Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Metal

Chapter 6 Sprouting

 Many years ago back when Vincent, Paula, and their daughters first moved to Silverlite Village, they were also just starting their family business making and selling perfume. The location felt perfect as well with there being a large meadow with plenty of flowers to pick from. Just as soon as Vincent and Paula got everything together, both Lilac and Ella started running out of the cabin to go play within the meadow of flowers. Vincent and Paula were already outside taking a good look at their new home. "Don't go too far!" Paula called out to them. "Lilac. Look after your sister." Vincent instructed her. Lilac began to stop running just to turn around and pout. "But I wanted to explore the woods." Lilac stomped her foot. She was only 8 years old at the time while Ella was just 4. "I'm serious, Lilac. We've told you not to go that far. Stay where we can see you." Vincent said to her again.

"I found a pretty one! Mommy look!" Ella said as she came running back with a picked daisy in her hand. She waved it around in front of Paula to desperately get her attention. Just like that, Paula was able to put on a bright smile. She knelt down to her daughter's level to see what she had. "That is pretty! Thank you so much!" Ella handed the flower to her mother. "I bet we can pick some more. Does that sound fun?" Paula asked Ella. Her daughter simply nodded yes. "I'll go get my things and we can go pick some more together." Ella followed Paula inside so that they could go grab a basket and Paula's sun hat. While waiting on the two of them, Lilac continued to complain to her father. "See? Ella can go with mom so it's fine." Lilac told him. "The answer is still no." Vincent tried to stay firm with his answer. "Why?!" Lilac continued to protest. "You don't know what's out there Lilac. How about we go hiking another time?" Vincent tried to make a compromise with her, promising to go with her out in the woods to see whatever they can find another time. Of course, with Lilac's brash nature, she was still going to make things difficult.

"But I want to go now!" Lilac's tone grew louder. Vincent sighed "Lilac..." He put his hands on his hips, getting more impatient with her. Soon enough, Paula and Ella came back out with their own baskets and a third for Lilac. "You should come with us, Lilac. It'll be fun." Paula handed the other basket over to her. Lilac took the basket and followed the two of them while sticking her tongue back out at Vincent, making a weird face at him. "We'll be back!" Paula said to Vincent. "Have fun!" Vincent waved to his wife and daughters as they went through the nearby meadow of flowers. While they did that, Vincent grabbed his hatchet nearby and went around the back of the cabin.

Vincent wanted to make sure they had enough firewood for the night and took each small log to cut up one by one. He spent at least a few hours doing this until he could hear his wife's voice again. "Lilac?!" She called out her daughter's name. Vincent didn't drop his hatchet but decided to see what Paula was screaming their daughter's name for. He had a pretty good guess as to what situation he was going to face when he saw Paula and Ella looking around the meadow for Lilac. "Did she run off?" Vincent asked as he approached them in the field. "Ella wanted to show me something. I got distracted and I lost track of where she went." Paula admitted. "She's probably in the woods. She couldn't have gotten far, let's go." Vincent said. Paula picked Ella up and all three of them went to the edge of the woods. "Lilac!" Vincent called her name and didn't hear any response. He stepped further within the woods until all three of them were just eventually hiking through it. After a while it started to get darker out, suggesting dusk was already present. "I told her that we could do this another time. She doesn't listen." Vincent told Paula. "Well... She's also eight." Paula said. Vincent gave her a concerning look in response. "I'm sorry. I should have kept a closer eye on her." Paula admitted. "Let's just find her and go home. It's starting to get cold." Vincent said.

"Mommy, Daddy, look!" Ella pointed a particular direction and her parents followed her finger to where she was pointing. Vincent had to squint to see what she was talking about. It was tough to make out but they could see Lilac making a small hut shelter out of various sticks. "Lilac!" Vincent called her name again. Lilac looked around until she saw her dad approaching her fast and her eyes grew wide. "Do you have any idea how far out we are?" Vincent asked rhetorically. "But I hate this village! I told you I wanted to play out here!" Lilac said to him. "No buts. We're going back now." Vincent tried to make himself perfectly clear. Lilac made a pouting face and walked back with her family, eventually giving in to her parent's authority. "Your mother and sister had to stop what they were doing to look for you." Vincent said to her as they made their way back. "They could have picked flowers without me." Lilac talked back. "That's not the point, Lilac. We were worried about you." Paula said to her.

When they made it back home, it was nearly dark out. Vincent gathered the logs he had chopped up with his hatchet to start a fire and not long after, the entire family enjoyed their night together surrounded by warmth under a starry night sky. Lilac would have typically been sent to her room with the type of behavior she presented. But Paula insisted that she should be with them and not feel left out when they told each other scary stories. Vincent knew this was their first time in this village, but no matter what, they were going to try and be together as a family. "Are you guys warm?" Vincent asked his wife and daughters. "The fire is getting a bit smaller now." Paula included. With that said, Vincent threw in an extra log and the fire made a sudden burst of energy, roaring to life once again. This sudden burst had almost burnt his hand. "AGH!" Vincent took a step back from the fire. "Are you ok?" Paula asked. "I'm fine. It was just a little spark."