No sooner had her feet touched the path, the roses changed color from white to a bright, golden yellow. Now, everywhere in the glade, as she walked along the path, it seemed as though sunshine and moonlight had mixed. It was an odd, yet lovely combination.
"Faster, Tulyr."
Aldrec's voice sounded merry, as if he were trying to suppress a laugh. Mericlou quickened her pace and reached the bridge over the stream. Even that was decorated with roses. But unlike the yellow ones that surrounded her, these were a conglomeration of pink and red.
And as she figured, as soon as she stepped onto the bridge, the roses in the glade turned a beautiful crimson. The blossoms' brilliant ruby and rose hues, combined with the never-ending rain of silvery petals of light, increased the air of magic tenfold, as she crossed the bridge and arrived at two rows of trees. These lined the path to Vinta's front door.
"Come inside, Tulyr," Aldrec said, and Mericlou noticed that not only were the blossoms on the trees a light blue-violet, but runes were inscribed upon their trunks, aglow with the green light of their activation. The trees' boughs grew together, weaving into an archway, and the runes flowed up into their entwined branches.
Cautiously, she stepped into the archway, and again, as when she had passed through the mirror, the entire world about her vanished. It was replaced with a dense orchard of purple roses.
Only it was an orchard that grew inside a bedroom.
Like the room in which she awoke when she first arrived, it was elegantly decorated with ornately carved wood and gold veins. But this particular room, with all the papers and personal effects upon the dresser, and clothing upon the couch, had been well lived-in. Several trunks lined the far wall, where the purple roses were not present.
The roses seemed to grow from the very wood of the furniture. Even the bed was covered in purple petals on its silken white sheets. Swirls of blossoms even grew down its four posts upon strange vines.
It was like something out of a dream, Mericlou thought, making her way towards the bed, and relishing the gentle fragrance of the petals that covered it. The very scene brought to her mind the more beautiful dreams she had had: pastel flights of fancy that defied reality, but left her feeling especially energized and refreshed when she awoke.
"I see you finally made it, Tulyr," Aldrec said.
His voice had come from behind her, and this time, was accompanied by footsteps. She looked back in that direction, towards the doorway where he now stood as if he had followed her, invisible the entire time.