The Land Set Aflame

Chapter 52: The Fickle Heart

It may be true that love potions caused euphoria, but sudden, happy epiphanies seemed to do the same thing.

She couldn't wait to tell him. She could feel the biggest, silliest smile stretching her face in a ridiculous way, but she didn't care who saw it. And her pace was quick as she walked through the Garden of Aevenwy, and her heart felt as light as air.

Callyndia imagined that this is what it felt like to be Alloria Rosa all the time. Bliss. Constant bliss.

She was sure that she was glowing, a radiant fairy who turned heads in a crowd of radiant fairies. The garden itself showed every possible deference to her as she walked past. The grasses hardly bent beneath her footsteps, and the hem of her magic skirt deftly avoided being snagged on foliage as it fluttered behind her. The breezes were tossing her hair just right, so it didn't get in her eyes.

Svenden would be so happy to see her like this, and his face would finally light up when she told him those words he'd been waiting to hear from her.

She figured he would be out at the archery range again — where else would he be in this garden full of fairy magic? But, when she arrived, she saw only a couple of dryads practicing with their bows.

"Callyndia, you look positively radiant today!" one of them said.

"Oh, thank you, Teela!" she said politely, though she was feeling too impatient for proper manners, "You look great too. Where's Svenden? Have you seen him?"

The two dryads looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Do you know where Leofric and Kithana are?"

"I saw them at the bluebells," the other dryad said, "You could look there."

"Thank you!" she said, turning to leave. But, she remembered her manners and looked back. "Oh, you look great too, Mei!" She blew them both a kiss and hurried away.

She could hear them giggling at her as she left, but she didn't really care.

Moments later, she arrived at the bluebell hill. Sure enough, Leofric and Kithana were there. Actually, a few other fairies were there too. There was a big, black scar on the ground in the midst of the bluebells, and Leofric was embracing Kithana, who was seemingly hiding her face in embarrassment.

Callyndia's face dropped momentarily. Well, it dropped as far as her elated mood would allow it. "What happened?" she asked.

"I burnt the flowers!" Kithana said sadly, "I thought your mother said the magic would protect the garden!"

"It's okay," a nearby dryad said, "You didn't mean it." The dryad reached out to lay a comforting hand on Kithana's shoulder, but stopped herself and pulled back awkwardly. "We'll just... we can fix it! And the magic should work better next time."

Another dryad — Clovis — knelt down to sprinkle a bit of magic over the burn scar, and new bluebells sprouted and began to grow from the ground. "The good thing about fire is that it helps the soil's fertility," she says, "So it's a lot easier to make new flowers grow now, thanks to you!"

They were trying so hard to make Kithana feel better, and Callyndia felt bad interrupting them. So, she waited impatiently, but put on her best sympathetic face as Kithana got all the attention.

Thankfully, Leofric seemed to pick up on a cue of some kind, and spoke to Callyndia. "Lady Sablesong, you seem anxious," he said, "Can we help you in some way?"

"Yes, I'm looking for Svenden," she said, "Do you know where he is?"

"Oh," he said, "I believe he mentioned wanting to step out of the garden for a few moments. He headed... I believe that's east? East." He pointed in a direction that was, indeed, east.