to have you as a friend.”




They continue on chatting, exchanging stories of other adventures, gardening tips, and recent gossip. The day slowly turns to evening, and the evening turns to night, the promised stew finally served with more tea. Pieni stays the night, much to the insistence of BB and Blue.

They can keep the worries and dangers of life at bay for one more day, hidden in the warmth of the bell tent in the flower field.




Written, of course, with Pieni