It Is You I Have Loved

Chapter 28

After breakfast, the group came upon a patch of magnolia trees and Charlie asked if they could stop for a moment, so she could gather some of the flowers. If it had been anybody else, Alastor would have said no because he didn't want to delay getting his forest back. However one look at the smile on Charlie's face when she first saw those magnolias, he couldn't bring himself to deny her.

"I won't be long." She said. "I really don't mean to delay, but magnolias are my favorite and I haven't seen any or smelled them since I was a little girl."

She proceeded to pluck a few magnolias and then weaved them into a wreath which she wore on her head.

"Would you like a wreath too Alastor?" She asked him with her eyes shinning so bright.

"Uh...No thank you my dear." He said backing away in a bashful manner. "I don't really like flowers. They're much too sweet for me and- Oof!"

He had accidentally backed himself up into a tree and his antlers became entangled in the branches.

"Oh this won't do at all." His arms went to his head as he tried to free his antlers, though it proved to be quite a challenge.

"Here let me help you." Charlie said.

She got closer to him and tugged on the branches.

"Careful not to pull so hard." Alastor said.

"I think I'm supposed to bend em back." Charlie said. "Or do I just jerk?"

"That's my antlers you just jerked."

"Sorry."

Angel and Vaggie both thought about intervening but then they thought that perhaps something beneficial could come from this. Beneficial to Alastor and Charlie's relationship.

"A little more to the left my dear." Alastor instucted.

"Like this?" She replied.

"Not your left, my left."

She pulled on the branches so hard that at long last, she freed Alastor but the impact had caused her to go tumbling backward into a nearby pond. Alastor didn't mean to laugh at the drenched princess but he couldn't help himself.

"Are you...Ha!...Alright? Ha-ha!"

"Oh so you think that this is funny?" She said standing up with an irritated look.

"I'm sorry Charlie." He said holding his hand to her. "Here allow me to assist you."

She took his hand but instead of letting him pull her out, she pulled him right into the pond. Both him and Angel were surprised that Charlie was strong enough to pull a full grown wendigo into a pond. However Alastor's shock quickly faded when the princess started laughing at him.

"Now that's funny." She giggled.

A mischievous grin rose to Alastor's face and he splashed pond water on to her. Charlie retaliated by splashing him right back.

"So you wanna play games?" Alastor's grin increased ten fold. "Well I gotta a game we can play. It's where I pick you up and throw you into this pond."

"Don't you dare! Oh!"

She quickly climbed out of the pond and ran away. He chased her up a hill, through the grass, and around and around the trees. He tried to grab her countless times but she always managed to evade his grasp.

"A nimble little thing, isn't she?" Alastor thought to himself.

But despite his constant failure to catch Charlie, he was laughing and smiling the entire time. They both were, and after awhile, Charlie decided to slow down a bit and let Alastor catch her.