A Flower By Any Other Name

I was no secret that Matentines was not Silver's cup of tea. He couldn't deny the instinctual urges he felt around this time of year, but he found the Church of Sulfur's need to make a holiday out of it… distasteful. To put it politely.

He also knew that his sister felt very differently about the whole affair. Despite being litter mates, their view of the Church couldn't be more different. She'd taken a shine to the place, going to far as to leading other buns in prayer to any demon who was even tangentially related to love or romance. And now, for Matentines, she'd been appointed matchmaker to help others find love this season. Though privately, Silver had to wonder how much "love" played into most of these matches, and how many of them were just two buns being compatible enough for sex.

It wasn't his business, he had to keep reminding himself. Satin was an adult, and she could take care of herself. Her dealings with any other bun, including those within the Church of Sulfur, were none of his concern.

He found that he had to keep repeating these reminders in his head whenever they'd meet up for dinner; they'd made it a habit to make time for each other at least once a week, and dinner was often the easiest way to do that. Ever since the start of the Matentines season, and even the lead-up to it, Satin would breathlessly regale Silver with stories from within the unholy halls. For his part, he would smile and nod and make the appropriate "hmm"ing noises as she spoke, until the subject turned to other things, like how his work was going (nothing much to report) or idle gossip heard from Burrowgatory (always juicy.)

It wasn't until she came to dinner with a bouquet of fresh flowers that he was really met with the challenge of biting his tongue.

"Aren't they beautiful?" she asked, beaming. "Someone left them on my desk in my office. No note or anything, just…" she gestured with the bundle of flowers before setting them down on the table.

"Any idea who might have sent them?" Silver asked, looking over the blooms carefully. He was only familiar with one of them, but was hoping he was wrong.

"Not the faintest. But!" Silk's eyes glimmered with what Silver had come to understand as a 'romantic optimism', "Father Oleander is surprisingly knowledgeable about flower language. He didn't know who dropped them off, but he seemed to think the flowers themselves were a coded message."

She sat in the chair opposite him, propping the flowers up so she could point at them. "These ones, for instance. This is a morning glory. It's not blooming at the moment, they like to bloom at night or early morning, but it means 'dreaming of love.'" She grinned so wide it made Silver's own face hurt. "So it might be from the woman I keep seeing in my dreams! The one I told you about!"

"I remember," Silver said neutrally, trying to school his facial expression.

"And these," she gestured to a tiny yellow flower, "are celandine. Father Oleander says they usually mean that something wonderful is on the way. So if we put the two flower meanings together, it might mean that the woman in my dreams is coming soon! Maybe I'll get to meet her this Matentines!"

Silver eyed the last type of flower in the bouquet carefully; the single white petal wrapping around a yellow stamen. "I don't know, sis. I think maybe they're just flowers, and I think maybe someone was just being nice. I mean, you're nice to everyone who walks through the Church's doors, so it makes sense that buns would want to be nice back, you know? And maybe these flowers just reminded the sender of you."

He tried not to notice the split second where Satin looked crestfallen before forcing herself to perk back up. "You might be right. That's sort of nice too, in it's own way. Just not as exciting."

Silver knew he should let the subject drop there. And yet. And yet… "Did Oleander say anything about the last flower?"

"Oh, no. He said he wasn't familiar with it. He said it's some kind of lily, but not one he knows specifically."

"Pig lilies, I think. At least that's what I've heard them called."

Satin smiled weakly. "Pig lilies… what an odd name for a flower."