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The gardens interested you. While the Ever Garden had most fruit ready to harvest all year round, the Never Garden appeared to follow seasons, just like back in your world. That came as a surprise; you didn't think the gardens would differ that much, sure, an array of botanical plants and such would perhaps not suit the Ever side, neither would certain ones fit its more sinister counterpart. And while you enjoyed the bountiful harvests and the luxury of being able to walk through the garden with a bowl or basket and leave with fruits, you preferred the Never Garden. There is something far more rewarding, far more pleasurable, in plucking an orange that has just turned ripe, not overly sweet, a touch sour, not uniform in shape or colour, and with a slight dent to its skin where it had landed just a few moments ago. It was not perfect, unlike the oranges that grew on the other side of the school. Those tasted similar to the ones you would have at home when it was not the season for them. They could be sweet but it never matched the ones that grew in your garden and could be a hazard if the wind was particularly strong on that day. All of this to say that the fruits, and the fact that the Never Garden followed a similar season cycle, comforted you, and reminded you of home. Now that Halloween was over, you would often visit the garden to see if any of the oranges were ripe for picking.
As you took your daily stroll through the garden the smell of an orange that had split, and just begun to rot, tickled your senses and you began trying to pinpoint its location. You hated anything dirty or spoiled but this was – oddly enough – a rather comforting smell. Again, it perhaps reminded you of home and the oranges you’d miss to pick in time- the citrus smell mixed with the slight acidity of rot. You spotted the rotting oranges and walked over to inspect them and, after a bit, straightened up and decided to see if there were any that hadn’t split from their tumble. The trees here were far bigger than in the Ever Garden. They were kept nice and small, slightly taller than an average person, but these loomed over you.
Lady Lesso glanced out the window to the gardens below and became interested in you, who appeared to be eyeing up one of the many orange trees. She put her pen down and rested her chin in her hand as she followed you round the tree. You were probably looking for a ripe orange, if Lady Lesso had to guess. You walked up to the tree's trunk, and grasped some of the branches before pulling yourself up onto the tree and Lady Lesso raised her eyebrow. That's not very clever, the tree, unlike the ever ones, had thorns that were there to deter most from climbing up them to get the fruits but that didn't seem to stop you. Lady Lesso sighed, might as well stretch her legs, and make sure the reader didn't either impale herself on the thorns or fall and break a bone.
You carefully placed your hand around another branch, minding the thorns. Luckily since the tree was old, the thorns were long and had hardened over time. You bit your lip in concentration and reached out to the orange you had spotted from below. Its colour was much deeper and more vibrant compared to the more yellow looking ones and you knew it would taste divine.
'And what do you think you are doing, reader?'
You stilled and glanced down to see the Dean looking up at you with her arms crossed, unamused.
Your hand had grasped round the orange and it came off freely from the stalk. You brought it to your chest.
'Getting a snack.'
'You know it's dangerous, not to mention, forbidden to be climbing the many trees in this garden.'
You rolled your eyes; you had assumed the woman wouldn't care if you broke some rules, you weren’t a student. While you did that, Lady Lesso's crossed hand started to faintly glow purple as she cast a protection spell on the young woman. Even if the reader was good at climbing, Lady Lesso wasn't going to take any chances of being blamed for the potential injuries. Her magic wrapped around you and you shivered feeling a gust of wind blow over you.
'It's a bit colder now.' You mumbled to yourself.
'Well you are severely underdressed, in...whatever those clothes are.'
'It's loose trousers and a sweater!’
'In odd colours, don't you know anything about dressing?' Lady Lesso spoke as you slowly made your way back down with the orange in hand before stopping about halfway.
'What?' Lady Lesso asked when you didn't move.
'The orange is in the way.'
'How did you expect to get back down with it then?’
'I would have figured something out, but since you are here, can you please hold it for me?' You glanced down at Lesso.
Lady Lesso sighed, and tucked her cane under her arm, outstretching her hands up to you.
'Give it here then.'
A smile bloomed on your face and you let the orange go, which Lesso caught with ease and proceeded to watch as you quickly made your way back down and jumped the last part of the descent. Both of you looked at each other as Lady Lesso had closed the distance to help you stable yourself.
'Thanks.' You stood up straight and Lady Lesso retracted her hand.
'Your orange.'
You said another thank you, quickly wiping your hands on your trousers before you began peeling the fruit rather quickly while Lady Lesso glanced round the other trees and deduced that, yes, this probably was one of the riper ones for now. When she looked back at you, you were holding out half of the orange to her.
'Your fair share, you helped,' you supplied when Lady Lesso didn't instantly take the fruit.
'I- Thank you.' She couldn't help but accept the fruit because the gesture was...
'Definitely worth the climb and thorns,' you hummed as you ate your half.
Sweet and fresh, Lady Lesso's taste buds danced with the flavour and she let out a pleased sigh and noticed your smile quirk.
‘Maybe now you won’t tell me off.’
‘I don’t need you giving the students any ideas, be grateful I even came down, you would have been stuck up there for a while.’
You rolled your eyes, not hiding it from the older woman.
‘What do you do with all of these oranges anyway, let them all rot?’
‘No, soon there will be an array of dishes and desserts made from oranges in the dining hall, whatever doesn’t get used is sent to the town to be sold.’
‘Do you like oranges?’
‘What sort of question is that, reader?’
You shifted your weight from one foot to another.
’Just curious.’
‘You do know the Ever gardens don’t have trees this big.’
‘I’m helping you out this week so I didn’t want to trek all the way to the other side.’
'But they are perfect,' Lady Lesso stressed, 'Isn't that what most want?'
You tilted your head at her,’ What if I don’t want perfect oranges?’
She opened and closed her mouth and frowned, her green-grey eyes clouding. You still found it rather sad you lacked the magic to be able to see her actual eye colour which matched her purple magic. A gust of wind blew once more and you shivered, perhaps Lady Lesso did have a point: you were underdressed. ‘Come on, before you catch a cold and Dovey blames me for making our esteemed guest from another world fall ill,’ Lady Lesso turned away and walked off. You trailed behind after casting one more glance at the many orange trees and calling to her, ‘I like oranges, since you never answered.’
‘Good for you.’
You sighed, failing to get the desired answer from the redhead.
A week or two passed. You had refrained from climbing up the trees, always feeling a pair of green-grey eyes watching you like a hawk whenever you set foot in the garden. Despite Lady Lesso’s standoffish behaviour, you found yourself wanting to be on the good side of the Dean for Evil. She wasn’t the most open, but she remained civil and would utter gratitude whenever you finished helping her out in one way or another but nothing more. You had felt the incident with the orange would have opened up a new opportunity with the redhead but the same distance remained. What was worse was that Professor Dovey had noticed your somewhat disheartened nature and pressed to see if Lesso had finally snapped and said something mean or done something to you but was slightly surprised when all you did was confess you wanted to get to know the enigmatic woman more.
‘Honestly dear I do not see a point in you trying, that’s as nice as she will get.’
‘But she can be nicer, you know that!’
‘Yes, but it’s not worth it, trust me, I’ve worked with her for years and the slight glimmer of kindness you get from her are few and far inbetween. She’s evil, as I’m sure her and I have told you multiple times.’
That did not stop you from finally thinking: screw it. And you resumed climbing up the orange trees whenever you had free time. You even began leaving the fruit on top of Lady Lesso's desk as a sign of defiance. It was stupid but you wanted to talk to Lady Lesso more and try to get to know her. You attempted to start a conversation with her, but she would respond in such a dry manner that naturally silence would settle between the two of you. You acknowledged that you may be acting like a child, wanting attention, no matter in what form it came, so you climbed the orange trees, higher and higher, trying to clear your head but reserving the tiniest bit of hope that Lady Lesso would come and tell you off, just to try and ignite some form of conversation beyond work.
The familiar smell of an orange that's been cut hit your senses, you blinked as you looked at the papers and realised that the scent was emanating from the woman who was now leaning over your shoulder to get something. Your head spun, you wanted to turn round and bury your face in the older woman's neck and take in more of this saccharine yet slightly sour scent. You wondered if you breathed deep enough that you’d notice the hints of rot, just like the fallen oranges beyond the window, laying on the cold ground. After all, this was the Dean for Evil, and she wasn't perfect.
‘New perfume?’ you asked instead.
‘I don’t know what you are talking about.'
‘Right, of course you don’t.’ You deflated not even trying to ignite another conversation.
‘Don't make me ban you from entering the garden,’ Lady Lesso spoke up, and you looked up to her.
‘I don't know what you are talking about,’ you deadpanned in a similar manner to her.
A flash of annoyance in green-grey eyes and Lady Lesso shook her head,’ What do you want from me?’ she instead asked.
That stumped you, you frowned and responded,’ Nothing, you aren't offering anything anyway.’
‘Reader,’ she clearly still insisted calling you that despite you not fitting the role of one in this world,’ You keep doing stupid things and the consequences will soon catch up to you if you don't stop.’
‘Since when do you care?’
‘Evil doesn't care, it warns.’
‘You're human, something must reside in your heart.’
‘Stop doing stupid things,’ she reiterated.
‘I'll think about it,’ you replied, and went back to helping with the marking.
Christmas came and went, and finally there were no more oranges for you to pick in the Never Garden. In their place the sweet-smelling flowers bloomed, and you spent more of your free time under them as the days began to warm. Your time at this place was coming to an end and you knew you’d soon leave, even if the probability felt slim, something told you it was time to go. Perhaps you’d never have a chance to come back. It was bittersweet... You had come to accept that you would never be able to breach the walls that Lady Lesso had around her true character and you had to put down your arms. You took comfort in the fact that despite her attitude towards you, she had taken to wearing perfume that smelled like orange blossoms and the oranges you kept leaving on her desk would disappear. Maybe she threw them out, but you told yourself she most likely ate them. Or so you hoped.
‘It was a pleasure to get to know you as far as you allowed me to, perhaps in another universe you would have let me get to know you more.’
‘Perhaps.’
‘I unfortunately do not have an orange as a parting gift.’
‘You could have got one from the pesky Ever Garden.’
‘It would not be the same,’ you shook your head.
‘It was…a change of pace to have someone helping out, I wish you the best, as far as I can say as the Dean for Evil,’ Lady Lesso smiled coldly.
And that's as good as it would get, and you could do nothing but accept this farewell.
It must have been months since you left and Lady Lesso noticed your absence in ways she never realised she ever could and it bothered her, yet the orange that you first left on her desk sat in her drawer untouched by rot and time. She would rather die than admit she enjoyed having your company and constant attempts to talk to her, it was a nice change to the silence that surrounded her in her waking hours. And now that was gone and she had to return back to how things were, how they were supposed to be. She knew this would have happened even if she recalled you insisting there’s no way for you to return to your world, the magic door that opened to this place in the first place was now a simple room. A world with this much magic and a castle that was its own living and breathing thing liked making it known it had ancient powers too and could warp time and space at a moment's notice which was how you first ended up there, and now the same magical powers had whisked you back to your reality. Lady Lesso begrudgingly felt wistful, perhaps she should have been more open with you, you so desperately tried to befriend her the attempt turned from something she took delight from your pathetic displays to something…fond. She had spent many evenings after your departure gazing off into space and not doing much, wondering from time to time how you were doing, knowing there was no foreseeable way to find out.
‘Are you ever going to eat that orange that sits on your desk or is it a decoration piece now?’ Dovey asked one time in the middle of their meeting.
‘Someone told me they liked oranges once upon a time.’ Lady Lesso reached for the orange and turned it over in her hands recalling the time you offered her half of yours and once again wondered how you were doing.
‘Wonder who that would be.’
Lady Lesso narrowed her eyes at her colleague and Dovey raised her hands in defence, ‘I did not imply anything.’
‘Sure thing, princess…Do you think she will ever come back here?’
‘That is not up to us, perhaps that was the one and only time we got to meet her. What, are you going to admit you miss her now that she's gone?’
‘Having an extra pair of hands to help was advantageous in the future success of evil,’ Lady Lesso calmly responded despite the Dean for Good's question cutting into her.
‘She helped me too, there was a balance which is what we-’
‘Needed, yes, after everything that happened,’ Lady Lesso rolled her eyes and placed the orange back in its spot,’ Anyway back to the matter at hand…’
Lady Lesso opened her office door and slammed it shut behind herself, sighing. Everything had gone wrong in every possible way today. To her, anyway. To anyone else such things were normal, which was something Lady Lesso still had to get used to; neither good nor bad, simply neutral. She failed to notice a presence in her office and once she did, she untwisted her cane to reveal her blade but halted when she saw you.
You, with the orange she had preserved with her magic in your hand.
‘I see you never threw it out,’ you lifted the orange.
‘I picked it up from the garden.’
‘It's the middle of September and you'd never set foot in the Ever Garden unless Dovey dragged you over there for tea.’
Lady Lesso could do nothing much but sigh, screwing back the blade into her cane,’ Touché.’
Your face lit up,’ So which one is this?’
‘The first one you left on my desk after returning to the decision to climb higher on those blasted trees.’
You couldn't help yourself and chuckled,’ I'm sorry but also not?’
‘You wanted my attention, I wasn't going to give it to you for doing stupid things.’
‘And yet here it is, in perfect condition and untouched…’
Lady Lesso shook her head, she had nothing to say, neither did she want to, everything was laid out clear as day with the orange in your hands.
‘Give it here.’
The corners of your mouth turned slightly down but you walked over to hand over the orange and watched Lady Lesso begin to peel it. The room filled with the scent of orange peel, before half was held out to you.
‘Your fair share, you helped’ Lesso echoed your words.
You perked up, taking your piece before asking,’ Are you sure it's okay to eat?’
‘Oh shut it and eat reader.’
‘To new beginnings?’ You held the piece out in a toast-like manner and watched as Lady Lesso shook her head smiling, and it didn't look as cold as when you bid farewell and it warmed its way in your chest.
‘To new beginnings.’
Sweet and a touch sour, just like the oranges that grew in your garden and the woman who stood before you with her personality, without the hints of acidic rot.