Flower challenge: Lily, Love-in-a-mist, Clover, Rose - a set of three drabbles.
Title: Journal Entries - a set of three drabbles
Author: Kortirion
Character: Lady Finduilas, OFC
Rating: G
Source: Pre-Ring War /Alt Uni.
Disclaimer: Tolkien’s world, Kortirion’s OFC
Lily
My lady had always loved the perfume of lily flowers; from the tiny white bells of lily-of-the-valley, to the summer clouds of fleeting lemon-scented asphodelus, each bloom lasting a day, to the passion invoking exotic perfume of white Candidums on their tall ladder-stems of green leaves. Except for now - all lily scents made her feel sick.
Gone were her perfumed toiletries, then the gardeners were told to cut the day-lilies back and finally the potted Candidums had to be removed from the rooms she frequented. I hoped this aversion would depart after the birth… myself, I’ve always liked white lilies.
Love-in-a-Mist and Clover
Her pregnancy sickness carried on far longer than it should. Lady Finduilas grew pale and weary; as her belly grew, her cheeks hollowed and the tender skin around her eyes shadowed to the colours of old bruises.
Lord Denethor became even snappier with me; he’d heard rumours her looks were because he’d become free with his fists. Not true, he adored her, but rumours run through courts like hungry pigs heading for the trough.
I’d learned herbals in the Far South. I mixed her draughts: Black Seed oil, that you call Love-in-a-mist, sweetened with clover honey, and bade her drink.
Rose
They swear there that Nigella oil is good for every disease that ails you except death, at least that’s what my master always said. A successful surgeon-doctor… he was rich enough to buy slaves from the corsairs, which is how he’d got me, a northern Dúnedain. He said a woman was useful when he treated the secluded ladies of jealous lords.
They showed me the delicious temptations of roses: oil for flavouring, rose-water for perfuming the skin… preserved, dried, candied with sugar… I taught the cook to prepare the rose sweetmeats they enjoyed… and Lady Finduilas started to eat again.
Author: Kortirion
Character: Lady Finduilas, OFC
Rating: G
Source: Pre-Ring War /Alt Uni.
Disclaimer: Tolkien’s world, Kortirion’s OFC
Lily
My lady had always loved the perfume of lily flowers; from the tiny white bells of lily-of-the-valley, to the summer clouds of fleeting lemon-scented asphodelus, each bloom lasting a day, to the passion invoking exotic perfume of white Candidums on their tall ladder-stems of green leaves. Except for now - all lily scents made her feel sick.
Gone were her perfumed toiletries, then the gardeners were told to cut the day-lilies back and finally the potted Candidums had to be removed from the rooms she frequented. I hoped this aversion would depart after the birth… myself, I’ve always liked white lilies.
Love-in-a-Mist and Clover
Her pregnancy sickness carried on far longer than it should. Lady Finduilas grew pale and weary; as her belly grew, her cheeks hollowed and the tender skin around her eyes shadowed to the colours of old bruises.
Lord Denethor became even snappier with me; he’d heard rumours her looks were because he’d become free with his fists. Not true, he adored her, but rumours run through courts like hungry pigs heading for the trough.
I’d learned herbals in the Far South. I mixed her draughts: Black Seed oil, that you call Love-in-a-mist, sweetened with clover honey, and bade her drink.
Rose
They swear there that Nigella oil is good for every disease that ails you except death, at least that’s what my master always said. A successful surgeon-doctor… he was rich enough to buy slaves from the corsairs, which is how he’d got me, a northern Dúnedain. He said a woman was useful when he treated the secluded ladies of jealous lords.
They showed me the delicious temptations of roses: oil for flavouring, rose-water for perfuming the skin… preserved, dried, candied with sugar… I taught the cook to prepare the rose sweetmeats they enjoyed… and Lady Finduilas started to eat again.