Chapter Text
Zoe Chapelwhite was not the falling in love type. Perhaps it’d happened once or twice, in her younger days. And if she’s really being honest, it was just the once. Dating wasn’t exactly going to come easy to a young unregistered sprite. But even as she got older, she soon came to realise that people were not easy to fall in love with. It didn’t seem to be that way for everybody else. Take Arthur, for example. The man had been in forced proximity with two different men on two separate occasions over the last few years and had managed to immediately fall for both of them.
Men, she often thought to herself, are ridiculous.
Her heart just didn’t work in such ways.
She didn’t fall in love. Is what she told herself over and over again, as she could feel the words bubbling up inside her, afraid she may just vomit them out if she tried to push them down any longer. It was just a simple question, anyhow. It was fine to ask a question. It didn’t mean anything.
She at least waited until all of the children had gotten up from the picnic blanket to play and explore. Arthur sat beside her, eyes closed, legs outstretched in front of him, as he leaned back on his hands, allowing the sun to warm his face.
“So,” She began. It was a good start. Sounded just like any regular conversation so far, which it was. “The woman. The mayor. Helen.” Alright, slowly but surely heading downhill. That was fine, she could still save this. “Is that her name?” She asked, trying to sound indifferent.
Arthur peeped an eye open, looking at her curiously. “You know that’s her name.”
“Of course I do.” Zoe chuckled nervously. Okay, so saving it was out the window then. “What time is she, er, visiting tomorrow?”
That really caught Arthur’s attention, she realised, as he sat up properly to look at her, eyes narrowing.
“Eleven o’clock.” He said, a little suspiciously.
“Oh, well, I thought I might come by to meet her. Properly, that is. You know, if we’re becoming friendly with the locals now, it might not, er, be a bad idea for me to get acquainted myself.”
“I see.” The man raised his eyebrows, reserved in his surprise.
“Oh, don’t do that.” Zoe said, a hint of annoyance in her tone.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said, a little defensively. “Please, join us. I think that would be wonderful.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” She said, bluntly.
“I’m being ridiculous? I haven’t said a thing.”
“Well stop thinking it.”
“Stop thinking what? That you’ve got a crush on the mayor of Marsyas?”
Tiny flowers began to bloom in the sprite’s hair. Lovely deep purple things with a yellow centre that Arthur recognised as nightshade. The deadly kind.
“Alright, alright, there’s no need for that.”
“No, there’s no need for you to go making assumptions.” She said, the flowers retracting.
He’d been absolutely correct, of course. Zoe had seen Helen around many times before on her weekly trips into the village, but it was that Saturday two weeks prior that she became truly entranced. From the moment Helen started going off on one at that abhorrent man from the ice cream shop, Zoe was doomed. And that would’ve been enough to do it, she’s sure if she’d have left the shop right in the middle of all the commotion, Helen would’ve made it into her thoughts everyday since. But it was actually when she heard the words “daft little bitch” that she knew her heart was no longer just her own.
She’d tried to ignore it. Because she did not fall in love. And yet…
“Well, she’ll be staying for lunch. Just so you know.” The phoenix told her, a smirk forming on his lips.
“Makes no difference to me.” She said, as she now turned her face to the sun trying to seem as nonchalant as possible.
“Good.”
“Good.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
-
Zoe watched with Arthur from the other end of the garden, as Talia talked Helen through every seed and sapling, every bush and flower. Helen seemed enthralled, and rightly so. She took photos of everything, making sure to get Talia in a few of them, so the villagers of Marsyas knew exactly who this extraordinary garden belonged to.
Apart from the fact that Zoe had somehow managed to stumble through the word hello upon Helen’s arrival, a mere reaction to the unexpected handshake they’d shared, everything was fine. She felt just fine.
And if a dozen red roses appeared to bloom in her hair against her will for the very first time, well, that was merely a coincidence.
“I think it’s just fantastic.” Arthur whispered fondly.
“I know. She really deserves the recognition.” Zoe agreed, talking about Talia and the garden.
“What? Oh, yes, yes, of course. Absolutely right, no one is more deserving.” Arthur said. “However, I was talking about your obvious infatuation with our mayor here.”
The sprite turned to him, furiously whispering, “What do you mean obvious?”
“The roses. A clear declaration of love if ever there was one.”
She relaxed a little. If it was obvious, it was only to Arthur. For all Helen knew, Zoe often sported red roses. And struggled with basic social interaction.
“That’s not wha-”
Arthur glared at her.
“Okay, fine.” There was no point lying. This man was her dearest friend, and he saw right through her. “There’s a small chance I might like her. She’s nice.”
“Pretty too.”
Zoe found herself agreeing before she could stop herself.
Arthur had to hold himself back from getting too giddy. “Fantastic.” He repeated. “Absolutely fantastic.”
-
Lunch was, in a word, disastrous.
Not for anyone else it seemed. But definitely for Zoe.
It was Phee who first asked, “Do you like Talia’s garden Mrs…?”
“Helen is fine.” The mayor told her kindly, before quickly adding, “And it’s Miss, not that it really matters.” She glanced at Zoe before looking back at Phee. “The garden is magnificent, in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been so impressed by one before.”
“I agree.” The smallest sprite said, before taking another huge bite of pie.
“I think we can all agree with that.” Arthur said, smiling, as everyone concurred. “Zoe, here, has a rather splendid garden as well.” He added, making Zoe choke on her drink.
“Really?” Helen asked, a delighted look on her face, as she looked back to Zoe, whose cheeks were turning red.
“Oh, it- it’s nothing, really, not compared to Talia’s.” She replied, shaking her head, as she looked directly down at her plate.
“I love your garden, Zoe.” Chauncey said, sincerely.
“Oh, yes, we all love spending time there. So magical.” Talia affirmed.
“Is that where you got the roses?” Helen asked, her eyes darting from the other woman’s eyes to her hair and back again.
“These? Er, no, well, they just sort of-”
“Bloom.” Sal chimed in.
“Yes, exactly.” Zoe nodded, grateful for the help.
Helen seemed entranced by that. “That’s amazing.” She said, a look of wonder on her face. “You… They’re beautiful.”
Theodore chirped in confusion.
“He’s right.” Phee said, curiously. “You’ve never had red roses before.”
Zoe flushed, so deeply it was now entirely visible on her dark skin.
“I don’t think that’s true.” She started, trying to brush the entirely true comment off. “I’m sure I-”
“Zoe, why is your face all red?” Chauncey asked.
“Is it?” The sprite chuckled nervously. “It’s warm in here, that’s all.”
“No it’s not.” Talia said. “The door is wide open, you must be able to feel the breeze from here.”
“I-”
“I can turn my face red, want to see?” Lucy asked, not giving anyone the chance to respond, as his face began to turn a deep crimson colour and his head also started to grow in size, almost as if it were blowing up like a balloon.
A collective “ooo” was heard from the rest of the children.
Zoe and Arthur could tell that Helen was trying not to look too horrified.
“My, aren’t you talented?” She all but squeaked, before clearing her throat in the hopes it would turn her voice back to normal.
She looked back to Zoe, who was biting down on her lip, holding back a laugh. And then she, too, was covering her mouth with her hand to hide a smile.
“Who wants more pie?” Arthur asked, gleefully.
-
Arthur was walking Helen back to her car when he noticed that Zoe had every intention of accompanying them the whole way. At some point, he sort of slipped into the background of whatever it was they were talking about and decided to hang back. He could wave Helen off from afar.
“It was really nice to have you here, I hope you know.” Zoe said, as Helen sat down in the driver’s seat, lowering the window so they could continue to talk after she shut the door.
“Well, I hope you know I’m delighted you could have me.” Helen told her, voice soft, never breaking eye contact with the other woman.
“Maybe I could… Show you mine one day.” Zoe said, entirely too aware of how much she was blinking. “My garden, that is. Maybe I could show you my garden.”
“I’d love that.” Helen told her immediately.
“You would?” The sprite couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. But then it vanished. “Only… I’m not sure… I don’t think I want any pictures taken of it. At least not any that’ll be seen by anyone else.”
“Alright.”
“Really?” The grin was back. “You still want to come?”
“How could I not? If your garden is any bit as lovely as you are, I should consider myself lucky to get to see it.”
Zoe felt heat rising in her cheeks again. “Is next weekend okay? If that’s too soon we ca-”
“Next weekend would be perfect. Sunday?”
“Sunday. Wonderful. I’ll see you then?”
“I very much look forward to it.” They smiled at each other, delaying their goodbye. “Your roses really are so beautiful by the way.”
The sprite was sure she was about to combust.
“Thank you. I think you might be seeing a lot more of them in the future.” She said, and then actually wished she would combust. “Goodbye then.”
“Goodbye, Ms Chapelwhite.” Helen said, a glint in her eye.
When she finally began her drive onto the ferry, Arthur walked down to join Zoe.
“My goodness.” He said. “Why, I don’t think I’ve ever known Zoe Chapelwhite to blush. And not for the first time today either.”
“Oh, be quiet. You might be a phoenix, but I could still lift you with one hand and hurl you into that water from here.”
Arthur held up his hands in surrender.
“She’s coming back next weekend.” She told him, not able to keep the grin off her face for long.
“So I heard.”
“To see the garden, of course.”
“Of course.” Arthur placed his arm around her back, affectionately pulling her close. “And if you happen to send her home with a hand picked bouquet and a kiss on the cheek, well, that’s merely all part of the gardening experience.”
Zoe glared up at him, her smile never faltering. And if she tucked the idea away inside her head to come back to later, she certainly wasn’t about to admit it.
“Ah, love.” Arthur sighed, staring off into the distance as the ferry began its departure from the dock.
“You are a softie.”
“And you love me for it.” He squeezed her arm.
“I do.” She said, cheerily, wrapping her arm around his waist, as they turned and walked back up to the house together.