Chapter 2 - Stormbend

“Flowers for sale! Flowers for sale! You there, young man, would you care to buy some flowers?” Mel groans and stops in their tracks as Edward, yet again, proceeds to hold the whole party up by buying something he doesn’t need. They had almost just reached the port, too. Mel can see the ocean glittering a few more blocks in the distance.

And then their view is blocked by Te’ijal bounding towards it, yanking a reluctant-but-definitely-still-running Galahad behind her. Mel stumbles back as the pair rushes past them. Huh, Mel thinks, maybe she has the right idea, and they leave Edward to his devices and jog out towards the shore.

When they approach, they slow down, walking the final steps to the water. The ocean is beautiful. Mel tries to remember if they’d ever seen a beach before, but wracking their mind brings back nothing. Harburg was surrounded by dense woods, and Thais was straight in the center of the mainland. Walking through the Thial Mountains, they’d seen water far down below, but it was framed by sharp gray cliffs, and not particularly inviting looking.

It looks inviting now. Te’ijal is unlacing her boots and rolling up the legs of her pants in preparation of striding in; Galahad stands a few yards away, apparently content remaining in his armor. Stella’s found a spot to sit and is tracing her fingers in the sand, making patterns on the shore. Edward is tapping on Mel’s shoulder.

They startle and turn around, only to be met with a bouquet of flowers pushed out towards their chest. The flowers are red and yellow and orange, firey and bold, and Edward is grinning like he’s pleased with himself.

“I got these for you.”

“…I can see that.”

“I thought you’d like the colors! See, we’ve got orange, like your bow, and red and yellow, which, um, go nicely with orange.” He shakes the bouquet in front of Mel.

They take it awkwardly. “Edward… you shouldn’t have.”

“I know I really screwed up the last gift, so I wanted to make up for it.”

Okay, that’s a little sweet. They smile. “Flowers. So original.”

“I, uh-”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Edward gives an exaggerated bow, and talks in that obnoxious voice he uses when Mel makes fun of him, to be in on the joke. "You're very welcome, my…” he frowns, adjusting his script, and settles on, “my dear."

"Ugh." Mel laughs and loops their arm in his. "You're the worst best friend ever, you know that?"

"Was starting to get the idea, sure."

"Thanks for holding off on the ‘my lady’ nonsense."

"But of course."

They snicker. "All said, flowers make me sneeze, so I'm going to go give these to Stella."

"Sur- wait, what?"

But they've already unlatched their arm, and skip down the sand to find her. She's moved a little further out, leaving a trail of butterflies and hearts on the sand behind her. Mel is careful not to tread on them and erase her hard work. They plop themselves down beside her, knocking their shoulder against her side. "Hey."

It catches her attention, and she looks over. "Hey! Oh-"

Mel hands over the flowers. "I got you these."

Stella's quiet for a second, eyes wide, glancing between Mel's face and the bouquet as she takes it gently. A soft grin brightens her face. "Really?"

"Well, obviously. But also, not quite. Edward gave them to me, and I figured you'd appreciate them a lot more."

"You don't have to do that! You can keep them - we can share-"

"I want you to have them.” They make me itch wasn’t really the smoothest rationale, so Mel offers, “Really! Your face lit up when you saw them."

"That's very sweet of you, Mel. Thank you."

"Any time." Mel grins.

Stella ducks her head just slightly downward and plants a peck on their cheek.

They're sure they've turned red.

Then Stella stands up slowly, dusting the sand from her dress. With the arm not holding the bouquet, she reaches out to Mel.

"Where are you going? I just got here!"

"We're supposed to be in Stormbend for a few nights, right? I can keep these at the inn. I want to buy a vase!"

"That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous." Mel says, but they take her hand and let her lift them up anyways.

"Forgive me for wanting to appreciate my gift. Especially after you did such a poor job of it."

"Hey now!"

Now solidly up, Mel goes to let go of Stella's hand, but she's locking their fingers before they get the chance. They look up at her as if to ask about it, but she's just continuing the conversation without a care in the world, a warm smile on her face. "I'm teasing you. It's very kind."

Mel squeezes her hand, lies through their teeth about kind being their middle name, and lets Stella lead them back to town.

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