Beneath the Lemon Trees | The Arcana Muriel X Reader
A/N: This went from fluff to angst real fast... I hope you enjoy!
The orchard of lemon trees is draped in the leftovers of summer, and the zesty scent of them lingers heavily in the air as the fruits brighter than the sun itself hang heavily from the branches. Your hand brushes just so slightly against one of the fruit’s as you reach for it and you gasp as it plummets below.
“Wizard’s beard!” You curse from atop the branch you watch it fall with a dissatisfying plop into the water. Naturally the best and biggest lemons, in the best and biggest lemon tree were by the frightfully deep pond.
Who even puts a pond in an orchard!? You wonder, shimmying forward further onto the branch that dips under your weight. You could swim for them, you reason to yourself but several problems presented themselves.
Your clothes were not suited for swimming in
The orchard was a public place so taking said clothes off was, in itself, out of the question and
You had a birthday surprise to prepare for and you could not very well greet Muriel with wet clothes, bedraggled hair or a red face should anyone see you in your birthday suit.
So you climbed the tree instead, gathering the biggest lemons for the cake you were planning to make and the lemonade that needed what felt like 50 lemons to make it. Muriel loves lemons! You told yourself, lemon cake and lemonade are perfect for the picnic I have planned.
And you were determined you need this birthday, you reach out for another lemon, to be perfect...
Pulled downward by traitorous gravity and the pounds of lemons in the bag at your side you slam into the water, bubbles and lemons bobbing upward. Unprepared for the abnormally cold water you suck in a breath, but it’s water instead, and you panic coughing and trying to bob upwards with the lemons and the bubbles but... the clothes! Saturated with water they were causing you to sink, exactly what you had been weary of.
Oxygen deprived and unthinkingly you claw at the clothes, magic spurning to your fingertips but sputtering out before you can even begin to think of what it is you want the magic to do. You fight for a breath but the battle was lost as soon as you hit the water, the sound to splashing water is the last thing you register
Until something pulls at your waist... You’ve met Death before, but the warmth around your torso isn’t the Arcane creature pulling you into their fold. Your head bearly breaks the surface, but finally you cough out water and breathe in air. Behind you, your saviour kicks out of the water and heaves the two of you onto land, and you don’t know how to feel as you look up into Muriel’s green eyes.
You’ve seen a lot of worried looks in his eyes before but this one is almost hollow, as he’s already almost seen you die of a freak drowning accident involving lemons before...
“Muri...” you croak out, lungs still waterlogged as your head lolls in his lap. At your words relief crosses his face and the mountain man pulls you softly up into his arms and against his warm chest, you can hear his heart racing beneath it. Although your brain is hazy you manage to choke out, “well this is certainly not the birthday present I had in mind.”
“What?!” Muriel pulls back, scowling that soft thoughtful scowl. His hand cups your face steadying it as you groan and pale from nausea. “What are you talking about?”
“Happy birthday!” You fumble around finally pulling out the single remaining lemon from the bag attached to your side and hold it up. Muriel looks from the lemon to the tree to the pond and the lemons bobbing on the surface and then back to you. Piecing the situation together. You notice his throat bob before he ever so softly he pulls you back to his chest and squeezes you lightly.
“It wouldn’t be a happy birthday without you.”
