Sacred Lands
Tell Me A Story

Walking down to a curvy pathway filled with purple flowers on the ground from the purple-flowered trees guiding the path. Faye and the woman came upon a brick wall and the woman spoke in her language and the brick wall opened and they crossed over a bridge made from a long rock and intertwined with vines and the roots from the fruit trees that were planted and the pair crossed spotting the naga underneath a cluster of peacock trees, reading a book that looked oddly familiar to Faye.

The woman bowed before him and began to speak to him, he didn’t look up from the book as he spoke to her, their conversation lasted for a minute or two, before the woman in white walked out of the garden, leaving Faye alone with Naois.

Faye cleared her throat as he was still engrossed in the book and had yet to acknowledge her existence. He peered at me and let out a little cough, while shutting the book. “My apologies, I was near the end of this tale and simply wanted to finish reading it.”

“You got pretty far, how do you like it so far?”

Naois gave a small smile as he stroked the cover of the book. Faye walked closer as he began to answer, “I never heard of these stories, so I was confused about them at first, but the wording of the stories made me want to keep reading even with the tragic or unresolved endings.”

“Well, my grandfather used to tell me that not every story has a happy ending to it, so I guess my mother took that to heart as she wrote these stories,” Faye said with a small smile of her own as she looked at the book.

“Your mother wrote this book?”

Faye nodded her head, “My mother loved telling stories, and wanted to replace stories that were at risk of dying and this was one way she did of saving them.” Faye stated as she gently grabbed the book from Naois’ grasp. Opening the book she flipped to a certain story and handed it back to the naga, “I think this story will give you what you’re looking for.”

Naois took it, “Do you know all the stories by heart?”

“Not word for word, but I know most of them. My grandparents were the ones to teach me that most stories don’t have a happy ending, like how some bedtime stories they used to read me.”

“Your grandparents used to read to you as a child?”

“Yes, your mother never read to you?”

“I was born here alone, cared for by the snakes until I was old enough to replace my own resources.” Naois blinked a few times, confused on why he shared so much information with this human girl.

“Would you read this to me? It’s ok if you don’t want to.” Faye smiled nodding her head, preparing to grab the book, but Naois shook his head, “No, not here, later on, tonight in my chamber.”

Faye paused, unsure. Being raised by snakes couldn’t have been the warmest or nutrienting environment, and he looks sincere, what’s the worst that can happen?

“Alright”, Faye answered.

Naois rose from his seat moving to a bridge, “Come with me,” he said looking over his shoulder, “I’d like to show you the garden.”

The view of the garden from the slope Faye stood on, was misleading on how large and beautiful the garden truly was. Naois explained that this wasn’t even a quarter of the garden, as he and Faye walked around the gardens. Faye would stop at every plant and ask Naois about the plants and he would respond. He seemed amused at her enthusiasm, relieved even, and would pull Faye toward his favorite flowers to see her reactions.

The sun was slowly beginning to set, “The walk to the palace will take some time. We should start walking back.”

“You don’t like living in the palace, do you?” Faye asked looking up at Naois.

Naois blinked down at Faye, “What makes you think I don’t like the palace?”

Faye gave Naois a knowing look and he sighed, ” How’d you guess?”

“I can see it in your eyes,” Faye said walking over to a patch of flowers. It was a variety of multicolored flowers, they weren't native to this part of the world, but the garden’s environment was perfect for keeping them alive.

“They’re like you,” Naois said slithering over, causing Faye to shiver subconsciously.

“How do you mean?” Faye looked at the flower and Naois in confusion.

“I mean, the discoloration. On humans, it’s considered a disease; something that needs to be hidden and fixed because it means you’re imperfect, but on flowers, they think strips, discoloration, extra petals, are beautiful, why can’t they think the same about humans themselves?” Naois finished as he picked the flower Faye was looking at and placed it behind her right ear.

“I couldn’t answer that, even with all the knowledge in the world. Humans, we’re complex creatures filled with complex thoughts and emotions. The world will never know why we think the way we do.” Faye said looking at the patch just as Naois plucked a stalk of Delphiniums, “But to continue our previous conversation it’s easy to see that you don’t seem happy here.”

Naois gave a deep chuckle as he continued to play with the stalk, “You’re right. I’m not blinded to the beauty of a mythical place such as this, and I highly doubt that the human realm has anything remotely close to the beauty of this garden. I’m the protector of the land, it’s just me... and the snakes.”

“Which must’ve been terrible company,” Faye said, making him chuckle.

“You’re right. Snakes are solitary creatures, so being alone shouldn’t bother me as much, but it does.” Naois said tossing the flower to the side and began to move once more.

“You’ll get cursed if you toss flowers to the side like that,” Faye said bending over to pick up the stalk Delphiums and blew on the flowers gently.

“Cursed? A flower cursing me? How would a flower curse me?” Naois asked with a curious look on his face. Faye smiled as she asked which path to toward the palace and he stopped his laughter and pointed. Faye started walking up the curved path. Naois yelled out to her.

“You didn’t answer my question!”

Faye turned around to answer, holding up the flower in her hand, “Every single flower has a meaning. When you pick a flower then that means you’re accepting the meaning or gift that the flower has. Delphiniums they symbolize growth and change. It seems that you could use some change, don’t you think?” Faye asked walking down the path to giving him the stalk back, before turning back around and walking up the path to the palace.

Naois and Faye ate in separate rooms, Faye was led into a large, spacious room. It was overwhelming to be in such a large and spacious room such as this one. Faye prefered Naois' company. Once she finished eating her dinner of potato and steak strips, she rang a little silver bell, like she was instructed to, and the woman in white came into the room and another servant came to collect her empty plate.

The woman in white led Faye down a series of hallways having torches light up as they walked, finally reaching a large door with a golden knocker and the woman lifted it and with three gentle knocks, the door opened. “Enter, I will collect you in the morning.”

Faye nodded, and entered the room, and she was met with black marble floors that reflected the ceiling of the circular dome.

“Faye? Is that you?” Faye froze as she heard the voice from a different part of the room, she walked further into the room and saw a doorway that leads to a set of stairs that led into a deep pool, where she spotted Naois with his back turned to Faye. He tilted his head back. “Sorry, I wanted to bathe before entering the bed.”

Faye said nothing, nodding, "Oh, by the way, my servant left a nightgown for you to wear to bed. It’s in that room over there.” Faye nodded still in shock that she would be in the same bed as Naois. Entering the room Faye began to undress, Faye finally looked at the nightgown and lightly blushed.

Naois waited for the human to ready herself for the night, Naois looked over to the nightstand beside him smiling at the Delphiniums, 'she said they symbolize growth and change.' as Naois gazed at the flowers he truly hoped that Faye was right. He whipped his head over to the direction he heard the opening, about to ask what so long, when he saw Faye's nightdress. The sky blue dress was now replaced with a white thin sleeved satin nightdress with a leg slit and satin shawl wrap robe.

Faye waved sheepishly and smiled, "I guess my servant didn't warn you about staying with me until we fix a room for you. Come" Naois said clearing his throat as he looked away. Faye hopped onto the bed giggling as she bounced a little. Grabbing a few pillows from the large pile of pillows she made a little nest for herself.

"I wasn't aware humans also made nests, do you need help?" Naois asked lifting himself to help her, but settled back down as she shook her head.

"Having a lot of pillows make me feel less lonely, less afraid. You probably understand, because of all the pillows..."

Naois nodded as he played with the tassels of a pillow from Faye's pile, " I never liked to sleep alone, when I was younger I had a caretaker that would wrap her tail around me as I fell asleep, until I was old enough to be on my own, which was my sixth year."

An awkward silence ensnared the two. Faye reached out to grab the book and flipped to the story Naois wished for her to read to him. As she began to read the awkward atmosphere loosened as read the story the same way her grandparents would've read to her. Watching Naois' head roll onto her lap, Faye closed the book thinking they could continue tomorrow night.