The faint smell of sweet grass, moist at every dawn. The clear blue skies with clouds so dense and fluff, akin to cotton. The fawns wandering by the forest, bugs on the row of trees and dancing by the ground, flocks of singing birds traveling by whispering winds. The afternoon dusk making everything turn to the color of warm orange. The wide spectacle was brimming with daffodils, various flowers, and different fruits bloomed in trees. Bushes were evident with springing decadent berries.
"Spring!" Faustina's eyes widened both in shock and fascination. Her young eyes had never seen such beauty before her eyes: once it was a dead place at winter, cold and relentlessly gloomy. But spring had turned it into something so beautiful. Something so alive and jam-packed with sunlight.
"Amazing, ain't it, lass?" Eula says, walking near her, holding a basket filled with berries and herbs she picked nearby. "The beauty of spring."
Young Faustina nodded slowly, and noticed a ladybug in her boot. She stared curiously, eyeing the small insect, which was crawling to her leg, and then to the hem of her dress. She silently waited until it crawled its way to her hand.
"Wow. You aren't gonna shoo it away, lass?" Asks Eula, staring rather amused and perplexed at the same time to her young apprentice.
"It's my first time... seeing one..."
"Hmm..." Eula knelt before her, staring at the small ladybug as well. "Well. Do you want to keep it?"
Faustina shook her head.
"Why aren't you shooing it away, then?"
Faustina remained unresponsive, simply staring at the small insect crawling in circles.
And then both of them flinched as the ladybug flew away. Its elytra showed, making Faustina and Eula gape in amazement. They stared as it disappears into the sunset.
The young apprentice stared indifferently in the nothingness, her eyes searching for nothing, only swept away by a hint of curiosity.
Eula sighed and smiled as she stared at the young Faustina. It's only been a year since she picked the child from the streets. The child still had trouble expressing herself, since she was exposed to such cruel upbringing at her early years. Taking her to see the beauty of spring was a good choice, Eula thought to herself. She can notice little Faustina reacting curiously since everything is new to her.
"It flew where?"
"Hm?"
"Where'd it... go?"
Eula tilted her head and grinned nervously. She scratched her chin, and then her eyes brightened.
"Oh! It went to tell other ladybugs that spring is here." Eula giggles. "It conveyed a very important message too. I think she flew away so she could tell every ladybug to be awake and enjoy spring."
"But it's dusk."
"Oh!" Eula chuckled nervously. "Insects party at night... I guess?"
"Really?" Faustina asks, amazed.
"Yes!"
"Are we invited?"
Eula grinned. "Someday. But not right now."
Faustina tilted her head, and then did not retort anymore. Eula messed Faustina's hair, and smiled warmly. "Now, now. Don't be sad. Ladybugs will invite you to their party if you talk and smile a lot more."
Faustina's eyes brightened, "is that true?"
"Yup! Now smile and gather berries and herbs. I'll make this dinner special tonight, since we're not invited to the party... yet!"
**
"Whoaaaaa... that was exhausting," Eula says, as they arrive to their small cabin. She sat at the wooden chair facing the window. She was still holding the basket filled with herbs, fruits and vegetables.
"It started raining a bit." Faustina says.
"Yep..." Eula agreed, standing up. She opened the small cabinet containing knives and various kitchenwares. Faustina went to the fireplace, and lit a match.
Trickle, trickle. The sound of rain hitting the ground, and the sound of crickets enveloping the night. Owls gently cooing through the breeze. A faint, nonexistent music on the wind.
Faustina closed her eyes to listen. It was beautiful as well.
Eula stood to chop vegetables at the table. Her red hair was tied into a bun, like a ball of yarn.
"Say, Faustina,"
"Mm..."
"A witch's apprentice." Eula says, "You sure you want to become one?"
Faustina nodded, and sat at the chair near a window. She stared at small beads of raindrops in the straw hut. Thoughts of ladybugs, fireflies and dances and soft music under the moonlight surrounded her entire imagination.
The skies slowly cleared up and stars lit the sky so brightly, alongside the moon.
"Although you pretty have no choice since yer stuck with this lady!" Eula says as she plunged the vegetables to a cauldron in the fireplace. "You'll be a medic! A healer!"
"Ladybug..."
"Hmm?"
"The ladybug's party..." Faustina says, staring at the moon, "when will I be there?"
"The next spring, or the next one after the next?" Eula says, "until the beautiful smile of my dear Faustina is seen."
"Spring..." Faustina whispers. "Why is it beautiful?"
Eula chuckles softly, "every season is beautiful!"
Faustina turned to see Eula, who was smiling as she stirred the ladle on the cauldron. "Well. I don't know. But maybe because it signifies a certain saying: 'death in the end becomes life at the start,'"
"A saying...?"
"By Eula!" The redhead laughed. "Well lass. As I see it... spring is beautiful because it tells us that after every cold winter, where flowers lose their petals and leaves fall, and where every day is an arctic freeze... after all of those things, they all bloom back to life again. Back to the warm sun."
"Back to life again..."
"Like that ladybug." Eula mutters gently, "she will fly back into the warm sun after her cold days of winter. Her own spring. The ladybug party! A celebration for spring."
Eula chuckled, "every season have their own beauty. But I guess spring's my favorite. It reminds me of my little apprentice."
Faustina tilted her head, "little apprentice?"
"My one and only apprentice."
"Me?"
Eula laughed heartily. "Yes, you!"
Faustina stared blankly, although her eyes were not indifferent anymore. "Spring reminds you... of me?"
Eula smiled, and left the ladle resting at the cauldron. She walked towards the small Faustina, and kneeled before her. The moonlight illuminated her kind face, revealing a warm smile.
"It reminds me how my winter came to an end when I had you," Eula says, and kissed the forehead of young Faustina. "You are my spring."