Petals

by Millennium_Girl

Summary:

A vase of lilies of the valley brings back some memories for Ney that she would rather keep buried.

It started with a vase of lilies of the valley.

The princess had been trying to decide which flowers should be planted in the royal garden to replace the daffodils that had died last years. Of course, there were always roses in the garden, but the princess insisted in keeping the garden full of a variety of flowers just like it had always been.

As time went on, however, it became very clear that not just any flower would do. Samples were sent to the princess from every corner of the country, but none had quite made the cut, and were instead shoved in various vases around the castle. Which, of course, meant that Ney was liable to pass by them at just about any moment of the day.

Not that she had originally thought much of it. It was just another of the princess's silly whims, even if the constant influx of flowers meant Chartette had been sneezing very loudly. If anything, it was a good sign that the princess was blowing national funds on finding the perfect flower to fill in an empty patch in the royal garden. It just meant Lucifenia would be that much weaker when the time came, and Mother would be that much prouder of her.

That was until, while searching for some plaster to repair a fountain Chartette had accidentally cracked, she ran into a vase of gorgeous, fragrant lilies of the valley.

Ney knew she ought to keep walking past them, because Ney the servant, Mariam's daughter, had no emotional connection to lilies of the valley. But that was a far away thought, drowned out by memories she had buried deep down inside years ago.

She could still remember the hacking, the feeling of lily petals making their way up her throat and out of her mouth, covered in blood. That first day she had spent hours staring at them in horror, not daring to move a muscle for fear of triggering another fit. Once she had regained her wits, she had lit a match and burned the petals to ash, hoping they'd never return.

The next day she all but vomited flowers into her chamber pot; afterwards, she genuinely cried for the first time since she was six. It wasn't even the pain that made the infuriating tears well up, but the fear of what Mother and I.R would think of her if they learned she had failed so drastically at killing her feelings. She was disgusting.

The princess had been on a diplomatic trip to Marlon with her mother at the time, and Ney, at just fourteen, had been brought along to serve as the princess's maid. She had been ecstatic at the chance to see Mother again, and had been looking forward to the trip almost as fervently as the princess for months, only to have it all come crashing down the moment she saw her.

Truth be told, Ney never actually learned her name. All she knew was that she had pretty brown hair and vibrant blue eyes like the tidepools. She worked at the palace, and she had been the one to show Ney around the palace back when she needed to pretend she didn't know the layout of it like the back of her hand. Apparently, that was enough to bring the flowers.

Ney had coughed up flowers for six more days after the incident with the chamberpot, eight in total, before I.R, ever observing from the shadows, pulled her aside. Despite her worst fears, the older woman hadn't been too disappointed in her failure, and had promised not to tell Mother about it (of course, I.R's promises never actually meant anything, but it had been reassuring in the moment), so long as she pointed out the object of her affections and agreed to let I.R get rid of it, which of course she had. She was no fool, she knew what coughing up flowers meant, and she had no intention of dying, and therefore failing Mother completely.

The next day, she had pretended to be sick, only for I.R to sneak her into her rooms in the Western Tower. After that, her memories went fuzzy. There had been a scalpel, and other cold metal tools that cut up her insides, and she was sure she had screamed like she was being murdered. There had been blood, so much blood, enough that at several points she was sure she was going to die from loss of it. But I.R had given her an overly sweet drink before, so the rest of it had faded into a blur.

When all was done, there were no more lilies of the valley. I.R had been sure to show her the extracted root system that had previously been in her lungs, as if the procedure itself hadn't been enough to impress on her what would happen if she ever made that mistake ever again. Her loyalty ought to be to Mother, first and foremost. Neither of them mentioned the discarded carnation petals in the corner that had been tangled within the root system.

When all was said and done, Ney had been left with a permanent hatred of lilies of the valley, and a suspicion of the carnation petals she'd still hack up every so often, even though I.R had told her there was no need to remove the roots of those flowers, and that they really weren't that bad, anyways.

She stared at the vase of a moment more, before grabbing the flowers by the stems and chucking them out the window. They were worthless, anyways.

Notes:

Lilies of the Valley can sometimes mean sorrow or grief because of death (they're actually used in a lot of funeral arrangements), and carnations are the official flower for Mother's Day.

In case it wasn't clear, Ney does still have Hanahaki, since Prim doesn't really care about her at all. It's just slower progressing because she's not aware, and would never admit it

I hope you enjoyed!!