Quote:
Winter Apples (10) : Whereas most trees have already lost their leaves and stand barren in the winter months, these trees are still a lively green and don't seem affected at all. The most interesting thing about these trees isn't their color--it's the sudden fruit that has appeared on them. A few days after the first snowfall, little apples began to grow--small, bright red. They range in size from berries to plums--but taste like the sweetest apple you've ever sampled. They're all over the city, and the harvest is bountiful; more appear after every snowfall. There's just one catch--eat too many, or eat the wrong one--and you're out cold. Every apple risks drowsiness, fatigue, and even unconsciousness that can last for a few hours up to a day. If you're looking for a sweet treat and a good nap, you've come to the right place. Just make sure you're somewhere comfortable first.
Tianyi really was coming to love this world he'd found himself on. He'd seen its full cycle of seasons, now, and it captivated his heart to watch things shift from winter's whites to the riot of spring flowers, then to summer's warm greens, autumn's many reds and oranges, and finally back to winter. His world had seasonal turns, but the gardens in the palace were carefully upkept to minimize their impact; he also sort of suspected that Chaos may have altered the seasons of his world, making them less prominent.
Either way, it felt nice, to be on a world that changed so much. That was so beautifully alive. He had never seen his world before Chaos, so he couldn't say if it had held such bounty once, but by the time he walked under the red, eclipsed sky, it certainly hadn't.
He'd watched the seasons change, found delight in learning that there were certain new plants that came to full fruit in different times of the year, and enjoyed the bounty of a planet that seemed so happy to give it.
He knew some of his fellow aliens saw Earth as less than the worlds they'd came from. Polluted, vile. Their paradises, Tianyi was sure, must have put any world to shame.
To him, Earth was vital and alive, in a way he did not know he was missing until he was immersed in it.
All of that was to say, he felt at least somewhat familiar with Earth's seasonal cycles, or as familiar as one could be while having only been there for a single full turn of them.
Which meant that when he came upon a tree that still bore beautiful, red fruits--of the type Tianyi knew to be calledapples--this deep into the winter, he was deeply curious. As far as he knew, those were fruits for autumn, and should have long since vanished. Never mind that they were much smaller than they ought to be, and seemed more vibrantly red than he would have expected.
He probably ought to have been more wary, he realized, plucking a few from their branches, but the chance to eat fresh, wild fruit was so...novel. And yes, he was aware that some things were poisonous, but...they didn't seem dangerous. They seemed lovely.
(He knew that not all danger was apparent on the surface. But Tianyi longed for a nice thing. Please, just the one.)
He found himself a bench nearby, and began to snack on his little bounty. The apples--for they were certainly apples, he recognized the flavor--were incredible. Sweet, juicy, and their small size meant it was easy to eat a few.
And yet.
He felt...drowsy. Tianyi was glad he was sitting on a bench, and that it wasn't too uncomfortable outside, and that magic would keep him warm, because he simply could not resist. He shifted to lay down, eyes closing, and settled into a little curled up bundle.
As he fell asleep, the last apple fell from his fingers, landing in the snow with a soft little plop.
[wc: 511 words]
