Nyani shifts her attention from the surrounding greenery back to Lily.
"Her grave. It's marked by tulips," she clarified. "I asked Calla to use them specifically. She didn't ask why. Maybe she already knew..."
As Lily's words trail off, Nyani scans the environment. As soon as they entered the garden, Nyani has been looking wide-eyed at the variety of colorful plants lining the stone walkway: Red chamomile, sunset hibiscus, shrubs of violet rosemary and pale laurustine. Cypress vines covered one corner of the garden, scarlet flowers poking out from the green mass of leaves. It's a shame they all appear as shades of gray in her eyes. Nyani had knelt down to touch the soft petals of a cluster of arnica flowers when Lily had first spoken. Now Lily is approaching the small group of tulips that mark her old friend's departure. Nyani hurries over to Lily and sits next to her as the girl takes off her ladybug-shaped hairpin, looking at it in her hands.
"You didn't know her. She went missing three years ago, before you started school. It... it was the day after m—my birthday, right after she gave me this p—pin..." Lily is struggling to hold herself together. Each word she speaks tickles her throat, teasing her face into crying like dust teases a sneeze.
Lily gives herself a moment to breathe, then continues. "We had just become friends... every day since then, I can't help but imagine what she'd be like today. What conversations we'd have."
She looks up at the sky, trying to hold back the tears. The sun was setting, a stretching a beautiful gradient over the horizon.
"Every time i see a sunset, I want to ask her what she thinks of it. I just think about how she'll never see this day, she'll never see the sun again, I... I should've been her friend sooner, Nyani! She was just a poor girl all alone, I— I didn't know—!" Unable to keep it down any longer, Lily begins to bawl. First into her hands, then in Nyani's shoulder. She cries hard, lamenting the fact that she didn't notice Lemon sooner. She so desperately wants to go back and change it all, to be her friend since middle — hell, elementary school. Maybe things would be different. Maybe she wouldn't have disappeared. The garden patiently listens to Lily's sobs, as does Nyani. After some time her weeping quiets down into whimpers and sniffles, her eyes red and her teeth chattering. Her face remains pressed against Nyani's shoulder.
Hug her.
Nyani cocks her head slightly as she hears the familiar voice. The one only she can hear.
Wrap your arms around her. Comfort her. It is what friends do for each other.
The grayscale girl follows my request, embracing Lily in her arms. Lily lets out one last sniffle and hugs back gratefully.
"Hey, Nyani? What do you think of the sunset? Isn't it pretty?"
Nyani looks over the garden's walls at the horizon. It's gray. However, she's entranced by the smooth gradient and shining light. Combined with the smell of the evening air within this garden of flowers, she would agree; it is pretty.
"Hey... thanks for coming out here with me. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who remembers her." Lily releases the hug and turns back to the tulips, only their white, yellow and black colors visible through her wet eyes. "Oh, I don't know if I even told you," she said, rubbing the last tears from her eyes, "her name was Lemon."
Nyani's stare moves from the sky to the tulips, remaining expressionless. If I could guess what she was thinking, it would be this: "That's an odd name."