Good morning starshine. The Earth says hello!

The tavern was as lively as ever. With rowdy customers roaring and sultry barmaids flirting with all the customers. Harry sat in his usual spot in front of the fireplace. He drank his beer as he thought of ways where he could make Rose his. It was only right that they be together, for he was the most handsome man in the entire kingdom and she was the most beautiful girl. 

“Harry! Harry!” Louis called for his friend.

“What is it, Louis?” Harry snarled, not wanting the company at the moment. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Doing what exactly?”

“Thinking of Rose, you bloody fool!” Harry yelled, making all the patrons stop to look at him for a moment before they proceeded with their business. “She will be mine, and I won’t stop until she is”

“But, Harry, why think about Rose, when you can just see her?” Louis tempted. “The whole town is talking! There’s a new girl in town today and people are saying her beauty is quite unmatched”

“That’s my Rose!” Harry got out of his seat and made his way for the door. “I must go see her and try another attempt at wooing her!”

“Yes, of course, but there is something you should know--”

Harry ignored his friend as he made his way to the door. “Now isn’t the time to waste mine, Louis. I’m off to see my woman!” And with that, Harry was out the door.

Boy, he’s not going to be happy when he sees she’s with that Ichabod fellow Louis thought. Oh well.

Ichabod started by showing Rose all the lovely sights around the town. She was enamored by every single one. And so many people stopped to say a friendly hello to her. Currently, they were at the town’s fountain. Ichabod was going to show her how to make a wish. “Here” Ichabod handed her a gold coin.

“What’s this for?” Rose asked, looking at the coin.

“It’s to make a wish” Ichabod explained. Oh, wishes! Rose loved making wishes. “You make your wish, then throw the coin into the fountain”

“Okay” Rose closed her eyes and thought of a wish. Once she silently made her wish, she threw her coin into the fountain. It splashed when it hit the water and sunk to the bottom of the fountain.

“What did you wish for?” Ichabod whispered in her ear.

Rose smiled. “I can’t tell you, otherwise it won’t come true!” She sat down on the edge of the fountain and put her hand in the water. “Have any wishes you made here ever come true?”

Ichabod stared at Rose with love in his eyes. “One”

“It’s your turn to make a wish now” Rose tempted. What more could Ichabod wish for? He had Rose right here with him. Well, there was one thing. Ichabod pulled another gold coin out of his pocket. He closed his eyes and spoke the wish in his head. Once he had made his wish, he tossed the coin into the fountain. “What did you wish for?” It was Rose’s turn to ask.

“You know I can’t tell you” Ichabod repeated Rose’s words to her. “Because if I tell you...”

“It won’t come true” Rose finished. She looked past Ichabod and noticed the shop decorated with flowers. “Is that a flower shop?”

Ichabod turned to see what Rose was pointing at. “It is! Would you like to visit it?”

“If it’s not too much trouble” Ichabod took Rose’s hand and gently pulled her in the direction of the flower shop. They entered the shop and when the bell rang, it made Rose giggle. She immediately became intoxicated by all the sweet smells of the various flowers. There were roses and lilies, daffodils and daisies. Rose had never seen so many flowers in one place.

“Ichabod!” A woman called out to him. It was Petunia, the owner of the shop.

Ichabod smiled at the woman. “Petunia!”

Petunia walked over to the couple. Her eyes were set on Rose. She smiled at the girl. “Aren’t you as pretty as a rose?”

“Funny you should say that because my name happens to be Rose” The girl said.

Petunia kept staring at the girl. She gently cupped the girl’s face and looked into her eyes. Petunia sensed a hint of familiarity in them. Rose was confused as to why this woman she just met was staring at her in such a way. “Oliver, would you come out here please?”

The man came out of the backroom. This was Petunia’s husband, Oliver. “Yes, my dear? What is it?” He saw the way Petunia was holding onto the girl’s face. “Petunia, you’re scaring the poor girl”

“Oliver, just look at her” Petunia said. Oliver sighed but stepped closer to Rose. It didn’t take long for him to see what Petunia saw. “Oh my..”

Rose’s eyes widened. “What is it?”

“Have we ever met you before...?” Oliver waited for his wife to say the girl’s name.

“Rose”

Oliver nodded and repeated the name. “Rose. Have we met you before Rose?”

“No” Rose shook her head. “This is my first time being in town. Why?”

“It’s just...” Petunia spoke this time. “You seem familiar. Like we’ve met you somewhere before”

“It’s the eyes” Oliver added.

“If I had met you both before, I would’ve remembered” Rose said in an apologetic tone. “I’m sorry, but you both must have me mistaken with someone else”

Petunia sighed and finally let go of Rose’s face. “You’re probably right. I’m sorry we put you through this, my dear”

Rose smiled. “It’s quite alright”

“How can we help you?”

Ichabod spoke this time. “Rose wanted to come in and see what you had for flowers”

Petunia grew a wide smiled. “Well we have plenty of selection! What sort of flowers do you like?”

“Well, roses of course” Rose answered.

Oliver chuckled. “Well we have plenty of those, in all sorts of colours!” He brought Rose and Ichabod over to the wall of roses they had. “Did you know that each colour of roses have their own specific meaning? For instance, yellow roses--”

Rose finished for Oliver. “Symbolize cheerfulness and friendship!”

Oliver pointed to another colour of rose. “And purple?”

“Purple is a symbol of royalty”

Oliver chuckled. “You sure know all about roses, don’t you Rose?”

Rose smiled. “Of course! They are my namesake after all!”

“Which one do you want?”

Rose turned to Ichabod. “Why don’t you pick for me?” Ichabod already had his eyes set on the red roses from the minute he walked into the shop. He picked the first red rose he saw off of the wall and presented it to Rose, who blushed a deep crimson colour. “Red” She said as she took the rose from Ichabod. “Red means...”

Ichabod smiled. “I know what red means. And that’s why I chose it for you”

Rose brought the rose up to her nose. The soft petals tickled her nostrils. She breathed in the intoxicating sweet scent of the flower. She looked up at Ichabod with adoration in her eyes. “Thank you”

Ichabod brushed his fingers against her soft cheek. He then turned to Petunia and Oliver. “How much for the rose?”

Petunia shook her head. “Oh, don’t you worry about it. It’s on us!”

Ichabod nodded. “You’re both too kind” With that, Ichabod and Rose both bid their goodbyes to Petunia and Oliver, and they left the shop. “Are you enjoying the day so far?”

“This is the best day I’ve ever had in all my life, Ichabod!” Rose gushed. She touched his arm and then kissed his cheek. “I have you to thank for it”

Ichabod blushed. His hand went to Rose’s cheek. He caressed it and brushed the skin under her eye with his thumb. His eyes flickered down to her lips. Rose felt her heart pounding against her chest. Was this is it? Her eyes closed when Ichabod started leaning in and she waited for the feel of his lips against hers, but they were so rudely interrupted.

“What is this!?” Harry’s loud voice bellowed. Rose’s eyes opened and she looked in fear at the man who had been harassing her for months now. Ichabod just glared at the man. “What do you think you’re doing with my girl!?”

“She is not yours!” Ichabod said. 

Harry gave Ichabod a glare so hard that if looks could kill, he would’ve dropped dead to the ground. “She’s been mine since the moment I first saw her!”

That’s when Rose got the courage to speak up. “I would never be with someone like you!” Harry started laughing, as if he thought she was joking. “What’s so funny?”

“Of course you want to be with me!” Harry gloated. “Every maiden in the kingdom wants to be with me!”

“Not me” Rose growled defensively. “I want you to get this through your thick skull. Nothing in this world will make me be with you. We could be the last two remaining people in the kingdom and I wouldn’t be with you. So just leave me alone!”

Harry’s smile faltered, and was quickly replaced with a look of anger. “I will have you, Rose. One way or another!” Then Harry looked to Ichabod. “And you! I better not see you anywhere near her again, otherwise I will carve your heart out and feed it to the wolves!”

“I would like to see you try” Ichabod said without any fear present in his voice. It intimidated Harry a little bit, at how Ichabod wasn’t terrified of him like every other man in this village was. Harry couldn’t stammer out another word as he marched away, like a little child would after their toy got confiscated by their mommy.

Rose sighed in annoyance. “I wish he would just leave well enough alone”

Ichabod took her hands in his. “Don’t let him get to you, my love”

Rose smiles up at Ichabod, her anger towards Harry quickly fading away and replaced by her love for Ichabod.

The moon was out and there were sparkling stars everywhere, decorating the night sky. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. There was still one thing Ichabod wanted to do with Rose. He wanted to take her on a carriage ride. He had it set up, specially just for them. Ichabod climbed into the carriage first. Then, he extended his hand to Rose to help her in. Once the two of them were in the carriage, they both sat down, and it started to move.

It was a mostly silent ride between them. They enjoyed the pretty sights of the town, and most importantly, each other’s company. The carriage took them on a trip, just outside of the town. Ichabod gazed at Rose, who’s head was looking up, admiring the night sky. He took in a deep breath. It was now or never.

Ichabod reached into his pocket and just kept his hand there, his hand clasped around the velvet box. “Rose, I need to ask you something”

She turned her head to Ichabod and gazed at him. “What is it?” 

Ichabod wanted to ask her to marry him, but the words just couldn’t come out for some reason. Instead, an entirely different question came out. “I was wondering if you’d like to accompany me to the Prince’s ball?”

Rose’s eyes sparkled with interest. “A ball?”

“It’s to celebrate the Prince’s...engagement” Ichabod had to keep himself from retching at the thought. “I find balls to be rather boring, but having you there with me would make the night better”

Rose smiled. “I would love to go with you, Ichabod!”

Ichabod smiled--and then he noticed just how beautiful she is underneath the moonlight. His heart started beating against his chest. “Rose...” He spoke her name ever so softly.

“Yes, Ichabod?”

Ichabod didn’t say anything else. He just began leaning in. Rose’s eyes closed and she waited to feel his soft lips on hers. But what she got wasn’t a kiss. But rather an unkindness attack. The ravens came out of nowhere but they swarmed Rose. They knocked her out of the carriage and kept swarming her until she started to cry. Then, the ravens just left. Ichabod hopped out of the carriage to check on Rose. “My love, are you alright?” He asked. Rose shook her head. He noticed that one of the ravens had left a bleeding cut on her cheek. “That was odd. Ravens don’t usually attack just like that”

That was too close. Avonmora had been observing Rose’s date through a crystal ball the entire evening. They were about to kiss. She just couldn’t have that, so Avonmora sent her unkindness of ravens to intrude on their date before their lips could meet. She couldn’t have the girl falling in love with a boy and leaving her behind. Who else would she use a slave? Well, there’s the boy but he can only do so much. 

There was also another reason she couldn’t have Rose kissing the boy, but that reason will be revealed to you at another time. Avonmora needed a plan. Something to break Rose and Ichabod apart. She waved her hand and the image on the crystal ball changed. It was of that hunter, Harry. He was sitting in at his spot in the tavern, in front of the fire. He stared at the dancing flames as he stroked the petals of the rose he had in hand. Avonmora knew Harry was hopelessly obsessed with Rose, but she could use that to her advantage.