Chapter 27 - Dandelions

Holly smiled at the zalavan girl reflected in the glass of the bathroom mirror. After growing cacao before, she had wanted to try other fruits. What sat atop her head wasn’t what she had expected, however.

Two big balls of fluff crowned the nature element. The aspect of lightning gave her a little bit of an energetic feeling; as if she was buzzing at every end. Wind, granted by the puffballs of the anemochoric seeds affixed to her head, made her feel fluffy? Perhaps light would be a better descriptor? It was like she could fly.

Either way, she appreciated the cute little puff balls that currently clung to her. She only hoped Cris thought the same.

She poked the white fluff. They were soft, but unlike wild dandelions, she noted the seeds were firmly affixed to her head.

Despite the many physical seeds gracing the seed head, Holly noted the seeds on her head were immature, and not ready to be planted. She theorized that despite the physical quantity of seeds, she still only received the same four shots of magic as usual. She only hoped if she did have to burn them tonight, they’d at least burn in a cute pattern and not in ugly random clumps. (Worst came to worst, she’d just play around with wind magic to remove the remainder from her head.)

KNOCK KNOCK

Holly fluttered to the door, twirling before taking a look through the peephole.

Thankfully for her sanity, it was who she had expected: Cris awaited her on the other side. Undoing the chain and lock, she threw open the door.

“Good morning!” Holly sang.
Cris waved. “Good morning.”

The lycoris appraised the fluff-blessed maiden before him. He allowed himself to appreciate the two cotton balls that adorned his fellow nature element. He smirked. “They look good,” he commented.

Holly smiled, averting her gaze. “Th-thanks,” she squeaked.

“So!” Cris leaned against the door frame. “Ready to go?” he asked.

“Let me get my shoes on and sure!” Holly exclaimed, rushing back into the room. Truthfully it wasn’t just her boots she needed. She picked up her seed satchel, stowing them away in her jacket’s inner pocket.

She stood by the desk for a moment. Her utility knife lay open, still coated in the juices of the calabash she had extracted seeds from last night before bed. With a measured hum, she folded it up, and slid it on the left side of her skirt, covering it with her jacket. She hoped Cris didn’t catch that gesture – even with his presence, there was still a bit of anxiety weighing down her heart.

---

“So, what did you want to see?” asked Cris as the two zalavan hit the town.

Holly wanted to desperately go back to the library. She just wanted to bury herself in Riterran literature. She stole a peek at the boy by her side. Would he go for that? Probably not. Her mask certainly didn’t think so, as she couldn’t say she wanted to read.

“Uhhh, I dunno!” she giggled.
“Hm, leaving it up to me then?” Cris mused. He smirked as he grabbed her hand. “Hope you don’t regret that choice, come on!”

She allowed herself to be dragged along. How was he so dazzling? So confident? It was the real thing she wanted to know.

After some meandering through the city, the two plants found themselves in a cleared-out section of town. Where the rest of Ralevi had a distinct “lived-in” sort of charm, this part was its conceptual opposite. Where cobbled together and strange juxtaposition graced the rest of the city, this part was manicured to an almost eerie level of perfection.

Holly thought it was strange but found herself being dragged into what lay ahead.

“What is this?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“An amusement park!” Cris grinned at his counterpart.
“Oh!”

Yet another thing she had only read about – her welling enthusiasm was nothing she had to fake; a new place and new experiences awaited her.

…starting with the line.

Was Riterran society just composed of various lines? Holly was starting to think so. Even with three different queues open to process customers, there were still enough people waiting to pay for their entrance to create a significant wait.

“Selvica Summer Park,” Holly read aloud.
“Yeah, they’re only open during the summer months; it’s why it’s so busy,” Cris told her. “We came here a few weeks ago and it’s super fun.”

Holly smiled; his grin was infectious.

The two stood in line, enjoying each other’s company. Cris slipped his hand into Holly’s. First, her head whipped in the direction of the unfamiliar touch. Then she traced the hand to its owner. Finally, her vision snapped in the opposite direction.

“Just making sure you don’t get lost.” Holly didn’t need to see his face to know – she could feel the stupid smug grin as he said that. (She didn’t reject the gesture regardless.)

As they got up to the ticket booth, Holly noted the prices.

Adult Maestro (20+) . . . 20 Notes
Young Adult Maestro (15 – 19) . . . 15 Notes
Child Maestro (14 and below) . . . 10 Notes
Resonators (Any age) . . . 10 Notes

There was part of her that was pleased their tickets were the cheapest they could be, but on the other hand, they were the same price as a child. Was it because they were considered accessories to Maestros?

After the last few days, Holly leaned towards the more cynical likelihood.

Holly paid for her own ticket quickly and with ease; just a tap of her watch had her receiving her ticket.

Cris paid differently, and in a way Holly was more familiar with. He pulled a small wad of paper bills from his green bag and counted off ten of them before handing them over to the attendant, who traded him the paper cash for a ticket of his own. The entire time the attendant seemed unusually attentive towards Cris and the paper money. It was almost as if they were giving him the stink eye for just paying with physical currency rather than by digital means.

“I was wondering how you were gonna pay since you don’t have a watch,” Holly commented as they stepped out of line to enter the park proper.

“Yeah, withdrawing paper money is usually a pain in the ass, but thankfully we were next to a Marenza Union branch, so we stopped by for a little spending money,” Cris explained.

“Marenza Union?” Holly questioned.
“Right.” Cris nodded, realizing what he had to do. “The Marenza Union are the primary banker guys in Riterra. They make the money move. Most people just transfer their money around digitally, but usually, big cities like this one have a physical bank in case you need actual paper notes.”

Holly hummed, understanding the concept.

“You’re probably more used to counting notes and sharps from living in your garden, right?” he guessed.

Guilty as charged, Holly nodded. “Yeah,” she admitted. “It’s super easy to pay for things with this though,” She smiled at her cute green watch.

The two handed over their tickets, passed through the turnstile, and entered the park proper. As they walked down the main street of the park, Cris continued.

“Yeah, you and nearly everyone on the planet agrees. Usually, paper money is used by Resonators, young Maestros who don’t have tuners yet, and people who don’t want to leave a paper trail,” the lycoris revealed.

Two of those categories made sense. “People who don’t want to leave a paper trail?” she repeated his statement as a question.

“Let’s just say there are certain people who don’t want others to know where their money is going since their business is not so… above board so to speak.”

Illegal activities; criminals were who he was referring to. Holly realized that just having paper money probably appeared suspicious, which is why the person at the counter had eyed Cris so warily.

It was such a strange reaction. Resonators couldn’t have tuners, so being able to pay through digital means was already a rarity among their meta-species. It should have been the expectation that a Resonator would pay through paper notes.

Then it clicked.

Resonators on their own were already viewed as suspicious since the expectation was they’d be accompanied by a Maestro. That thought bothered Holly greatly.

“Hey,” Cris placed a hand on her shoulder. Before she could look at him, he pointed at a booth nearby. “Let’s get some food.”

Food?

“I like food,” Holly helpfully added.
“Oh yeah? What kind of food?” Cris grinned.
“Good food,” she cheerfully replied.
“Alright alright.” The flower zalavan said with a chuckle.

They stopped at a couple of small booths, sampling the wares on offer. By the end of it, Holly had five new favorites, including but not limited to: pretzels, fried cookies, hot dogs, cotton candy, and nachos.

“I've never seen a girl put away so much food in my life,” said Cris, propping his head up while they sat at a table under the shade of an umbrella.

Holly pouted while sipping a novelty lemonade. “You're the one who kept offering,” she mumbled.

“You good? Not gonna hurl on me?” Cris asked.
“I'm fine! Honest!” Holly chirped.

The lycoris rose. “Come on, let's keep going,” he said with an offered hand. One easily accepted by his counterpart.

Amusement parks were big, that was what Holly learned that day. There was so much to see and do she didn't think she'd be able to experience everything in one day. Perhaps that was the point. Double dip on that admission fee by providing so much to do that it was impossible to get to it all in one trip.

They stopped by a ring toss booth (which neither zalavan was successful at). Then they moved on to a dart-throwing game (which neither zalavan was successful at). Finally, they tried their hand at a bottle-breaking game (which neither zalavan was successful at.)

It was quietly decided they just weren't good at amusement park games and quietly moved on.

“The rides are more fun anyways,” assured Cris as they moved on from their frustrating experience.

“The rides?” Holly questioned.
“Yeah! Come on!”

---

Holly knew Riterra was a world of electricity and machinery. She had no true appreciation for that fact until now.

There were so many different amalgamations of steel that towered over the two tiny Resonators. Holly was used to being small, especially in Riterran society. The structures that presently towered over them, however, made her feel like a grain of sand on a beach – a speck that might as well have not existed.

Cris wasn't a sadist though – he started his berry blessed friend off easy.

“A merry-go-round?” Holly questioned.
“They're slow, but fun!”

Holly was led onto a large circular contraption. She noted the seats were bestial in nature, not too different from Scherzando. Though these were painted in more natural colorations and not the horrifying pitch of night that graced the shadows they hunted after sunset.

“Mick was telling us that these were made back when mundane animals still existed,” Cris said, sitting atop a horse. He once more extended a hand to his fellow zalavan, who was all too eager to accept.

“What's that?” she feigned ignorance, as she sat behind him.

“There used to be creatures made of flesh and bone like you and I are, but they had the shapes the Scherzando take. They all went extinct 200 years ago and now only us melopomorphs and the Scherzando remain,” the plant boy waxed poetic as the ride started.

Holly didn't even notice, pondering to herself. His explanation was on the curt side, there was a whole history leading to that ultimate extinction. However, he missed things like the humble octopus, a strange sea creature who acted as Maestros to mermaid Resonators.

Her mask refused the fun fact. She wanted to be smart for him so badly, but also… would he hate her for lying to him?

She couldn't take that risk. The mask stayed on, possibly forever.

---

Evening began to fall on the park, however there was one more ride Cris wanted Holly to experience.

“W-we're going… up there…?” Holly squeaked fearfully pointing at the gigantic wheel of steel that stood proudly in the center of the park.

“Mhm! Observation Wheels are so cool! The view is to die for,” he said with a toothy grin.
“If you say so,” Holly mumbled under her breath.

Her hand was in his, so she squeezed it tightly, her apprehension real. He squeezed back.

“Just trust me – I'll keep you safe, even if it kills me.”

The way he said that she couldn't help but believe him, and also smile. Maybe not a smooth smile, but a big dumb stupid grin. She felt like such a fool, but she couldn't ever recall a time in her life when she was this genuinely happy.

It was soon their turn and they were guided into a gondola with windows around the whole thing and seats on opposite sides. Cris and Holly shared one side and the door was closed behind them.

The cabin shook as the wheel started to rotate. Holly jumped, head whipping to and fro in a panic. This was safe, right? Surely they didn’t just kill people for sport in death traps like this, right?

“Hey.” Cris invaded her vision, causing her to flinch for a different reason. “It’s okay. This wouldn’t be open if there was a problem with it,” he assured her.

All she could do was nod slowly. She huddled closer to him. Maybe that’s why he wanted to see her in dandelions? If the machine suddenly fell apart she could use the wind magic contained in her cute little puffballs to help slow her fall – she knew of a couple of spells that’d do the trick.

“Relax relax. Look, we’re getting near the top.”

Her racing thoughts came to a halt as she was allowed to take in the vista before them. To the west was the sun setting behind the mountains. But in every other direction were beautiful scenes. The northern and eastern forests stretched on seemingly forever. To the south, she could see the entirety of Ralevi and all its buildings and infrastructure.

When viewed from above everything seemed so small, every problem felt like it didn’t matter. Holly sighed wistfully, smiling as she leaned on Cris’ shoulder.

How she wished this moment could last forever, she enjoyed its fleeting nature while she could.

As the wheel brought them back down to Riterra, the only thing she could think was how perfect today had been… it had been the best day of her life, bar none. Truly a day she’d never forget.