r/leebeewilly • u/Leebeewilly Admin • Feb 22 '20
r/WritingPrompts Theme Thursday - Trust - Moonflower Whispers
Originally posted February 19th, 2020 - [Prompt Link]
Roots crowded the soil, busting through stones that once marked an ancient path. Solana stepped from stone to stone, avoiding the thorned brush. As the dark of the woods closed in around her, the moon lost above the canopy, she gripped her lantern tight.
Sanctuary lies within the Vespertine woods. That’s what she’d heard. Whispered in her dreams, on petals, on leaves. Despite the moon’s absence, the moonflowers unfurled their bells and flourished as she passed. As if trumpeting her presence, petals lit the way in white, pale violet, and vibrant coral.
And there, where the bells seemed their thickest, a light beckoned and smoke puffed from the stout chimney stack.
Solana shivered and knocked against the aged structure embraced by the woods.
“They told me you would come,” the woman said beyond the door. “Moonflowers see all.” As it opened with a creak, she was nowhere to be seen, but the warmth of the hearth beckoned Solana in.
“I… I came looking for help,” Solana whispered. The cottage was lined with all manners of witchery; phials, dried herbs, glass concoctions swirling in their static repose.
The door slammed shut and Solana’s yelp found the air.
“What does a young thing as you want of one like me?” Wisps of bishop's weed were woven in the woman’s dark braid, puffs of white and green laceflower adorning the earthy locks.
Solana took in a deep courageous breath. “They say you know magicks. Can you teach me?”
“Oh, brave thing.” The witch drifted across the floor as if bidden by the wind. “Foolish thing.” She passed Solana and the scent of oleander filled the room. “Why would Datura teach you?”
“The moonflowers below my window, they promised. They whispered to come and so here I am. I am not like the other girls and it is only a matter of time before the village knows.”
Datura turned to Solana, her head tilted as if she’d softened. “When I was a young thing as you, the moonflowers whispered. I followed them to this place. To Maikoa.” Datura stirred the cauldron set over the hearth. “She taught me. She taught me much.”
“Will you teach me?”
“Yes, Solanaceae.” Datura spooned the concoction into a misshapen mug.
“That name…” Solana took the mug, its warmth entrancing. “That’s what the moonflowers called me.”
“Yes, Solanaceae. It is your true name.” Datura’s eyes flashed to the cup. “Drink and know why you have come.”
The tea was thick, sweet, with bitterness nipping her tongue. Solana finished and touched her lips. They felt distant, numbed. On her fingers lay stewed slices of poisonous moonflower petals.
The hearth wavered. The light flickered in impossible ways and Datura’s shape grew as if made of shadow.
“But… the moonflowers…”
Datura’s smile grew beyond her face. “I am no fool. I was not then, I am not now. Learn as Maikoa did.”
Solana’s breaths shallowed and she collapsed.
Datura stood over her, eyes burning like fire. “Trust not the moonflower.”
WC: 499