SA | April prompt | Amber | Flowers

+4 AP (532 words, monthly prompt) | For Midas

“What is your character's favorite thing about Spring? Are they looking forward to it?"

She donned a cloak red as blood as she set out into the early morning. It was cold out, her breath visible as it rose towards the sky. She made an effort to breath through her nose so the crispy air wouldn’t hurt her long so quickly. Normally she would jog, but today she walked, calm exterior belying her inner troubles. It hadn’t snowed for a bit and the sun peeking over the mountains shed light onto the melting snow. Patches of green and even stray flowers peeked their way through the layer of white, puddles littered over the ground. It was pretty, though Amber would not admit such thing out loud. She wanted to be though and avoided everything that might be considered too soft. She was a strong gi- woman. She was a woman. She had no time for silly things such as flowers. She huffed, forcing herself to look away. The flower festival would be soon she knew. The thought made her heart ache. Lilliana would not be there. Another year had passed. Another year in which she felt not much closer to her goals. Her hooves clicked against the stone, Amber kicking a stone away in frustration. She could not let herself wallow in such thoughts. She needed to stay strong, believe in herself and believe in a better War-forged. Push through even when it seemed like nothing could be achieved at the moment. Her eye fell on one of the flowers. Fragile and white, it stubbornly emerged from the snow. No flowers stood next to it, just that tiny flower having wormed its way through the melting layer of white. Amber realized that her family was as wrong about flowers as they were wrong about her. In looks perhaps they were soft. They were easily cut down as well, quick to wither if circumstances weren’t right. Fragile as her family called it. But they grew in the most odd of places, this one beating the unfavorable conditions Cascade threw at it. Some flowered year after year. If you cut them, they would regrow. This flower, it was strong. Carefully as to not damage it, Amber worked to free the flower from the ground, making sure to get the bulb along a cloth of earth tangled roots. Then she quickly hurried back, flower held close to herself. It would be her reminder, planted lovingly in a pot and put on a shelf in her room. A reminder of how one could look one thing and be another. A reminder that despite what her family said, things could be different. A token for hope, that she one day too would defeat the odds and emerge through the snow for everyone to see and recognized like she herself had recongized that flower for what they were today. Perhaps it was weird, but she would nickname the thing. Cultivate in in the coming years. And then perhaps she could tell a future generation of that one spring were she found her little warrior and how it would be a spring better than the years before.

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Okay, so the last bit is hypothetical future but whetever :’D

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Writing & character (c) me