Daily Writing Challenge – February 2020 – Day 1 – Love is in the Air/Weakness
Cynedra flipped the sign on the boutique’s door to “CLOSED” and pulled off her gloves, tossing them on the counter. Scooping her long, blonde hair up into a loose bun, she sighed and rubbed her eyes.
“Finally!” she said, to no one since her shop was now blessedly empty.
Love is in the Air was over and done with, for another year at least.
All the Ren’dorei woman wanted to do now was go home, run a hot bath with lots of bubble bath, and sink into it, with a cup of her favorite tea nearby. It had been a long few weeks, even with the days off she had given herself this year, and she was exhausted, her hands were a mess of little cuts from rose thorns and callouses, her feet had blisters on top of blisters, and her shoulders felt like she had been holding up the whole of Azeroth instead of just moving flower pots, vases and little gifts.
All in all, it hadn’t been a bad year. She had made quite a bit of gold from the pre-orders she took leading up to the holiday, and that wasn’t counting the “last minute” gifts and arrangements she had sold at a markup. Sometimes she felt bad about marking up the prices for this holiday, but then she looked at her hands and feet, and decided it was justified.
Being a florist during the most popular love holiday on Azeroth was not easy work.
A few years ago, when she had just been setting up her business, it had been a lot harder. She didn’t have her own shop for the Boutique, she had a tiny garden and even smaller green house, and she’d had to cart all of her wares into Stormwind City to the stall she rented every morning, set them up, and then cart them home at the end of the day. She had worked every single day of the holiday that year, and she thought she may go mad from smelling roses after that.
The worst part was that she had been completely alone. She had not yet met Raikis, and was years away from meeting Natheus, so spending those weeks around happy, in love couples had been a struggle. She knew she should be grateful that she had a home, no matter how small the cottage was, and the beginnings of a lucrative career… but watching smitten young ladies smile at their new beaus, or couples that had been together for decades always tugged at something deep inside and made her feel her exile from her homeland even more keenly.
She believed it to be her greatest weakness, that she could not put aside her personal feelings of loneliness to try to enjoy the holiday and all that came with it. Only after meeting Raikis did she understand why she felt that way. He made her happy in a way that no one else had before, even if they couldn’t be together as much as she would have liked. Just knowing that he would be there if she needed him made her feel better. And then she had met Nate, and although he was gone to the Isles for now, she felt like with him she had found a kindred spirit. His love of plants rivaled her own, as did his love of nature.
Cynedra was so unbelievably happy with the two of them, that even the “worst” holiday, in her opinion, had been made bearable. She had even made gifts for them on one of her days off, and she couldn’t wait to see them again so she could give them the gifts.