Petal Willowbloom's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

The fawn did not leave. It ate a few tulips, lifted its head, and looked straight at Petal in the hollow oak. Then it walked a few steps up the path toward her and stopped. It stood there as if waiting. The cabin door stayed shut. The sign had come, and now the sign was asking something of her. Petal pressed the smooth stone into her palm. If she climbed down from the oak and went to the fawn, she left her vigil. She left the spot where she had promised herself she would stay. If she stayed, the fawn might turn and go, and she would have refused the only hand the guardian had offered. Between her hollow and the path stood a low stone wall thick with ivy and bright red lilies that glowed in the afternoon light. It had not been there at dawn either. It marked the line she would have to cross. She watched the fawn for a long time. Its teal-tipped ears flicked. The lotus marks on its coat shifted as it breathed. It did not graze again. It only stood and watched her back. Petal understood then that the waiting in the oak was finished. The guardian had moved the question forward. Staying put was no longer patience. It was refusal. She set the stone on the bench beside the grapevine and climbed down. Her legs were stiff. She walked to the ivy wall and stepped through a gap between the lilies. The path felt different under her feet on this side. She went slowly toward the fawn, hands open at her sides. The fawn turned and walked ahead of her. It led her a short way up the path and stopped at a small open structure she had not noticed before. Pale marble posts held a low roof. Ivy climbed the columns. Lotus flowers grew at the base. The fawn stepped onto the stone floor and stood under the roof as if it belonged there. At its hooves, the ground had changed. Clear water pooled around smooth stones, faintly blue, and small butterflies drifted over the surface. A spring had opened where the fawn had stopped. Petal knelt at the edge and looked into it. Her own face looked back, and behind it, the cabin, smaller now from this new angle. She had left the hollow. She could not unleave it. The fawn lowered its head and drank, then looked at her again, steady and calm. Petal cupped a handful of the cold water and drank too. The vigil she had kept was over. A new one had begun, and this one she would keep on her feet, beside the guardian's messenger, wherever it chose to lead her next.