“Pardon my reach,” it feels wrong invading her personal space like this, but it’s only for a moment. it’s only long enough for a hand well practiced in sleight to leave something in her hair. “Camellia, they call it. The meaning of it is beyond me but the color more than suits you.”
@bcwblade || was it fluff mirin’s heart? who knows. this is beautiful.
Ema was surprised at the brief contact of Master Simon’s cold hands with her hair, ruffling those silk threads with his touch as the biting, cold air of Ashina’s unforgiving autumn burrowed through their skins. She had not even heard him coming closer, used as he was to stalk in the shadows, his step lighter than his breath, especially when all of her attention was focused on the scroll in front of her.
Distractedly, she brushed her fingers against the soft skin of the petals, before removing the flower from her hair to look at it. As she contemplated its scarlet color, a very similar tint spread across her cheeks. It took her a minute, but she did remember its meaning in hanakotoba. She was sure it was an innocent mistake on Simon’s part, but she could tease him a little for it.
“A sweet kiss to deliver on my betrothed’s lips, but I tremble in fear. Accept this red tsubaki, woman of my heart, to seal my ache and torment for your body and soul,” Ema recited an old poetry she heard Isshin speak to one of his lovers, looking at Simon with half a smile.
“Red camellia means ‘deep love, passion, longing, eternal union’. For the stem and the petals are never separated, even when the flower withers, so shall two lovers never be without the other no matter the circumstances. Not even death can keep them apart.”
The medic held the flower against her chest. The shade was indeed similar to her garments, which elicited a contented grin from her, if only because Simon’s gaze was sharp and attentive even for her. Especially for her.
“I shall treasure this gift, Master Saimon,” she tilted her head as she put the camellia back where it belonged. “I so wish me and you never to be separated. I am fond of you.”