flowers for days

Burying her mother last month was the hardest thing she ever had done, but trying to navigate this land without her was a close second. She'd placed rocks over her since it had seemed much easier than digging a grave at the time, and on top of the rocks were a collection of flowers spread evenly across the resting place. If it weren't for the array of flowers across the field in which she walked, the memories of her mother would have been pleasantly laid to rest for the day while she explored the lands as best as she could.

Never before had her half leg caused her much issue, but these past few weeks had left her struggling, likely due to the amount of traveling she'd been doing. Never before had she walked so much - her mother often gave her breaks, despite how much she argued that she didn't need them.

With the sun having risen high into the sky, her tongue lolled from her smiling mouth as she hobbled along, stopping nearly every two seconds to sniff a flower or watch a butterfly flit by. Her tail wagged happily behind her as a butterfly did in fact flit by and she paused to watch it like a labrador watching a treat fly at its face.

Exploring places was fun, but quite exhausting even if she did take a short break every other second. With the sun beating down on her back, it didn't make it any less tiring. Although the air was cool with a slight breeze, it was still warm with the sun at its highest peak for the day and with little shade in the gully, it made for a rather warm day for the golden child as she hopped along through the green grasses and pretty spring flowers.

Stopping to take a short break, Aelin flopped over in the grass and started to roll, twisting around on her back playfully before pausing to stare up at the bright sky and watching the clouds move overhead with her equally bright blue eyes. The gully was fast and with the breeze moving as it was, it pushed the clouds rather speedily across the sky and made her giggle. Even with all the troubles she'd had this last month and in life, she still found the good in things and dwelling on the past wasn't something she understood. Of course, going to bed at night and waking in the morning was still hard being alone, but the rest of the hours in between were exciting and it was impossible to ignore it. Aelin just simply loved exploring.

Sprawled out on her back with her pale belly exposed to the warm sun, she dozed for a few minutes before a butterfly landed on her nose and caused her to sneeze, waking her from her mid afternoon nap she never intended on taking. Rolling over and lifting herself back onto three legs, she carried on again with the direction of the breeze, off to explore another part of this wonderful field of pretty flowers and butterfly friends.

Traversing down a hill caused her the most difficulty, and to refrain from sliding down the steep hillside, she had to hop down in a zigzag pattern. Hills had always been difficult for her, particularly going downhill. Going up hill was difficult because of the extra strain it put on her, but downhill posed the risk of falling due to gravity not being always so kind to those with less feet than they should have. It hardly bothered her though, and if anything it gave her the extra few steps of exploring the beautiful field and all it had to offer.

Despite her best efforts, her single forepaw had managed to slip but she'd been close enough to the bottom to make it down without any harm. Covered in loose blades of grass, Aelin stood and shook them free only to continue on her merry way across the gully to a collection of flowers she'd seen from the hilltop. Eager to collect some of the flowers, she hurried over despite the tumble she'd taken and was panting now more than she had been by the time she'd gotten there. It hardly bothered her though as now she was happily laying in the flowerbed and enjoying all that was around her. As much as she wanted to pick the flowers and make something beautiful for herself, she'd much rather leave the field alone to come back to later and enjoy again and again while the flowers lived their fullest life. She could come back every day and enjoy the flowers here, and that's only if she didn't just decide to live here! Picking the flowers to take them with her would only cause them to wilt and die and while it was sentimental for her mother's grave, it would only remind her of the loss to watch them die too.

WC: 826