#anywhere

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The night-garden... pardon, library, is mostly quiet tonight, aside from the soft scratch on pen on paper.

And then a quick rap of knuckles on the library doorframe. "Miss Zara?"

A pause, and then the door opens. "Pardon, I realized you could not hear my call. Good evening!" Zara smiles at Cora.

"I wasn't sure if you were here." Coradel smiles. "May I enter?"

Behind Zara... there are flowers. Sprouting from the carpet, from the bookshelves. Moonflower wines twined about curtonrods and lampstands.

"Aye, of course! Would you care for tea?"

She gets a glimpse. "Oh!" A few steps into the room as she looks about. "What happened here?"

"Tea would be lovely, yes."

Tiny clusters of lilac mushrooms shelter by the feet of the desks and chairs, and lily of the valley hides in the shadowy spots.

"Oh, aye - it seems to have bloomed, nu?" A tender hand reaches out to brush a datura blossom. "Lovely, isn't it?"

The sluagh always had a certain dexterity in her step, but she almost seems to float or dance her way to the tea service.

"Seems to? Miss Zara, this is more than merely seems." She walks carefully to avoid crushing tiny flowers with her step. "It suits you, but it's quite a change."

"Aye. I am not certain how it occurred. But it is most delightful. Like reading in a bower." She pours a fresh cup for the baroness.

Coradel can feel this little island of Zara's influence, influence granted by Coradel herself , and the energy is positively dripping with heart felt sighs, moon eyed gazing, and a kind of giddy delight of ... love? romance?

Zara does keep fresh cream for company - etiquette demands it. "Please, do sit. Does all fair well with the Count and Countess?"

Coradel does take a seat and prepares her tea as she prefers. "Yes, there is little news from the County of dire need, merely traditional splendor." A sip and another glance around. "If I were to judge how EarthRunes has fared in my absence based on the library alone, I would say something wondrous has occurred."

A happy sigh escapes.

"Well, in truth, it has been quiet... well, aside from the shanda with Adam, but the flowers were here before that."

"OOooooohhhh." At the happy sigh, Coradel sets down her cup and leans forward, chin on delicate palm. "You have a story to tell, librarian."

Then a hitch in her mood. "Yes, I heard...poor little Nabuni."

"I? I? Oh.. oh, nay. It has been rather quiet..." She tries, but her eyes sparkle and she almost wiggles with excitement.

"I... I fear I may have missed that. I was distracted..."

"Well, I will be learning more later, when I speak with Adam. But as to you...." She shakes her head with a scolding grin. "Don't you dare try that 'rather quiet' nonsense with me. You have poured the tea...now spill the rest."

"Oh, hm. I.. well... well, Imbolc was well. There was much music, and I danced in the garden with Earl..."

"Oh, scandalous," she teases.

"And.. oh... my love is working on a new painting. It shall have nightflowers, aye?" A gesture at the room.

"I hardly think he could avoid it," she nods. "And....?"

"Well... we have plans for a picnic at my River for Carnival. Well, the Carnival season."

"That sounds like quite the picnic. The entire season?"

"I have naught against the largest celebration on Tuesday, aye, but the Sunday before, why, that is still technically part of the festival, is it not?"

"I am most certain it counts." She takes a sip of tea.

"Quite so," Coradel sips again, but keeps watching her. "So...the Sunday...and a special picnic...." She takes a moment to set down her cup and stir idly again with the little silver spoon, inviting further elaboration.

"Oh, aye." She closes her eyes. "Miss Delores, she has made me a cake a week past, to save, so I may have a sweet thing."

"It sounds as though you are planning the perfect...something."

"Oh, aye. Vashti has found the most elegant antique lace. It shall be old and new, all at once..."

A blink. "I see. And...might there be something borrowed? And...well, there will certainly be Blue."

"Oh, I will have forget-me-nots in the flower crown..." Dreamily. "And ferns, and ivy..."

"I should, mayhaps, borrow.. oh, I know not....but you are surely right..."

"Oh, Zara...that sounds lovely!"

"I do wish for it to be perfect. Ah.. for the picnic, aye."

"For the picnic, of course." Coradel agrees, smiling. "The very special, very private picnic. On that Sunday."

Zara bobs her head, eyes luminous.

"It sounds almost like the sort of picnic for which...gifts might be appropriate?" she suggests over another sip.

She touches her throat. "Mayhaps a necklace? Pearls? Mama might have pearls, but she might pry..."

"Oh.. oh, oh no, I wouldn't wish a shanda..." She pinks. "It's... ah.. it's... you see, it is something of an anniversary..."

"Technically, twas Carnival, but Sunday is part of the season, and the moon is auspicious for... for a celebration..."

"Ohhh, I see. Oh, my...a Carnival anniversary, a special picnic, an auspicious moon...but no gifts? No, I suppose you already have gifts enough." A little wink. "I'm beginning to suspect you might pop into a cloud of moonlight and tinsel, and we'll never see you again."

"Oh, sometimes I feel as if I might float away!" She effuses. The sluagh is usually more measured - even coy - but there's no hiding the joy in her whisper.

Why there are some flowers growing out of some of the books themselves