CYRENE
the monarchs flew free;
yet they circled around her.
Sighing, Cyrene flipped the cover of her satchel closed with a toss of sable curls. Her herb supplies were running low, yet again. And it was obviously not because she’d depleted her entire reserve in the succession of failed potions she had attempted the night before. Sometimes, she wondered why she even bothered when the results were bound to be downright disastrous. At the very least, her efforts had yielded one small bottle of crimson liquid; a draught for easing aches and pains. Perhaps it would prove useful at a later time. yet they circled around her.
With a swift shake, snow shed off her wings in cold clumps as she rose on limber legs. If Cyrene’s talents did not lay in potion making, then it surely manifested in her knack of gathering even the most finicky and elusive of herbs. It was wintertime, the girl was well aware of that—but the few hardy species that mocked winter’s supposedly smothering presence were growing splendidly below a bed of icy white, and it was these very herbs that the sprightly nymph now set off to seek.
Excitement flowed through the girl like a rushing river, as that adventure was now presenting itself on a silver platter to her. Accepting that tantalizing offer would kill two birds with one stone, for she was sure to encounter fields of hidden herbs along the way, patiently awaiting her inevitable discovery of them.
Yet unbeknownst to her, Cyrene would stumble upon something much more compelling than frost-defying greens.
@Nerissa & anyone else | notes: sorry this took me a while D:
