The evening hour fairly came swiftly for the man with no recollection of the past. Hamon was still struggling with coming to terms with it, even after a year of finding himself in Abed. There was no telling who he really was or anything that matter. Family…friends…his purpose… All of it was a blur, a nasty one that was thick like fog. Despite that, it wasn’t to say that he was completely ruined- no, he had maintained some form of memory, at least he figured since he could pick up swordplay like it was breathing to him. And within the year, he had started to offer his services to those that could provide for it, either with coin or a lot of times, food. He was grateful either way and most of his jobs were pretty much to either play bodyguard, security for a shopkeep or tavern owner or dealing with some of the city’s more seeder citizens.

In no time at all, he was able to earn enough coin to get himself a temporary home- a tent that sat on the outskirts of the city, far into a small wooded area. It wasn’t much but it was enough for him for the time being. As he retired for the night, he made his familiar route over to it, which was camouflaged with the woodline with various bark and leaves to keep it from prying eyes. Not that there was anything valuable in it- Hamon made it a habit to secure those sort of things elsewhere for safekeeping. He let out a loud yawn as he slipped inside and set his swords down before stripping off his clothes until he was in nothing but his pants before laying down. Today had been an easy day, another round of playing guard and looking out for troublesome riff-raff and thieves at a tome store. Payment had been in a few silver bits and a roasted chicken, both which were accepted in kind. His belly full and his mind looking forward to the coming moments of drifting off, Hamon only let himself be distracted for a second in wondering why he was here. A thought that came over and over but always followed with not the slightest clue.

Not letting himself get too frustrated, he rolled from his side to his back and let his wandering mind go no further into it as sleep claimed him. It would come eventually, at least he hoped.

The morning seemed to come just as easy as the night had, or had it? He wasn’t too sure, but what was certain was that he felt as though he was being watched. The more his mind came to, the more evident the feeling became until he could no longer ignore it. One eye slowly opened and the silhouette of a person was over him…no…there was more than just one…

By then, both his eyes were open and he could see that there was two of them and he scooted up and plopped himself onto his elbows. “Who the hell are you? Why are you here?” He was still a bit groggy but they didn’t seem to be threatening. He’d hope that was the case.

And how the hell did they find his whereabouts?

Abed was a good place to get the next set of flowers on their list. They grabbed each other’s hands and spun around in the field of wildflowers with laughter and smiles. The wildflowers began to grow at an alarming rate even though they weren’t in season. They stopped after they got a few patches going and found all of the flowers they needed. Soft humming left their lips as they picked all of the flowers to the best of their abilities.

“Oh, these purple ones are beautiful Gemma.” Gaea held up a handful of giant purple flowers. Gemma leaned in and smelled them.

“They smell fantastic Gaea.” Gemma gave a smile back as she, in turn, presented her sister with what looked like pink primroses. “These ones don’t have much of a smell.”

“Oh, I think they do but our noses just aren’t that sensitive. I think Mother will be pleased either way. Primroses are good for lots of things.” Gaea lectured to her younger sister about. Both women had dark skin, rose pink eyes, blonde hair done in braids, and were about five feet two inches tall each. They wore their braided hair in the opposite direction of each other with flowers woven into the braids.

They wore halter corsets with their midriffs showing and skirts that fell to their knees. Their colors alternated opposite of each other’s. “Oh…” Gemma whispered as she sneaked behind a tree. “Gaea look… It’s a man.”

“So? All men are alike.” The older sister approached and looked at the man through the tree.

“He looks cold Gaea… Can’t we weave him a blanket?” Gemma gave her sister wide eyes with a pleading look before the oldest gave in.

“Fine but only this one… Ready?” Gemma nodded as they put their hands together. Strong earth magic raged beneath their fingertips as a blanket of moss was woven as they pulled back. “This should be big enough for him.” The sisters went over and put it over him but both got curious as she leaned over him to get a better look at his face.

Unfortunately, he noticed them. “Well… I am Gemma and this Gaea. You looked cold so we covered you up,” Gemma’s voice was cheerful as she pulled the moss blanket up over him a bit more. “You shouldn’t sleep outside with no blanket… Especially when the night gets chilly.”

“He is an adult Gemma… I’m sure he realized that.” Gaea replied as she took the over side despite her words and pulled it up on him more. “The moonlilies will start to blossom soon… We can’t miss them.”

“Oh… The moonlilies.” Gemma looked thoughtful for a moment. “You should see them,” she yelled at the startled man. Gaea rolled her eyes a bit as she pushed herself up and headed back over to the flower patches they had grown.

He wasn’t expecting to wake up to a woman hovering over him, let alone two of them that were identical. He looked to one and then the other in astonishment before rubbing his eyes to make sure that he was seeing them. Annnd…he was.

How in the world were they able to find this place was beyond him, but it couldn’t be helped now. Hamon paid some more attention to them and noticed that they were different in style and also in demeanor. One of them was friendly and outgoing, and the other seemed more serious and controlled. Gemma and Gaea, respectively. His green eyes fell on the blanket they gave him; it was nice and warm. Certainly would prove to help during the rough, cold nights. “Thank you”, he offered to the two ladies.

When the moonlilies were mentioned, he was sure that they would be taking their leave, but then Gemma suggested, a bit too loudly, that he should go see them. Hamon stared at her weirdly- why in the world would he come to see some flowers? He wasn’t even too sure whether it was still morning or night, though he was assuming the former due to their presence.

There was plenty of doubt that he would be going back to sleep either now that he was woken up. Slipping into a tunic close by, Hamon rose up and came outside. He’d entertain the idea for a little bit and then head right back in for a couple more hours of sleep. The idea was further explored when he stepped outside; the moonlight hit him and he groaned inwardly. It probably hadn’t been too long since he retired for the evening when the twins found him. He moved over towards the flower patches about and looked around. “So, these moonlilies…I take it they rarely bloom?”

Gemma reached out and patted his head. “You are welcome. Stay warm!” Her cheerful demeanor was a nice change compared to her twin’s distant attitude. Gemma finally got up when he reached for his tunic. She seemed pleased that he was entertaining this wild idea of hers. She exited the tent and looked up at the moons. It was almost time!

“Oh yes, they only bloom during the full moon… So for a single month, they bloom in the moonlight but this month isn’t one of those months so we get one night to pick them.” She turned around to him and grabbed his hands. “Come!” For such a little thing she had so much force as she dragged into over to the flower patches. “Do you see it? The moon drip?” Her pink eyes were glowing in the darkness of the night. Around them were drops of light that appeared to be falling sporadically around them.

“Gemma, we should dance so there are more spaces for them to grow.” Gaea interrupted Gemma who let go of Hamon’s hands.

“Okay,” the younger sister bubbled out as she grabbed her sister’s hands and began the earthly dance again. More and more of the wildflowers appeared. The light from the moons was almost full tilt and soon they stopped as their breaths were heavy. Large white flowers began to grow as Gemma ran back over to Hamon and grabbed him. “Come,” she pulled him into the epicenter of the flowers.

Once one of the glowing lilies were fully grown they took on a blue hue in the moonlight. “They smell so good.” She picked one and put it up to Hamon’s nose. “Moonlilies heal a variety of different ailments but because they are rare they don’t get to be used often. However, because Gaea and I can grow flowers… We can make lots of them.” She gave an excited smile up at Hamon.

Gaea had her basket in her hand as she was picking a variety of flowers now including the moonlilies. “Come on Gemma stop getting distracted. We have to pick all the moonlilies.” Gemma was startled but grabbed her basket all the same before looking up at Hamon.

“Do you want to help?” She offered up her basket to him. Her eyes were big as though she was almost pleading. Gaea rolled her eyes a bit but she didn’t appear terribly annoyed with his presence.

It was hard to believe that these two were twin sisters; but then again stranger things have happened in this world, right? Well, anything that he could remember within this year, that was. But for now, he would be dragged along in this little game with them until these moonlilies were collected. “I see, a crazy night this turned out to be.” He stretched a little bit to wake up some more before he nearly fell over as Gemma took him by the hands and pulled him with great strength, something he obviously wasn’t prepared for. He quickly regained his footing and followed her closely to the patches and looked. “Yeah, I see them. It’s…odd, I’ve never seen such a thing before in my life.” Or had he? Hamon frowned a bit before shaking himself free of the feeling as the ladies went dancing.

He hadn’t understood why they needed to do something like that until he witnessed the fruits of their labor. More of the flowers were coming out into the night. It was awe-inspiring, that much he could say. At least it was a good enough reason for him to stay up later than planned. Once more did he find himself being tugged over closer by the more bubbly sister. It didn’t seem like he would have much choice anyway. He sniffed at the flower and smiled. “It really does, Gemma.” He was sincere with his words as he took another whiff. Aside from smelling nice, they did provide better reasons for waiting so long to get them.

“An interesting power, is it natural, or did you two pick it up at some point?” It looked like Gaea was all about business here as she whisked her sister to come to help her pick the flowers. He hadn’t planned on helping, but when Gemma asked him, it was hard to say no to her. There was no point in arguing it and so he took the basket and started to pick the lilies as carefully as possible. It wasn’t his forte, but he’d imagine that gathering them as fast as possible wasn’t too much of a difficult chore for a mercenary.

By the time it was over, he was a lot more tired than before. “Sheesh, I don’t know how you lot been doing this for, I assume, a long time.” He handed the basket over to Gemma, full of the moonlilies she and Gaea sought out.

Gemma kept a close eye on this new stranger. She was always one to dive head first into friendly conversation no matter how she stumbled into it. “There are lots of unique things in this world that are hidden from the eyes of those unfit to see. Mostly the only ones who can see are those with magic in their veins.”

The younger sister was pleased by his words as she held the blue flower up to his nose. “These flowers are in the type of the pyramid with others just as rare as they are. The Gem Flowers of the Umbral Depths come to mind for another one… As well as the Snowbelle in the Tundra. Each flower has something unique it can do.”

Both sisters stopped to look at him when he questioned their unique power. “We were born with it. We’re half Epimelide… or Meadow Nymphs. Flowers are our business.” Gaea spoke up as she watched the two others with her.

They were quiet for the most part as they hummed and picked the flowers. Some stalks were thicker than others and posed a problem. At the end of it all though Gemma smiled as she took the basket from him. “We’ve been doing this for the last two hundred years. This is our job after all. It can be a bit hard but as long as you know which flowers have thicker stalks you know how to get what you need.” She blushed a bit as she watched Hamon. “You are more than welcome to camp with us for the night. I know we woke you up.”

There was a distinct grumble from Gaea but she gave in before any words were spoken. It appeared like while Gaea was all business that Gemma ran the show for the most part. Gemma turned on her heel before she came back to him and pushed herself up to kiss his cheek. "One more thing… What is your name?" Gaea visibly fell over.

"YOU INVITED HIM WITHOUT KNOWING HIS NAME?! Gemma that is entirely too dangerous!" Gaea was flabbergasted and the look on her face was an angry one. However, Gemma had a sweet look on her face as she watched Hamon.

"He's a good person… Can't you tell Gaea?" Gemma replied innocently.

"You think all people are good people… Fine, if he wants to I'll allow it…"

Now that he was starting to be more awake, he was starting to get the hang of this picking flowers thing. It wasn’t like when children did it, no this had to be more precise and care not to ruin the plant. Seeing how they would be used for medical purposes, they probably needed a whole lot of them until the next time the moonlilies would be ready to bloom again. And surely the twins had a knack for this, seeing how they have done it for two hundred years…wait, did he hear them right? But considering they were a type of nymph, was it really too surprising when he thought about it? Hamon blinked for a while before letting the realization roll down his mind and body.

He would have thanked them for the offer and turned them down but Gaea didn’t seem very pleased that her sister gave him it, to begin with. The two were very different in personalities, but on some level, he could understand her displeasure at inviting a complete stranger to stay with them. Hell, they barely knew one another and he had yet to give them his name, which he was only reminded of after he received a kiss on the cheek from Gemma and was then asked. He gave her questioning look and felt as though he too should have fallen down like her sister did. “Hamon, at least that’s what I recall.” A strange answer to give, but one that was truthful. That was about one of the few things he could remember since coming here.

He spoke nothing else for a while, letting the girls talk things out while he was still trying to make out how this night went. He was found by a set of twins that came out to look for flowers blooming in the nighttime and then was persuaded to come with them to pick said flowers. Yup, that was about the gist of things. Well, things could always be worse. They could have been a pair of yaba bagas that stood over him and planned to use his form for some sort of witchcraft. Instead, they were beautiful and tolerable, even though one of them was too trusting and one wasn’t trusting enough.

Well, what more harm could come from this?

“Sure”, he replied finally, “I take it your camp isn’t too far from these grounds, right?”

Gemma’s eyes got lost in his dual colors. “So you don’t remember much do you?” She had seen that look in so many people’s eyes over the years. Suddenly her bubbly nature was more of a nurturing one as she gave a soft smile. “You will find out what you need to when the time is right. Fate is fickle and leads all of us astray in a maze of reality.” Her serious voice was so much more uplifting than her bubbly one. It appeared like she knew how to switch it just as easily as breathing.

Gaea looked back at Hamon for a moment and finally, there was a smirk on her face. “Our camp is never far away. Matter of fact you can hardly call it a camp at all. Gemma and I practice magic and with that comes the ability to go home whenever we want.” There was a curtain of hanging vines that seemed way out of place in the trees nearby. It hadn’t been there seconds ago. “We will welcome you to our abode.”

Gemma took his hands once more and gently tugged him this time. “A place where we find sanctuary.”

“Where Earth and Life meet as one.” Gaea breathed as the flowers in the vines came to life. The twins pulled back the vines and there was darkness like no other. “Enter, Hamon.”

Behind the vale of darkness was a huge tree inside a massive wall of tall mangroves. Water flowed all around the edges were the mangroves grew. Up in the tree was a tree house filled with colorful flowers. At the base of the giant tree, there was a workstation, a long vine with a hook that went up into an abyss, and a cooking station. The cooking pot was stirring itself with a long spoon and by its side was a knife that was cutting up vegetables.

“Oh,” Gemma looked sad. “It looks like the magic wasn’t quick enough… I thought it would have been done by now.”

“We only just left. Magic isn’t omnipotent. We must not have fed it enough. Come,” Gaea left Gemma and Hamon over to the hooked vine. Together they latched the baskets onto the vine and rung a bell that was next to it. The vine started to pull itself up and Gemma was getting giddy next to Hamon.

After the baskets disappeared they soon came back with four bottles of wine. “WINE!” Gemma was ecstatic as she grabbed the bottles. “These are the best presents for guests!”

“What if he doesn’t drink?” Gaea put her hand on her hip. “I bet the next batch will be food related since we are running low.” Gemma hardly cared as she went over to the ladder and started to climb up with just one hand. “Come on Hamon. We can come up here while Gaea finishes dinner.”

Gaea made a slightly disappointed noise she was volunteered. “Very well… Watch the final part of the ladder. We need to fix it.”

Up in the tree house, it was more like paradise. So many different pillows were laid out. There was a table full of herbalist books. Hanging plants were everywhere. There were even a few hammocks. “We sleep on the upper floor but this is where we relax.” She put the wine bottles down and took time to look over Hamon.

She pulled him over to a giant pile of pillows and fell down into them with him. “So… Why are you in Abed?” She was laying next to him on her side. Her pink eyes were studying him as if trying to see if he would tell her the truth.

“Afraid not. To be…honest, I can’t remember anything past the previous year.” It wasn’t a subject that he liked to discuss with others, yet it came out clear as rain to them. Surprising, he noticed the change in each of the sisters, Gemma in particular when she offered him a few wise words. Gaea’s attitude seemed to change just a bit too, and it was enough for him to see it. At least he felt at ease with their presence, and it certainly seems mutual since they invited him to stay with them.

“Wait, what?”, Hamon managed to spit out, wondering to what extent they were talking about. He had heard tales of people teleporting around upon their whim across long distances, but he hadn’t witnessed such actions before. It seemed like a fairy tale to him but it wasn’t until he was pulled into a secret spot that they must have crafted early on. Magic was still something he was coming used to, seeing bits of it occur around Abed with its many festivals.

The darkness came over them as they ventured until they arrived at their home. His jaw dropped upon the sight of the tree house and its wares. If Abed had been a small stream of magic, then this place was like a giant lake of it. The look on his face was similar to that of a child’s staring out in wonder. The baskets were exchanged for bottles of wine; a pastime that he did indulge once every blue moon. “No, I take a drink or two every so often.” He didn’t think that they would be drinking all of that, but perhaps they handle their liquor well.

He headed up inside with Gemma and was surrounded by a sea of pillows. This was a crazy and wondrous place, he couldn’t believe that they lived in such a place. Whether it was by her will or not, Hamon soon found himself down onto the pillows and her nearby. “One day, I woke up and found myself here. Aside from that, and a few other things, I don’t remember much. But I guess I stayed here because I don’t know much else and I’m seeing if sticking around will help jog my memory.” He was on his back and looked at Gemma with an honest look. There was no point in lying to her, it would only serve to waste both of their time. “I take it that you girls travel a lot? Seems like your job is a never-ending one.”