[KHUX AU] Daybreak Academy

Of Apples And Joy

Thank you for reading!

. . .

Anora had not been to the Departure County fair grounds since Ephemer took her to the spring festival. She almost thought they had gone to a completely different place seeing it now. One corner of the grounds was used for a corn maze, another for a pumpkin patch, and the rest held an orchard with at least three different apple varieties. It was rather impressive, but all of her interest was nearly drained at this point.

Going to the fair grounds had been Skuld's idea. She wanted to collect apples so she could bake pies later on. Which, of course meant that Ephemer had been invited by proxy. Anora wasn't exactly sure why Skuld wanted her to come along- but at least she had managed to convince her to allow Strelitzia to come along. The flower girl and the baker, no surprise, took to each other like they had been friends for years.

Ephemer said nothing to the girls on the ride over. Instead, he opted to look at the window with the purposeful intention of avoiding Anora. Skuld and Strelitzia didn't seem to notice- the two discussing baking techniques and fresh ingredients without a care in the world. Anora felt invisible as she sat by the other window. Her stomach was churning, just waiting for the moment when Ephemer would reach over Skuld and Strelitzia just to say hi, or poke her, or something.

He never did, so Anora went unseen.

The four of them got out of the taxi and were all but pulled by Strelitzia toward the orchard. With a wide smile on her face, she took a deep breath in before calmly letting it out.

"It smells so nice here." Strelitzia sighed. "The sweet apples, the greenery brushed with dew, the pollen..."

"Watch yourself, Zee," Ephemer, who was walking a good three paces behind the girls, bemused. "You're drooling."

"Am I?" she nervously squeaked before wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

"Don't listen to him," Skuld then told Strelitzia. "He's been super prickly recently."

"And with that," the young man announced, moving a bit faster to walk past the girls, "I'm departing from you lovely ladies. Have fun on your apple picking adventures without me."

"Coward!" Skuld warned him even though he was almost out of earshot. The young man gave a shameless shrug as he disappeared into the corn maze. His friend let out an annoyed huff. Strelitzia and Anora exchanged a small glance before the carrot-red haired girl clapped her hands together.

"Skuld, you and I can go look at the Granny Smiths." she suggested, trying to remain cheerful. "Anora, do you want to go pick some Golden Delicious for us?"

The youngest of the three girls carefully nodded her head in agreement. After this, the three of them bought three wicker baskets to put their apples in before going their separate ways. A small pit in Anora's stomach formed when she realized that she was alone. She should have brought her music player or something- anything to distract her mind as she walked along the rows of trees for apples.

She walked for a few minutes before turning her attention to an apple directly above her. It wasn't anything special, that apple, but something about it seemed a little off. Anora gave a small tilt her head in curiosity. She started to reach for it, but immediately stopped when she saw something move near it. Fully prepared to scream, Anora waited a few moments before realizing that it was a small green worm. She watched, almost unblinking, as the worm made its way from the branch to the apple. The corner of her mouth twitched as she considered something. Slowly, carefully, Anora plucked the apple with the worm on it from the tree, then set the apple down on the ground. The worm was now making its way through the apple's exterior, leading Anora squat down to watch it with interest.