#juniberries

lance had tended to his farm with his family, growing the juniberries that reminded him oh-so-much of allura.

he knew it was wrong. to hold on to her like she was alive, like he’d wake up and see her in front of him. he had to move on, but he couldn’t replace her.

it felt like betrayal just to think of it, but to actually do it?

“lance!” veronica yelled. “remember the girl i told you about? the one that’s coming to help us with the juniberries?”

“yeah?”

“she’s coming tomorrow. go go prepare what we need for harvesting season!”

lance groaned, but obliged nonetheless. he understood that his family needed this harvest, as juniberries were becoming quite popular in the market.

what he couldn’t understand, though, why a distant relative was coming all the way to their farm to help.

well, she wasn’t a distant relative, but her and veronica were so close that they considered each other to be sisters. another strange thing  — he’d never met her.

he found the watering cans and the gardening gloves underneath boxes of sylvio and nadia’s old belongings. he set them out in front of the shed, in an empty bucket he’d been using earlier.

the former paladin wiped the sweat that had formed above his brows, and took in the sky around him. it had started to get dark, around the time he’d usually head in to eat dinner with his family.

as his mami placed the food on the dinner table, as veronica teased marco, as his papi laughed at sylvio and nadia’s antics, as his abuelita helped lisa with her kids, he could only think of one thing.

who were you?

    “AH, (Y/N)!” VERONICA called over to you.

you sent her a small wave, and she engulfed you in a large hug.

“ronnie, my stuff.” you chuckled.

half of your suitcases and bags had fallen, the other half hung off of you.

“sorry!” she laughed, and picked up your belongings. “i just haven’t seen you in so long.”

“aw, does the renowned veronica mcclain miss me?”

“in your dreams.” she rolled her eyes playfully. she grabbed your wrist and began to sprint across the fields.

“woah, slow down!” you warned, but she only giggled in response.

you stopped in front of a small den-like home, sun-hat anything but off and bags anything but touching the ground.

oh ronnie, what have you gotten me into this time.

you had to admit, it was quite cute. an ideal home for someone like you, but it was bigger than a house for someone who wanted to stay by them-self for the entirety of their lifetime.

you’d never had any luck in relationships. every guy you’d ever liked had either curved you, gone for your best friend, or disliked you from the start — so you took it upon yourself to never try and get yourself in a relationship.

besides, it was fun being single, right? you didn’t need a man, you could do it all on your own!

“you can rest for today, since you just came all the way from the humanitarian relief organization.”

you nodded your head no.

“huh?!” your bestfriend exclaimed.

“i wanna work now. i didn’t come all the way here to rest!”

“oh, (Y/N).” veronica muttered to herself.

she took you inside, giving you a small tour of her home and re-introducing you to her family.

you’d already met her grandparents, her parents, rachael, lisa, luis, and even recalled seeing nadia and sylvio when they were babies.

“alright, where’s my room?”

“we’re sharing, dummy.” she light-heartedly jabbed at you. “okay, i had to pull a lot of things together to get everyone to agree with this, so you better consider yourself lucky.”

“what do you mean?”

“you’re staying with me, so that means the twins...”

you began to zone out, occasionally paying mind to what veronica said. when you weren’t listening, you were unpacking what you’d brought with you.

“... are lumped in with lisa and luis, but the bed’s too small, so sylvio...”

you took out your clothes from your bags, folded them and then placed them on veronica’s bed.

“... and since marco only has one twin-sized beds in his room, papi went to buy a sleeping bag...”

you continued to fold your clothes, and veronica continued to ramble.

an abrupt knock commenced on veronica’s door and cut her off.

“who is it?” she called out.

“it’s me!” an unrecognizable voice called out in return.

“come in.”

a tall (attractive, even) man walked into veronica’s room. he looked similar to her, but you weren’t going to ask her about it yet.

“mami says it's time for dinner." he stated, closing the door after he left.

"hey, ronnie?"

"yeah, (Y/N)?"

"who's that?"

    DINNER HAD BEEN awkward, in a lowkey way. you and lance had been making a lot of eye contact, only to look away when caught.

at least you knew his name now.

you helped veronica with the dishes, and she informed you that it’s far to late to begin working in the field. you offered an understanding smile in return, and dried the plates she handed to you one by one.

after you’d finished, the two of you spent time with nadia and sylvio. she could tell you were distracted.

“what’s on your mind?” she asked.

“your brother.” you blinked.

“gee, you didn’t have to be so blunt.” she chuckled awkwardly. “what do you think of him?”

“he’s cute.”

veronica facepalmed, before she looked up with a serious facial expression.

“hey... he was in a relationship not too long ago, and he’s still sensitive about it.”

“alright. i wasn’t going to go for him anyway, ronnie. i came here to learn more about juniberries, didn’t i?”

“how ironic...” she muttered, though you didn’t hear it.

“could you repeat that?”

“ah, it was nothing. let’s play a game.”

the siblings instantly perked up, and got up to follow veronica to wherever she’d went, leaving you on the carpet to think.

NOTES ☀♕❣⁂ღ

This was true, and Allura gave up and followed her friends. Last time, she had been third at the contest, and she really hoped to win this time.

Like her friends, she was wearing a beautiful dress, in shades of blue embroidered with gold; luckily, it was layered, so she decided to use her outer skirt as an improvised basket. She was holding it by the hem, and dropping the berries on the fabric. Her idea seemed to work quite well. She  was pretty fast at finding and picking the berries. When the horn signaling the of the end of the harvest sounded, the fabric was heavy in her hands. It hadn’t been easy to move around like that, and to make sure no berries fell out, but she still seemed to have more than most of the children she saw around her.

They had to stand in line for the berries to be weighed, and Allura’s dress felt heavier and heavier. The other children could just put their baskets down, but Allura had to keep holding her harvest. Her arms were starting to hurt, but she was a princess, and she was trained in combat; she was strong, and she would not give up!

Imona was standing beside her, giving her furtive looks without saying anything. Allura felt rather awkward; holding her berries like that must not have looked very dignified. Still, Allura couldn’t help but notice that she had clearly more berries than her friend. Maybe she stood a chance despite the circumstances.

When she came towards the officials who were judging the contest, and emptied her harvest in the scales, they seemed a bit surprised, but everyone cheered at the 5 phlombs of berries announced, which was the biggest weight so far.

Her parents came running towards her when she went down the stage. “Honey! Are you all right?” exclaimed Melenor. It’s only when she saw her mom staring at her dress that Allura looked down and saw that it was completely ruined. She was entirely covered in pink juice. Now she realized how uncomfortable and wet and heavy and sticky the fabric was, too.

Just at that moment, the crowd started applauding, because someone had broken her record. She was suddenly crushed under a feeling of loss and failure, and started bitterly crying.

Her mom knelt down and wrapped her arms around her. “Allura, it’s fine. It’s just a dress. You aren’t hurt, are you?” She shook her head, still sobbing. Her mother pulled away, still holding her by the shoulders and giving her a reassuring smile. “That’s the most important.” She took a handkerchief out of her purse and started drying her daughter’s tears.

“But it’s my favorite dress!” replied Allura, unable to stop crying.

Alfor knelt beside them as well, and took Allura’s hands. “Allura, listen. You mother is right. The most important is that you are safe” Allura nodded, sniffling.  “Maybe we can save that dress too, after all. Juniberry juice can be tricky but… we’ll ask Coran. He’s quite knowledgeable about clothing.”

The crowd was clearing, as the tables were being installed for the feast.  After she explained about the missing basket, and they reassured her about it too, Alfor and Melenor guided her towards the tables.

Allura recognized Lanis on the throne at the end of the table and a burst of joy warmed her from the inside. She hadn't won this time, but she was happy for her friend who did. Lanis was usually more reserved, but now she seemed so excited and proud that her joy was contagious.

She felt her father’s hand squeeze her shoulder encouragingly and looked up. His smile was crinkling his eyes. “It seems Lanis is the Guest of Honnor, this year! Isn’t it nice?”

Allura agreed. They joined Coran, who was waving at them from the table, where he had saved some seats for them near Lanis and her family. Imona and her moms were facing them.

“Oh no, what happened to your dress?” inquired Coran when she sat next to him.

“I used it to gather the juniberries.” admitted Allura.

“That’s a great sacrifice in honor of the summer festival!” assured the royal advisor. “I’m proud of you!”

“But I didn’t do anything. I forgot my basket, stained my dress and lost the contest...” muttered Allura, ashamed.

“Come on now, you did your best!” Coran winked. “And we’re all here to celebrate summer! So we should just enjoy this moment together, don’t you think?”

Allura looked at her friends’ happy faces, at Coran and her parents, and nodded.

“Yes. I’m glad to be here with you.”