She hadn’t meant to say it. Of all of the things she wondered, this beat at her most profusely but was also the one thing she didn’t want to know, not yet, not now. Leo froze, hand falling down to his side, and Risa looked down on him in true horror for the first time.

“You…didn’t…” she felt emotions roiling through her at the possibility of what had happened to Emily, of what that meant for herself. The tail of guilt that chased her asked how she dared to think about herself when Emily was possibly dead, but she couldn’t help it.

Because deep inside, she knew that Emily was probably dead, that they wouldn’t come for a new Persephone when there was a live one still. When Risa had been chosen, she knew she was going to fill the place of a dead woman. She knew. She—

“No, I didn’t. She is alive.” Risa’s knees went weak as relief crashed over her, wiping away her terror.

“Then where is she?” She quickly asked, unsure of how relaxed she should be. “Is she alright?” Leo looked mildly annoyed at the questioning, and pushed himself up to stand over her. Risa tried her best not to be intimidated— Ravi was quite tall, after all, and she was used to him— but with his longer dark hair and attentive piercing gaze, she found it difficult not to be aware of him, at the very least.

“Not that it should influence you at all, but Emily was dismissed from her position as Persephone’s Heir since she couldn’t fulfill her duties. She chose not to return to the human world, and resides in the underworld. Now, if you are quite finished, I have other things to discuss with you.”

Risa opened to argue, and then closed it, not liking the cold expression growing on Leo’s face. She knew now that Emily was as good as could be expected; she would have to be satisfied with that. “Alright.” she agreed. “What else?”

Leo wasted no time in continuing. “These souls, you need to release them.”

Risa looked at the blossoms surrounding her. “And… how am I supposed to do that?”

Leo didn’t answer. Risa huffed slightly but took the flower back in hand, being more gentle with it now than she had before. She didn’t know what she was expected to do, but the compulsion to run her fingertips along the edges of the petals, to feel them, was just as strong as it had been earlier. After a moments hesitation she gave in to it, and crouched down so it was at eye level.

While she wanted to think of it as a soul, as Leo had said… when Risa looked at the daylily, all she saw was a daylily. It was beautiful, though, full of color and imperfections that someone wouldn’t notice on just a quick glance. The petals weren’t quite even in shape and the blossom itself was quite small, not even as big as the palm of her hand, but it was still pretty. She realized that it even had a gentle aroma, something she hadn’t expected, and as she let her thumb rest of the edge of the petals she unconsciously closed her eyes.

In her mind, she could still see the flower. The warmth of the sun on her back was blissful, and the velvet petals were still in her hand. She moved her thumb back and forth rhythmically, enjoying the sensation, when she suddenly felt something. A pinprick of energy, maybe. Risa nearly dropped the flower in surprise.

“I— I can feel something. It’s…” She trailed off, trying to find the right words to explain. What was it? She heard Leo sharply take in a breath, and then heard him move to crouch next to her.

“Describe it,” he intoned, speaking close to her ear in his usual gentle tone. “What is it like?” “It’s…” Risa trailed off as she focused, trying to bring the feeling to be clearer. It was like she was no longer alone, as though someone's hand was laced over her own even though she knew no one was there.

It was a type of warmth that seemed to exist right beneath the surface, a small essence of life that she had never noticed before, or maybe was never there. “It's as though it knows I'm here,” she finally settled on. That wasn’t right, but it was as close as she could get, and already the sensation was fading.

“Good. Now try—”

“It's already going.” Risa cut him off, shaking her head. She opened her eyes and looked at the flower. “I can’t really feel it anymore.”

She glanced over to Leo, mildly surprised to see some bit of disappointment registering on his features. She dropped the blossom and looked out into the thousands more of the fields. Was she… supposed to release all of them?

“Well, it's good to know you can feel them, at least. Emily could hardly do that much even if she was most suited to it at the time.” Leo pushed himself to his feet. The countless flowers dazzled her vision as Risa pulled herself up as well. “For today, you don't need to do anything more, but as the Queen of the Underworld you will need to learn how to send these spirits on.”

To be honest, Risa hadn’t expected any sort of real responsibilities to be placed on Persephone’s Heir. But as she looked upon the fields, she felt a smile growing on her lips. To spend her days under the sun, surrounded by flowers? She had imagined a life filled with darkness and cold, but never this.

“I don’t know how, but…” she could feel it, after all, feel the soul that was sleeping in the petals. “I’ll try.”