Rose struggled to her feet, shocked at what she was seeing. Above her was the sky, bright and blue. But below her was not her bed—or her room.

She was completely surrounded by flowers.

It stretched far out—making it difficult to see where it ended. But with how surreal it was, Rose began to immediately panic. Her breathing became heavy, and her knees started to tremble.

As she tried to catch her breath, a soft gust of wind blew in the opposite direction Rose was facing. Trying to get her hair out of her face, she turned round, but saw something unexpected.

There was an extremely large and bulky tree in the middle of the flower field. It was the only other object present in the field, and had a long path or road stretching from it to somewhere out in the distance. The sight of the tree was frightening to Rose at first, but it’s bright pink flowers began to look rather pleasant to her.

Eventually, Rose began to make her way to the tree as it was only a few minutes away. After walking a fair distance, there seemed to be a wooden carriage parked next to the path—close to the tree. But when Rose got closer, a noise suddenly startled her. It was the neigh of a horse, attached to the carriage at the front.

This being the first time she had seen a horse in person, Rose was shocked by the sheer size of it. She did like animals in general, but this was still a frightening experience for her. 

Suddenly, a second noise came from atop the tree.

When Rose looked up, she noticed something on a large branch high up in the tree. It was a person sitting, wearing a large pink hooded cloak with a white mask covering their face. In front of them, was a large bag with a heart shaped lock, or it at least seemed large at first glance. 

Rose realised the stranger seemed to be physically on the smaller side. Probably even smaller than her.

But seeing as that was the first person she had come across, Rose contemplated on calling out to them. Maybe they would know where she was, and be able to explain how she got there.

However before Rose could call out to them, a third noise came from the base of the tree.

Noticing an entrance at the tree’s root, Rose watched as a woman walked out from within it.

“Perhaps it’s time to warn them,” the woman quietly said as she walked forward with a worried look.

A few seconds later, the woman was now face to face with Rose. They were both speechless, and stared at one another. While Rose looked somewhat confused, the woman looked quite bewildered. The woman then took a careful step forward.

“W-Who are you? How did you get in here? The guardians didn’t alert me of your presence,” the woman said as she slowly took another step forward.

It seemed her guard was up, as Rose began to feel a sense of cautious hostility from the woman. Rose attempted to take a step back, but was frozen in place by fear as the woman approached.

“I-I…I,” Rose stuttered, but was unable to get any words out.

With how frozen and nervous Rose was, it seemed the woman decided to take advantage. She slowly began to circle around Rose, inspecting her up and down. Eventually, she stood in front of Rose once more.

“Be calm girl,” the woman said with a softer voice. “Now tell me, how did you get here?”

After getting over her nerves, Rose proceeded to tell the woman exactly what happened. There wasn’t much to tell though—seeing how she was only just in bed a few moments ago.

“I am familiar with strange things, but that’s quite a strange tale,” the woman said. “Perhaps you ate something in the forest on your way here. Not really a wise thing to do…”

She then looked behind her at the masked person sitting atop the tree and then back at Rose.

“I’m not used to this many visitors,” she said, after a heavy sigh. “Okay. Can you point to where you woke up?”

Rose turned round and looked across the flower field. It was hard to figure out where she had walked from seeing as everywhere—but the tree and the road—looked the same. Eventually, she nervously guessed and pointed in a general direction.

“I think somewhere there—”

But the woman had suddenly come up from behind her and touched her shirt. Rose stumbled back in reflex, surprised by her sudden appearance. The woman then rubbed the tip of her fingers, the same ones she used to touch Rose’s shirt.

“Quite clean. So I suspect you’re not with the bandits then,” the woman said. “Of course not, I’m sure they wouldn’t dare wonder here.”

Not sure what to say, Rose stood there silently.

“Oracle.”

A voice came from behind the woman, approaching from the tree. Rose—who wasn’t sure what the woman had been talking about—looked over her shoulder. There was a man in a large fur coat with long pink curly hair walking toward them.

The woman he called ‘Oracle’ turned round to face him. “Are you taking your leave?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, as he walked up to her. “I may not return for some t—”

He then noticed Rose in front of the woman. But just like the woman did initially, he stared at her without saying a word.

“I seem to have a visitor,” the woman said.

“A visitor?” he said, as he snapped out of his trance. “I wasn’t aware you was expecting another.”

“I wasn’t,” the woman said. “It’s a rare thing, but it seems she lost her way and ended up here.”

“What a surprise. I wasn’t aware the guardians could be so charitable,” the man said.

He then walked up to Rose, towering over her while gently lifting her hand.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, as he kissed it.

Rose blushed and looked away as she was too flustered to respond. There was something extremely charming about the man, and she couldn’t help but admire his noble like aura.

He then walked pass her and toward the horse. “I’ll be leaving her in your care then.”

The woman’s face softened as her attention went back to Rose. “What might I call you?” she asked.

Rose visibly swallowed her nerves. “R-Rose. I’m called Rose.”

After hearing her name, the woman’s eyes widened. “…Rose?”

“Rose…”

Rose turned as she heard the man also repeat her name. Just like the woman, his eye’s were wide open as well. But his surprised look soon relaxed as he seemed to quietly compose himself.

“I will be travelling past the nearest town on my journey,” the man said.

He then walked up to the horse. “You are more than welcome to travel with me until we reach there.”

Rose nervously looked toward the woman, as if for reassurance. 

“Are you sure?” the woman asked the man. “You haven’t travelled with anyone since—”

But she stopped her sentence as he passed her a calm, but almost serious gaze. The woman paused for a moment, but then smiled and nodded at Rose—signalling her that it was safe to go with him.

“O-Okay,” Rose said.

When Rose walked up to the carriage, the man gently helped her onto it. He then walked to the horse and gently rubbed it’s face. As he then climbed on top of it, the woman approached and looked up at him.

“There’s many in the Kingdom with that name now,” she said. “Surely it’s just a coi—”

“Coincidence,” the man said, as he finished off her sentence. “Yes….yes I know.”

“And about what we discussed earlier. I hope you’ve reconsidered your decision,” she said.

He looked down at her, with a now more obvious serious expression.

“It is my decision to make,” he said.

The woman took a step back and smiled. “Of course. Safe journey to you both.”

As the horse set off, Rose looked back, but the smile from the woman’s face had faded. She also then realised atop the tree, that the mysterious person with the bag was no longer there.

Rose wondered where they might have gone.