my lavender bones.
I
t seems to him there are still parts of the castle that can surprise him. There are rooms he did not know existed, or corridors that lead to places he did not expect, or paintings he has not had the chance to properly appreciate.Sometimes he finds himself wandering the hallways simply for the sake of wandering, for the simple pleasure of finding something new.
He is wandering now, skimming his shoulder down a wall that is covered in ivy, that spills over from the cracks near the ceiling. Through the leaves he can see a bit of sunlight shining through, limning the edges of them in gold. The feel of them shush, shush, shushing along his skin calms him in a way being surrounded by walls never could: the presence of nature taking back the castle, a feat that should have worried him, brings only peace.
Ipomoea has always been more at home with the earth beneath his hooves instead of cobblestones, with the trees of the forest his only walls. In his time as Sovereign he has allowed many of the rooms to be overrun with vines and wildflowers (a fact the castle keepers often complained to him about — but so too was he careful to keep their roots from bringing the building down, as they all warned him they one day might.)
Still, he allows himself this one pleasure.
And he is (selfishly) glad he has, for it is along this wall that he finds the next surprise the castle has to offer him: a delicate orchid nestled among tendrils of heart-shaped ivy.
The orchid is a strand of cream-colored flowers whose petals darken to a soft gold at the outer edges. And the veins of the flowers fade from russet at the center to pink. The column rising from the center is nearly as red as his own eyes.
It is while he is admiring the flower — pressing his cheek to the petals, listening to its soft hum of energy in his magic — that he hears the footsteps approaching. Ipomoea beckons the stranger closer.
“Have you seen this before?” his voice is lowered as if in reverence, when he steps to the side to allow the mule to look upon the blossoms as well.
