It is peaceful.

I sit between the rocks. My roots are buried into what little loose soil there is to be found here.

It is an unusual place for a sunflower to be.

She crunches.

I turn my gaze, looking at my wormy-friend. She is clean again. She has washed herself free of the red.

- I liked the red.

It made her look interesting, like it made the rock look interesting. It almost made the two of them look like the sun.

That was most pleasing.

But now, we are somewhere else. A new moon and a new sun have come since the day with the not-birds and now we are in a place that I find…

- Most unusual.

She crunches again, eating of the rich fruit of the fat trees, who grow in a most strange place for trees to grow.

My gaze rises up towards the rays of sunlight, streaming in through the massive hole in the rock above our heads.

We are in a grotto.

It is a most unusual place for a sunflower to be.

Still water fills the center of the room, rays of resplendent sunshine coming in to bounce off of the calm, almost disturbingly blue pool.

I do not care for caves.

But I suppose that this one is fine, the sun can find me here.

I spread out my leaves, enjoying the feeling of the sunshine, as I bask in its love.

My wormy friend, still wet from the cave-water that she has washed herself with, continues to eat, gorging herself on the fat fruit of the many heavy-laden trees around us. I do not know why they choose to grow in such a place, with such limited soil and sunshine. They are odd trees.

But I am being judgmental again, I suppose.

- A bad habit.

Eat well, friend. Perhaps if you eat enough, you will become beautiful too, like myself.

The sun kisses my face.

- [Sunflower] -

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP EXP: 08/90

It is a good life for a sunflower.

She seems hesitant to leave.

I understand.

But I do wish that we would.

My ugly-friend has found comfort in this hole, in this grotto. She finds fruit from the many generous trees, who I suppose I should be thankful for. They are sharing with her, after all and in turn, she shares with me, nourishing my soil with rotting fruit pulp.

But the sun is here anew for the second time.

She eats of their fruit and drinks of the water of the cave. It is all that she does. She eats and drinks and bathes, before sitting by the fire, until she can eat and bathe and drink again.

I do not understand why she just does not sit in the sun, together with me?

- It would be much less work.

Perhaps she is ugly in her mind as well?

A rude thought of me to have. Perhaps I am not a good friend?

The sun touches my face, just as she sits down next to me once more. I look at her, wondering, when will we leave?

Do you feel safe here, friend?

That is folly.

I turn back towards the hole in the ceiling of the cave, which the smoke of her fire rises out through.

They will find us soon, if you do not leave.

Indifferent, I shake my leaves.

I suppose that I don’t really care. As long as the sun can find me here, I will be fine. Although, the few hours of it that I can get here are not enough to bring me true joy. Of the full day, I feel perhaps just a small segment of it.

I am robbed of the sun’s love.

Oh well.

Maybe tomorrow.

We are still here.

Friend.

I am growing uneasy.

- This is most unusual for a sunflower.

I look at my wormy-friend, who huddles against the rock next to me, the whispers of her fire keeping her warm. Discarded, half-eaten fruit, that she has gorged herself on for days now, lies strewn all around us.

After eating and resting and drinking, she seems stronger, less frantic, calmer.

I appreciate the last one. But I do not appreciate that we are still here. I would like to leave.

But she is afraid to leave.

Perhaps she really is a worm? Perhaps that is why we now live underground?

It would make sense to me.

I lean downward, pressing my face towards her curiously, trying to get a response.

She looks at me and we stare at another for a while.

“Are you thirsty?” she asks, breaking the quiet.

How unusual.

I am rarely spoken to.

I lift my head back up, having nothing to say. Even if I did, I have no way to say it.

I am a sunflower, after all.

“Sorry,” says my unsightly friend. “I bet you’re scared too, huh?” she asks, getting up to bring me some water in her cupped stumps.

I am no such thing.

I am calm.

Look. The sun will be here soon. I hope that we are gone by the time it shines through this hole tomorrow.

Otherwise, I feel that we won’t be able to leave again.

The mushrooms in the ground tell me that the not-birds are trampling through this area. They are looking, they are hunting for little seeds like herself to nibble on.

I suppose that if she lights the fire again, they’ll likely find us. Or maybe they won’t?

- It doesn’t matter.

I am a sunflower.

After watering me, she picks up a piece of fruit from her feet, biting into it. The juice drips down her face.

- [Sunflower] -

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP EXP: 90/90

LEVEL UP!

Congratulations! You are now level {5}!

- [Sunflower] - 🌻 Health-Points: 13/13↗ Soul-Points: 09/09↗ Level: 5 ↗ Experience: 0/160 Class: You are a sunflower. Sub-class: None Race: You are a sunflower. Obols: 000 - [Stats] - STR: 02 DEX: 02 WIS: 07 ↗ INT: 06 ↗ LUK: 07 LOV: 05 NEW [Hard Water]{Active} Spell Cost: {3} SOUL Channeling Time: {6} Seconds Applies: [Status: Disorientation] to all entities standing above your roots. Over-soak your roots and capillaries with hard water, which is usually unsuitable for a sunflower to drink. Releasing all of it at once will cause a minor quake.

Yes.

Please, friend.

She has unrooted me and carries me. We stand at the entrance to the cave, the one we had entered into over three days ago.

Is it time for us to go?

I hope so.

Turning my head, I look at her. She seems to be stuck in place, as if her stumps were rooted into the patch of soil here beneath herself. She does not seem to be able to take one step more out of the cave.

You think it is safe here.

- But you are mistaken, my wormy-friend.

This is not shelter. It is a burrow and we are lucky that the inhabitants have yet to return, or grow suspect of the smoke.

She looks over her shoulder, past me, as she stares back into the cave, towards the alluring promise that it offers. Food, water, shelter. By all accounts, paradise.

What will you do?

We stand there for a while and then, she takes a step out into the day.

- Good.

Let us continue our journey.

She takes another step and then another, somewhat quicker, as if she were forcing herself to move against the will of her own body and then, despite nobody being here to watch us with hungry eyes, my ugly friend runs.

I find it bothersome. Today is such a calm day, after all.

But perhaps she is just fearful of what lies in the cave, should she turn back to face it a second time.

Little does she know, as I watch, hung over her back, behind us, as we vanish into the forest, how the rocks of the cave entrance seem to move, as if by themselves.

- As if it were a mouth, closing shut forever.

We disappear into the trees, which also bothers me, somewhat.

But I decide to be happy instead.

After all, look at all of these amazing things that I have gotten to see already.

Wow.

What a world.

A butterfly flutters past my face.

It is beautiful.

Its wings are soft and yellow, like the glow of the sun, like my own petals. I turn my face to watch it flutter by and my friend, noticing my movements, does the same.

She has stopped running now.

The two of us watch the butterfly.

The sun shines down from above, painting the world with a kindness, which is shown only to the living.

Butterflies are beautiful, yes?

They hide in the dark as ugly things and then they return to the light of the sun, in which we all belong, as far as I’m concerned.

- I stop, looking at my ugly, wormy, friend.

Is she a butterfly, perhaps? Is that why we were in the cave for so long?

Perhaps I was mistaken? Perhaps she was never afraid at all? Perhaps this was simply her period of transformation into adulthood?

Forgive me, friend. I am ignorant.

I did not know that you were a butterfly.

My gaze wanders back towards the butterfly, as it vanishes into the distance.

The two of us, me and my pretty butterfly-friend, keep walking.

- [Sunflower] -

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP EXP: 21/160

And it is good.