bioinnovel Chapter 48 The Firefly Flower Sea You Once Longed to Visit 1
Chapter 48 The Firefly Flower Sea You Once Longed to Visit 1
Vera endured it for the entire afternoon.
It wasn't until evening, when everyone had settled down at the Nightshade tribe's border camp, that she finally found an opportunity to pull Lynn, who was inspecting the eagle saddle, to the back of the camp's edge.
"Mr. Lynn," she whispered, her emerald eyes filled with the message, "I can't hold it in any longer."
"What exactly is this natural contract between you and your aunt?"
Lynn paused in his movements.
He knew this question would come.
"That night I went to Chief Elune to become a druid, and she got drunk and accidentally triggered the ritual of the Natural Pact."
"By the time I realized it, the contract was already complete."
He continued adjusting the saddle straps, his tone as calm as if he were remarking on the beautiful weather.
Vera gasped, "It's...it's that simple?"
"It's that simple." Lynn glanced at her, a hint of helplessness in his eyes. "What else? What did you expect?"
"I...I thought..." Vera blushed, "I thought you guys had already..."
"Long ago what?" Lynn asked deliberately.
"N-nothing!" Vera shook her head vigorously, her silver hair swaying like a rattle in the twilight.
The vague, inexplicable worry in her heart suddenly eased considerably.
It turned out to be just an accident.
However... once the natural covenant is established, it means sharing life, sharing insights, and connecting souls.
Even if it started as an accident, now...
Vera looked at Lynn's calm profile and felt a strange, slightly unpleasant feeling well up inside her.
She herself didn't know where this unhappiness came from.
------
Elune returned in the evening.
She changed into a simple everyday outfit, her silver hair still damp, as if she had just taken a bath.
The fatigue on his face was undeniable, but his emerald eyes still lit up when he saw Lynn discussing the route with Fang in the center of the camp.
"Chieftain, has Moonshadow been dealt with?" Lynn saw her first, stopped talking, and walked over.
"Um."
"It was just... a little naughty. I've already disciplined it."
Elune nodded, her ear tips slightly red—she hadn't yet figured out how to explain her outfit from that afternoon.
She herself felt guilty about saying that.
Lynn seemed to believe her, and said gently, "Thank you for your hard work. Have you had dinner? I made soup and saved some for you."
It was just ordinary concern.
But Elune's heart skipped a beat.
"Not yet."
"Thanks."
She lowered her head.
"Then go drink it quickly, it'll get cold."
Lynn naturally reached out and gently brushed aside a strand of hair still damp with water droplets from Elune's cheek.
You don't look well, you should get some rest tonight.
The warmth of the fingertips dissipates upon contact.
Elune felt as if she had been burned by something, a tingling, numb sensation, in the place where she had been touched.
She practically fled towards the barracks.
Behind her, Lynn watched her retreating figure, a complex light flashing in his eyes.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Late at night.
The camp fell silent, save for the occasional footsteps of the watchmen and the distant hooting of owls.
Elune stood in front of her small tent, her fingers twisting the hem of her clothes repeatedly, her heart pounding like a drum.
According to the plan, she should now go to "ask questions about nature magic"—wearing that silk dress, carrying just the right fragrance, and knocking on Lynn's tent door under the moonlight.
Elder Seran had even prepared her lines: "Mr. Lynn, I still have some questions about Emperor-level natural magic. May I have a moment to spare?"
Then, be alone.
A barely perceptible touch.
A subtle, almost imperceptible approach.
Feelings also grow subtly and gradually.
The plan is perfect.
But Elune, looking at the neatly folded dress in her hands, which shimmered like pearls in the moonlight, couldn't bring herself to take a step.
That's too deliberate.
This is so... unlike her.
Just as she was struggling, the tent flap was gently lifted.
Lynn stood outside, her silhouette blurred by the moonlight, but her voice was clear and gentle: "Can't sleep?"
Elune's hand trembled, and her dress almost fell to the ground.
She hurriedly hid it behind her back, her cheeks burning.
Due to nervousness, Elune stammered, "Mr. Lynn... I'd like to discuss... things about nature... magic... with you... perhaps I could take up a little of your time?"
Lynn found it quite novel to see Elune so nervous that she stuttered as she spoke.
Although I really wanted to tease him a bit.
However, Lynn just remembered a regret of her teacher from her previous life.
That place just happens to be nearby.
Lynn smiled and slowly said, "Chief Elune, you've come at the right time. I'll take you to a place where you can be taught even better."
"Where...where are we going?" Elune asked, somewhat puzzled.
You'll know when you get there.
"Don't worry, it's not far."
Lynn stretched out his hand, palm up.
His posture was too natural, and his tone too matter-of-fact.
Elune, as if possessed, placed her hand on it.
The warm touch enveloped her slightly cool fingers.
Lynn didn't take her far; she simply led her through the forest at the edge of the camp.
He walked the path with practiced ease, as if he had traversed it a thousand times, avoiding patrolling sentries and bypassing the slumbering territory of the demons.
The further Elune walked, the more familiar the scenery around her seemed.
Until Lynn pushed aside the last clump of drooping stardew vines—
She was stunned.
Before us lies a small valley, hidden among the mountains.
In the center of the valley, there grew vast fields of flowers whose names she did not know.
The flowers bloomed in the night, each petal emitting a soft glow, like stars fallen to the ground.
Among the flowers, thousands of fireflies danced lightly, their glow intertwining with the flowers to create a flowing sea of light.
When a gentle breeze blows, the glowing light on the petals floats up with the wind, blending with the fireflies' lights, making it impossible to distinguish between flowers and insects.
This is……
Elune's breathing stopped.
"A sea of fireflies." Lynn released her hand, walked to the edge of the flower field, and spoke softly.
"It only blooms once a year in the height of summer, and its flowering period lasts only ten days. I happened to hear about it from the orcs."
Deceiving.
Elune knew he was lying.
This secluded place wasn't even marked on the rangers' maps; only an old elven gardener knew about it.
But she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Because she had remembered something.
That was a long, long time ago, so long that the memories have faded into yellowed fragments.
When she was still a little elf, she wrote in an old diary:
When Mom and Dad aren't so busy, I want them to take my brother and me to see the firefly flower field.
I've heard there are countless fireflies and a sea of flowers that glow at night.
That must be the most beautiful place in the world.
Unfortunately, my parents were never "not busy" again after that.
They sacrificed their lives in the war to protect the forest.
My brother too.
That diary, along with that small, naive wish, was locked away in the deepest box of the treehouse and never opened again.
Yes.
Lynn did indeed lie to Elune.
In her previous life, after Elune passed away, Lynn found this little wish in Elune's yellowed diary.
Lynn spent more than a month fulfilling her wish.
We found this hidden sea of fluorescent flowers.
Unfortunately, Elune was no longer with us by then.
But Lynn can't exactly say, "I saw the wishes you wrote in your diary in my past life."
So I brought you here.
So Lynn found an excuse.
Listen to this prophet's bluff, Elven Chieftain.
He turned his back, not looking at Elune, but at the sea of glowing flowers, and said, "Elune, you guard the forest, yet you always lock yourself in your treehouse and piles of books."
Sometimes, stopping and letting nature embrace you is the best way to understand it.
"The true way of nature is not in runes, nor in rituals."
"Here."
"In the trajectory of flowing light, in the breath carried by the wind, in the quietest roar of life in full bloom..."
But there was no response from behind.
When Lynn turned around, he found that Elune's eyes were red.
Tears kept flowing out.
Elune bit her lip, trying to hold back.
But the tears still wouldn't listen and kept falling, one by one, landing on the glowing petals.
She is the clan leader, an Emperor-level Druid, and the guardian of the forest.
But in front of my parents and brother.
She was just a little girl who cried easily.
"I'm so sorry..."
"I...I just..."
Feeling Lynn's gaze, Elune frantically wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, but the more she wiped, the more tears she shed.
"Why are you apologizing to me?"
"If you're feeling unwell..."
Lynn paused, then said very softly and earnestly:
You can lean on my shoulder.
Elune looked at him through teary eyes.
Moonlight and firefly light intertwined on his face, and there was tenderness in his brown eyes.
There is something deeper, like the loneliness of having experienced the same loss.
Elune didn't know what was wrong with her either.
By the time she realized what was happening, her forehead was already resting on his shoulder.
The warm fabric clung to her skin, and she could smell his clean scent, a blend of grass, trees, and sunshine.
Lynn's body stiffened for a moment, then slowly relaxed.
He didn't hug her; he just stood there quietly, letting her lean on him.