32

'On Earth, sharing an umbrella is more common in the rain, never in the sun,' said Grace, as they walked over yet another plain with merry but increasingly slow steps.

'Well, since it doesn't rain here, we'll have to make do with this, I guess,' said Lucien, tilting the white umbrella and holding it higher above them.

'I like it,' said Grace, admiring the filtered light on his face.

'We're almost there now,' said the demon.

'Yes, I recognise this greener part,' said Grace, looking around. 'It's nice!'

'It's only lusher weeds, but they do look pretty, don't they,' said Lucien. 'Look, there's the stream at last!'

'Wow, I wish it wasn't so far away,' said Grace, drinking from the cool water bottle they had brought. 'It's quite hot getting here!'

'If you come very early in the morning next time, the stream should be cool enough to bathe in,' said Lucien. 'I used to do that – it's fun.'

'Won't it be too cold?'

'Like I said before, it's all about timing. The first rays of sun make the water just right, and warm you on the way home. It feels good. I recommend it!'

'I've got to do it!' grinned Grace, feeling the water in the stream. 'Ouch! So hot!'

'Told you the heat was brutal today!'

'Hey, do you know what these plants are?'

'The ones by the stream? This one's called watersbane; because, well, it's always found near water – in abundance.'

'Can't we plant them somewhere else? They're so tall and pretty!'

'Hello, water? They don't survive without water!'

'Well, if we watered them...'

'Nah, I can't take care of stuff that keeps dying on me every ten minutes. I tried to do it as a kid, and gosh, bad idea!'

'Well, okay, whatever.'

'Do you want to sit under this tree? It's still somewhat alive – thriving for Hell, though, if you ask me.'

'Well, it has ten leaves!' said Grace, counting them approvingly. 'Not bad!'

'Now, you can enjoy the peace of Mother Nature while I read here,' said the demon, leaning back and taking a slim book out of the basket.

'What's it about?' said Grace curiously.

'It's a poetry collection.'

'You read poetry? That's a new side to you!'

'Hehe. Not all the time. Only sometimes. This is a compilation of love poems I thought were kinda cool.'

'Love poems? Even better! Though the idea of you reading anything romantic is kind of surprising.'

'I see what you mean!' laughed Lucien. 'But believe it or not, I like a bit of romance from time to time. I even read a couple of romance novels before I learnt they were primarily for girls. Okay, I still have them, though.'

'Romance novels?! Now I've seen everything. A fiery-headed demon in Hell reading sappy love poems and romance novels!'

Lucien burst into a hearty laugh. 'Yeah! I do! Haha! But hey, they're not always sappy! Do you like romance?'

'I'm not sure, I never read that much in the genre; guess I never got over Heathcliff, I suppose.'

'Hmm. Fair point. Still, let me tempt you with a bit of Robert Burns,' said Lucien, picking out a page.

'Oh, go ahead!'

'"My love is like a red, red, rose, that's newly sprung in June,
My love is like the melody that's sweetly played in tune." How's that?'

'That's really lovely!'

'Told you. Some things really hit different. Too bad there aren't any roses in Hell.'

'Well, at least we have these,' said Grace, pointing to a group of the 'unruly' plants she had been introduced to that morning.

'These things?' said Lucien, raising an eyebrow. 'Calling them respectable plants is objectionable enough, but putting them in direct comparison to roses is... blasphemous, human.'

Grace laughed. 'You're something else.'

'I know,' smirked the demon.

Grace rolled her eyes and sat next to him. 'Okay, is there any flower in Hell that resembles roses in the least? Or anything pretty?'

'Mostly just weeds everywhere,' said Lucien, shaking his head. 'I suppose we're supposed to be grateful for them – some of them do bloom – but, like, it's hard to do that all the time. Especially when you know of all the beautiful things in all the other realms – not just Earth!'

'Was the realm your mother came from beautiful? Oh, but you said it was a shadowed one...'

'It was a shadowed realm,' nodded Lucien. 'But a beautiful one. It's called the queen of the shadowed realms, you know: The Fallen Garden.'

'Garden?'

'Yes, it's called that, but it's a whole realm; just like Earth is called "earth" but it's got water too.'

'Fallen Garden makes me think of Eden and the fall of Adam and Eve...'

'You're spot on. You know the tree they ate the forbidden fruit from? It was uprooted from Heaven and planted in a void of nothingness; watered with drops of melancholy from the Blue Wasteland, and filled with a handful of earth from Earth – yes, Earth. And thus the realm of the Fallen Garden was formed. Beautiful, but filled with melancholy and regret; tinged with both temptation and groundedness.'

Grace looked at him, awestruck. 'Wow. Just... wow.'

'Yes,' smiled Lucien. 'I used to feel that way too, when my mother told me about it. She was beautiful, you know. She would have liked you, I think.'

'Thank you...'

'Gosh, I miss her. Well, at least she must be back in her beloved land – or even reborn on Earth, maybe.'

'That would be nice. I say – have you ever visited it? Her realm?'

Lucien shook his head. 'You can enter Hell, but you can't leave it. That's why my mother could never go back, let alone take me.'

'But we found a portal to the Blue Wasteland; there might be a secret way to visit the Fallen Garden, too. If we can't get to Earth, we could at least see this place!'

Lucien fell in thought, before looking at her rather excitedly. 'I didn't think of that... you're right! There's GOT to be a way!'

'Perhaps you could check in that book of yours,' suggested Grace.

'Oh, absolutely – and a couple others, too. I was so obsessed with going to Earth that I didn't think of that! Gosh, I wish I could have found it when my mother was still around; she would have been happy...'

'It's not your fault; you were too young. And besides, you said it yourself: now that she's passed on, she must be reborn in a better realm.'

'Yeah, you're right,' said Lucien, staring at the book of love poetry. 'You know, I often wonder what made her come here, when she knew beforehand there would never be a way out for her. I asked her, too. You know what she said?'

'What?'

'She said that it was love that made her do it. I told her she must have been absolutely blind to fall for my father of all people and come here of all places – you know, there's a quote about that I read somewhere, by that Shakespeare guy – about love being blind—'

'Oh, I know it,' said Grace.

'Good. But would you believe it, she would always laugh and say that she would do it all over again, considering the circumstances. She said he was a better man once.'

'Maybe he was...' said Grace thoughtfully.

'I guess some people change with time,' sighed Lucien. 'But she definitely loved him until the very end.'

They watched the water of the stream flow merrily with a gentle bubbling sound, and the tiny wafts of steam that came out of the hot water as it rushed on.

'I don't suppose there's any fish in there...' said Grace, getting up.

'But if there are, at least they'll be cooked already,' grinned Lucien.

Grace burst into laughter.

'You look beautiful when you laugh,' said Lucien with sudden seriousness. 'And when you smile.'

'I...er... thanks,' said Grace, blushing slightly, but Lucien had opened his book again and was reading in earnest.