The Queen's Garden Mage

“Gardener Rhyme?” I glanced up from dusting off my trousers to find Kiyen and Resli standing in the shadows of the double doors leading into the ballroom. I straightened my sleeves waiting for one of them to explain the solemnness of their expressions. They shared a look before Resli stepped forward. “Gardener Rhyme, her Majesty would like to speak with you in private before the feast begins.”

“Of course,” I followed them through the palace until we reached a door I had never considered opening, after all one did not enter the Queen’s study without her permission. Resli knocked, three than two than three again. I noted it but did not comment.

“Come in,” Kiyen twisted the doorknob and pushed waving me forward, I entered without preamble and Kiyen closed the door behind me.

“Gardener Denarii,” The Queen stood facing the window on the left side of the room, the cool night air gently caressed her dark locks of hair, causing her gown to billow around her ankles as if she were dancing even though she stood motionless. It was a transfixing sight.

“Majesty,” I countered from where I stood just inside the door.

The Queen chuckled softly before turning to face me with eyes even more shockingly blue than her daughter’s. “Anyone else called to a meeting with the Queen so late, just after insulting her own son, the Prince, would be afraid and yet you stand here Gardener Denarii and you challenge me. You challenge me with a word. My own title no less.”

“I gave your son the respect he deserves, the same respect all men like him deserve.” Her Majesty stared at me then for a long moment, face a solemn mask, she stared into my eyes looking for something I could not name. Perhaps she found it perhaps not, she closed her eyes sighing softly.

“You’re suggesting that my son, a man that could have, if the Gods willed it, one day have sat the throne, deserves less than no respect. You poured out an entire glass of the most expensive wine in all of Angileri.” The Queen’s voice while filled with exasperation, and I think not directed at me but her son, held no true malice.

“Let us thank the Gods then that he will never sit the throne,” the Queen gazed at me shocked that I had the audacity to speak so plainly and then she laughed startling me slightly at the completely unexpected sound. Much like her daughter’s voice had when I first heard it, the Queen’s laugh was a pleasant shock to the system. I smiled softly while she covered her mouth eyes crinkling with mirth as she laughed heartily before turning away to calm herself.

“I should not find it so amusing,” Her Majesty said by way of apology, “But your words conjured up the look of frustration on his face that he could do nothing because in essence you had done exactly what he’d asked, from showing him your magic to giving him the respect he’d requested.” The Queen turned back to me, “You put my son in his place and I do not plan on punishing you for doing it in the most respectful and yet blatantly disrespectful way possible. Truly if I had a glass I’d raise it in your honor.” She tipped her head in respect by way of compensating for the lost opportunity. I tipped mine in turn acknowledging her respect.

“If I am not to be punished, then why am I here?” I questioned finally getting to the point of this impromptu meeting.

“I wanted to meet the woman who inspired such awe in my people in just a matter of moments no less.” She gazed at me with smiling eyes though her face remained serious.

“What happened in the ballroom was a team effort…”

“Rosen’s speech was very heart warming and perfectly timed but I know the feel of her magic. I know the feel of Eden’s, of Libeth’s and Emery’s…” She stepped towards her desk removing the crown that I knew sat heavily upon her brow despite the lightness of the metal it was created from. “Once upon a time I could walk into one of the palace gardens and name whom had worked there that day simply by the feel of their magic. I still can, Rosen’s is strongest, Eden’s despite his large stature is gentle, Libeth’s is vibrant like she is and Emery’s is delicate as if it will break at the most opportune moment and reveal something startling but wonderful.”

“You have failed to indicate the feel of my magic your highness,” she smiled wryly setting her crown in the center of her desk. It was a beautiful work of art meant for a beautiful woman.

“Yours has changed, at one point yours was achingly beautiful a small strike to the heart. Over time it has faded until now I can hardly feel it all if I’m not concentrating and so I cannot feel your gift but none the less I can identify whom has worked my garden by the lack of that feeling.” Her gaze was penetrating, mine did not falter despite how it felt, as if she were considering my soul and measuring my worth.

“I know when you work the Queen’s Garden Denarii,” I started at hearing my name without the title from one so high as she, even if it was only my family name it was a level of familiarity I wasn’t expecting. The Queen noticed. “I know that you somehow slip away before nary a royal knows of your presence. I know how you hide from Rosen, and how she often asks for your assistance in the large things in the most creative of ways because of this fact. I know that you do not wish to take her position… I know all these things but I don’t know you. I know nothing about you save what I’ve heard and that is hardly anything at all save the fact that you love every one of the gardens, you tend to them as if they are your life. Most especially the Queen’s Garden. When you can be found, it is in one of the garden’s lost in your work. I have heard that you are loyal, you speak with the servants as if they are equals, you love your brother and you are honest.” She chuckled leaning back against her desk covering the beauty of her crown while I stood listening to her words. “Brutally honest in some cases but respectful, calm, clear headed even in your anger and fierce in your protection of those you care about…I know the things that matter in this moment.”

“You are an intelligent woman,” I acknowledged as she pulled forth a bucket of ice that held a bottle of Fae wine.

“Yes, a bundle of beauty and intellect,” Her Majesty grinned, gazing off into a memory I wasn’t a part of. I let her have her moment. “Beauty helps many a deception with men, they do not often associate beauty with intelligence and many have fallen beneath the blades of my men because of it.”

“I have heard the stories,” I continued.

“There are many, not all of them true.” She countered.

“But the brunt of them are,” The Queen bowed her head in recognition of the truth in my words.

“My daughter, Princess Adri wishes to succeed me, I could not be more proud of her decision,” Her words were sincere but her features were grave. “She can be so kind and yet so strong at the same time and though I thought it would be Mariel I think Adri will be better for Angileri.” She breathed a heartfelt sigh, “I simply wished that others looked beyond her image and saw that as well…” The Queen shook her head before turning back to me. “My request is quite simple Denarii, befriend my daughter be the honesty that she does not believe coming from her family.”

“You called me here, before the feast to tell me all these things that you know, proving that you were not as in the dark as I once thought, laughing at the injustice to your son and calling me by my family name with a familiarity I had not expected simply to ask me to befriend your daughter?” I asked for clarification.

The Queen poured herself a glass of Fae wine as she listened to me speak before bowing her head. “Yes, is that too straight forward?”

I stared eyes narrowed as she raised the glass to her lips, I started heart racing, “Don’t!” I exclaimed causing her to flinch and spill the wine all over her gown, as green as my own trousers, the crimson wine stained the fabric but that was of no matter. I took the glass of wine from her loosened grip before chucking the entirety of it glass and wine out the opened window.

The Queen stared at me waiting for an explanation, I straightened my sleeves trying to calm my racing heart at the near fatal incident. “There was poison in your wine.” I stated after a moment of silence.

Her Highness nodded, “Rosen said you could detect poison, I was hesitant to believe her after all it was my life on the line if she were wrong.” I gazed at the Queen truly shocked for the first time since I’d entered the room.

“You’d have poisoned yourself,” I murmured in astonishment.

“I had hoped it wouldn’t come to that.” She countered wryly. “Rosen informed me that you could detect any poison made from a plant, the deadliest being dragon’s tongue. This was not that no, this was something a strong abled bodied woman could easily overcome given enough rest and time it induces a feverish like state and of course if someone were to die under feverish conditions well it was the sickness itself, which could have come from anything or anyone. Death’s door, it’s very hard to track and once you fall beneath its spell there’s no escaping it.”

“How did you acquire it?” I asked after a moment of uninterrupted silence.

“The Shadow Garden,” I blanched upon hearing the name of the garden no one knew existed except Rosen, myself and the Queen her own self. It was a garden made up of the deadliest plants in existence, a garden only the Head Gardener could enter it took skill to cultivate plants that could destroy entire nations without succumbing to their fatal embrace. Any lesser plant mage would quickly die trying.

“You could have died today, to what end? What if Rosen had been wrong? What if she had wanted you dead? What if I weren’t fast enough?” I shook my head unable to comprehend the reason for such a life-threatening maneuver.

“I could have died yes, but I am healthy and strong I knew what I was getting myself into if you failed. Rosen knows her Gardeners, she knows you and so I trusted her. She has known me from a young age, if she wanted me dead so that my daughter may sit the throne without opposition well…I know it would take sun cycles for her to forgive herself if she ever did. As for being fast enough…we’ll never know because you were. I did this for my daughter Denarii, I want you to be her friend, and I want her friend to be able to protect her from what she cannot see.” The Queen and I gazed at each other unwaveringly neither of us willing to look away.

“I do not like politics your Majesty and what you’re asking of me is to submerge myself in it until I feel as if I am drowning. Not every noble will be as understanding as you have been in my disrespect of their children or themselves.” I countered already knowing my answer.

“Your brother tells me you are horrible at social niceties until you aren’t…” The Queen gave me a look. “The answer is yes or no Denarii? This conversation never leaves this room no matter the outcome.”

“The thing about secrets your Majesty is that somewhere down the line they always come to light.” The Queen turned her face away, lips curling wryly.

“It was a delight your Majesty,” I bowed until I could no longer see her eyes but still not as low as I bowed to her daughter. “I hope you enjoy the feast as much as I will.”

“I don’t regret it…” I had turned to leave hand resting lightly on the knob when she’d spoken. I paused gazing over my shoulder waiting for her to finish her sentence. “I don’t regret taking you away from the jungle, from your family. I did at the time, even knowing that you’d live a hard life and perhaps would never be educated, never know the full potential of your gift. I regretted my actions because I could see that she loved you, your mother loved you and I took you away from her and for that I’m sorry. I truly am but I don’t regret it anymore because I know that she’d be proud Rhyme, she’d be proud of the woman and man you and your brother have become.” I gazed back into the Queen’s eyes heart aching for the mother I’d lost and I forgave her.

“Thank you,” I murmured softly unable to see her bow her head in respect as I left the room slightly overcome with emotions I hadn’t felt for quite some time.

“You’re an honorable woman,” I finished closing the Queen’s study looking up to find Princess Mariel standing not even two feet away.

“Highness?” I questioned brow raised slightly waiting for her to elaborate.

“For forgiving my mother, for not doing what she asked because my sister might one day find out in the distant future. It would devastate Adri by the way, to know that my mother is the reason for one of her closest friends.” I stared at the Princess much as I had stared at her mother, as if I had seen her for the first time.

“If your brother show’s a more enlightened side…”

Princess Mariel laughed softly, “I don’t believe he has one Gardener Denarii.” I smiled, silently agreeing with that statement.

“Can I help you Highness?” I asked stomach aching with hunger.

“I thought perhaps you’d like to avoid the feast and enjoy a dinner alone with my sister and I. We’d love to hear more about your work, no politics what so ever.”

“I’d love that Highness,” She offered her arm and I hooked mine with hers allowing her to guide me through the palace to her private quarters.

I stepped into her private rooms briefly taking in the splendor before following her to a small dining table. I pulled out a chair offering her the seat. “Thank you.”

A knock sounded at the door before the Heir entered looking a little ruffled.

“Goodness I’m glad to escape after such an announcement, Mari you should have heard the uproar. I do not believe anyone thought I’d say yes.” Princess Adri shook her head as she closed the door behind her turning around and stopping short upon seeing someone standing beside her sister.

“Your Highness,” I said by way of greeting, “I’m glad you said yes.”

Princess Mariel smiled into her drink as her sister stood blushing prettily before us. “Sister this is Gardener Denarii; we’ve decided to cut the politics.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you…” She hesitated for a moment before relaxing slightly speaking my name with confidence. “Gardener Denarii.”

“The pleasure is mine Highness,” I pulled out another chair offering it to the Heir much as I had her sister. She took it smiling in thanks before I uncovered the dishes littering the table taking the final chair seated at the table. We served ourselves, I took more greens and fruit than anything else, while each Princess looked on curiously without trying to make it appear they were doing so.

“Are my eating habits overly interesting?” I asked after taking a bite of my salad.

Princess Adri looked down taking a bite from her plate while her sister smiled at me unabashed. “We are simply curious, those who have the gift to speak with animals cannot bring themselves to eat them and so we wondered if your gift made you feel the same. Except your plate is more green than anything else.”

“The fruits, the greens, all these vegetables on my plate do not call to me as the gardens do. They are flavorful though and so I eat them, I thank them for their nourishment. They have served their purpose and so they are happy, plants are simple that way.” I offered easily.

“It’s a relief to know my salad is not silently screaming murder with every bite,” Princess Adri said seriously no longer hesitating to eat her greens.

I laughed softly at the relief on her face, “Princess if the plants screamed every time you ate them I’d have gone mad long ago.” Princess Adri and her sister laughed with me no doubt picturing the silliness my words had conjured up.

“No thankfully plants do not scream when you eat them. They sing lovely notes that linger on your tongue, makes it ten times more enjoyable.” I ate a Fae grape while they watched once more fascinated.

“I do not know if you are attempting to fool us or not?” Princess Adri said after a moment while we all sat enjoying our food.

“No, it is true, it is why plant mages are known to be vegetarians it strengthens our gift. Here,” I offered Princess Adri a bite of my greens, she stared at my fork blushing softly while Princess Mariel looked on without murmuring a word.

“I fail to see how your salad will taste any different than mine Gardener,” Her Highness said stiffly shifting in her chair.

“Magic,” I countered not unkindly hand unwavering as I waited for her to take a bite. The Heir stared at me for a moment. Before leaning forward and wrapping her mouth around my fork sitting back and chewing slowly. Eyes widening, no doubt at the sudden burst of flavor on her tongue.

I smiled softly before continuing to eat my food, “How is that possible?” She asked once she’d composed herself.

“Magic your Highness,” I offered with a shrug unable to explain it further. Each sister nodded in turn before returning to their food. The rest of the evening passed in companionable silence broken by light conversation that had more to do with each other and nothing to do with politics. It was lovely, if a bit surreal to be dining with two of the most powerful people in all of Angileri. My brother would never believe me, I smiled at the thought.

“How strong are you?” Princess Adri asked during a lull in the conversation, from the look on her face it seemed that was a thought that just so happened to slip out of her mouth.

Though Princess Mariel didn’t ask the question I could quite clearly see that she was interested in the answer. I thought back to the moment when the Queen raised that glass to her lips, thought about the near indistinguishable note of triumph that wavered in the air from a plant that nearly achieved its purpose, and how if it had no matter what the Queen said she’d not have lived to see tomorrow. I gazed into the eyes of her daughters and I smiled a smile that likely did not reach my eyes. “Strong enough to be one of the Queen’s Gardeners,” both Princesses laughed softly at my cheek but didn’t question me further knowing it was rude to have asked in the first place.

“I should take my leave,” I said after a few moments more standing slowly setting my napkin on my empty plate. “I have work to finish yet in the Queen’s Garden.”

“I will see you out.”

“Have fun.”

Both royals spoke simultaneously with Princess Adri standing to walk me to the door, while Princess Mariel remained seated enjoying the last of her meal.

“I had a nice evening,” I gazed over at the Princess as we walked through the corridors of the palace side by side.

“It was an interesting night for sure,” I countered wryly. She chuckled softly unwilling to disagree.

“What work remains in my mother’s Garden?” Her Highness asked after a moment spent walking in silence.

“I am trying to cultivate Were Lilies so that they bloom every full moon without the existence of magic in the same exact location. People do not realize that the only places they bloom are all strong in magic.” I sighed softly as we left the palace via the servant’s wing avoiding all the guards. I do not think the Princess noticed. “It’s harder than I had first thought, I can only test my theories just a few sun spans out of the moon cycle.”

“I am glad there are those here with magic enough to make them bloom Gardener. They are a rarity that should be cherished and remembered, because no two lilies are the same. As well you may never have the opportunity to see them again. I’ve only had the pleasure of seeing them once in my entire life. They bloomed early today,” The Princess gazed up at me with smiling eyes. “At first I thought it was happenstance that I was there in that moment, but now I am not so sure.”

I smiled softly, neither confirming nor denying her assumption. “I suppose you’ll never know Princess.”

“I know it was you Gardener,” she bumped me with her hip playfully causing me to laugh. “As well I know you aren’t willing to admit it.”

“Why does it matter?” I asked as we strolled along the moonlit path the voices of the flowers soothing my soul as they always did when I was near.

“I wish to thank them. You do not know how hard it was for me to stand up in front of all those people and tell them that I wish to be Queen. It is my birthright yes, I have passed the Trials and proven myself and yet still more than half of them do not respect me and why? Because I am not as small or feminine as my mother and sister.” I snorted unable to help myself and the Princess turned on me hurt and anger flashing in the violet blue twilight that made up her eyes. I blinked several times turning away to compose myself. I felt slightly dazed for some unknown reason. “You’re laughing at me.”

“I am amused yes but at your words not at you. You are not small,” I looked at her slowly from her head to her toes. “But that gives you an advantage on the battle field, as for being feminine,” I placed my hands on her waist quite trim for a woman everyone considered large, tracing them down to her hips. “You are the embodiment of every fertility Goddess in existence.” I murmured softly suddenly finding it difficult to speak.

The Princess gazed up at me for a moment letting my words seep in, “Has anyone ever told you that you are very tall for a woman?” She questioned shattering the moment with a well-placed smile and a hint of tinkling laughter.

I chuckled letting my hands fall to my sides, “Yes many times. For my brother to be tall it is normal, my tallness is considered an abnormality but where we come from everyone is as tall as we are. It is said that those in the jungle have just a wee bit of Fae blood in them.” We rounded the corner into the Queen’s Garden with the Princess shaking her head in disbelief. “I never said it was true Highness, simply what has been said.”

I knelt before the patch of glowing Were Lilies, pulling several vials from a pouch I kept tied to my belt, and snipped off a few petals from each bloom seeing which ones continued to glow in their vials and which ones instantly faded once cut from the mother plant. I marked each with a letter indicating the outcome. While across from me the Princess practically lay on the ground smelling each bloom and tracing her fingers along their petals laughing softly as the evening breeze caused the lilies to stroke her face. I finished my work quickly sitting back on my heels to watch her enjoy my garden.

She gazed up at me through the pale blooms, eyes sparkling with mirth. “Did you know long before, when the Queendom was young, when the dragons had first made peace, plant mages were revered. The Queen ensured that one lived in every major city as well as the larger towns so that crops could flourish. It was needed then, when we were fresh from war and did not know if the dragons would turn on us. Alia said, “If we are to die the summer after the next we will do it with sated bellies and souls filled with the beauty of the land.’ The Queen’s Gardeners just two at the time came to be and over the sun cycles as the Queendom grew and expanded so too did the palace, the gardens and the Queen’s Gardeners. The Queen dictates how much respect her Gardeners should be given…for the last few generations they haven’t been given the proper respect they deserve. My mother changed that…”

The Princess shifted slightly never turning her gaze from mine, simply getting more comfortable on the ground resting her chin upon her arms, “The plant mages help supply the land with food, as well they fill our souls with beauty of a land we sometimes forget to appreciate and all they ask is that we let them tend our lands as they see fit. It should not be a struggle to give them the proper respect and yet it happens, memories are short and our people forget and so each Queen need remind the people that before the soldiers, walks the Queen’s Gardeners, for they ensure we are fed long after the war is over and the land lay healing with their helping hands.”

“I plan to make sure that my plant mages are well rewarded for their troubles Gardener,” the Princess finished after a small moment of silence.

I smiled softly gazing down upon the Princess in all her glory, “Highness it is said among plant mages that once you are strong enough to tend an entire field alone for a seven day without help and yield something beautiful or edible by the eve of the seventh day that you are no longer simply a plant mage.”

“What have you become at that point?” She asked the question I knew she would and I smiled more fully.

“You become a garden mage, and so the Queen does not simply have the best plant mages in all of Angileri. No, she has the best garden mages in all of Angileri and one is entirely different than the other.” Slowly but surely the entire garden came to full bloom with the help of my magic glowing softly in the moonlight. The Princess pushed herself up and gazed around her with an awe she had no chance of hiding.

“Different indeed,” She murmured softly unable to keep her eyes from exploring all the exotic blooms that had never, bloomed all at once let alone in the same season. “Emery tried this once, I told him to never do it again because once he’d forced the flowers to bloom half of the garden died and took days to regrow.” I grimaced remembering that moment quite well, thankfully the Queen had been away and Rosen and I had been able to fix it before her return or else we’d be short a Gardener.

Slowly my magic faded and the blooms slowly went back to their previous states. “He did it wrong, when causing a field to bloom unless your purpose is to destroy said field for planting purposes you simply fill the flowers with enough magic to bloom, and then you stop, you hold it for a few moments and no longer so that when the magic fades they simply return to how they once were. It’s a trick that takes skill and concentration.”

“Which was Emery lacking?” the Princess asked after a moment of thought.

I chuckled softly thinking about Emery trying to concentrate with Princess Adri gazing at him with those twilight eyes, smiling softly and perhaps laughing at his jokes while he puffed with pride filling the flowers with too much magic without realizing the delicate balance of the entire garden lay in his hands. “Likely both, even if one reaches the level of a garden mage it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will progress further than that.”

“There is a progression?” Her Highness gazed at me with wide eyes.

“I have shared too much Princess, if I say more I’m sure we’ll be talking until the sun lightens the sky.” I deflected standing quickly offering her my hands.

She took them easily allowing me to pull her to her feet, an easier task than I’d expected and so I pulled harder then I meant causing us to stumble slightly, the Princess falling to rest against me. I caught her easily holding her until she could steady herself. “My apologies Princess I did not take you to be so light.”

“Are you calling me fat?” She questioned poking me in the chest a playful glint in her eyes.

“No but I did expect you to be just a bit heavier than a feather,” Her Highness snorted rolling her eyes before shoving me away gently. I caught her hands pulling her close again wondering why I continuously found myself lost in her eyes, or why it was that I struggled to breathe or even speak when she was just a little too close. I never had this problem when Kiyen was around. “You should eat more, it’s not healthy to be so light.” Adri laughed a genuine sound that made me smile to hear it before pulling her hands away.

“You’re silly Gardener Denarii,” She tipped her head to me. “Have a blessed evening,” She raised her finger, “Do not think I forgot about how you avoided my question.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Highness, no idea at all.” Adri snorted again before waving her fair well and turning to walk away. I watched the enthralling sway of her hips in the moonlight unable to look away. I shook my head once she was gone not entirely sure what was wrong with me.

I rubbed my tummy soothingly not sure if it would be best to ask my brother or Kiyen about the strange sensation filling my guts. It felt as if small saplings were taking root and struggling to grow all at the same time. It faded soon after and I decided that since it was gone there was no need to share it with my brother only to have him mock me for the rest of the day. No if it came back I’d find Kiyen and have her explain it to me, she at least would be more understanding. I dusted off my trousers ensuring that all my vials were tucked safely in their pouches before making my way from the Queen’s Garden hoping that the strange sensation did not return. I wasn’t sure how to explain it in my own mind, explaining it to another person would surely be ten times harder.