Chapter 1: Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon
Rys placed her leather bound book on her lap and lifted her face to the sun. The warm beams made their way through the leaves on the tree in which she sat to heat her cheeks. Summer had just begun in Rys' town of Lily Valley and she was taking advantage of the lazy hot days. Nestled in her favorite reading spot, a crook in the branch of a weeping willow, Rys took a moment to look out between the fronds. Everything was green and full of life, making the valley look surreal. Large lily fields surrounded her perch, their pure white petals reflecting the sun and making them almost hard to gaze upon.
Located in the southern plains of Rhye, Lily Valley was inhabited by the fairy folk. Preferring the warmer climate to the frosty mountains of the north, the fairies thrived in the grasslands, planting and harvesting the crop that gave the town its name.
Rys always felt as ease in Lily Valley, especially when the sun was shining and she had a good book to sink into.
As Rys let her brown eyes laze over the horizon, she noticed a figure moving in through the lilies, picking its way carefully toward her. The messy brown mop of hair Rys recognized as her only sibling, Tin. Taller and more athletic than her, Tin sprinted towards her perch without any real effort. She was always jealous of his ability to make anything look easy.
"Hello sister dear!" Tin said in his sing song voice, the one he saved for her. Tin had always been a shy kid but he opened up around his close family and friends, especially Rys. Rys was Tin's best friend and she was his. They were two years apart but Rys felt that even if the years were greater, they would still remain close.
"Tin! How did you know I was here?" Rys inquired.
"What a ridiculous question Rys. I know your spots." Smirking, Tin tapped her dangling leg with a long slender finger. Rys liked to think she kept her secret reading spots as they were - secret. But she was sure Tin knew them all like he stated.
"What brings you to the outskirts of Lily Valley then brother?"
"Oh I just wanted to take a walk, enjoy the fresh air and sun." A devilish grin pulled at the corners of his mouth.
Rys rolled her eyes and glared back at her older brother, knowing full well this was not the reason he was here.
"Ugh. Fine. Our mother and father invited over Yari and her family for lunch. Or should I say they invited her over for a makeshift wedding!"
Rys laughed and shook her head. Their parents had been pushing a local girl, Yari, on Tin ever since they came of age. Yari was enamored with Tin of course but Tin wanted nothing to do with her. Despite informing their parents of this, they were determined to marry their eldest son to the daughter of the town leader. Rys' mother and father were traditional folk and stuck in their ways. Rys and Tin were in a secret agreement to never become them.
"Oh Tin. Not again." Rys felt ashamed that her parents did this to Tin. Although he was nonchalant in his speech she could tell that it bothered him. She had an inkling as to why he disliked the idea of marrying Yari however. She was a nice girl with lovely blue eyes and a generous nature but Tin, Rys thought, had never seemed to look her way. She didn't want to press him on the matter and was resolute in waiting for him to talk to her about it.
"Yes indeed darling." Tin sat heavily on the ground beneath Rys, instantly picking up a blade of grass and ripping it to shreds.
"I do wish they would leave it alone. I know it bothers you Tin."
Tin didn't say anything in return; he simply played with the grass between his feet. The two sat in silence for a while, enjoying the solitude. The siblings enjoyed each other's company immensely and never felt awkward to sit together in silence. Most times they would talk and share stories of life until their mother and father would silence them.
The sun slowly crept higher in the sky as Rys went back to reading her book. Tin lounged below her; eyes shut and face to the sun. His hands folded neatly in his lap. Rys soon felt the need to shut her eyes for a mid afternoon nap as well. She returned her book to her knapsack and rolled ever so slightly to the right. When she looked up she could see a field of lilies stretching from the tree line to the outer limits of her town. The field was full to the brim with magnificent white flowers, their petals reaching for the sun.
Rys took a moment to appreciate the sheer beauty that surrounded her home, breathing deep the scented air and releasing the tension held in her muscles. But as her eyes wandered over the field something caught her eye and made the hair on the back of her neck strand straight up.
Sitting up and moving the willow tree’s fronds, Rys peered out to get a better look at what she saw.
"Tin. Wake up." Rys called down to her snoozing brother.
"Hmm?" Tin replied, cracking an eye.
"Do you see that?"
"What?"
"That. In the middle of the field." Rys pointed to the dead center of the field where she spotted an unnerving sight.
Standing up, Tin stretched and shaded his eyes with his hand.
"I don't see - oh wait. I do see it. It surely can't be what I think it is." Tin looked up at his sister with a questioning look.
"Well, let's go see for sure." Rys hopped down from her perch with as much grace as she could muster. Together they picked their way through the flowers, careful not to damage any of the precious buds. A strange sense of dread pulsed through her veins as continued on, making the hair on her arms stand straight up.
They came to the center and gazed upon what had caught Rys' eye. A jet black lily grew among the pure white flowers. It looked alien and out of place. Something about it didn't feel right to Rys even though it was indeed just a flower. It seemed to radiate an aura of unease and agitation.
Tin and Rys stared silently at the ebony flower, bewitched by its eerie beauty and the stories they'd heard behind such a rare bloom.
Suddenly, Tin mada a move for the stem, ripping it from the earth and sending dirt flying.
"Tin!" Rys exclaims in shock.
"There. It's gone and we don't have anything to worry about, love." Tin threw flower as far as he could into the field. "It was probably just a random thing, you think?"
Tin was trying to convince himself that seeing such a bloom was an arbitrary thing. Both of them knew what a black flower could mean but neither was able to put it into words.
Silently they walked back into town, lost in their own thoughts.
_There's no way that a lone black flower meant anything. _Rys thought. She and Tin had heard stories passed down from the elders about death omens and what happens after a jet black flower is found. Rys steeled herself against such negative thoughts and marched up the stairs to her home.
Inside, Rys and Tin's mother was reading in her favorite chair with her favorite blanket draped over her legs.
"TIN! Where in the Queen's name did you run off to? We had company!" Their mother shrieked as soon as she saw them enter through the door. Normally their mother was a calm and gentile person, but when it came to matters of propriety, she was as strict as ever.
"Mother, you know very well that I have no interest in being shown to the local girls like a jewel being put up for auction." Tin collapsed into a wooden chair in the kitchen, sighing at his mother's admonishment.
While her mother continued to rail against an uninterested Tin, Rys made her way to her bedroom. Her room was small but she thought it rather cozy. Covered in dried flowers, linens, and pillows, Rys was happy in the little slice of paradise she made for herself.
"I hear your mother has found Tin." Sighed a husky voice. Rys' father poked his head around the door frame and leaned his body against the wall. "I'm glad you’re both home. Dinner is almost ready."
"Thanks, Dad." Rys was still mulling over the possible meaning behind the black bloom and wasn't tuned into the conversation her father had started.
"Rys. What's the matter? I know that face. You wear your emotions on your sleeve." Her father picked up on her distracted nature, forcing her out of her thoughts.
Hesitantly, Rys confessed everything.
"We saw something today. Tin and I. It must be completely random but it still gives me gooseflesh when I think of it." Rys had always been a rather cautious and nervous person unlike her brother who seemed to have inherited all the family’s bravado.
"What did you see?" Her father moved into her room, concern showing in his face as he took a seat on the bed beside her.
"A black lily." Rys whispered as if the words themselves carried a weight.
Her father's face instantly drained of color and a shiver ran through his body as he stood. He looked down at Rys, real fear behind his usually clear eyes.
"Dad? What - what is it?" The gooseflesh rose on her arms once more.
"Where did you see this bloom?"
Rys shared all the details of where they were and how Tin violently extracted it from the ground.
"You shouldn't have touched it. You know the legends right?" Her father stood in the middle of the room, unmoving.
"Yes, but surely -”
"I will return." He abruptly departed from her room, descended the stairs, gathered Rys' mother (who was still blathering on about Tin) and exited the house. Rys followed and found Tin at the front door, just as confused as she was.
"Where are they off too? Mother wasn't nearly done with her lecture."
"I told father about the black lily. He seemed scared Tin. Do you think it could have been an omen?" Rys held her elbows as a sudden chill swept though her.
Tin was silent, watching his parents disappear into the house of the mayor.
"I don't know Rys, but if it is, that means something actually would happen in this town!" Tin chuckled and walked away from the door back to his perch by the kitchen table.
Rys sighed and shrugged off Tin's flippant remark. Their town was small and therefore it lacked a certain amount of excitement. But if the flower was truly an omen, that was not the kind of excitement any town of any size wanted.
Rys and Tin fed themselves, cleaned the kitchen, and retired to their respective rooms for the night. Their parents had been gone a while but Tin was unconcerned. He told Rys that they were probably apologizing profusely to the mayor and Yari for his disappearing act earlier in the day. Rys knew that was probably the case and they were no doubt a few drinks in, forgetting all about the time. But something still stirred in the back of her mind. Something tickling and creeping through her thoughts. Something dark and nasty was coming and it all had to do with that obsidian flower.
