"Mama, where are we going today?" The little boy looked up at his mother with his bright blue eyes. "We're going to visit some friends Mama has back in Sularia. It's where your aunts and your mama's aunts live." "What is Sularia like, mama?" He asked, looking away from the window of the airship. His mother patted his curly short hair and smiled. "It's very pretty, even prettier than the garden where mama and papa now live. There are roses and flowers everywhere, even the streets are colorful and the buildings are too. It's sunny and warm, and doesn't rain all the time." This was his first time going outside of the white hallways where his parents lived together. Sometimes his papa would leave to visit a place called Kurayo, and his mama told him it was dangerous and dark there–but it didn't rain all the time outside. He found the windows in the Chapel were magic windows, and they were bright even when the covered bridges showed gray skies and lightning. He didn't like going outside because he thought it was always like that. 

When he started reading books with his mama about places that were snowy and sunny, he wondered why it always rained where he was. Uncle Walter said the place they were in was special, and most places outside only rained sometimes–not every day. When he saw the red sand show a patch of green, he pressed his face up against the glass. "Mama, mama look!" Pointing at it, soon they were approaching Arri. After waving goodbye to the uncles on the airship, his mama held his hand as they walked into the city. Everything was so pretty, just like she said! Even the ground had colored rocks called 'gems', and there were more than he could count. The air was warm, and there were boys and girls like him running around everywhere. Tugging his mama's sleeve Lys asked her: "Mama, where are their papas?" He noticed there were more women than men on the streets. 

"That's because their papas are at home, or working somewhere." He didn't know that for Rosenites, boys like him were rare. There were about the same amount of males and females back in Antikythera, so he thought everywhere else was the same too. They went up to a house and his mother knocked. The door opened, and several women that reminded him of his mama came to meet them. "Oh, look at him! He's already grown so much! He has your eyes, Nerine." "Your hair too. Remember when you were his age? We had to chase you around every morning with a brush to get it untangled–" "Hey–don't say that!" His mother quickly interrupted the other women from continuing. She showed him to them, and told him that they were his great aunts and first cousins once removed. After lunch she brought him to see the rose gardens. He saw the roses his mama planted back home, but there were so many here! 

"Lys, wait here alright? Mama is going to give these books back to somebody she borrowed them from. When I come back I'll have a present for you." He nodded as she patted his light blond curls. "Ok…" She waved to him and smiled. "Mama will be back soon!" He waved back and watched as she disappeared into the crowd. He stood there for a little while, then looked around. He should probably stay here so he could see if she came back. Walking over to the flowers, he watched the butterflies land on the roses. There was a pretty purple one that was shiny with red spots, and he wanted to see it up close. But when he came a few feet, it would fly off and move somewhere else. He ended up following it, wandering away from where he wanted to stay.

There was a roar that filled the Sularian skies. It was high pitched but very angry. “Calm down Miss Bossy Pants,” a little girl said as she put her arms on her hips and shook her hips in a mocking way. “It’s just a hopping game.”

“NOT THE POINT!” Poppy’s voice rose higher. She shook her finger at the hopscotch board. “YOU THREW IT ENTIRELY TOO FAR ON PURPOSE.”

“That’s because we don’t like your screaming,” the girls did a shooing motion.

Poppy bit at her lip causing it to bleed before she took one of the girls by the arm and hit the other. “Screw you!” Her temper was so hot as she threw her hand out over the ground. The ground ate the board that was made and Poppy skipped off.

“HEY!” the chorus of screams came. Luckily they were hardy children and not hurt by the savage little princess. Poppy’s curls bounced up and down as she wandered Sularia. It wasn’t that long before a butterfly caught her steel eyes. It was mesmerizing and she began to watch it. Not long after she began to follow it. She wasn’t paying attention when she ran into a little boy head on.

Knocking him over she held herself up and looked at the red mark from their foreheads banging together. “I’m sorry.” The scent of iron hit her nose as she looked down and saw that her bare knees had gotten scrapped up bad. “Are you okay?” Her voice was soft but only because it wasn’t his fault.

He was so enchanted by the butterfly's wings that he didn't hear someone coming his way. They both collided, and he was on the ground holding his forehead. "Oww…" His voice was soft and quiet compared to the little curly-haired girl, and there was dirt on the knees of his trousers. Carefully rubbing his head until it didn't hurt as much, he looked at the girl he'd run into. "It's ok, I wasn't looking. Your knees, they're bleeding!" His eyes wide, seeing she got hurt more than he did made the boy feel bad. "I'm really, really sorry…" He tried to brush off the dirt and was working on using a healing spell. His mama had taught him how, but he never had to use it before today. The butterfly forgotten, Lysandre was doing his best to clean the wounds out. 

He was so worried by the accident that he didn't notice anything else. His blond locks curled at the ends, and dropped over his eyes when he looked down to see her scraped knees better. He had his mother's eyes as well as her hair, and his clothes were different from what the other children in Sularia wore. This was the first time he had met other children. Back where he and his parents lived, there were only adults. There were two girls like dolls almost the same size as him, but they told him they were older than him too. Most of his time was spent reading books, planting flowers, and taking care of the plants with his mama. When he had bumped into the red-haired girl, he didn't know what else to say. Working on helping her get better was a way for him to do something he was familiar with. Taking a handkerchief, he poured some water and gently wiped the drying blood. 

“They are just little scraps they are okay.” She patted them and winced a bit laughing. However, the little boy was still set on trying to fix her up. She tilted her head and watched him quietly for a few minutes.

“POPPY YOU ASSHOLE!” The other girls were making their way to them. “THERE YOU ARE!”

“WELL TIME TO GO!” She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. Looking back at him she grinned a bit. “My name is Poppy. Just stay with me okay?” They were brutal girls and they had seen her with this boy now. “Don’t let go no matter what!” They ran for a long time until Poppy got them out of sight.

Suddenly her form began to shift into a huge clouded leopard. She had his arms around her neck now as she launched herself onto a roof and hid behind a chimney. “Close, almost didn’t shift in time.” Poppy shifted back and fell against the brick chimney looking up at Lys with a grin. “They would have beat us up good!”

Suddenly the girl grabbed his hand and yanked him along! Completely unprepared he let out a yell, surprised at how strong she was pulling. Angry voices were coming, and he looked behind to see a lot of girls running to them. He tried to protest, but there wasn't any time. Before long the fountains and rose bushes were growing smaller the farther they ran away. When he turned to the girl he'd bumped into, she was grinning. "My name is Poppy. Just stay with me okay?" "Ok, but…" His words came out too slow and she followed up saying: "Don't let go no matter what!" Poppy pulled him along through the crowds, and Lys was worried he wouldn't be able to find his way back afterwards. They kept running, and running, until finally she stopped.

When he thought it was over, he was pulled up through the air on the back of a big spotted cat. "Ahhh!!" Crying out, he clung on tight as they landed high above the ground. His arms fell to his sides when the big cat turned into the curly-haired girl, and he was curled up on the ground in shock. He could barely breathe! Poppy didn't seem scared at all, and was smiling. It all happened so fast–where was he and how did they get up here? The poor boy was pressing himself against the roof's tiles, his pale blue eyes as wide as they could go. "Why are they chasing us?" He didn't understand. He and his mama had just come here together for the first time. Why were they mad at him when he didn't even know them? "Um…I'm Lys. Thanks Poppy."

“No buts.” There wasn’t any room for them right now as they ran away.

He looked scared once everything was said and done. She took time to make sure he was okay before pulling him up. “Well… First, don’t move because one wrong move and you’ll fall off the roof! Second, they are mad at me and think you are with me so they would have probably beat you up. Guilt by association my ma says.”

“Nice to meet you Lys,” Poppy grinned at him and pulled him to a safer part of the roof. “They won’t be able to get us up here.” She was curled up against him for a moment as the wind blew. “Sularia is really nice, isn’t it? My mommy doesn’t let me play here often but I like it.”

She pulled out some sweets she had in her pocket and unwrapped them from the handkerchief they had been in. “Want some? They are really good. Mama brought them back from Iria.”

He calmed down a bit watching Poppy. If she wasn't scared then maybe it wasn't so bad. Sitting up carefully, he pulled his knees to his chest and looked around. This was the first time he'd seen things from so high up! The city was pretty, but when you were up here you could see there were shapes made by the rose bushes and buildings. He was glad they weren't really mad at him, but he wondered why they were so angry at Poppy. Feeling a lot better, he nodded. "It's really pretty. There's so many colorful stones and buildings here. I've never seen so many roses! Mama grows them back home, but there aren't as many colors or rows. It's warm and sunny here too. It rains all the time where we live."

Resting his head on his knees, he watched her take out some candies from a handkerchief. When she asked him if he wanted some, he nodded. "Mhm." Taking on he looked at it, then popped it in his mouth. He had seen pastries and cookies before, but not sweets like these.

Meanwhile, Nerine returned to the rose gardens with a little wrapped bundle. "I hope I didn't take too long." Her son was a patient boy, but leaving him alone longer than she had intended made her anxious. She knew he'd stay put where she could see him. Arriving, she looked in dismay when her boy was nowhere to be found. Taking a deep breath, she told herself to calm down. Children would wander off a bit, so it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Maybe he was looking at something on the ground, behind some bushes. Checking all the rows, when her search turned up empty the motherly panic began to set in. "Where is my child?! Lys? Lys, can you hear me? Where are you?" 

Poppy giggled at Lys and nodded. “You are weird… Mama’s house has all the flowers in the whole world. Any that you can think of!” Together they sat on the roof and munched on candy for a little bit. “It will be safe soon and then we can go back.” Her wild storm like eyes watched him for a bit more before she ran her hand through her wild red curls. “This is the best. I don’t have a lot of friends here… Will you be my friend?” She had a cheesy smile on her face.

The happiness lasted for a little bit before there was a stern HMMM that interrupted the two. “You know that kidnapping even at your age isn’t good… Right Poppy?” The female voice appeared around them before Angela had them both by the collars. “You know how worried your mother is?” Angela’s voice was sharp at Lysandre. It wasn’t long before a sigh let her lips.

Angela teleported down to where Nerine was. “I think this belongs to you. He’s gotten big since I looked him over last. It seems like he got mixed up with my Poppy… You’ll have to forgive her she probably brought trouble with her.”

“They deserved it. It’s not my fault. They would have beat him up if I didn’t take him.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be a pain and they wouldn’t chase you.” Angela shook her a bit before handing Lys over to his mother. “I am sorry about what my daughter has done… Sularia is a safe place for the most part Nerine.”

He almost completely forgot how worried he was about not being able to find his way back as he listened to Poppy talk. This was the first time he was talking to somebody who was his age, so when she asked if he would be her friend he nodded. "Ok. I don't have a lot of friends back home who aren't older than me." Then he heard a tone of voice that made him stiffen. Looking up he saw someone who looked like an older version of Poppy. She had the girl's red hair, and was pretty too. This must be Poppy's mama. When Poppy's mother picked him up and scolded him, the boy looked down at his feet. 

While Nerine was on the verge of breaking down in tears, suddenly Lady Angela appeared with two children in hand. Letting out a loud gasp as soon as she saw her son, any anger she had was momentarily pushed aside by relief. "Mama! I'm sorry I didn't keep my promise…" Lys said, hugging his mother. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alright! What happened?" Smoothing out his tousled blond hair, Nerine was looking over him to see if her son was hurt anywhere. When his feet were back on the ground he answered. "I ran into Poppy on accident. Then there were some girls who were mad at her, so she told me to follow her so they wouldn't get us." The boy rubbed his forehead, which thankfully didn't have a bruise.

Now having calmed down from her panic, Nerine knelt to her son's level and placed her hands on his shoulders. "I was so worried about you. If it wasn't for Lady Angela, I wouldn't even know where you had gone. Did you learn your lesson?" The boy nodded solemnly in response. "Good, now say thank you to Poppy's mama for bringing you back." 

Lys turned to Poppy and her mother fiddling with his thumbs. His head was slightly lowered, guilty for causing trouble. "Thank you Lady Angela for finding me and bringing me and mama back together." He looked shyly at the curly red-haired girl. Then it was his mother's turn to say thanks, along with apologizing profusely. It was plain to see where Lys got his habits from as well as his looks. "It's time to go back home for both of us. It was a pleasure meeting you again Lady Angela, and your daughter as well. Although, I would've hoped for a less stressful reunion." With his hand in his mother's, Lys waved to Poppy and her mama as they were heading off to ride in the airship again. "Bye Poppy! Bye Lady Angela!"