Totally Smitten

Elswyth hid her smile as she looked down at the flowers. While she did like the white bride flower, it was not just because she thought they were pretty that she had mentioned them.

Because even if she did not believe the superstition, she still wouldn't be really discussing the flowers with any man. No girl did.

If a girl brought up the superstition to a man, it was a hint they wanted that man to give them one of the flowers. Just one of the ways a Jarenkul girl could tell a man she was interested. Like there were many ways, in fact a girl could even actively pursue a man, especially if she had a higher status than he did.

Jarenkul law was pretty lax when it came to such things. Most of the dos and don'ts were just socially drawn. And even then there was a certain laxity. Pretty much there were only a few things completely outlawed in Jarenkul after all.

Anyway, she had brought up the flowers in a subtly flirtatious way. It would have been a much less subtle way if Heron was from Jarenkul, but due to his unfamiliarity with her culture he did not pick up on it.

Which was fine. She did not necessarily need him to. She just enjoyed trying to see if he would. It was actually kinda fun to flirt with him when he was oblivious to it. She did not actually think he was dense exactly – more just uncaring so he did not really pay attention.

Again she was okay with that. She was not searching for him to exactly return her affections – at least not yet. She still wasn't entirely sure she wanted to even try to pursue anything with him yet. But she couldn't quite keep herself from seeing just how much she could subtly flirt without him noticing.

Sooner or later he was bound to notice. But meanwhile it was fun just watching how oblivious he was to her interest in him.

She turned away from looking at the flowers, and smiled at the young prince. As she looked at his slightly curly hair she wanted to ruffle it up, and mess it from the perfect way it had been combed. It would look so good messy. But she refrained. But as soon as she got an excuse she would totally mess up his hair. Maybe not today, or in a week. But sooner or later she would muss his hair.

"Well, there is far more to this garden isn't there?" She said, reaching for his hand again.

She really liked holding his hand, and the fact he seemed to think she was just trying to keep an eye on him made her want to laugh. Nah, she was totally taking advantage of her role as his 'entourage'.

He let her take his hand and grinned at her, as he began walking again, "Yeah. There are so many things in this garden I want to see. The plants here really are more vibrant then the ones back in Amriel."

She allowed him to lead her on. She enjoyed seeing the way his eyes seemed to light up as took everything in.

He was so excited and it was cute. This man-boy might someday end up being a rather influential figure, but right now he was an adorable young man who still was not yet fully grown.

She wanted to watch him reach his potential, but she also hoped he kept some of that boyish innocence that she found herself so drawn to.

Like how he could look at flowers so happily. Or how much he adored his little sister. He was such a good big brother. Even with his physical drawbacks, it was so clear that he would do anything in his power to keep that girl safe.

She had never met Hazel, but she thought that she would like the girl. Though, having seen Heron's past she had been given a rather sunshiny view of the girl through the eyes of her adoring brother.

They continued looking around the garden for another few hours. She loved hearing him talk about what he had read about it. She could easily listen about plants and nature and how much thought had went into some of the arrangements. Especially since he was the one talking about it.

She could listen to his voice all day. It was not especially deep, nor was it high. It was a bit soft, but had an almost hidden strength to it. Like he actually had some confidence in himself, a certain self-assurance though he also had an rather remarkable understanding of his own limits. She'd met too many men who just thought they could take on anything, so she honestly found him a bit refreshing in that regard.