**frogfear: Aww, thank you *G* Though, the next update won't have that kind of tingliness. Sorry *G*
**TX: Okay, okay ... here it is ... now go play in the street
Just for the record, this vignette is VERY G-Rated, and it has a slight AD tie-in. According to the AD Sass-Verse, this is when Tara first met Willow ... only she didn't know her name was Willow, and Willow didn't either.
And I'm just not going to bother to explain all that - I'm tired *G*
Series: Vignettes
Number: 3
Title: Dreams of Roses
Author: Sassette
Feedback: Can be sent to
pink_overalls@yahoo.comSummary: A young Tara dreams up a best friend
Spoiler Warning: Is somewhat spoilery for 'Answering Darkness'. This is, however, just a vignette, so it should work as a standalone piece.
Disclaimer: I didn't create these characters. I do, however, love them, and as they reside in my heart, they belong to me. I'm not making any money off of them, though.
Rating: Very Walt Disney G-Rated. Sorry, Willow and Tara are eight years old in this piece - so no smut. It's darn well frickin' 90 degrees here, and too gosh darn hot to write smut.
Dreams of Roses
Part 3 of the Vignettes Series
by Sassette
Tara stood on her tiptoes, her bright blue eyes wide, trying to see over the veritable ocean of sunflowers before her. They were big - as tall as she was, and she was four feet tall. She had never thought she'd get that tall, even though lots of the other kids were taller. Still, four feet was important, and her mommy had been so proud of her when she had marked her height on the wall.
Her mommy was nice, and gave good hugs, and she smiled thinking about her. And hadn't her mommy told her something about sunflowers?
Her little face scrunched up in concentration until she remembered and relaxed into a grin. Still smiling, she looked up, checking to make sure all the faces were looking up at the sun like she had been told they did, and smiling broader as the bright warm light hit her face.
She giggled.
She was a sunflower - just like the others, she was turning her face to the sun and letting it warm her.
It was nice here, in the middle of the field full of the big yellow flowers, all warm and happy, like she was floating in a sunbeam, and it could carry her away to anywhere in the world.
Her face fell, and she looked down, scuffing her foot in the dirt. She knew where she wanted to get to, but she didn't really know where it was. She had never been there before, but she wanted to get there more than she wanted anything else in the whole wide world.
It was someplace magickal.
Someplace special.
Someplace she could find a friend.
And that's what she really wanted - to find the place where she could find a friend.
With a sigh, she turned around, instinctively knowing her way, moving carefully through the sunflowers. She squirmed and twisted this way and that, making a game of trying not to disturb them, or break their stalks. As she walked further and further, her spirits rose, as it seemed the sunflowers reached out to her as she passed, tickling her neck and ears and making her giggle.
The wind played through them, making them wave merrily at her departing form, and she turned to wave back as she reached the edge of the field of sunflowers and continued on her journey.
Her special place was drawing near. It was, really, the place she had always hoped to find a friend. Everything was so pretty and bright there, but it had an air of loneliness about it, and she hoped that if she had a friend to play with there, the place wouldn't be lonely anymore.
She knew all too well what being lonely was like.
And so she walked, out of the field of sunflowers, and to the river, following its meandering path downstream, until she came upon a willow tree. Its branches hung down away from the river, making it hard to get by, and Tara knew on the other side of the trunk was a circle of roses.
Her mommy always called it a weeping willow tree, and that made Tara sad, because she didn't think the tree should cry. But she liked the way it looked, and the way its long branches hung down, keeping the roses on the side near the river safe.
Carefully, she brushed by the branches, skirting around the trunk of the tree and back into the sunlight, eager to see the beautiful red roses, even if she didn't have a friend here to help her ease the loneliness of the tree and the flowers.
Her eyes widened when she saw a little girl, about her age, sleeping amongst the flowers. She had pale but freckled skin and bright red hair that didn't quite match the roses. She didn't know why, but she kind of liked the way it didn't match, like the colors shouldn't naturally go together, but once they did, they became friends.
Would this girl be her friend?
Quietly, Tara peered closer, peeking around the side of the trunk. The girl had a delicate face, sprite-like and pretty, and Tara wished the girl would open her eyes - wished she knew what color they were.
As if complying to her wish, the eyes blinked open sleepily, and Tara found herself looking into a deep green, like the grass in the meadow across the footbridge down the way.
"Are you a faerie?" Tara asked in an awed whisper, hoping she wouldn't startle the girl, but needing to know the answer.
A shock of red hair flew about the girls face as she shook her head vigorously, her green eyes staying on Tara. "Are you an angel?" the girl asked in the same hushed tone.
"Oh, no … I'm just a girl," Tara said, slowly emerging from behind the trunk and stepping carefully into the circle of roses. She smiled when she saw that the other girl had obviously been careful too, for none of the flowers were disturbed.
"Oh, well, I'm a girl, too," the redhead said with a nod.
"I'm Tara," Tara said shyly, her eyes darting away from the girl sitting across from her. "What's your name?"
"Name? I, umm…" the girl looked deep in thought. "I don't think I have a name," she finally decided. "I'm nameless - Girl Without Name, that's me."
"Didn't your parents give you a name?" Tara asked, confused. Who was this strange pretty girl who didn't have a name - and did she need a friend? Tara's heart sank. No, there was no reason to believe that anyone would want a plain boring friend like Tara.
"Well, no," the girl said, shaking her head. "They're very busy."
"I could give you a name," Tara offered, then blushed, feeling foolish for blurting out exactly what she had been thinking. Her father always told her not to talk to strangers, and when she was speaking to family, to think before she spoke.
"Oh, could you?" the girl asked, her eyes lighting up. "I'd like to have a name - but I don't want a name that lots of people have," she went on, making a face and shaking her head. "Like Jane or Sally. I want a pretty name, like yours."
"Oh!" Tara said, her face breaking into a smile, which only widened when the girl smiled back. "Umm… I think … how about Rose? Because I met you here, in the roses," she said, pointing out the flowers.
"I like that," Rose said, her eyes shining.
"Are you lost?" Tara asked suddenly, fearing Rose would leave soon, now that they were getting along so well. It always happened like that. She'd meet someone who might - could possibly - be a friend, and she would be polite and nice like her mommy told her to be, but then a grown-up always came and took her new friend away. The grown-ups didn't seem to like her, because they always whispered to each other that she was bad. But she didn't think she had done anything bad - she always did what her mommy and father told her she should.
"Lost?" the girl asked with a frown, looking around. "Oh, a little," she said. "I mean, I know how I got here, and where I am, but I'm not sure how to get back, so I guess I'm lost. Or is lost only when you don't know where you are, because I know that - I'm sitting in the roses under the willow tree, but my magic helicopter is on the other side of the river, and I don't remember the way back."
"Magic helicopter?" Tara asked, her eyes glowing.
"Papa told me not to build it," Rose said sullenly, kicking her feet a little where they lay stretched out in front of her. "Now when I get back, he'll be all stern and lecture-y, and he'll say 'see? I told you not to build that helicopter,' and I'll say 'but it worked!' and he'll say 'yes, but you couldn't find your way home again, could you?'," Rose related, dropping her voice to imitate her father's lower pitch, making Tara giggle.
"I could … I could show you how to get to the other side of the river, if you wanted," Tara offered, even as she was saddened by the idea of Rose leaving so soon.
"Oh, but I don't want to go home yet," Rose said, shaking her head, her hair flying around her face again at the broad gesture. "I want to spend time with my new friend," she added, a grin crossing her face and lighting up her features.
"Oh, you, umm … you have a friend?" Tara asked, her heart sinking lower until she felt like she wanted to cry. Rose already had a friend. Rose didn't need her at all.
"All my other friends at home are boys, but my new friend is a girl. She's really nice," Rose added, nodding eagerly. "And she's pretty, and she helps people, and she's smart 'cuz she knows all about the land around here."
"What's her name?" Tara asked, frowning slightly. Whoever this 'friend' was didn't sound like a good friend at all, leaving Rose alone like that. And if this 'friend' knew so much about the land, why didn't she help Rose get back to her helicopter?
"Tara," Rose said her grin growing broader.
"There's another girl here named Tara?" Tara asked, her eyes growing wide.
"No, I mean you, doofus," Rose said, and though it wasn't a nice name to call people, Tara thought the way Rose said it sounded nice, like she didn't mean to say 'doofus' at all, but meant something else entirely.
"I'm … I'm your friend?" Tara asked slowly, her face slowly lighting up as a smile crept across it, her eyes widening further.
"Who else?" Rose asked, scootching over to sit next to Tara and taking her hand. "You’re my very good friend, because you talked to me when I was all alone, and you gave me a name, and when I need to go home, you'll show me where my helicopter is. You do want to be my friend, don't you?" Rose added on, a worried look crossing her face.
"Oh, yes," Tara said, beaming at the other girl. "I'd really like to have you for a friend."
"Then we're friends," Rose said with a nod. "We're bestest girl-type friends."
"Bestest girl-type friends," Tara agreed with a nod, and her skin tingled as the wind blew, making the branches of the willow tree wave merrily, and driving away the sense of loneliness from this place.
______________________________________
I Think The Hellmouth Tastes Like Chicken -- Autumn
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I will not dust dear Xita I ment..... Stalking silly me. 
oh well). And a new part with smoochies
What more could I ask for.
at: 5/12/02 11:07:03 pm