Chapter 39 - Zalavan Horticulture

Unfamiliar surroundings graced the zalavan’s vision as she awoke once again. Thankfully, this time, she knew how she had gotten there.

Last night was only a couple of hours ago, but even still, Holly found her mind abuzz – as such, sleep was fleeting.

At least the bed was nice.

The main thing that bothered the plant were the actions of the Maestro she could say she was on friendly terms with at best. Solana was such a strange person…

---

“We turn our backs for one minute and the damn guy poofs!” the Vivi of a couple of hours ago complained.

The group of four was on their way back to the MA Office, both the Director and cryptid eluding their grasp.

“Cryptid… that word feels so desperately familiar, but I just cannot place what it is,” Lee hummed to himself.

“Either way, we earned a nice long rest,” Solana patted her two Resonators on the back as they entered the MA Office. As they had done before, Solana, Lee, and Vivi positioned themselves around Holly to keep her hidden from the night staff.

However.

“Miss Leduc,” a stern voice spoke up, causing the four to jump.

The Maestro slowly turned her head to face the manager of the MA Office, who looked down on the group through their glasses. “Where is her tuner?” A finger was pointed straight through the group at Holly.

“Oh, well, funny story about that, true story about that,” Solana chuckled. She recomposed herself in an instant. “We were just on our way to retrieve our things. We met on the hunting grounds and wanted to see if we clicked together. Me and my Resonators were just going to stay with her in her hotel room; you know, a try-before-you-buy kind of thing?” offered the chef.

A tense silence followed. The manager adjusted their glasses. “Quite. However, you know the rules. She will have to remain in the lobby.”

“Of course,” Solana said through a strained smile. “Come on, Lee, Vivi.” She motioned for her pair to follow. “We’ll be right back,” the chef said to Holly, who nodded slowly.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Holly turned to the manager. “Do you get your kicks being a procrustean tool?” snipped the plant.

The audacity of the Resonator caught the manager off guard. “Excuse me?” they uttered. “I don’t know who you think you are, but MA Offices are respected insti-”

“And you get so hot and bothered enforcing the rules without any flexibility. I see why they hired you.” Holly shook her head. She didn’t know why she was picking a pointless fight. Maybe she was just mad after the situation with the Director. Now the one person who wanted to help her was being inconvenienced by this snob. The apple seeds felt so inviting right now, but that’d just get Solana in deeper shit than she was already in. Holly stayed her hand for now.

Unfortunately, the manager kept talking. “Rules are meant to be followed. Without order, there would be chaos,” they affirmed.

“Choke on your rules, you control freak,” Holly spat before storming out of the building of her own accord.

Holly stood on the sidewalk, off the MA Office property. She leaned back against the brick wall that segregated the campus from the general public. Under her leaves, the plant was boiling mad. Yeah, it was against the rules, but they picked such a wonderful time to decide to enforce them. She could sense the manager had been waiting there specifically for them.

She plucked a pair of apple seeds from her stash and gently massaged them into the grass adorning her head, only ceasing the ruffling of her hair once she felt them melt into her. “Bet they’ll shit bricks when I walk in wearing a couple of apples,” she snarked to herself.

“You okay?” asked Solana, pulling the bitter plant from her thoughts.
“No, I’m not okay. Why did you do that? I can find my own hotel room. You don’t have to leave,” she protested. The little zalavan could feel herself bristle up even having to humor the question.

“Holly, you were attacked. That man wants you. I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing he’s still out there and you’re alone,” said the chef.

“Why? What do you get out of this?” Holly snipped.
“I can’t want to help someone in need?” Solana asked.

The zalavan’s face contorted. She opened her mouth, but the words were lost well before the motion.

“You’re a good person,” Solana smiled.
“You don’t know that,” Holly huffed.
“Of course I do. A good person wouldn’t have been more worried about me than themselves.”

Holly lowered her head. Words continued to fail her.

“Lady Solana, there’s a hotel open a few blocks from here,” said Lee.

How did he know that? She looked up to sate her curiosity and found something she had never seen before. Both Lee and Vivi held their own tuners, faces illuminated by the gentle glow of the touch screens.

Seeing a Resonator hold their own tuner felt… wrong somehow.

---

Back in the present, Holly opened her eyes.

“She’s so dumb,” the plant whispered to herself. It was early, probably about seven in the morning or so.

Sleep remained fleeting, so Holly got up.

One thing was immediately apparent. “Uh-oh.”

The Holly that stared back at herself in the mirror lacked a fruit. She had slept, so why didn’t she have any fruit?

“Oh.”

She remembered her spiteful planting of the apple seeds last night. The little zalavan ran her hands through her grassy hair, but came out empty-handed. Nothing was growing there. “Well, that’s not good,” she chuckled nervously.

Plopping down on the porcelain throne, she began to rack her brain for any kind of explanation. “It takes eight hours to grow a plant to maturity,” a pause, “well, that’s not true, non-natives create immature seeds, good for magic and not much else,” she mused.

Something still felt wrong about that explanation. “Perhaps I never gave them the time they needed to fully mature. Maybe my body is really good at growing hollies because I’m the right soil for it, or something.”

Holly ruffled her grass with frustration. “Damn it Holls, of all the spot decisions…”

Truthfully, she should have experimented more with common plants before blowing two of her apple seeds on this. She’d have to keep track of how the apples grow in. If she wanted to farm them for herself, it’d be useful to know what to expect.

Perhaps she could also learn how to make apple juice; she wondered if Lee knew anything about that.

Either way, she just crippled her own magic capabilities because she was mad. “What the hell is wrong with me?” A sad, hollow laugh followed.

With nothing else to do, she suited up for the day with her usual everyday carries and left the room. As she entered the suite proper, she found she was not alone at this early hour. Vivi sat on the couch, lacing up her running shoes.

“You’re up early,” the two Resonators said in tandem.

They both stared at one another for a moment before Vivi spoke. “Why are you up?”

“Couldn’t sleep, you?”
“I always get up around now. Gotta get my daily run in.”
“What about Solana?”
“What about her?”

The plant hummed with consideration. Vivi just went off on her own? Lee was out when Solana first brought Holly to their room at the MA Office. Solana must keep a looser leash on her Resonators. Then again… the way they held their tuners last night spoke to their familiarity with handling them…

Holly shook her head, dismissing her derailed train of thought. “Mind if I come with?” she asked.

Vivi had stood and was in the middle of a round of stretches. She stopped for a moment, appraising the smaller Resonator.

“Sure, why not?”

---

Solana walked out of her room, still clad in her pajamas. The woman stretched and yawned just as the door opened.

The chef’s eyes widened as Vivi walked in, holding a wilted Holly in her arms.

“Oh my gosh!” she rushed over. “What happened?! Is she okay?!” fretted the Maestro.

Holly managed to grab Solana’s shirt. She was covered in sweat, her eyes half lidded as she trembled. “Plants… can’t run…” she managed to get out before falling limp again.

…

“She’ll be fine, Lady Solana. Zalavan have the worst physicality of all Resonator species outside of fairies. Let’s let her rest,” Lee advised.

The two looked to the linsang, who immediately took exception to that.

“I didn’t fuckin’ know!” barked the fire element.

Holly stirred from her slumber at this point. “Uuhg… my head…” she groaned as she sat up. Three pairs of eyes took her in. “What?” she asked.

“Are you okay?” asked Solana.
“Maybe. Head hurts.”

Lee knelt next to the plant, muttering a small “pardon me” before taking hold of her hair. He allowed it to slip through his fingers, appraising hums tickling his throat as his bespectacled gaze studied the blades thoroughly.

With a short nod, he stood. “You’re dehydrated,” was the diagnosis.

“How hard did you run her?” asked Solana of her linsang.
“We were only out for forty-five minutes!”
“I’m impressed Lady Holly lasted that long,” commented Lee as he prepped a cup.
“Mani Nell'acqua, Lento,” Solana cast. “It is quite impressive,” she returned to the discussion at hand.

“Uhhhg, feel like death,” groaned Holly, barely paying their conversation any mind. A moment later, a cup of water was presented to her.

“Here,” Lee said. “I added a rehydration mix to it. This should help.”

Holly accepted the cup and choked it down quickly. The aftertaste wasn’t bad, kind of sweet. She regretted gulping it down so fast.

“Let me know if you need more,” said the axolotl.

The zalavan let herself recline back into the couch, resting her eyes in a vain attempt to stave off the persisting headache. She really hated headaches. She could have just forced it away with a healing spell, but using healing magic to ignore her body’s warning signs was probably not the best use of her resources.

The next Holly became cognizant of her surroundings was when she was directly addressed.

“Lee and I are gonna get some paperwork done at the MA Office, are you two good here?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Vivi answered.

Holly opted to just feign sleeping for a bit longer.

“Alright, be back soon!”

As soon as the door closed, Holly stirred, sitting up and rubbing her head. Thankfully, the headache was gone. It really was as simple as her just being thirsty. While she was curious about the drink Lee had made for her, he left with his Maestro – the pursuit of knowledge was stymied for now.

“Ah, the dead rise,” Vivi deadpanned.
“Bite me,” she replied.

The linsang smirked.

Vivi’s attention was on the television. Since Holly was awake, the fire element turned up the volume. The little plant nestled into the couch, trying to pay attention to what was being played for their amusement; she couldn’t focus.

“Not much of a nature, are you?” Vivi suddenly commented.
Holly raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
“You’re a little spitfire. You told off that dickhead at the MA Office.”
“Oh.”

She figured the manager must have said something after she stormed out.

“Don’t worry, they didn’t give us any shit. Lee could tell they were fuming,” said Vivi, assuaging Holly’s fears.
“They deserved it,” snarked the plant.

Silence fell between the two Resonators once more. They both stared at the television for some time. Whatever was happening on the screen was some kind of action drama.

It was complete nonsense.