[FateStoryteller]

base: sheep
horn: bloom
wings: n/a
ears: deer 2
tail: bouquet
extras: n/a

I'm excited to post my lore entry for this lovely below! ^^ Thank you again, Vanilla Bean for letting me claim this beautiful bean!

[FateStoryteller]

(*Gasps* it is done. I really didn't know if I'd have it in me. Been a ver long day, but I did not want to miss out on a September Artist Entry claim ^^')

Word count: 676

"Um..." the little girl murmured, looking distraught.
"What is it..?" she tilted her head, the flowers in her antlers rustling softly.
The sound seemed to catch the child's attention and she looked up to watch the blooms lightly shift in the soft breeze. The same breeze was also setting the brown stalks of the parched wheat about the two of them to swaying.
She didn't particularly wish to interrupt the young one's reverie, but the tear tracks which still attested to her distress made it necessary to learn more. She gave a gentle, questioning hum, hoping not to upset the little girl further.
She took a shuddering breath as she reluctantly returned to reality.
"Um..." she started again, but this time the lump which prevented her from continuing on before seemed to have dissolved, "Its just... I don't have anything for you and... and you're *so* pretty..."
She met the fable's eyes with her own longing ones.
"Really? Is that all?" she was amused, "Why, that is no difficulty at all. I need only a name. Ask for nothing more."
The child stared up at her with big eyes and then there was a look of determination.
"Please, but you can have these?" she half offers, half requests.
With these words she held up a small packet she'd taken from her basket.
"Mamma said I should eat them, 'cause I made 'em, but, I want you to have 'em."
The offer was precious and entirely irresistible. She took the packet and carefully placed it on the ground, pulled back a paper and saw that it contained some very simple circles of baked dough, the soft twinkle of a few sugar crystals glittering on top.
"Oh," she murmured, her heart somehow melting even further, "these look wonderful!"
She took a small bite of one and delighted in the simple sweetness. Perhaps they were a little overworked by the child's enthusiastic care, but the balance of flavors were quite pleasant.
"Flos'Agri." the child said, almost confidently, the name tilting up at the end in a question.
She looked up, faintly confused for a moment.
"I-" the hesitation is back in full force, "Mamma says it means... 'Flower field' and- and I thought you're as pretty as one, so..."
"Oh, oh!" she answered, warmth further blooming in her chest, "Of course! 'Flos'Agri'. It is beautiful. Of course I accept."
And with those words, the bond formed. Flos'Agri let it settle for a moment before smiling down at her young bonded.
"And now that you have introduced me, what is your name, little one?"
"Oh..." she seemed a little startled by the question, "I'm- Lena. Oh, no, that is what I'm called. But I'm really Melena. Um, but you can call me Lena too- or Melena. I like both."
"Melena is a sweet name." Flos'Agri murmurs, "Now, can you tell me what was distressing you before we met..?"
Melena's face falls.
She goes on to explain in her child way that there had been a great drought and that no one had enough food. Flos'Agri thought with warmth of the mother who must have sacrificed those precious ingredients to let her daughter make the lovely treat she had. She would be well rewarded for such.
"Come onto my back, Melena," she invited with joyful warmth, "it is time to bring plenty to all."
Of course the child could not understand what she meant, her eyes wide and wondering as she did as she was told.
But as the fields soon began to revive as Flos'Agri stepped forward through them, the young girl's expression soon reflected her fable's emotion. A beautiful laughter peeled forth, which drew out the farm folk from their homes where they had been mourning the loss of their crops and income for that year. Now women pressed hands to mouths and aprons to faces and men hands to foreheads in astonishment. They watched the damage of the cruel heat come undone as Flos'Agri tripped past, bringing every parched stalk back to full, golden life once more.