LIII. Darlings

“You've a purple flower on your face!” exclaimed Bittersweet as her friend popped into sight.

“So I have,” Persimmon said. Butternut stared at her.

“How did you get it?” he inquired.

“I danced before one of the Big Folk,” Persimmon said with a little giggle. “A young one. A Darling, I think they are called. That's what its mother called it.”

“You danced before a Darling?” Bittersweet said. “Funny, Mother has a flower also, and she never danced before a Darling, I'm sure. There must be other ways.”

Persimmon told about the incident. Her sisters Peppermint and Periwinkle had come up to hear the tale.

“Let's all find some Darlings to dance for, so that we may all have them,” Bittersweet said. “I shall have a calla lily, I think.”

“And I a tulip,” Peppermint said. “Red, with white stripes.”

“A periwinkle, like my name,” Periwinkle said.

“What will you have, Butternut?” Persimmon asked rather shyly.

“I don't wish for one,” Butternut said.

“Then what do you wish for?” Bittersweet asked her brother. She could see he was in one of his tiresome moods, in which he turned up his nose and refused to go along with the others, just because.

Butternut looked long at Persimmon, noting how sweet she looked with the violet on her cheek. Funny, he had never thought her anything special before. Just his sister's rather silly friend. It was disturbing.

And Bittersweet was looking at him like she knew what he was thinking. That would never do. He tossed her a withering glance, without even bothering to favor the others thusly.

“I wish never to hear anything ridiculous again as long as I live,” said he.