Common

Dawn has never been in love before—when one is moving around constantly and always in the presence of one's mother, there is very little opportunity to—and she's not even entirely certain she's ever had a true crush. So perhaps it's the hormonal rush of her first season, but today, something about the pale young stallion with green eyes looking at her over the top of the flower patch, with the yellow blooms framing his jawline, makes her heart quicken and her stomach roll like thunder.

Masamune, of the Thicket. How dreamy. He sounds like one of the forest spirits Aysu had told her tales about in her youth.

"Aysu," Dawn breathes without breaking eye contact, then just as quickly squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head vigorously. "I mean Dawn. Dawn's my name. Aysu is my mother's name. I don't know why I said that. And I don't know why I said 'is', either, since my mother is dead."

Heat creeps into her cheeks. Her mother had never acted like this in autumn. What is wrong with her?

"Sorry, that was a lot to unload on you all at once. I swear I'm normal," she says, deliberately slowing the rapid cadence of her voice and letting out a strained laugh. She stares at Masamune with wide eyes, one as blue as the sky and one as brown as the earth, yet both shining with the same expressive mixture of horror and admiration. Her gaze soon drops, however, to roam the wall of flowers that separates them as though she's suddenly remembered where she is.

"Um, anyway, I was just admiring these flowers. You wouldn't happen to know what they're called, would you?"