A Kelpie of Rowan

Chapter 30

The leaf is warm, and it sends her energy spiraling inside her. Before her eyes, the oak seedling grows bigger, taller.

"Darach, what's happening?"

"Did you touch it?"

"Yes, and now it's shooting upward!" Rowan can hear clapping and she frowns in confusion. "Darach, are you clapping?"

"Of course!"

"Why?"

"Because-" She pauses. "Oh, dear. Ro, can you come back to this world now? Remember that you are inside your mind and think of this forest, where I am."

Rowan nods and closes her eyes. She can feel the forest fading around her, she can feel the whisps of wind that weren't there before. When she opens her eyes, Darach is standing in front of her, staring down at the ground.

"Darach? Are you alright?"

She looks up, startled. "I'm fine. It's just-"

She trails off and waves her hand toward the ground. Rowan looks down to see hundred of the cow-wheat flowers, the ones that surprised Darach so much when they first appeared. Rowan frowns. There are so many of them, it's like she's sitting in a living blanket of magenta flowers.

"Darach, please tell me what these flowers mean."

Darach's eyes widen and she shakes her head. "I can't. I really can't, Ro."

"Can you tell me anything about them?"

Darach nods and attempts to smile, but it comes across as weak, so she lets it fall back into a worried frown. "I can tell you that you shouldn't let anyone see them. It might hurt, but you should burn them when they grow around you, at least until you can control what grows."

"So they're dangerous to me?"

"Well, yes and no. They are dangerous, but it's not the flowers themselves that are dangerous. It's what they bring."

Rowan raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Darach winces. "Please, just burn them. Now, Ro."

Rowan frowns. "I can't control the flame."

"Oh. That is a problem. Then, we should pick all of them and you can take them somewhere you can safely burn them later."

Rowan inhales through her teeth, wincing. "That's going to take quite some time, isn't it?"

"It will, but we have to do it. We'll be done before dark, at least."

Rowan sighs and reaches down to the base of one of the flower's stems. When she pulls it up, it hurts. She sits back on her heels, clutching the flower in one hand. She looks down at it, trying to figure out how the flower could have hurt her. But it's just a flower, a normal flower. She picks another one, only for a wave of pain to wash over her body once more.

"Darach?"

Darach doesn't look over from where she is bending over the flower patch, a handful of them in her hand. "Hmm?"

"Why does it hurt when I pull them up?"

"It hurts because you created them, you gave them life. Now you are ending it."

"But that's horrible!"

Darach turns, scowling. "It is, but your gift has to come with a price! Magic isn't just a tool, it's part of you."

"Darach, I've known that I had magic for a single day. You can't expect me to know all the rules, or even any of the rules at all."

Darach looks surprised by this, but she continues plucking flowers from the ground. Rowan pulls up another one, taking a deep breath as the pain surges through her. When she looks up, Darach ix watching her, dark eyes glittering. Darach frowns.

"You should know the rules, though. They are inherent. All Aos Sí with magic know them."

"But I'm part human. That might make it more difficult."

Darach nods. "I suppose so. How bad does it hurt?"

"What? Oh." Rowan realizes that Darach meant the pain of severing the flowers' connection with the ground. "It feels like . . . I don't know exactly."

"Try to explain it."

Rowan frowns. "It's a dull pain. But whenever I pull up a flower, it throbs."

"Does it fade in-between flowers?"

"A little bit, but not by much."

Darach looks up at the sky. Rowan follows her gaze up. The sky is a bit purple now, the sun is slipping close to the horizon. Rowan shakes her head and looks back down at the flowers, forcing herself to keep picking them despite the pain.
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Why do you think Darach was clapping? What is the significance of the flowers? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

Oh and before I go, I have to give you guys a warning. Tomorrow's chapter may be a bit triggering.

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.