By the time she got over her mortification, Dawn decided that not only would she clean the scratch, but she would put a huge band-aid on it, just to make sure it wouldn’t be a problem again. Confident in her method of deterring Leo’s attention, she went out to find him, maybe sit down and chat about who he was and all that.

She regretted it immediately.

Leo had made himself at home, alright, and apparently that “home” included littering the living room floor with flowers— flowers she pain-staking grew in the extensive gardens outside. “No,” she breathed, rushing over to pick up the nearest one as Leo realized she was there. She looked at the rich purple petals of the day-lily in her hand, feeling just the slightest bit of relief that he had only picked blossomed that would die tomorrow anyway. Still, that was not the way to get on her good side.

“What the hell are you doing?” She snapped, gathering up the flowers and trying to find them a vase before they died completely. They were picked now, she sure as hell wasn’t going to waste them. “You shouldn’t go tromping around through someone’s garden and pick all their flowers! Look, they’re wilting already…” Her concern for her garden quickly shifted to concern for the flowers as she noticed the softening petals and drooping leaves. She pulled a vase, one of many, from the cabinet and settled the flowers inside.

“They wanted to come in.” Dawn glanced over to Leo to see the little half smile he gave as he looked at a pale yellow lily he was holding. He took a deep breath, inhaling the scent, before continuing. “And now I know why. You take such good care of them.”

Dawn looked at him out of the corner of her eyes as she snipped some of the stems and made a proper arrangement instead of the chaos that was there before. “Is flattery supposed to distract me?” She murmured, annoyed at herself now more than him, because the flattery was working.

“It’s a fact,” Leo offered as he stood and came next to her, sliding the flower he was holding into the vase with the others.

“For arguments sake, even if they did want to come in, why in the world did you leave them on the floor?” Was it too late to rescind her invitation and kick him out? Unfortunately, she couldn’t entertain the idea seriously; guilt wouldn’t let her leave him on the street. Or woods.

“They like the ground.”

Of course they do. “Either way, please don’t scatter my poor flowers across the floor again. If they want to come in just… just tell me, and I’ll go pick them.”

Leo cocked his head to the side, as though he had never contemplated calling her before getting them; then, he broke into a soft smile. “Yes, I will. Come,” he motioned to the door and took her gently by the elbow. “There are more.”

    The rest of the afternoon was spent, to Dawn's surprise, in her garden. The expansive flower beds curled around the entire cottage, filled to the brim with peonies and lilies and daffodils. The wisteria, grown well out of control over the years, was growing up the side of the house off of its arbor and draping the wall with brilliant purple flowers. The stone paths, swept clean, wound organically through the space like a meditative maze, and to Dawn, it was.

    She pulled out another weed before looking around for Leo again. He had wandered around for the past few hours, first dragging her around to each of the flowers that "wanted to come inside", and then letting her go to explore the gardens on his own. He had murmured to plants and subtly smiled at the bees, acting like a child in with a new toy, and every once in a while would pause to stare into the surrounding woods, expression unfathomable. Dawn had shrugged and gone about her gardening, trying to contain her own subtle smile as she realized how... cute Leo was.

    "You will grow tall and turn to the sun," she heard him murmur and turned the other way, finding him nearly lost inside dense greenery. She felt her lip twitch.

    "You seem to be enjoying your time outside..." Dawn said and pulled yet another weed. Jeeze, they were everywhere, she needed to get out in the garden more. Ever since her grandmother had passed, she hadn't been quite as keen to garden as she used to.

    "It is a glorious afternoon." Leo didn't look up, but when he let out a small "oh" Dawn looked over with more interest.

    "Look at you little guy," he murmured, his voice seeming even more gentle than usual. Dawn couldn't see what he was talking too, but somehow it didn't seem like just another plant; she stood, hoping to get a better view.

    Out of Leo's now-revealed hands dashed a small chipmunk, squeaking in fear at her sudden movement. It ran through the plants, sending the leaves into a frantic rustle, before escaping into a small hole. She stood there in surprise at the bold chipmunk just as a small bird came and perched on his shoulder, seeming for all the world like it belonged there.

    “Oh my gosh,” she murmured to herself, “I’ve invited Snow White to live with me.”

    “Not Snow White,” Leo replied, apparently hearing her no matter how quietly she spoke. “Though, I’m glad you still know that story. It was a favorite of mine. No, I am the Stag King of this forest.”

    He said it without even glancing away from the little bird as it hopped from his shoulder and onto his finger, tone completely and utterly nonchalant. Leo rummaged around on the ground next to him and came up with small seed of some sort to give to the little winged creature, but Dawn was busy thinking about other things.

    “You have got to be joking.”

Hello all! Get ready for the big reveal next chapter! Wooo! Thanks again for sticking around, I'll do my best to keep to my every-other day schedule for new chapters. Hope you enjoyed! :)