CHAPTER 1.5

She arrived and knocked softly on the door, even though it was wide open and she could clearly see him sitting on one of the chairs, facing the entrance.

“Come in,”

“Thank you Mr. Valienta”

she replied, walking towards the table and placing the basket on it.

“Mrs. Melo packed some supplies for you, there’s a whole bunch of vegetables and this week's batch of meat we got from the hunting session yesterday, I'm sure you're going to love the rabbit meat, it's delicious! It should cover the rest of the week. I also brought you those petals to put in your tea. They help in numbing the pain a little bit so be sure to use them sparingly because they are rare to find.”

“I thought I told you to tell her I can take care of myself. I don’t need her sending you up here every single time like some messenger.”

“Oh, on the contrary, Mr. Valienta I am the one that offers to come here! I hope my company doesn’t bother you.”

“Not at all…”

“Okay, now as I prepare lunch you take out your laundry and place them on the poach okay?!”

“I can do the laundry myself, there’s no need”

“Oh nonsense Mr. Valienta, you can’t even walk to the stream and back, your injuries have not fully recovered yet. Just take them out and I will handle it okay.”

“… fine. And you don’t have to call me that every time. You can just call me Drom.”

“Okay, Drom. Now you get some rest while I prepare lunch. I will call you when it is time,”

She said, waving him off and grabbing the basket on her way to the kitchen. She had grown entirely, from the kid in her middle childhood, oblivious to the dangers of the world, to the blossoming young teenager. Of course, Drom could not recognize that growth since he had only seen her in the last two years, but those that she stayed with earlier, if they would have had the chance of seeing her once again they would be in for a rude shock.

After the Head lady Melo had rescued her from the invasion, she took her under her wing and lived with her in the Flower Garden, the all-female society created by Lady Melo herself. She had lived there ever since, training under the lady and learning everything she could from her. With the absence of tulip, a member of the Orchid, a group of trained militia that serves under the lady, Lisa had aspired to supersede that vacancy left behind. So she trained hard with that goal in mind, but lady Melo sought a different future for her. She had been looking for her successor ever since she founded that village. It was a difficult task, knowing that she might one day have to pass down the responsibility to another leader.

After rescuing her, Lisa looked worthy of the role, to be her successor. And so she began grooming her day by day.

As Drom was sleeping his aches away, his mind drifted and he began dreaming. He recalled the day of the invasion, a brutal memory that could never escape his memory. The nightmare was recurrent, he had dreamed it more than once. He would be isolated in an empty void alongside Daito, then Daito would shank him with the dagger, and he would fall into the void screaming as he watched Daito stare him down mercilessly.

He woke up violently flaring his limbs, wiping the perspiration accumulating on his face. He shook his head to erase the thoughts lingering. Lisa walked in clapping her hands, “Food is ready, ill go set up the table you should go before it gets cold.”

Moments later the two were sitting on the miniature table eating their hunger away. Drom covered the wound that was showing on his chest with a heavy taping of bandages. It was unnatural. The wound had never healed ever since he was pierced with the dagger. The god Arni told him that he would never heal naturally. The only way to heal it was to retrieve the dagger and thrust it back into his heart and restore his powers, then and only then would the wound heal.

“So, any progress on your training?” Drom asked, wanting to break the uneasy silence.

“Well, it's not as had as when I started out. I'm catching up to the other girls, although daffodil was pretty upset about the Lady’s decision yesterday.”

“What happened?”

“She wanted to change her name. You see as I told you before, the orchid is like a hire achy of titles. It's like the army having lieutenants and commanders, that kind of ranking. So the highest-ranked Orchid gets the name Tulip, then followed by Daffodil, Rose, Lavender, Sunflower, and finally Daisy. But ever since the invasion we've never heard from Tulip. The lady said she stayed behind, and after five years of course one would've thought she had had to be killed somehow. So yesterday Daffodil asked the lady to raise her rank to tulip but the lady refused, which led to a pretty big argument, now Daffodil says she doesn't want to be part of the Orchid anymore.”

“And why don’t you want to be a part of the orchid? I've been seeing you come up here in secret to train.”

“Oh no i

I'm not training to be a part of the orchid. I'm training to get strong so I can join the lady’s plan.”

“What plan?”

“She hasn't told you?”

“Told me what?”

“Well, she came up here yesterday saying that she was going to tell you her plan. She was planning to invade the Heads quarters and Steal back the covenant Book and the Dagger so that she can restore your powers and you can help her save big brother? Oh sorry, I meant Daito”

“WHAT! Is she insane?!”

Drom slapped the table hard, making the bowls sway and splash soup all over the tabletop.

“That’s suicide. And you say you want to join in on this plan?”

“Well, yes. Isn't your power stored in that dagger? If you get your power back you can help us break Daito free from the spell they have over him.”

“Where is she I need to talk to her about this.”

“She went out yesterday after she came up here to see you.”

“She can't be seriously considering this…”

Drom fell back on his chair, grasping his chest and wincing in pain.

“Hey don’t put so much stress in your movement you will open up the wound again.”

sure enough, a stain of blood began spreading across the bandage.

“My goodness, stay here. Try not to move. I'll be right back with new bandages and I shall fix it. Meanwhile, try not to move as much as possible.”

Drom sat on his chair, fighting back the pain.

“What in the hell is that Lady thinking?”