puts a flower crown on her ✨
amongst the quiet buzz of beetles & plash of wind in the pond, this morning’s further colored by the clumsy burble of earthenware. like an artist poised at her koto, her fingers pass swift from pot to pot, wares tinkling faintly … yet she lacks half the grace, concerns sputtering & fluttering with every pulse of her. she counts the delivery once, twice, thrice, but delayed diligence is to no avail. the repeated number only determines she’s surely forgotten the peony root, cheeky parcel probably still tucked in its drawer at home. dirt puckers at her knees as she continues to stoop too long, counting, disappointments to bruise more than ego.
… she hears nothing of the soft approach, feels nothing of the feather bestowal. skilled hands are too gentle to leave a trace, but the peripheral flitter of a butterfly makes her turn & catch the other – sudden sight of sweetness comparable to spying some lavender fairy in the garden. fret that had wrinkled yerin’s nose and chilled her palms seems to dissipate at once, replaced then by a bloom of ineffable affection; such is the effect of kanao, utterless but utter.
❝ oh – kanao-san ! ❞ she exclaims, nearly chirps for felicity. she rises forgetting the dust at her knees, too many topics emerging now from want & memory. ❝ how are – how have – ❞ begins her plaintive attempt, but it’s promptly interrupted by a twinkle of petal by her temple. ❝ – hn ? ❞ she gapes further with intention; AT LAST, she realizes she’s been coroneted. fingertips no longer wilting with the mistakes of the morning reach eager ( then light ) to retrieve the gift, lifting then lowering it in wonder.
it had been made with a friend’s eye, careful and attentive in every blossom & sprig. she becomes ridiculously endeared. ❝ it’s so pretty … ❞ yerin dares to touch the curlicue of a stem; her gaze returns to kanao with the day now illuminated by her gesture. ❝ … this is for me, kanao-san? ❞ she has to confirm it, the surprise is too great – yet already in her mind she’s wondering ways she could repay the kindness ( butterflies, butterflies, something with butterflies … sweets like butterflies? no, a crown of paper butterflies? )
