Saiunkoku: Standalone: Pollen for Dreams

[branchandroot]

Fic post from my archive.

Pollen for Dreams

A quiet moment between Ryuuki and Seiran, balancing between truth and pretending. Drama with Unspoken Romance, I-3

"Let me play pretend? Just for a little bit?" Ryuuki begged, and Seiran's resistance fell all in a heap.

Comments

[thierrys.livejournal.com]

yay, a new story!

do the flowers have any particular meaning? that is just the sort of question ryuuki would ask seiran. i thought this was elegantly written.

sorry that i'm not good at long reviews =(

[branchandroot]

Any comment is good! Glad you liked it!

And, yes, Saiun is just chock full of flower language, so I thought it would be fun to play with in the story. I tried to give the meanings in the narrative (daisy for faith, lavender for "held in my heart", sunflower for love and admiration). Did that come through, or should I add a footnote, too, do you think?

[thierrys.livejournal.com]

I think a note for specific meaning wouldn't go amiss, if only for people like me who are bad at picking up on things like that ;) There really is a lot of flower language used in Saiunkoku. I think it's kind of funny that even military officers know it.

[branchandroot]

*nods* I'll add that when I revise, then. Thanks!

*chuckles* Isn't it? I'm actually working on a list of good sources I've found for the Japanese flower language, to post in the main comm for other ficcers to use if they want to. Or even just for people wondering why on earth Kijin brought Shuurei an orchid and said he'd bring a camellia! Of course, most of the best sources are in kanji. *rueful sigh* I suppose it's good practice.