“Now why can I never get mine to look like that?” Crystal’s voice was quiet as she gazed at the expansive garden, the brightly colored blooms almost laughing at her gleefully. They taunted, softly, playfully and reminded her that she hadn’t taken nearly enough time to tend to her own rose bushes that lined the walkway at her home. Her “garden” was little more than bushes hanging on by a whim and her sheer will for them to live. The Elder wondered if she was to stop gazing at them adoringly when she came home at dusk, if they would simply whither away and disappear into the soil from which they had emerged, small and fragile. The idea drifted away as she carefully examined a blooming flower which she thought could be what her grandmother had called a snapdragon, one long finger running delicately down the outside of the petal. The outside was vaguely reminiscent of velvet as she touched it, focusing on the contrast between her pale skin and the violet of the strange plant.

At the sound of someone approaching, she drew her hand back quickly, as if she’d been diddling with someone else’s precious family heirloom. Her eyes took in the figure of Lerex, his expression looked especially determined she finally decided as she gazed at the watering system he’d devised, something she hadn’t paid too much attention to the few times that she’d entered his home. Crystal Dinaia was the type to keep herself separated from the pack merely so she could focus on their well-being without her emotions getting in the way. Almost always taken as bossy because she pressed so hard for things to always work out correctly, she tried to appear different today, the same way she felt on the inside but had so much trouble putting into her actions.

The clean white fabric of her dress snagged slightly on one of the bushes as she passed it and she bent to pull it free. The sundress reached her calves and showed little of her shapely legs, the tailoring focusing more on the bodice which clung a little too tightly to be unnoticeable. Light, almost white ribbons etched a pattern across the top of the dress, leaving a strange almost lace like effect to the entire top half. After reaching the waist in a v-shape, the skirt flowed out slightly, then stopped and went straight down without much thought, usually blowing which ever way the wind decided to take it. The look suited her, a bit dressed down from the usual austere dresses she preferred, it changed her appearance and made her feel like merely another young woman in the crowds of Genil instead of an Elder who specialized in taking the weight of the world on her shoulders. Then again, with a head of hair like the one that spilled down her shoulders, she probably wouldn’t be mistaken for anyone else any time soon.

Crystal felt awkward, as if she was merely sneaking around Lerex’s garden and watching him take care of his flowers, so she cleared her throat before speaking clearly in her classically quiet and silken voice. “Your garden has gotten much bigger since the last time I saw it.” The woman flashed a smile before approaching the man she had worked with for what seemed like an eternity. How strange it was that they could have known each other, created a city with the others of the Council, and still not known each other through and through. Still, Crystal found herself discovering things about the others in the Council that she hadn’t known day after day. Had she really distanced herself that much? Were the others friends while she was a slave driver? The idea worried her but she pushed it away, then knelt next to the bed of flowers that he seemed to be paying the most attention to, her knees pushing into plush grass and probably gaining stains on the cotton while dress. She didn’t mind, the mass of flowers fascinated her and for a moment, she felt the strangest twinge of jealousy.