Chapter 16: Blue Star

“Oh, hey,” Arthur said, thrown off.

She nodded at him slightly, then stood there. And stood there. She seemed content to stand quietly and politely until he said something. “So you were looking at that flower?”

“Yes.”

“Just looking, or do you know something about it?” Arthur said, then realized that might be a bit pushy. He tried his best to adjust. “I’m new to this world. I don’t know much about the plants here.”

“I see. I know of this flower. My mother told me about it, once.”

He took a shot. If he knew one rule of conversation, it was asking people about what they are interested in. It almost always worked.

“Could you tell me about it?”

She seemed to consider that for a moment, then nodded and went to the flower. He waited for her to talk until he realized she was waiting for him to approach. He trotted up to her side, barely stopping himself before he put the flower in danger of getting squashed.

“They call it a blue star. Or at least that’s what my mother called it,” she said. “It only grows in places like this, in shade, protected by other plants. It’s too delicate for the full force of wind, and it gets burned by the sun.”

“It’s rare?”

She shrugged, slightly. “In places like this, they’re not common. You can find them. I try to.”

That was something. She was looking for this flower. The smile he had seen was relief at finding it, or something. But she hadn’t picked it.

“It’s valuable?” he asked. “Or useful?”

“Oh, yes. It’s good for many things. For making medicine. You can grind the leaves up to make additives for various crafts. It can also be made into dye, if you have enough of them.”

His food scientist perk was going crazy, telling him the same thing. This was usable in tea and some different foods, he could sense. The skill didn’t know exactly how, but it had some guesses, and all of them pointed to this being a high-quality, versatile material. The skill was almost pissed at him for not picking it immediately.

“But you’re not picking it.”

He thought he saw a bit of surprise as she turned to face him again, her mouth opening a bit as she considered her words before she finally settled on something simple.

“No. I not.”

They stood there for a few moments regarding the flower. It really was beautiful. To Arthur’s eyes, it was more purple than blue, but he could see how “blue star” rolled off the tongue a bit better. It was a large flower on a short stalk, a single bloom shaped like a bell except around the outer lip of the shape, where it broke into four gentle, rounded triangular points. That was probably the source of the other part of the name. From above, it looked enough like a drawing of a star to justify it.

Whatever tension Arthur had introduced to the situation vanished as Mizu stared at the flower. She showed just the barest hint of a smile as she appreciated it, making no move to do anything else but just enjoy the sight.

“Why do you like this flower?”

“It’s as I said. It’s a useful flower. You can use them to heal or to create. They are easy to harvest and fetch a good price. It’s a useful plant.”

“That’s why you need it. Or why you’d pick it,” Arthur said. He had seen her eyes when she first saw the flower. Most of the time, Mizu had the same expression. At first, he had thought it might be a look of boredom, but her eyes moved too much and seemed to pay attention too much for that. She just didn’t show a lot of emotion. But for these flowers, she had smiled.

“Why do you like them? I mean, you aren’t picking this. You seem to just want to enjoy it. I can tell they mean something to you.” He turned to look at her face, seeing some hesitance there. “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m just curious.”

She stood there for a full five seconds before she moved.

“Hm.” The water elemental bent down, gently brushing the petals of one of the flowers with her fingers. “I suppose I do like them, don’t I?”

Her hand lingered on the flower for a few moments as she considered both it and how to explain her affection for the plant.

“Look there,” she said, finally. She pointed off to a bare patch on the earth a few feet away.

“At the dirt?”

“No, I mean… here.” She reached up, gently grabbing the crook of Arthur’s elbow. He very narrowly avoided jerking away in surprise. “Come down here. Look past the flower to the earth.”

He bent down with her, their heads almost touching. Looking where she pointed, he saw it. The purple of the flower was highlighted by the brown of the earth, framed in its contrast. It was a pretty flower, but being backed by the dark brown of the soil gave it a vibrancy it didn’t have before. It was beautiful.

“I see it.” He really did. The flower had gone from pretty to breathtaking in a moment.

“When I first saw the flowers, I was small.” She held up her hand to a child’s height near her eye line, as if showing him exactly how small. “And this is how they looked to me back then.”

She reached down as if to pat the flower one more time, then seemed to reconsider, putting her hand on Arthur's shoulder instead and using it for balance as she stood. He followed her back up.

“I haven’t thought about that in a long time. Thank you,” she said. “I do like them. I had forgotten. Or at least forgotten why.”

“Thank you for showing me that. I won’t pick them, either.” Food Scientist nearly jerked in his chest as it told him how stupid that was. “They really are beautiful.”

She nodded. “They are.”

They stood for a few more moments. Arthur was beginning to think that awkward pauses weren’t the most rare thing for the girl. They certainly didn’t seem to bother her, not that he could read her at all yet. He’d learn to match the rhythm, eventually, but for now, he was far from used to it.

“I make you nervous,” she said. It wasn’t a question. Arthur thought about denying it.

“You do.”

“I don’t talk well. Even for a water elemental. My mother called me calm. It makes it hard for others. I don’t know how to solve that, for them.”

Arthur looked at her face, and found her eyes were pointed firmly and unwaveringly at the flower.

“I wish I did.” She almost whispered.

“No. It’s not… that. You could talk much more, or much less, and I’d be the same. It’s not about how you talk. It’s something different. I’ll get over it.” He couldn’t let this poor girl think his general ineptitude was her fault. “I like the way you talk.”

“There’s not enough to like.”

“There is,” he said, realizing for the first time it was true. “I’ll get used to it. That’s my job. If it’s hard for you to talk to me, that’s fine. You can ask me to stop any time. I will. But I’ll get less nervous eventually. I promise.”

She stood there, looking at the flower for a full minute, before reaching down and suddenly plucking it from the earth, roots and all.

“Take this.”

Arthur looked at the flower in her hand in shock. “I can’t. You like those.”

She shook her head, grabbed his hand, and put the flower in it. “They are useful. Useful things are meant to be used. I could tell you weren’t picking it because of me. I’ve already looked at it. That’s enough. Take it.”

Arthur curled his hand around the flower, his hand warm from where she had touched it. Somehow, he expected her to feel damp, even having been told she wasn’t by the mouse girl.

She feels warm. Just like anyone else. Only better.

By the time he had put the flower in his bag, she was already moving away. He watched her go, reluctant to make things more awkward for her with more words. At the last moment, just as she made her way beyond a tree, he heard her voice one more time.

“Arthur?”

“Yeah?”

“You make me nervous too.”

And then she was gone.