#starvoid

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It was only a few days after the prince's departure that a visitor passed by his planet. The rose did not see it at first, his head still drooped low — in case his tears remained visible. Despite the sight, the visitor approached him eagerly.

‘Hello!’ she greeted, not too loudly, not too quietly.

The rose perked up at the noise, and had to search carefully for a moment to find the tiny bug at the foot of his stem.

‘Hi,’ he greeted back, his voice a little soft from crying, ‘I don't think I've seen you before.’

‘No, of course you haven't,’ the insect grew a little embarrassed, ‘I'm just a small, unsightly bug. Everyone who've laid eyes on me chases me off without a word. But you…’

She gasped and sighed dramatically as she looked the rose over from head to toe again, ‘You're such a beauty to behold! I bet no one would ever sneer at you!’

‘Well…’ the rose began to reply, but was quickly cut off by the insect as she continued on.

‘Please, would you be my friend? If I had a friend like you, I'm sure no one would ever scorn me again!’ she cried and begged, ‘I promise I'll take care of you like all the other bugs do!’

The rose instinctively flinched as the insect set foot on his stem. He could not tell what the insect was, or what would be her intent.

‘You can't take care of me. You're not big enough to hold the watering can,’ he said naively, to which the insect giggled.

‘Oh, of course not. Bugs don't water flowers,’ she leaned in close, lowering her voice as if telling a secret, ‘They bite a bit off of a flower and spread it far away, to let the other flowers know how pretty and healthy they are.’

The rose stared at his visitor dumbly. She evaded his thorns with ease, and so he did not know what to do. Her appendages felt disgusting against his stem, but he could not find the strength to deny her. He had not had strength since the prince left.

He tilted his head suspiciously, ‘And… you've done this before?’

The insect shook her head, ‘Oh, no. You're the first flower I've encountered! It'd make my day — no, my entire life — if my first flower was as gorgeous as you are.’

Although the rose loathed to admit it, the flattery was weakening his defences. No one had talked to him this way for so long…

‘The last person who took care of me ran away,’ he admitted in a murmur.

‘What a shame,’ came the reply, ‘Someone who loves you wouldn't do such a thing.’

He straightened his back in alertness at that. ‘No, no, it wasn't… It's because I love him that I…’ he could not finish the thought, but he did not have to.

‘I wouldn't abandon you like that, no matter what,’ the insect perching on his stem insisted, ‘I will always come back for you.’

The rose became quiet.