Chapter I

            …A boyish figure dashed quickly through the woods, his face laughingly set as he glanced behind him. His free spirited stride was mesmerizing as he passed giant flowers, their tops like teacups ready to catch the falling rain. He slowed his pace and reached for the stem of a giant white flower. He turned. His face, glowing with laughter and light, met me. The silvery glow of his eyes sparkled with something akin to deep love and adoration. His locks of chocolate brown hair wisped about his eyes. The young mans tunic wasn’t unkempt, but out of sorts from his run. He opened his mouth to speak…

            “Azree, child! Get up!” a voice called, startling a young woman upright on her four poster, wooden bed. She ran a hand through her cropped, raven black hair and answered. “Yes mother, I’m coming!”

            Azree swung her legs around and stood up, the cold wood of the floor chilling her warm feet. She went to the window seat and stared for a moment into the lush, green woods that encircled their small estate. The sun was just peaking it’s golden head above the tops of the trees, ready to begin its day. It shone brightly through the branches, peircing the shadows that had lived there quietly all night.

            The small window seat was inviting on this chilly spring morning. Azree sat down and pondered her dream, letting the rising sun warm her face. Who was the young boy she’d seen? And what did he mean to her? This reoccuring dream was incresing in frequency and the first time she’d dreamt about the beautiful young man, it half scared her out of her mind. His features were delicate and his smile warm. She’d never experienced a face such as his. It was almost unnaturally beautiful.

            “Azree!!” The call from her mother came yet again. “Yes ma’m.” she managed to say, loud enough so that her mother could hear. Azree removed her small frame from the window seat and traveled to the trunk at the foot of the bed. She quickly pulled out an off-white under shirt and leggings, then a plain green dress to go over it. Shedding her nightgown, she dressed herself quickly. Making her way to the small bedside table in her room, Azree brushed any tangles out of her hair and pulled on her brown boots, lacing them tight.

            Clunking footsteps made their way down the small staircase and Azree’s form came into view. “I’ve called you twice now darling. Where’ve you been? Sun’s up and we have things to do!” her mother, Bethany explained.

“Just woke up late mama.” Azree reassured her, giving her mother and father a kiss. She sat down at the table next to her brother Dowan. He gave her a wink and a smile and she smiled in return. They ate breakfast, speaking of inconsequential things. Azree’s mind drifted back to her dream, and she vaguely kept track of their conversation. She kept replaying the scene in her mind. It seemed as though she had been running with the young man alongside him perhaps. And those strange flowers! What could they possibly have been?

            “Are you alright Azree?” her father asked, breaking her silent reverie over the fey-like boy.

            “Perfectly fine papa.” She replied, softly “I think I’ll study a bit in your library this morning if it’s alright with you.”

            “Of course dear, but don’t forget, your Aunt Zeeda is coming over today.” He warned.

            Azree was only barely aware of him saying, “You know what happens when she comes over!” and her mother giving him a small smack on his arm.

            She ventured to their library quickly and looked up books on strange botany. Ever book she found she piled into a stack in her arms and they were soon full. Sitting in the large chair near the window, Azree set the stack of books down and picked up the first title Botany of the Galavan Woods. She flipped through the pages, wondering at the fantastically painted pictures and strange species. There was a cup mushroom that looked a lot like the flowers she had seen, but they were much too tiny. The many species of tulips nearly lulled her to sleep and the chapters on roses were too many to count, but she wouldn’t stop. No, she couldn’t stop until she’d found what she was looking for.

            Hours could’ve passed and yet Azree was stuck in her own little world, determined to find the large flowers, tall as a man, that she had seen. She just picked up a book entitled Rarely Found Flora. Perhaps the flower she’d seen was of a rare species. There were pages on toxic mushrooms that had been used by people to create helpful medicines or deadly poisons, one chapter told you how to find Toadstooled Crater Vine, the most rare creeping vine in the world. In the fifth chapter, she turned the page and there in front of her eyes, was the painting of large, white flowers. There was a tree in the background, showing its size and the contrast between the two. She gasped softly and her heart sped up at her victory. She ran her finger along the painting and began to read the words on the next page aloud.

            “Elsunglious phyligrum, commonly known as the Wydren flower, is the largest flower in the world. It can grow to about seven feet in the right conditions. It’s large bowl-like flower only opens at night. It is often said that the Wydren flower exposes itself to the moon when love is thick in the air, but this is just a myth. The Wydren flower is found in few places in the world. The most common is the Enda Woods in Vorengur.”

            Azree stuck a cloth bookmark on the page and closed the book reverently. Of course the most common place to find the flower was so close it almost hurt. The Enda Woods surrounded her home. The book didn’t say exactly where she could find the Wydren flower, but she would nonetheless. She rose, setting the book on the chair and collecting the other botany books. She put them in their respective places and went to retrieve the book from the chair by the window.

            The young girl sat down and opened the book once more, wondering at the detail of the painting and mulling over her strange dream, its connection to the Wydren flower and of course, the young man, whose face lingered before her like a ghost.

            “Azree, where have you been?” Behind her, her brother, Dowan’s voice echoed through the small library.

          Her curiosity had to wait until later, right now, she had to think of what to say to Dowan about her long absence in the library.

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