Blooms of the Underworld [Chaennie]

 She [Persephone] was having a good time, along with the daughters of Okeanos, who wear their girdles slung low.
She was picking flowers: roses, crocus, and beautiful violets.
Up and down the soft meadow.
Iris blossoms too she picked, and hyacinth.
And the narcissus, which was grown as a lure for the flower-faced girl by Gaia [Earth].

- Homer, Homeric Hymn to Demeter

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"Well, how about this one?" Roseanne asked.

She was sitting in the garden, back resting on the trunk of a tree with pictures of houses scattered around her.

"How close it it to a city?" Jennie asked back - hands glowing gold as they cradled a tiny plant, coaxing it back to life.

"About three-hundred miles, give or take."

Jennie made a face as she turned back around - the plant behind her continuing to grow until it was as high as Jennie's hip. "Is this house in the middle of nowhere as well?"

"Hey!" Roseanne exclaimed, a rare smile making its way onto her face. "This one's in the middle of a forest."

Jennie rolled her eyes as she padded closer before swerving off path to nurture the little pomegranate tree that she had planted. "Plants are fun," She acknowledged," But if my family come knocking again then I won't be able to lose them in a crowd."

"Is that a no?"

"It's a maybe," Jennie said. Her hands were still glowing as they hovered above the tiny tree," How do you even own this many houses? Don't you live in the Underworld full time?"

Roseanne shrugged as she moved the picture into the 'maybe' pile - the first house to do so. "I used to visit the mortal realm quite frequently," She said before chuckling - hand coming up to cover her mouth," In fact, I think that William even made us a little business so the mortal authorities wouldn't need to track us down to find out where we were getting our money."

"Tell me about," Jennie groaned. The little tree under her watch sprouted upwards an inch - its leaves looking a tad more healthy than the moment before. It was strange - the effect that the Underworld had on her little charge. It still looked like a growing tree from the mortal realm but the colour seemed to have been drained from it. The whole plant seemed dark and lifeless and, strangely, it made the tree feel more alive than Jennie had ever felt before, reaching deep into her reserves of magic to key into the steady thrum of life that the plant was giving off.

"I had to convince Lisa that I did have a job and my money didn't just appear in my pockets when I needed it to do."

Roseanne grinned back back at her as she sorted through more houses - putting the ones further away from cities and ones that had no woodland in the 'no' pile. "William had us knitting."

Jennie didn't bite back her laugh. "William?" She said," Knitting? That's hilarious."

"He got quite good at it as well."

"I can't even imagine," Jennie replied. She pulled away from her little tree and gave it a self-satisfied nod. She crossed the garden and sat down next to Roseanne - knees almost touching. "I only got a job once," She said," I babysat this little girl - she constantly asked me to braid her hair."

"And did you?" Roseanne didn't look up from her pile of papers, sifting through them and sorting them easily.

"Of course I did," Jennie laughed," I'm not a monster - I got quite good at it, thank you very much."

"How good?"

"Good enough to be able to weave flowers into the braid as well and I- Oh, you know what, just turn around."