Flanz - Arrival

The garden was growing. The grass curling, the leaves spreading, the fruit overripening. The gazebo split from its piqued roof a second story, the trellises rose in an overpowering grid pattern, and from somewhere distant the sound of singing chimed, a thousand voices all so tiny and all so far away but unified in enough harmony to skitter as an electric pulse up the sheer stone walls.

***

The ripe fruits fell and in time lapse rotted as more fruits took their place on branches and vines sagging beneath the weight. The singing deepened into a space-pervading choir as the light of the sky turned from blue to glorious rainbow.

Makepeace's gaze was the one Jay knew well. His sheer, steadfast, unflinching look that sliced through whatever stood before his eyes. A look that might make you think he really could cut through the will of the world itself and carve his own path. But it was just a look.

***

And from the rip descended Flanz-le-Flore, contributing her own soprano voice to the chorus that enveloped her. Unlike before, she wore clothes. She wore a Cleveland Browns hat, a corduroy jacket, and jeans, and waved around a wooden baseball bat like a baton. Only her beat-up boots remained the same as before.

Her song ended in a cough. She scratched her throat, coughed again, and expelled a dry breath of exasperation. "Bother! It's been rather too long since last I sang. Rather too long indeed. Oh well. Hero, I've given you ample time to consider your choices. You'll make your decision now. You'll marry me, yes, very much so!"

***

[8] Everything's Dead But the Tree