Incline 3: Rose'lhia

"Right, this should be helpful..." I flicker with my true-voice before I put the map away. I knew the direction, but the path there was more than just a direction. I also made a point of not letting that thief see it. I knew her kind all too well.

They were petty and pathetic, they'd do anything to undermine me. So I would have to be cautious around her. Her stupidity would endanger the sapling otherwise. And I just could not allow that to happen!

"H-How are we meant to carry all this...?" she complained as she looked at my bag.

"You mean you." I correct as I smile down at her wide-eyed son.

"I have a son to carry! I can't carry that as well! Besides, it's yours!"

"Hmph, you're the closest to a root here, Dandel'lhia." I sneer, jabbing at the incomplete nature of her own name.

"I'm not carrying your stuff... You need to let some of it go."

"As if." I snort before I force it all upon her. She had no right to complain anyway. It was barely anything in comparison to what I brought here! I was fully aware of the fact my Love would not be with us.

"H-Hey!" she complained as I took hold of her son and cuddled him tightly. He was so warm and soft for a male! He was just too adorable to ever let go. And that smile of his made me warmer than any fire could!

"Mama!" he cheered as I put him next to my face. Yet, it was abundantly clear that despite his giggles, he wanted her. I had no issue with that, but I could not risk his safety with her.

"Give me back my son!" she demanded shortly after I started walking away towards our Garden-Mount. We had not even left the grounds of this place and she was already causing issues.

"Do not be so careless with my property..." I sneer, unamused by this defiance on her part. We had more important things to do and she just kept dragging us down!

"Give him to me!" she barks before I shoot some magic at the floor near her.

"Pick it up and let's go." I tell her, making sure she was fully aware of how little patience I had for this. And while I was making sure the sapling was alright. That he was comfortable and happy. That thief finally did as she was told.

"You will give him back the moment we settle down for the night." she complained as we walked away from Suhurlodst. At first, we were just walking on our own as we kept to the grass around the academy. But we soon found ourselves on the main path into the greater city nearby. And regret started to fill me slightly as I looked back at that place.

Was this really the right choice? Was this what I should be doing? I wasn't an Ivy-Mother anymore... My Love needed me right now as he struggled against a mighty threat...

Yet, at the same time, this sapling I held in my arms was all the motivation I needed to do this. He needed to know and see his father. He needed to be amongst his people so he could help save them. I may have not worn the dress or held the staff anymore, but it was all still in my head.

I remembered all the rituals and even some of the women I talked to on the regular. I consoled them on their relationships and how to please the man they caught. Even before my Love first arrived into our flower... My life was by no means a boring or unfulfilled one.

I was very much happy with what and where I was. There were just others who did not like that... And thinking along these lines reminded me of another thing. It was her that saw me leave my position as Ivy-Mother.

It was her that my Love somehow got caught up with during his stay at our flower. She didn't even deserve to come back home with us... So why I continued to put up with her, I did not understand. Maybe I could lose her at some point later, but now was not the time.

"So how are we getting down this mountain?" I was asked as we moved to the edge of the road. Not too far from the grand gate that was teeming with wind-thorns.

"We use one of those." I say as I gesture out to the machines I once used to get to that party with my Love. We had stuff to barter with so we could pay for our entry should it be required. Yet, I had to admit, I was still inexperienced when it came to how humans traded. I was never involved in it at any real point.

And any shopping I did do with my Love and Einervaene has become blurred in my mind. So I suppose the best course of action was to simply hope we would not be left at our wit's end. Yet, I was proud to say that I was an observant individual. My old practice did call for it, after all.

"A family ticket to Zufatzdadru, please." a father clearly said to someone behind a glass panel. We were all queued up as well, so it made it easier to see who was in his group. And he was a trio so that surely meant we would qualify for that same category?

"There you go, Sir, next?" they said with a nod before we were called over. And, I made sure to step in front of the thief as I would be the one to handle this.

"A family ticket to Nahgart." I say as I recalled the town on the map that was closest to our Garden-Mount.

"Right, Nahgart... I'm very sorry but that is not on our list of stops. Would you like me to find a closeby town, city or mountain-state?"

"I-I see... Yes, that would be helpful." I answer as I was not quite expecting that. There were so many stone constructs leaving this mountain that you'd think they'd go everywhere near here...

"Alright, let me see... Ah, here we go. It's a mountain range over, but it is our closet stop near Nahgart. However, we warn against it."

"Warn? How so?" I asked the woman as I held onto the sapling protectively.

"Soldiers from the Seven-Peaks Union have been moving through there a lot. It would likely impede your journey."

"A few thorns is no issue, can we hurry this along?"

"Yes, sorry, here you go. That'll be two Workmans Effort, please." and once she says that, I step aside to let the thief handle it as she had all our stuff.

"H-He-" she began to complain before I boarded the machine ahead of her. Setting the sapling down in one of the plump seats before I sat next to him. And when his mother finally boarded, she was blocked from going near him.

"Mama!" he cooed as he reached out for her as she reluctantly sat across from him. And while she looked over longingly at him, I played with his short, dull hair. Rubbing his head gently while he distracted himself with his mother's scarred fingers.

"These thorns aren't going to be an issue, will they?" Dandel'lhia asked.

"Why would wind-thorns stop an aelenvari triplet?"

"Because we are still witches, Rose'lhia." she sighed. And I laughed at the part where she lumped me in with her.

"So that is what you are calling yourself now." I dismissively say while I looked at her son's magic. It was obviously weak and nearly non-existent. But he was going to grow up to be a very strong man. He'd be very popular with all the petals he will see.

"Rose'lhia, please, enough. We're really doing this, we're going to our Garden-Mount. Can you set aside whatever this is for at least a moment?" she asked me tiredly. And I snorted at her because she had no right to tell me what to do. Not after what she has done to me over the years.

"Then watch your tongue." I tell her as her son started to slap the table for some reason.

"That's not an instrument, silly." I tell him as I stop him from doing it.

"Hungry... Where food?" he asks before he starts to slap the table again.

"It's alright, I packed some for you." his mother sweetly coos before she brings out a small bag from the bag she brought.

"And I'll be taking those." I say as I snatch it up. Smiling down at her son as his eyes lock onto the bag of food I had. It was a potent smelling mixture, but I think I knew what it was. After all, my former role in our flower meant I smelled similar smells often.

"Ah!" he cutely let out as he patiently waited for me to start feeding it to him.

"One!" I cheerfully said as I put the spoon near his mouth.

"Nom!" he let out before he started to pull on the spoon.

"No, let go." I told him before he started to laugh at me once I finally got it free.

"Nom!" he let out once more as he started to get distracted by his mother's expressions. He then started to slap the spoon away when I tried to feed him. With his little arms gesturing incessantly at his mother as he whined loudly.

"Very well." I reluctantly said as I bowed to the wishes of the young sapling.

"Ma-nom!" he started to say as he jumped to his points to take the food from his mother. I watched on with some envy before I just shook my head and looked away. Somewhat content to look out the windows as we started to move.

"Now leaving, Thrurstradtur and Suhurlodst." a man declared through some contraption as the mountain rapidly distanced itself from us. Whatever regrets I was feeling before did not matter now. I could not do anything about it so I just had to go along with it. And, at some point, I got up and walked away from the other two.

I kept on walking as well, all the way until I reached the end of this machine. I knew it was pointless, but I wanted to try and stay near my Love. Even as the place he was at grew further and further away. If there was a way, surely I would be running or flying back to that place right now...

"No, it's alright, I'll come back for him. I'll be done with what is expected of me, and he will be free to love me as he should." I say with a quickly fading smile. I felt like crying but I kept it in. I was not alone in the back of this machine. It was not something they deserved to see.

Yet even then, I was not sure if I could keep it all in. Even as I understood why this needed to be done, I could not help but feel guilty. But I could just not argue against what I was doing right now. That sapling, the Gilded-Bark's son...

I needed him to go home for his own good.