"He is my brother."
Bastian looked behind her at the intruder who was covered in a mass of dark coloured cloths.
"How do you know?" He asked levelling his sword once again at the stranger.
Hydrangea sighed in annoyance and she stepped away to reveal the supposed brother.
Bastian could tell by the person's stature that it was a man, 'I thought she only had little children for siblings?' He asked mentally.
The person looked down at the flower, his eyes that were shown through a small slit in the fabric were shocked, "Hydie?" A masculine voice asked.
"Rowan." She replied, her eyes happy. The grey orbs soon turned angry and a hand swung to slap the brother's arm, "What are you doing out here? At night! It's winter now and you can't be out here all night." She said in a shrill panicked voice.
Bastian could see that the brother was going to attempt to defend himself but she wouldn't let him, with a stern voice and a pointed finger she said, "I don't care about your skill in the forest, you can't stay out here at night, especially in this kind of weather."
The brother grabbed her shoulders, "Hydie," He removed his head covering to reveal raven hair, the same colour as his sister's, "I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."
She scoffed and looked away, crossing her arms across her chest.
"What…" The brother raised his head remembering the others in the vicinity and watched them skeptically.
"Oh." The flower exclaimed softly, also remembering her companions, "Row, this is Brigitte," She walked to where the maid stood, "My personal maid in the palace. Lords Dimitri and Ariston, we rescued them in Wanington. And…" She then walked to where Bastian stood, his hand on his now lowered sword.
She nodded her lowered head in his direction, "The Sovereign." She mumbled under her breath but her brother seemed to catch it from the fury that blazed to life in his eyes.
"You mean…?!" He asked outraged, not finishing his sentence.
"Yes." She replied nodding her head and walking to place a hand on his shoulder, she whispered something unheard to Bastian and the brother appeared to calm slightly. But he still eyed Bastian with suspicion.
Bastian sheathed his sword and turned to look back at the other three, making eye contact with his always smiling friend who was nodding encouragingly at him.
He scoffed and turned to look back at the reunited siblings.
The brother, Rowan was now accounting what had happened after her… departure.
"Well, we discovered what had happened on our own and thought of a few ways to get you back, but… we saw eventually that we'd never see you again." Both siblings looked downcast as the words that were uttered, "After…" The brother heaved a breath as though his next words were difficult to voice, "After, a few weeks after a plague swept through town."
The flower gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. The brother hurried to reassure her, "All the kids are fine, Linden had to stop working though and we depended on the garden and forest for food. But…"
"But what Row? What happened?" She asked, her eyes anxious and impatient.
The brother held his neck, his hazel eyes searching the dripping tree branches as if for an escape, "And, mother died."
Bastian's breath caught in his throat as he looked at the flower, her own body seemed frozen. Her eyes were wide but devoid of tears. He watched as she exhaled a long breath and then turn and stalk off away from the clearing.
Bastian clenched the hilt of his sword, he felt conflicted. He looked at the maid and she him, she nodded and hurried after the flower.
Dimitri and his brother were both looking at their feet, their faces somber. He wondered if it was because of the recent loss of their father.
He looked to the flower's brother who was regarding him with that same look that he'd seen in her eyes many times.
"What?" He snapped.
The brother tilted his pale skinned head back, his eyes still skeptical. After another few seconds of silence he asked slowly, "So you're Hydie's husband?"
Bastian fought the temptation to step back. He doesn't usually think of their relationship as 'Husband and wife'. She's his queen, that was it.
He swallowed, "Yes."
The brother nodded and didn't say anything further. But his hazel eyes gazed relentlessly at him, a judging glower in them.
The flower e back into the area, and walked right up to her brother.
"We're going home." She said, her voice stern and not broken from tears as he'd expected.
The brother agreed, reluctantly, and led them into the forest. The rain had slowed but the sky still continued in its weeping.
Bastian walked directly behind the flower, her hood was down and the strands of her damp hair were draped down her back.
The maid and two brothers stood in the far back, all three of them had volunteered to lead the horses.
When the flower's brother was far ahead he gathered the courage to speak, "My condolences for the loss of your mother." He winced at his words; they felt strange on his tongue.
She glanced back, her eyes only meeting his for a moment, "There's no need for condolences."
He inhaled slowly through his nose, preparing for his next words, swallowing hard, he uttered them, "I myself wouldn't know what to do if my mother died."
The flower stopped in her steps and his nose inhaled a pleasantly sweet floral scent but it quickly disappeared as she began to move again.
"Did your mother love you?" She asked.
"Well, yes-"
"Did she nurture you? Care for you when you were sick? Teach you to read and write?" She paused and he felt it best not to speak, "My mother did none of those things. I cared for her children, I buried the children she lost. I taught myself to read and to write. I fed her, and clothed her." She paused once again her head hung.
"And after all I'd done for her… she sold me."
He stopped in his steps and watched her with a stunned face as she walked after her brother.
He closed his eyes and took a breath, 'Her mother sold her.' He couldn't even fathom what she felt.
But he knew how he felt. He felt sick with guilt. Would it never go away?