“A bouquet of… grass?” I asked, taking the jar from him.
Oaken looked confused, then crestfallen. “Blast. Is that not right? The translation was not very clear. It only mentioned a bouquet of plant matter.”
My heart was going to crumple into a tiny, papery ball if he kept looking so sad about my weird little wedding bouquet.
“It’s perfect!” I exclaimed at the exact same moment that Darcy piped up, “It’s supposed to be flowers!”
“Flowers,” Oaken repeated. Then he brightened up. “One moment.”
He limped across the kitchen and pulled open a cupboard door.
“I replaced my supplies after you used them all,” he said. His supplies of what, I had no idea.
Until he turned around with three purple flowers clenched in his fist. He hobbled back to me and addedthem among the grass. He did a pretty good freaking job. Very artfully arranged.
“These are the same flowers that…”
“That saved your life,” Oaken confirmed.
My heart nearly stopped. They looked just like…
Magnolias.
“Thank you, Oaken!” I gasped. I threw myself against him in a sideways, one-armed hug, not wanting to upend my bouquet. Oaken stiffened, and I could feel him looking over my head at Garrek for instructions on what to do.
“It’s called a hug,” Garrek said. “You’re meant to do it back.”
Oaken mirrored my pose, putting one arm around me and leaving the other dangling awkwardly at his side. He wasn’t currently holding his crutch, but he didn’t seem to understand that he was allowed to use both arms.
But it didn’t matter much. It was still a good hug to me.
Although Garrek didn’t let it go on very long.
“Alright,” he growled. His tail looped around my waist, pulling me back to his side. “That’s enough.”
“Impatient, Garrek?” came the warden’s voice. His purple face shoved back into view as he reclaimed possession of his tablet. “Ready to get started?”
“Yes,” Garrek answered instantly. I looked up at him, at his hard face in profile, so focused, so sure.
“And you, Magnolia?” the warden asked.
With one hand holding my precious bouquet-in-a-jar and the other reaching down to squeeze Garrek’s, Imet the warden’s orange-tinted gaze through the screen in Killian’s claws.
“Yes,” I vowed. Just as Garrek had. “I’m ready.”
