Dreams in Trees

Stephanie wandered the halls of the palace looking for a place of solitude where she could dream in peace. Some days it was harder to look for her own space than others. Back home when she got a certain look in her eye the rest of the family gave her a wide berth and space. Here it was so much harder especially as she couldn't even shut herself in her room when she also had a dormmate to consider.

She was almost ready to give up when she stumbled up on the indoor garden. Stephanie had seen it before on her way to and from potions but she had never taken the time to have a closer look. Now was the time and she was ready to take her chances. She found a bench upon which to sit and lean back to close her eyes. At last she could slip into her dream word and not worry about what was going on around her.

The first year had barely slipped into her dream word when the sound of approaching feet had her snapping her eyes open again in haste. She quickly stood and flushed. "I can go," she stammered as an older student came into view.

Persephone liked the indoor garden for a few reasons. One of those reasons being that it was calm and quite easy to find oneself a little place of their own to hideaway in, if they needed some alone time. The other being that it was absolutely beautiful. Persephone always liked plants and the indoor garden had a fine arrangement of varying and unusual plants that she had never heard of before she had stepped foot in it. She liked spending much of her time in the garden, and wasn't surprised when she found other people around.

Unlike when Percy came across a person in any other place, she wasn't about to say anything to the other girl, but rather let her keep to her own frame of mind. She figured the girl didn't want to be bothered and coexisted with the younger student for a few moments before her presence had unintentionally been made known.

"Oops," Percy said, bashfully. She didn't mean to disturb the other girl and rose an eyebrow when she asked whether or not Percy wanted her to leave. "The place seems big enough for at least two people, don't you think?" Percy replied with reason. "Unless of course you are hiding a bunch of other students in here and I am intruding." She looked past the younger girl to see if she could spot anything human in the greenery. "What are you doing in here?"

"Yes," she agreed with a slight nod. Whoever designed this indoor garden they hadn't planned it for just one to enjoy. Stephanie slowly sat back down again and shook her head. "No. No-one else is hiding as far as I know." Though now that the older girl had mentioned it Stephie couldn't help look around just in case someone was hiding waiting to jump out and scare the first year.

Her question was one which Stephanie found difficult to answer. What did she say? The truth might bring ridicule and Stephanie wasn't very good at lying. She tended to stammer and flush when caught out in a lie. "I'm just thinking," she eventually replied. "This place looked like a good place to go and just think. It's quiet and peaceful." She looked down at her feet not wanting to see the mocking look which was bound to appear on the girl's face.