“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Laughed Gale enthusiastically. “Can you believe I never thought to talk to you guys for THAT long! I don’t even know how much time has passed since then. I must have seen the sun rise and set at least thousand times.” Gale said whimsically. “I don’t know how much longer I could have done that... Geez, do you think I would have gone crazy?” He added.
An apple with a crudely scraped on face stared back at him vacantly.
            “Precisely!” Said Gale.

            “That’s okay, it was a long time ago now. Anyway, come see this.” he said picking up the apple carefully with both hands and turning around. Gale started to point things out around the garden.

            “As you can see, Appy; I’ve completed bordering the paths with lavender. Everyone’s gotten used to it now, but they still look at it even if they don’t smile anymore. That’s okay though, I’ve added plenty of new stuff.” He added, consoling the apple by patting it on the head.

            “Over here I’ve been growing as many sweet-smelling flowers as possible. I intentionally grow an excess so I can put them out to be moved elsewhere. I’ve also been collecting the seeds and feeding the birds with them so they spread them everywhere”,
Gale walked over to one of the gardens entrance where two stone statues of slaves stood. One of the cart lady and one of the first slave he saw patrol through the area. Stuck in both of their skulls was traditional torch and brazier.
            “This one’s pretty sneaky.” Chuckled Gale. “When I tried to make hedges of the  slaves I couldn’t, but I didn’t have a problem when I had them fulfilling a practical purpose.” Gale placed the apple on a nearby post, facing towards him. He then stepped onto the pedestal of the statue and placed his forehead on the forehead of the statue of the women, setting the torch alight.

“That’s why they do this!” he said, cheerfully hanging off the statue. Gale jumped down and collected the apple from the post to start walking in another direction. He walked for a bit past a low wall until he reached an opening on the side with a post beside it. The post had a rock on top of it.
            “Hi Rocky! Ready for the main event?” Gale said. The rock, with another crudely scraped on face, stared back at him.

“That’s the spirit!” Gale said as he turned into the entrance between the low walls.

“And just for the fun of it, there’s this!” Said Gale. Infront of him stretched out a very large flowerbed of dandelions, just dandelions, and all fully seeded. The sheer number of white tufts shining in the sun was a sight to behold.

“I’ve been growing them all year just for this moment” He grinned at the apple. “For what you ask?”. His eyes flashed with a mix of happiness and mad genius.

“To blow them all away at once of course!” He grinned. “Okay, you sit here” Gale said to the apple, switching its place with the rock on the post.

“Normally when my friends get sick of hanging out here, I just give em a good chuck all the way to the outside world, but Rocky here is gunna get to do it in an explosion of dandelions” said Gale excitedly.

“Huh? No no, it’s not sad.” Said Gale responding to the apple. “Nah I don’t blame you guys, anyone would get bored if they stayed here forever, but you guys don’t have to” Gale stepped forward with the rock held in both his hands. Carefully he made his way through the dandelions, as to not disturb them prematurely. Once he reached the centre he looked down at the rock.

“Thanks for spending time with me Rocky. You ready?” He said with a smile. Gently Gale placed one foot behind him and pulled back the rock with one hand. Readying his throw, he pointed his palm in the direction of the open sky. He took one last look at the dandelions, smiling in anticipation.

“Be free!”

With an inhuman force Gale spun and dug his back foot into the ground to push off it, the spin of his back foot alone shaking the ground and the dandelion seeds off their stems all at once. A blanket of fluff hovered above the ground for just a second before Gale lifted his back foot up, a clad of dandelion seeds and a trail behind it, Gale planted his foot down hard in front of him and threw the rock with unbelievable power. All at once the dandelions expanded outwards from Gale. Within a second, they were outside the garden, they flew through and around the paths and buildings following the sheer wind pressure create by the throw. Dandelion seeds pushed up and through into every available space in the estate. Slaves on patrol and at work all covered their eyes as the powerful wind hit them first, the flames on their head billowing. They squinted trying to work out what they could see coming towards them before their expression turned to pure elated confusion as a wave of dandelions rushed through them like snow in a blizzard. The only difference being that some of that ‘snow’ caught fire as it went through their flaming heads. The seeds that burnt, thankfully burnt out in a couple seconds, but it still was enough time to give some of the slaves a scare as they desperately tried to chase and stamp down small embers despite continuing to get hammered by a seemingly never-ending number of seeds.

Near the centre of the estate was one of many towers topped with a glass dome reminiscent of a bird cage. On one floor near the top was a large open room with elegant red rugs and rich mahogany furniture. Near the centre of the room sat a table with chairs. A young girl in a regal looking skirt sat with her legs crossed and a cup of tea held in both her hands, she pondered over a book placed flat on the table.

While the walls were stone, the large glass windows were framed by wood and went down to the floor. At one of those windows sat a boy, his head was leaning against the window and an open book lay on his face, shielding him from the sun. Both had the same features reminiscent of the king, plant like hair with a large flower in the middle, wings on their hips and clouds emanating from their chests.
The girl took a sip from her tea and placed the cup down, but when she did, the cup began to faintly rattle, the liquid inside beginning to eb and flow.

“Owww…” said the boy. The girl looked up to see him looking at the window and rubbing his head. The window too, was rattling, first faintly, and then louder, and louder before hundreds and hundreds of dandelion seeds suddenly rocketed upwards past the window like rain drops in reverse.  The boy pushed away from the window instinctively and fell on his rear looking up in awe. The girl with a similar expression, pushed off the table and rushed over to the window before pushing her face and both her hands onto the window, looking up in pure childish fascination.

“Wooaaaah” they both breathed excitedly.

In the same tower, in the glass birdcage at the top was a garden study. Pieces of dark wooden deck and furniture trimmed with bright gold and dark blue separated parts of the garden. Slaves bustled in an out though a wooden staircase to the rest of the tower carrying books, stacks of parchment and bird cages with pigeons, some with letters strapped to their legs. In the centre surrounded by towering and beautiful plants was an extravagant desk and throne which the king sat at. Beside the desk was an extravagant broadsword made entirely of glass, the blade had little sharp notches on the edge that transitioned into hollow lines filled with black slime, creating an ornate pattern on the sword’s body. The king took a quill and dipped it into a small round glass bottle with water and what looked to be a tiny squid swimming around inside. The king agitated the water until squid filled the water with ink, making it pitch black. He drew the quill out and started to write.
He didn’t seem to notice when the rattling began but when the seeds rocketed past the glass, making the entire room flicker with the shadows of each individual seed, he looked up. His serious expression faltering in mild confusion. The slaves in the room all looked up too, awe painted clearly on their faces, but quickly they regained their composure when the king spoke.
            “What in the… Petal, Vine, Sap, go find out what this is.” He ordered, pointing at three slaves. “The rest of you keep working.”

Elsewhere on the estate was a tower with a large roof top balcony and garden. Resting on this tower with its head stretched out onto the balcony was a gigantic hawk like bird with long flowing plumage on both its head and tail. Its eyes were obscure by a giant white blindfold tied around its head and in the curve of its neck slept a woman in elegant regal robes. She had the same hip wings and plant and cloud features of the king. A crown set atop her head, and she wore a glass necklace with a hollow pendant and a tiny cap. The black slime floating inside had seemingly lost its glow after running out of food.

Both seemed to be sleeping peacefully until suddenly, the whole garden was swarmed with dandelions. Both the queen and the bird woke up suddenly when the seeds hit their faces and subsequently started spluttering in mad confusion when they opened their mouths in a gasp. Fluffy white tufts filling their mouths.

Meanwhile the boy and girl in the tower watched the last of the seeds rocket past the window,
            “What was tha-” said the boy before being cut off by the girl. She had her face pressed to the window in fascination but suddenly turned and opened her wings right beside him with a gust of wind, blowing him over.
            “Sorry!” She said realising what she done. “I’ll be right back!” She added urgently, not wanting to get distracted.
She pushed off the ground and with a mixture of running and flying, she attempted to recklessly make her way through the enclosed, fully furnished room to the door to the external staircase at the other side of the room. Books, tea, and other items went flying as she made her way over tables and chairs, bursting through the door and over the balcony in a hail of feathers and items from the inside. Her hair came undone and rippled out as she grabbed onto the balcony behind her and looked above her. She could see the dandelion seeds high in the sky, still expanding out.
The entire estate was now completely encapsulated by a giant dome, a thin layer of dandelion seeds. The only part of the dome that wasn’t complete was a section near the top where a large rock had penetrated it from the inside. Now on the outside of the dandelion dome, the rock flew onwards with a trail of dandelions following its course.

The girl, noticing the hole in the dome, took off from the balcony and flew higher up until she could just see the rock vanishing into the sky. She looked around, fascinated but pondering what she’d seen.

“Ahaha! Wasn’t that great?! Completely worth the time it took to grow it” Gale laughed heartily to the apple sitting on post. It took Gale a minute to finally calm down as he watched his creation fade with the wind.
Finally, wiping the tears from his eyes he turned to the apple.

            “Ahhh alright, come on Appy, about time for you to leave too.” Said gale. There was silence for a second before Gale’s expression changed to surprise.

            “You don’t want to leave? Come on Appy, I know you’re just being nice” He said dismissively, reaching for the apple but pulling back his hand suddenly. “Woah! alright fine fine, so pushy, geez.” He said surprised but smiling a little. Gale and the apple both looked over garden,
            “Thanks Appy, you’ve been sweet to me… But you shouldn’t worry too much. I’ve got lots to do…”

Meanwhile, far away a rock with a crudely scraped on face plummeted towards the ground of a vast forest. It shot through the canopy with a force that scattered leaves and birds from the surrounding area and landed hard in a rough eroded terrain of tree roots and dirt.
And rocks,
and more rocks.
And logs, and acorns, sometimes even a dried up or half degraded piece of food like cabbage or bread…
All with similar, crudely scraped on faces.
The floor of this grove where the rock landed, was already completely covered in friends Gale had thrown to freedom.
            “I don’t mind living here… I’m okay.” Said Gale.

As the day progressed Gale cleared the garden of the dandelions, dumping them into a small cart. He talked to the apple while he worked.

“So any ideas?”
“Hah! No that’s why I’m asking you, there’s no way I’m topping that dandelion idea”
“I don’t know if I can do anything with apples…” He said pondering.
“Not unless…” He looked at the apple. “Hahaha! You’re a genius Appy!” He exclaimed.
“Awww no no, that’s your idea Appy, I can’t take credit.” He said waving his hands and turning away from the apple and continuing his work.

After a long pause Gale’s expression softened.

“Well, if it means anything, you’re definitely the best company I’ve had so far. I’ve had a lot of fun with you.” He said sweetly.

Gale head a loud crunch sound behind him, he turned to see what made the noise. On the post that the apple used to be placed on, was now perched a girl with familiar plant, cloud and bird like features. She looked snooty, prideful but her pose on the post she had climbed felt playful and carefree as if she was so far above everyone that even if she acted like a child she’d still be entitled to respect. And in her hand, with a bite taken out of the side of the face, was the apple.

“Who are you chattering with?” she asked in a prim and proper tone. Although she didn’t seem very prim and proper, speaking with her mouth full of apple.

“After what felt like forever, someone finally talked to me” Thought Gale.

“And I hate her.”