.::The.Throne::.

Passions roar louder than Thunder

The sun came up washing with light Blumenville, street by street, making the Sunflowers rejoice. At the Sequoia residency, Erica woke up before Robert - This will be a different kind of day - she told herself.

Robert(R): You hear it, right?
Erica(E): Hear what?
R: The Sunflowers on the street, they were singing. Do you believe me now?
E: I don't know what are you talking about, I better get ready and start breakfast for our WoodLord The General.

Robert was always the first one to wake up, he claimed that the song of the Sunflowers on the street did the trick. Erica did hear something that morning, but wasn't exactly a song, it was more like a whisper. She would not admit it, What would be the case of that? It was bad enough to have Robert talking about the voices in the garden for years now.

♫ ♫ ♫

I fall to pieces,
Each time I see you again.
I fall to pieces.
How can I be just your friend?

♫ ♫ ♫

On her way to the kitchen she saluted The General Sequoia ,seated at the head of the dining table, as he has been ever since the disappearance of his wife Ms. Redwood. She felt nostalgic taking the food out of the fridge and pantry to prepare breakfast. Maybe training Joanna as her possible replacement made her feel old. It made her realize that one day she wouldn't be there to serve The General, that one day she would end up in the garden buried next to the Old Maid. She shook those feelings away as Joanna entered the kitchen. There was a lot to do today, the groceries were going to be delivered by Jacqueline and Joanna had scheduled the Electricians to come and fix the stove's broken burner. As she diced fruit, she looked over her shoulder at Joanna. - Would she be ready? Ready to know? - Erica thought. Would she be ready to learn the things she learned from the Old Maid?

♫ ♫ ♫

You want me to act like we've never kissed.
You want me to forget, pretend we've never met.
And I've tried and I've tried, but I haven't yet.
You walk by and I fall to pieces.

♫ ♫ ♫

The Old Maid had been like a mother to Erica, she was the one that thought her all the ways to please The General. And it was from her that Erica learned to be proud to be a servant, learned about the honor of living to please no other but The Great General Sequoia, one of the founders of Blumenville. Old Maid had many stories about The General, his bravery and his sense of justice. And in that moment she remembered that night, the last night she ever saw Ms. Redwood. The Old Maid had rushed her and Robert to the basement, the WoodLords got into a passionate argument like never before. The WoodLords wood creak as they yell at each other making Robert and Erica clenched to motherly Old Maid.

General Sequoia(G): Cannot you see that we were carved for each other? You cannot just leave! We belong together.

Ms. Redwood(M): You don't make me feel alive. Never have.

G: What does life has to do with this? That overrated casualty.

M: Watch me go through that door and remember my back because it is the last thing you will see of me.

G: Where would you go? There is no room waiting for you in any other house. You know I am right.

M: I would go to a place where I am loved.

G: I know I love you, why don't you?

M: How can you know love without passion? You fool!

G: I know I love you for I am enraged to lose you!

M: Get your hands of me! Release my rope!

G: Is this how he likes it? I am told he likes to be against the wall.

M: Let me go!

G: Who is he?! Khaya? Afzelia? I know it must be one of the Mahogany triplets. You think I did not know? That I would not noticed?!

M: You might have been a General at the untold times that commanded respect, but now you are nothing! You are no one! You are obsolete. You never settled into our pax aeterna. He doesn't question our settled ways. He indulge in them and for that he has outrank you as the WoodLord of power and my place should be at his side.

G: Blasphemy! You are wood of my wood! We belong together!

They kept on fighting until Ms. Redwood was heard no more, however the noise coming from the basement ceiling didn't cease until midnight. Erica remembered all the cleaning Old Maid had to do that morning, and The General's last words as she served him breakfast.

E: Excuse me General, Would Ms. Redwood be joining you for breakfast this morning?

G: All she ever wanted was to be next to the throne. She deserved far more, she deserved the throne for she was my queen.

From then on The General remained seated at his new looking red chair, without moving, without speaking. No WoodLord ever went looking for Ms. Redwood, in fact the other humans were the one that noticed that only a single rope could be seen at the Sequoia house. She was pressure by humans at the market to tell where Ms. Redwood was gone. Was she taken by the wood collector? they asked. She thought that by saying yes their thirst for knowing would be satisfied. But she was wrong, she couldn't meet any other human without being ask for more and more details. Eventually she stop going out of the house at all.

♫ ♫ ♫

I fall to pieces,
Each time someone speaks your name.
I fall to pieces.
Time only adds to the flame.

♫ ♫ ♫

Not long after, Erica and Robert had to bury Old Maid in the back yard. Robert planted a twining plant, one of her favorites, on her grave. He called it AltaGracia, that was the first plant he ever named, after that naming plants became something usual for Robert. It kept him busy Erica thought, but as the years passed she found him talking to the garden, laughing by himself. It was clear that Robert would not be the man for her, the man that could love her the way she wanted.

♫ ♫ ♫

You tell me to find someone else to love,
Someone who'll love me too, the way you used to do.
But each time I go out with some one new,
You walk by and I fall to pieces.

♫ ♫ ♫

In fact, there was only one creature in the whole Blumenville that could love as much as she ever dreamed. But his love belonged to someone else, someone gone. He always there, seated at the table and yet so far away. She had even adventure to put her lips against his, hoping that her kiss would somehow wake him up from his stasis. But nothing happened. As the sadness of that memory was filling her heart Jacquelin arrived waking her up from her daydreaming.

♫ ♫ ♫

You walk by and I fall to pieces.

♫ ♫ ♫

Soon after the Electricians showed up. Chatting with then, Erica remembered how much she disliked the outside world. Out there, there were the most absurd ideas going around from human to human, questioning the truths she learned from good Old Maid. As she explained to the Electrician the way she used to operate the stove, she noticed dandelion seeds dancing outside the kitchen window. What had Robert said about the meaning of the dandelion seeds? She couldn't remembered. It was something about his plant, AltaGracia's mood, but Robert use to have so many stories about signs given by the garden. It didn't matter anyway, she never really believe in those stories. She was asked to show how would she use the stove's oven. As she lean forward to show how to place objects inside a rush of sensation came upon her. Her scalp felt tense, her throat felt pain, her chest warm, her nose smelled blood, her face felt wind and her eyes saw darkness ever after.

♫ Patsy Cline - I Fall to Pieces ♫