Page 99 of Gift from the Nexus

“It looks just like your dragon form, little wanderer,” Draken says softly.

“Yeah. Yeah, it does. We’re going to take a break from in here,” she says quietly. Even in my mind, I hear the sniffles.

“We’re out back. We found a greenhouse that has a ward around it as well,” I tell her.

“We’re coming now.”

The back door of the cottage opens seconds later and Lyker comes out first. His shoulders have dropped, and he seems to be content now with whatever they discussed. When he moves outof the way, I catch Will’s red, swollen eyes immediately, and the four of us are surrounding her in seconds.

“I’m okay. It’s just been emotional, but these are happy tears,” she swears.

“Did you both get some answers you needed, princess?” Corentin asks, tilting her chin up.

“We did. There are still plenty of things that are a mystery to me, but we were able to fill in some gaps for one another.”

“Good,” he says, not pushing her for any more answers right now.

“So another ward, huh?” she asks as we turn and join the others.

“Yeah. This was our greenhouse. Mom was fascinated with plants, herbs, flowers, you name it. If it’s still in the same condition as it was when I last saw it, you all are in for quite a surprise,” Lyker says excitedly. This is the first show of a more pleasant emotion since we’ve been out here, and it soothes the worry away from the rest of his Nexus as they all sense it.

He and Willow step up together, placing their hands to the creaky, old door. The ward instantly falls away at their touch and less than patiently, we all begin to pile in behind them.

Gasps fall from Willow, Oakly, and Aria as we take our first look around. This is not your ordinary greenhouse.

“My, my,” Gaster murmurs, looking around the huge space.

“It didn’t look this large on the outside. How does it just keep going?” Willow asks.

“It’s an outer fabric pocket dimension, child. Rather than being built within the fabric of Elementra, it was built on top, utilizing the natural elements of the realm. So it doesn’t disappear within the space, it’s created on its surface, and the outside is an illusion to the true area it’s taken up,” Gaster explains as simply as he can.

I gaze around in awe.

The space is sectioned into four separate areas. Each area is flowing with vegetation specific to the certain territories they’re native to. Not only that, but each section also seems to have their own climate control that’s allowing the plants to thrive in this makeshift environment. I’ve always wanted to create a space like this, but it’s incredibly difficult and it surely would’ve drained me dry if I’d tried before now.

Now, being bonded to my little warrior, I have no doubt the two of us could create a space like this for ourselves.

My excitement bleeds through the bond although I try to taper it, but she feels it, and she turns to me with a brilliant smile on her face. She wants and is willing to build us our own greenhouse just like this one with me. Gaster smiles at both of us, and I guess he’s going to be assisting us as well. Granted, we’ll probably need the old man’s guidance.

“Can you smell that?” Nikoli asks Draken quietly.

“Dude, I smell everything. I’m surprised I’m not sneezing all over everything yet.”

“No…” Nikoli trails off, with his nose in the air, walking around, hunting for the source of whatever the hell it is that has him acting like a bloodhound.

“Nikoli,” Oakly says, cocking her head to the side, looking at him like he’s losing his mind, but he ignores her.

His eyes widen when he catches onto whatever it is, and he takes off to the back of the greenhouse, all of us following closely behind him. When he reaches the end and pushes aside a drape that’s hanging from the ceiling, he halts.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he mumbles.

“What is it?” I ask.

Moving into the small cut-off section, he makes room for the rest of us so we can see what he’s infatuated with, and a strong, roasted fragrance that has a touch of sweetness fills the small space.

Lining the back wall sit four small pots in a row, holding bright, luminescent, purple flowers. They aren’t large, but their stems grow upward, bare of any thorns or leaves. Then the small bulbs of purple cascade over the top like small tree canopies.

“This is the Willy flower,” Nikoli says eagerly.

---