Carliene Stark

II Chapter 24

Carliene

Walking back through the castle I noticed servants hurrying all about with bouquets of white and orange roses. They decorated balconies and vases, some holding only a handful of flowers while other's could scarcely see past the amount they were carrying. 

Nervously I rubbed my hands, it look too much like wedding preparations to me.
The door to my chamber was slightly agape when I returned. And I could hear voices come from within.

"..they say it was monstrously misshapen with a dog's tail and fangs for teeth and a snout instead of a nose" 

"What a bunch of nonsense. Who do you think spreads these stories" 

The second voice clearly belonged to Desmera Redwyne. "Do you want to know what I think?" there was a macabre excitement in her tone. 

I should have been smarter and halted at the door, listening a few moments longer to find out what exactly they were talking about. But I barged through the door, causing the girls to fall silent. Desmera and Elyn rose from the cushioned benches they had been resting on, looking like I had caught them doing something shameful. 

"My Lady" Desmera was the first to break her resolve. "How was your walk" she folded her hands a mischievous glint in her eyes. 

I looked to Elyn who followed the redhead's gestures and waited for me to speak patiently. 

"It was fine" it was inelegant, but I could think of nothing better at the moment. "What is with all the flowers?" I pondered, stepping further into the room and eyeing the large bouquet on one of the end tables. 

Their faces grew equally dour and the exchanged a serious look. Then Desmera put on a gentle smile as she began to explain. "They are the blooms of the lost Tyrell family members. Each member of house Tyrell has a rose bush planted in the garden at their birth."

While she spoke I walked closer to the bouquet, studying the large blooms. 

"And when they die, all the flowers are cut so that they may decorate the castle one last time with their beauty" 

"And the vine is replanted to join the ones of all the Tyrell's that came before" Elyn finished. 

How tragically beautiful. I reached out and touched the gentle buds of a white rose. I should like to see this garden one day. 

"When you marry Lord Willas, you shall have one planted for yourself my Lady" 

Desmera gave a chuckle. "And I would not be surprised if my grandmother somehow manages to get her hands on a real winter rose"

"Even if she does" I stated silently, still tracing the roses with my fingers. "They won't grow down here" I don't know why I was so certain, but I thought I remembered reading that a few people had tried keeping winter roses in the south before. It never worked out.

What do I know, maybe with winter coming, they will grow in the Tyrell's garden too.

"I know but my grandmother likes to challenge such truths."

I stepped away from the flowers and the thin scarf slipped from my shoulder again. annoyed with the clothing I pulled it off me and let it fall on the bench near me. 

"She may just plant a white rose and have someone instated to paint each flower blue as soon as they sprout" she mused. "And one day blue roses will decorate the castle"

No, I thought, they will freeze first. 

"Desmera" Elyn hissed. "Do not talk of death like that, it is bad luck" she walked over to another table and grabbed something of it.