SITTING ON BUTTERCUPS

"This is going to be a disaster," Brian shakes his head.

"What are you saying? What's with coffee? Is it something that will bring disaster!?" Ieka's voice quivers a little.

"No, coffee is great! It smells so good and it tastes like heaven. Personally, I love lattes. They're just so creamy." I blabber on.

"Brian, can you tell me what really is happening with your companion?" Ieka says, alarm in her tone.

"Uh, nothing. Let me talk to her again, and I'm sure she'll be okay after."

Brian takes me by the arm and leads me to a spot far enough so Ieka will not hear anything we will be talking about.

"What was that, Tasha? When she'll find out anything, she's going to tell the village chief and the village guards and they'll banish us from the village!"

"Find out? I'm just asking for a cup of coffee. Is that a major problem?"

"Just...leave this to me."

"But how come she has no idea about what coffee is? Maybe they have coffee, but they call it in a different term. A different language." I tap on my chin.

"For the millionth time, they don't have coffee. What you think is coffee aroma is really their body odor," Brian says and add, "I really should have told you all I know about Narké traditions before dragging you in here with me."

"Body odor? What!?"

"They don't wash themselves since the moment they've been born for if they do, they will sprout branches and turn into a tree." Brian's face is dead serious that I have no choice but to believe in every word he just said.

"Oh, this is weird now. I want to throw up." I gag.

"No, no! Narkéans wouldn't like that. Just take deep breaths." Brian's attempt of calming me down doesn't work.

"Deep breaths!? And what? Smell their putrid stench of a body odor?"

My eyes water and I can feel the vomit rising up to my throat. Before I know it, I throw up all over the floor.

...●●●...

"All your fault." Brian kicks the opalescent pebbles lying in the ground before him.

"I didn't know, okay? And what am I going to do with my puke? Swallow it back in?"

"Don't blame me about the fact we didn't get any clues about the mirror, because it was all your fault!" Brian exclaims.

"Well, I'm sorry, okay? Everybody makes mistakes."

"Don't get started on all of that." Brian turn away from me.

"I'm really sorry. I should have known better. It really is my fault so if you want to stop helping me, do it." I say in a hushed tone.

Silence washes over us like a cool, icy waterfall, and left us shivering.

"You know, I can see a little of my past self in you." Brian starts to speak, breaking the ice, "When I first got here, I was all excited about everything that I messed it all up." His smile quivers a little as he look in the distance, as if he can see his memories there.

"Really?" I walk up beside him.

"Yes but I couldn't tell you about it, I'd rather show it to you."

Brian sat on a flower, particularly a buttercup. I look at it for a second and blink a few times. I am so engulfed with myself feeling blue that I don't notice the change of scenery around me.

Gone are the mossy background as beautiful flowers with sweet scents fill the air and colorful mushrooms and weird looking shrubs replace it, spreading evenly in front of my own eyes, wowing without trying.

"Where are we?" I ask Brian.

"We're in Gardeia where memories are given a chance to live once more."

"What was that supposed to mean?" I ask, sitting beside him on another buttercup.

"Just look in the distance. Can you see that thick white fog?" He stands up and goes nearer the fog.

I follow him closely behind.

"Creatures and people who live in these lands all flock here to relive their memories again, one last time. The fog—you walk into it and you'll get to be in the memory you chose to feel and realize again."

"Is the fog...conscious? Is it responsible for everything it does!? That's incredible." I breath.

"Actually, no. There are faeries responsible for all of this." He says.

"You know it!" A cheery voice pipes in, startling me.

"Seriously? You have to do that every time?" Another voice asks, in a somewhat melancholic and monotone voice.

Brian shifts on his feet, "Speaking of faeries, here are two of them now," he says.

The bush right behind me rustles and parts, revealing a faerie dressed in a pastel pink dress paired with a feathery flower crown studded with beautiful flowers playing with different shades of pink.

"Hello there! What brings you here? Wait, don't tell me! I'll guess!" She says in an effervescent and cheery voice.

She taps her chin as if thinking, her bright smile not leaving her face while doing so.

"You're here for your memories!" She says in a sweet singsong voice.

"That's right, Amphrite. All of them come here for just one reason: to relive their memories again. They're not here to make friends or whatsoever so bring them over here so that we can take them to the center." The other faerie from before emerge from the shadows of the flower stalks nearby. "The sooner we start, the sooner we finish." She adds.

She slowly tiptoes out the bushes that make a rustling sound as she emerge. Her blue hair is adorned with small flowers in white, and she leers at us, especially at Brian.

"Don't look so woebegone, Calysta! We have visitors again! That means I have another chance to make new friends!" Amphrite chirp.

Calysta just raises an eyebrow.

"But...maybe you're right." Amphrite whispers, ducking her head a little. She turns to look at Brian and I.

"What memories would you want to see and feel again? Tell us and we'll take you to the others to summon the fog."

"Actually, I..." I stammer.

"We're just here to admire the gardens of Gardeia." Brian says.

Calysta scoffs. "You just brought a girl with you and your intentions now have changed? I can still remember your memories deep inside my head, Brian." She circles him like a prowling cat circling its prey, "I remember you coming back here over and over everyday for the past year!"

"Calysta, stop it! We should be respectful to our visitors!" Amphrite says.

Calysta stops and starts to slightly tremble.

"I'm just tired of remembering their sorrowful and depressing memories every time, Amphrite. I feel sick every time I do it." Calysta falls to her knees and a teardrop fell to the ground. A small flower grows from the spot where it fell, but it quickly wilted.

"But you shouldn't be complaining about it, Calysta. It's our task."

"Easy for you to say, your task is to remember their joyous memories. Of course you'll be happy about it and you wouldn't complain anything."

"I'm sorry." Amphrite kneels down and rubs circles around Calysta's back, trying to comfort her.

"It's okay. I think I was just affected by the memories of that banshee earlier." She sigh and gets up to her feet again. "I'm sorry you have to see and deal with all of that. " She says, looking at Brian and I.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Brian smiles.

"Really? Thanks." She mumbles, averting her eyes from us.

...●●●...

"So you're new here? What does it feel like?" Amphrite asks with inquisitiveness.

"Well, I'm having a race with time itself." I say.

"That's crazy! Why are you here then? Why aren't you running?"

"Amphrite, what Tasha is trying to say is entirely different." Calysta says.

"Oh. Really? Well what are you trying to say to us, Tasha?"

"If I won't find the mirror here in time, I'll fade away." I say, my voice unwantedly breaking.

"I can feel your pain and dread for what the future might hold for you, Tasha." Calysta says. "I'm terribly sorry, I can't do anything to help. All I can do is to help you relive your memories. I cannot even do it alone. I need all of the faeries to do such thing."

"Speaking of the other fairies, where are they?" Brian asks.

"I guess they're having a tea party." Amphrite says.

"Hmm. Alright." Brian slowly nods his head.

"Now, Brian. Why did you bring Tasha here in Gardeia?" Calysta asks him.

"I just went where my feet would take me and Tasha here follows me wherever I go. I am trying to help her find the mirror." He explains.

"Are you sure? Because it's like you're leaving out juicy details!" Amphrite coos.

"No, I'm not leaving out details!" Brian splutters.

"If you say so." The two faeries chorused and Amphrite heartedly chuckles afterwards.

Brian just scratches the back of his head, shifting on the buttercup where he sits.

...●●●...

A hummingbird flies just a few meters atop of us as it dropped two white carnation petals. Once the petals were caught by Amphrite and Calysta, the hummingbird flew away.

"Another one, so suddenly!" Amphrite's face sparkles with delight after she read what was written on the petal, "Looks like we'll be going now," she waves the carnation petal in the air.

"Where are you going?" I call behind them as they hurriedly left.

"At Gardeia's center, in the Great Willow Tree. You can come with us if you'd like. Just don't enter the stalk's double doors!" Amphrite says.

"It's okay, I'll just stay here. When will you be back?"

"It depends on how long the memory is."

The both of them disappear in the lavender patch.

...●●●...

"The faeries are fun to be with! I'm pretty sure they can tell me lots of stories and I wouldn't get bored with even a single one." I smile and stretch my hands up in the air, inhaling the fresh scent of flowers in bloom.

"Why did you bring us here, Brian? It seems pretty obvious that you know the faeries well."

"The truth is, I want to gather more details about the mirror. Just like how Amphrite remember the happy memories of the person and how Calysta remember the sad memories, there are other fairies who are also tasked to remember other memories tied with emotions."

"How do they do it?"

"They circle around you and with that, you should think of a memory—any memory. Once you think of it, they absorb it and play it in their head as they summon a thick fog. It's like a three dimensional hologram that you can touch. You step right into it, and then you can interact with the memory you chose. At least that's how I think it is."

"Sounds a little scary." I laugh a little.

"Well, I did it for hundreds of times now. I come here to interact with my family once more, something that I know will never happen again but here, it gave me a chance to, even just one memory at a time."

"That's a little depressing to hear." I say.

"It's okay. I already accepted my fate." He smiles.

Sensing the change of the atmosphere, I think fast of another topic.

"What are the other emotions that the other faeries remember?"

"Well, apart from happiness and sadness, there's anger, fear, love..." Brian stops to think for a moment then continues, "And uh, anxiety, shame, disgust and pride."

"It would be enchanting if I'll meet the others! Let's just go to the center of Gardeia, just like what Amphrite said earlier. We'll wait for all of them outside the Great Willow Tree! How's that sound?"

"Like a good idea, even though you said you'll just wait for them here."

"Oh right...but it's a surprise. Come on, you lead the way."

I stand up from the buttercup where I sit and start to walk through the lavender patch, tugging Brian along with me.

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