Aciers Water Lilies
Summary The pond of water lilies in the Silva Garden... Once the sanctuary of Acier Silva, today the favorite place of her children and her loved ones to have a peaceful July afternoon...
A/N Since it's my birthday today, I wrote myself a little fluffshot as a gift. It's a bit a tradition at this point^^
Ao3 link
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Crushs shell wasn’t yet glowing and shining like an emerald, as he was still a baby. But the green nacreous glow was still strong enough that Vanessa could witness it move within the water lily pond, between all the water lilies. The green looked indeed like a little gem with how it moved in those crystal clear blue waters of the pond.
It was to be expected. After all, Crush was an emerald turtle, shining like a gem was in his genes. Especially now, that his broken shell moulted finally. When Solid and Rosette took him home from their beach date, the poor turtle was barely a few days old, lost from his flock and a broken shell, all alone. Solid and Rosette had taken him to Owen, who healed the shell as much as he could and also found out that it was an emerald turtle.
Crush came home with Solid and Rosette, as he somehow imprinted on them, later as well on the rest of the family. It was supposed to be only temporary but well, in a family of Black Bulls and Silvas, nothing really went as planned. The day they brought Crush back on the Raque beach when a flock of emerald turtles swam along the shore, their little buddy had fun with the other turtles but when they left, he decided to stay with the Silvas. They were his flock now, which amused Vanessa every time.
Thank goodness that unlike regular turtles, emerald turtle babies weren’t dangerous for babies. Which was good, as the Silvas had welcomed two new princesses into their family earlier this year, in February.
Vanessa smiled at her twin daughters, who were lying happily in their double bassinet, next to the water lily pond. Valentina giggled and played at grabbing a feather Zora moved upon her nose, while Nymphea just looked at the pond. So much like her father…
Her precious babies.
An arm came around her shoulders. “Are you happy?”
“Of course, honey. Days like this one are days of happiness.”
And she kissed her husband, giggling as Nozel smiled against her lips.
“Ugh, gross.”
“Shut up, Solid!”
Nebra and Noelle started scolding their other brother, Rosette giggled while reading her book and munching her vanilla-lavender muffin, Zora snickered making Valentina laugh and Asta just vibed.
It was a wonderful afternoon on this 25th day of July. Thankfully not as hot as normally for this month and the Silva Flower Garden was known to cool down the hottest temperatures in summer.
The whole Silva family enjoyed the sun, under a parasol but sitting right on a blanket, right next to the pond with the water lilies. Probably not very royal, but it was just them and they were having a moment of rest and relaxation, so why bother with the opinion of nobles who weren’t even present?
A bunch of cakes, fruits and cold drinks had been given to them by the servants and now, it was one of those moments that you just wanted to put in a glass of jam and smell on it when you were sad, to remember truly happy moments.
Nozel was now hugging her and Vanessa practically melted in his embrace. It was like a miracle to see him accepting happiness so easily today. Unthinkable two years ago. He could still be the same stern cold royal captain towards nobles and at least reserved with most of their friends, but with her, their daughters and his siblings? Happier Nozel was not a rarity anymore and Vanessa enjoyed it fully.
“So, what’s with this pond anyway?”
Astas question troubled a bit the serenity, but didn’t destroyed it. Still, everyone was now looking at him, even Crush popped his head out from under a water lily.
Asta looked at everyone with confusion. “What? Did I say something insulting?”
“Of course not, Bakasta. But your question comes a bit out of the blue.”
“It does?”
“Yes!”
“Oh.”
“You can’t blame the moron to be confused,” Zora snickered while he took Valentina in his arms. “After all, he uses only half of his two braincells, so he kinda didn’t get the symbolic so far.”
“Exactly! Wait, what?”
“What Zora meant is that you probably missed out the explanation when you visited the garden for the first time,” Rosette replied, always the diplomat, without even looking up from her book.
“No wonder, he was too excited at all the different names of each rose variation,” Nebra sighed dramatically, hiding her face in her own book. The Lady In Teal, one of those spooky novels she and Noelle loved so much, despite being always scared.
“BECAUSE I HAD NO IDEA THAT ROSES HAD NAMES, SINCE THEY ARE CALLED ROSES ALREADY!”
Nymphea turned her amethyst eyes at her uncle, who flinched under her glare. No wonder, it was pretty much like Nozels or Noelles.
Vanessa sighed as she took Nymphea in her arms. “Asta, you’re sweet, but what did we say about screaming in front of the babies?”
“Which includes Crush, by the way,” Solid added in a kinda scolding tone (he wasn’t very good at scolding) as he put Crush on his lap who went back on land once Asta started to yell.
For someone who was never good at being kind and caring, Solid was very fond on the little emerald turtle baby. Rosettes influence, no doubt. And she didn’t even done it purpose. Who would have thought that an arranged betrothal would have brought the best out of Solid?
Vanessa felt Nozel sigh. Like all of his siblings, the symbolic of the water lily pond was important to him, but for him, it went deeply into his soul.
“Our mother made that pond.”
Just five words, but impactful, like always when that one word was said. Mother…
Everyone was silent. It wasn’t awkward and the serenity was still there. But since the Silva siblings only started recently to FINALLY move on from their mother’s death, especially Nozel, there was still some kind of faraway sadness and nostalgia each time Acier Silva was mentioned.
Vanessa held Nymphea closer to her.
“Water lilies were always her favourite flowers. Sadly, there wasn’t any in this garden when she was a child. Our grandfather probably found them not royal enough. But our mother didn’t share his opinion. So, when she was nine, she actually asked the Silva gardeners to make a pond with water lilies in the garden.”
“You mean ordered.”
“No, Zora. She really did ask. In any case, the Silva gardeners granted her wish. Our grandfather never cared enough to go himself in the garden often, so he never knew about it. This pond obviously became our mothers favourite place, not only in the garden, but in the whole palace, probably even the capital. Over the years, it also became her sanctuary. She always took us there, even Noelle, despite being very weak during those dark times. In a way… it’s like her spirit is still there, like that in this place, she is still alive. At this pond, with the flower she loved, in the garden she cherished.”
It helps us grieve better and remembering her without pain…
He didn’t said it, but it was pretty clear nonetheless for everyone. Even Asta knew how much Acier Silva meant to Noelle and her siblings.
Zora kindly gave Valentina to Nozel, who cradled his daughter with care. Of course. Holding his baby helped Nozel remembering his mother and knowing that he will be a parent like her. He was finally accepting it easier than not so long ago.
Valentina gently grabbed one of Nozels strand of silver hair. Solid stroked Crush softly. Rosette put her book down, looking at the ponds with the water lilies. Nebra actually took Noelles hand. Zora lied down, pensive. Asta just nodded in silence. And Vanessa cradled Nymphea while laying her hand on Nozels shoulder, who looked at the pink, white, blue and purple flowers floating on the water, while rocking Valentina in his arms. A soft smile was on his lips. It wasn’t a painful thing to remember anymore.
Finally, he was healing from his grief and past mistakes.
“Those are indeed very pretty flowers. No wonder your mum loved those,” Asta said after a while. “I was so sure that she actually loved roses, but water lilies are cool flowers to have as favourites.”
“And how did you even come to this conclusion,” Rosette asked, an amused smile on her lips.
“Well, she was a royal and all royals love roses, right? It’s called queen of flowers for a reason.”
Crush giggled.
“You know that another word for water lilies is actually nymphaea or nymphea?” Vanessa added before Noelle could scold Asta for his flawed logic.
“Flowers can have different names?” Solid asked, confused. He was the one of the Silva siblings who was not as good in flower knowledge as the other three.
“Oh, that’s funny, Nympheas name sounds exactly like that.”
“Geez, get there faster, pipsqueak!”
“Hey, Zora, who are you calling- OH!”
“He got it.”
“So, big brother… You named Nymphea after mother’s favourite flower, in her honour actually.”
“This is right, Noelle.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Rosette smiled.
“Me too. Nymphea and Valentina are wonderful names,” Vanessa added, smiling at Nozel, as they both cradled their daughters who babbled at each other.
A serene silence took place again, sometimes interrupted by other conversations, mostly funny ones. Nozel and Vanessa sat together, Valentina and Nymphea in their arms. Zora teased Nebra about her spooky novel and she hit him on the head with the book. Solid, Rosette and Crush munched on some grapes. Noelle explained the different varieties of roses to Asta, who looked at her with starry eyes and not getting anything.
Unbeknownst to them, the ghost of Acier Silva sat between them, happy to see her children jovial again, sitting at this pond that meant so much to her. Only the three babies saw her. Nymphea smiled, Valentina babbled and Crush giggled. Acier smiled back at them. She might be a ghost, but she couldn’t be sad in this moment.
Her eight children and three grandchildren, blessed with happiness and sitting at her pond of water lilies… This was all Acier Silva could ever asked for.
