The summer flew by quickly. Flora had spent most of her time sitting under her favorite tree in the garden trying to harness her ability. It was a calm place where she could collect her thoughts and know that she wouldn't be bothered, most likely.
Flora sat sprawled upon the grass, her feet digging into the dirt. The grass tickled her cheek as she moved her head to look back at the castle. She had been out here for hours and was getting hungry. Flora deeply inhaled, taking in the fresh scent of the roses across the path. If only she could live out here where the birds chittered contently, and the flowers were more beautiful than jewels.
Crunching the grass beneath her hands, Flora pushed herself up and meandered down the path. The sun beat down on her head, heating up her blonde hair. What was Rose going to bring her for lunch? She was finally getting somewhere with her training, well at least she thought she was, and it was tiring. Over the summer, she had gotten to the point where she could feel something, but she wasn't quite sure what that something was. It was like approaching a wall of fog, that she could wave her hand through, but it connected with nothing. What ever was behind that wall, she couldn't get to it, but she felt as if she had a connection with some kind of energy.
Flora had theories as to what made her visions present themselves to her. Maybe there was some kind of spirit talking to her. Maybe she could communicate with someone living in the future. Or, the least likely theory, maybe she just subconsciously was able to piece together the present to make predictions of the future. What ever was causing her visions was probably related to some kind of spiritual energy inside of her. Flora had tried to observe how it felt to have a vision, but nothing had come to her all summer.
A bird flew right in front of her diving into some foliage to her right. Startled, Flora clutched her chest backing away. Even if she had nothing to do with the war, she was incredibly on edge. The castle had an aura hanging around it, almost sinister in nature. There was so much death and destruction going on. Flora tried to keep up with the war when she wasn't researching and training, but it definitely took a toll on her mental psyche. This made it all the more difficult to try connecting to something spiritually since it was so mentally exhausting. The war was not going well for Prana, and there had been talk of defeat, which Flora refused to consider. Prana was the greatest country in the world; they could get through this.
Regaining her composure, Flora entered the palace and headed towards her chambers. Since it was a hot afternoon, Flora had worn a light linen dress and no shoes. The marble beneath her feet was cool and was a relief after walking along the unshaded stone path. As Flora rounded another corner, she caught a glimpse of shimmering blond hair and whipped herself towards the figure. Walking in the other direction was Felix, not even noticing Flora's presence.
The two hadn't spoken in forever, so Flora was not going to let this opportunity escape her. As she rushed to catch him, calling out his name, Flora thought it would be quite mortifying if it wasn't actually him. Felix whipped around, his eyes wide in surprise. Flora couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. She hadn't seen her best friend in ages.
"Flora," Felix asked, "what are you doing in this part of the castle?" He didn't seem as pleased to see Flora as she was to see him. Felix looked utterly exhausted. He had dark circles under his unusually dull eyes; they didn't sparkle like they normally did. He had lost weight, she thought, looking him up and down. His clothes were rumpled and had weird stains on them.
Taking a step back, Flora considered why Felix would be so cold to her. Even in the toughest of situations in their past, he had been a bastion of light. "I was practicing." She didn't care to elaborate, and Felix didn't seem to want an explanation. She looked up back up again at Felix, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek.
Felix jerked his head back away before her hand connected with his face, startling her. "Flora, I do not have time for this." He ran his hand through his hair, sighing deeply.
"Felix..." Flora started, "you look..." She searched for the right way to keep him here so she could get more information from him. "Tired."
"Of course I am tired Flora, we are at war and I have responsibilities to keep people like YOU safe." He pointed towards her chest. "Unlike you, I have actual things to attend to."
Flora flinched back at his harsh words. She just told herself that he was stressed and that's why he was was treating her like this. "Felix, have you been using magic again?"
Felix looked off to the side of the hallway avoiding her gaze. There was something more wearing on him as he responded, "yes... we have to be able to get information somehow."
Flora remembered the drastic measures that the king went to to get information on Leosta, and she was sure there were worse things that could happen. "Information? Like finding where troops are on a map? I didn't knew you could do that with magic."
"You can't," Felix said shortly. "We have to use other methods." Felix turned to walk away. "Anyways, I need to-"
Flora grabbed his arm and swiveled him back towards her. "Felix." Their eyes connected as she stared past him, trying to read something from his face. "Do you mean to say you are making truth serum?" His eyes sifted down, ignoring her question. "That takes so much energy to create, and it doesn't guarantee that you get any information from someone."
Truth serums were extremely difficult to brew, and it was something only someone with incredible mental and physical stamina could achieve. Flora didn't even know that Felix could make any of the potion. He must have been preparing for this way before the war even started. Truth serums made it so that anything that the drinker said, had to be the truth. However, the serum was unable to make the person talk. Other methods would have to be resorted to if the drinker refused to speak. Brewing something like this was considered morally gray at best. What other darker forms of magic did Felix learn? She looked back into his eyes, realizing that she didn't know Felix as well as she thought she had.
She shuffled her feet, afraid to ask, but she wanted to know, no needed to know. "Felix..." She had never been this nervous talking to Felix before. "Have you... have you hurt people for this?" As soon as she said this, she decided that she might not want to know the answer.
"Flora..." Felix again turned to walk away but stopped. "Things are not going well right now." He stood there in silence for a moment, staring at nothing. "We will do what we must." He started to walk away, but murmured almost to himself, "I have responsibilities. The country needs me." It felt like he was trying to convince himself of this as he disappeared around the corner.
Flora remained in the hallway for a few moments, still as a deer. What had just happened? Was that really her older brother who looked so fondly at her in the past? He seemed like a shell of his former self; so much of him was missing. Flora hoped that he was not missing, only buried.
She loosed a deep breath and headed back towards her rooms. Her apatite had disappeared after her conversation with Felix, but she forced herself to have a cup of tea as she looked for resources on truth serums. There were a few different ways to concoct such a potion, but ethically speaking, none of them were good. The ingredients usually involve some type of blood, and almost always some kind of young animal part. Some of the recipes even involve killing a person for their life energy. Oh mother, Flora really hoped that recipe wasn't the one that Felix used.
Flora had always remembered in the few times that she had been taught anything about magic, there were strict laws that must be followed. Of course there were the laws of each country to be followed, but there were also the laws of nature. For some channeling magic users, if they practiced too much dark magic, other energy sources would deny the use of their energy to the dark mage. Some things in the world were too pure to be tainted.
Well, Flora thought to herself, it was quite frankly none of her business. Of course she hated the fact that Prana would have to resort to such measures, but she was sure there was plenty of things she didn't know about this war. She was just the princess, where the king and Felix had to make hard decisions for the country, not her. There were already so many men giving up so much for Prana. Flora didn't need to make the situation worse.
* * *
Not much had changed for Flora over the following weeks, but for some reason she had an unforgiving sense of dread. It had been building in her gut for a while now, but it was getting to be almost unbearable. Maybe this had to do with her abilities, but probably not. She was probably grasping at straws trying to find an explanation for her jitters.
One morning while Flora was reading in her sitting room, Rose reminded her that her birthday was in a few days. She put down her book for a moment and stared at Rose for a moment. This year had gone by so quickly, but at the same time, it felt like it would never end. Flora glanced out the window at the leaves that had already changed to brilliant golds and reds. They wouldn't be on the branches for much longer.
"Rose, what do you suppose we should do?"
"About what?" Rose didn't even turn to look at her as she cleaned the room.
Flora flicked the page corners of her book mindlessly as she mused, "about my birthday Rose." She had never really done much, but she would always spend the day with Felix. He probably wouldn't be able to spend the whole day with her, but at least have dinner with her. There should be some time that he wouldn't be in meetings. Even after her last encounter with Felix, she was excited to put a hold on everything else and just... talk.
"I would like cinnamon rolls for breakfast and a double chocolate cake for dinner Rose."
"No actual food?"
Flora rolled her eyes . "That IS real food Rose." She focused again on the foliage outside, weighing the book on her lap. "You should probably prepare some steak frites for Felix. He likes the simpler food." Rose didn't respond to her, but she knew Rose would have the chefs make something delicious.
When her birthday finally came, she spent the day munching on various sweets that Rose brought up to her. Flora had had quite the sweet tooth, especially for chocolate. Rose had also ordered a few new dresses for Flora, gorgeous lengths of silk and taffeta. To Flora's chagrin, they were mostly red. She understood that red and gold were Prana's colors, but she would die to get a green dress, or any other color for that matter.
For lunch, Flora had the most delectable strawberry pastries with buttery, flaky crust that melted in her mouth. Rose must have gone into town to get these, because she didn't think that the patisserie was talented enough to make something this good. Rose also brought some juicy steak frites for Felix in case he showed up for lunch. Flora thought he would most likely come for dinner.
After the meal had gone cold, Rose took it away. Flora spent the afternoon sorting through her closet to find the best place for her new gowns. She had butterflies in her stomach in anticipation for Felix's visit. He would never miss her birthday.
Dinner came, and Flora waited with her chocolate cake and Felix's dinner. She wasn't going to slice into it before Felix came. It was a birthday tradition to light candles atop the cake for each person present. Eventually, the sky grew dark, and the steak was stiff and cold like ice. Flora decided that Felix would forgive her if she ate some cake before he arrived. At some point Rose came in to take away the food, but Flora insisted that she wait. He was definitely going to come, she knew it.
Sometime while waiting for Felix, Flora fell asleep on the sofa. She tried to stay awake for as long as possible, but her eyes were heavy and the wind lulled her asleep. In the morning when she woke, there was a parcel on the table. Flora unwrapped it slowly, revealing a basic diamond necklace. There was no note or any other kind of message. She didn't even see the person who dropped it off. She couldn't believe it, Felix actually missed her birthday. For the first time, Flora felt just how different things had become.