Back at the academy, Sigrid was still teaching her class. And she was about to introduce something that she was sure would blow the students.
She put her hands on top of the warm cauldron on the table and smiled at the class. "Show of hands here, who has ever seen a talking flower or herb?"
Three hands in the classroom went up. That alone caused some gasps and brought delight to Sigrid’s face. She just knew that ninety nine percent of them were unaware of such special things.
"Flora, tell us what you saw and what it said." Sigrid chose an adult female mage.
Flora was fifty six years old, one of the women with magic that been living in hiding all her life. The Lord mage had found her in the two of Willowbrook where she was living in hiding, working as a cook at an inn.
Flora curtsied and said, "Laughadilis your highness. It is a bright yellow flower found in the part of the Mystwood grove that crosses into Willow Brook. I don’t know if laughing counts as talking because all they do is laugh."
"Thank you Flora." Sigrid said.
As the woman sat down, Sigrid bent down and when she stood up, in her hands was a pot of thriving bright yellow flowers. She placed the down on the table, allowing them to soak in some sunlight. Their petals spread out to welcome the nourishing rays.
"Hello." She said to them.
The flowers collapsed into the giggles which astounded the classroom. The high pitched girly giggles made the flowers seem silly and shy.
"They sound like girls." Finn said.
The flowers giggled again.
"You are ugly." The lord mage said.
The same reaction was witnessed and it was proven that no matter what was said, Laughadilis just giggled. Sigrid could see some annoyance and irritation of a few students.
"Annoying, is it?"
"Yes." Finn responded the loudest.
She laughed heartily. "I understand where you are coming from. While it is amusing in the beginning, it does become quite irritable when they giggle at the most serious of conversations. For this reason, it is assumed that they lack understanding."
She picked up five petals that had fallen to the ground. "They have a short life span so when one wants to use them when brewing a potion, they must do so quickly. Every-time laughadilis giggle, their yellow petals fall off and a fallen petal loses all essence, making it worthless."
John raised his hand with a question.
"Yes John." She nodded once in his direction.
"Can laughadilis be combined with giggle weed to brew an elixir?"
Sigrid clapped for him. "I like this, I want all of you to think like that and come up with ideas. Test them and see what you can brew. Yes John, Laughadilis can be used as an ingredient in giggle brew elixir. Sneak that into the water of an enemy army and they will not be able to fight as all the soldiers will be suffering from uncontrolled giggles."
She put the laughadilis back down and pointed to another mage that had raised his hand earlier. "Baron, what talking flower or herb did you come across?"
Baron was a thirty three year old mage knight. His character was the silent brooding handsome man that said little and gave away nothing. Even in class, he kept to himself but his talent was undeniable. He was the second best student in potions class.
"I don’t know what it is called but I saw an unexplainable purple vine in the land of mist. Knights take turns sleeping and watching or battling. I was supposed to be on watch duty but I kept falling asleep and I nearly died as a result. My friend saved me by cutting off the head of this purple flower."
"Was it putting you to sleep?" She asked him.
He nodded.
Sigrid bent down again and when she came up, in her hands was a pot with a single purple flower on a coiled vine that resembled a coiled snake. Before she could say a word, the flower yawned slowly and at great length.
She had never seen anything yawn for five minutes without stopping. And when it was done, all of the students in class were yawning as well.
"That’s it, just sleep. The dream world is a good world." It said softly.
A boy at the back fell asleep completely and his body fell on his desk.
Sigrid cast a spell over the classroom, forcing them to wake up.
"It looks like I will not have to explain what sleeping bell does. It puts you to sleep anywhere and at anytime. It can be used in sleeping potions which are useful in many ways. But be warned, the flower itself can be misleading when used directly on its own.
If you put it by your bedside, you will miss school, miss breakfast, miss lunch, miss supper, miss your date with that girl or boy you have a crush on."
Some students snickered.
"Mostly," Sigrid said in a louder and sterner voice, "You will lose your life. Sleeping bell will trap you in the dreamworld until you die because you will not be able to eat or drink when you are sleeping. So, use it with caution. Before you use it in any elixir or brew, drink an elixir that keeps your mind sharp.
Spell yourself to remain alert, eat some pills or herbs that are immune to its effects and..."
"Go back to sleep, you are missing all the good parts. Just five minutes, close your eyes for five minutes." The sleeping bell flower interrupted Sigrid.
It started to yawn once more and she removed it from the table immediately. She picked the last mage that had raised a hand.
He was a young boy named Eckbert Tulip, only six years old but focused in class always. He had been living on the mage estate from the day he was born. His parents had sold him to the lord mage as soon as he was found to have magic at birth.
When he was not in class, he was in a green house, garden or plantation. As long as he was in soil, planting something or tending to plants, he was happy.
"Gillywood." he said and then he sat down.
He offered no other explanation and it left the others confused. Luckily enough, Sigrid had a system that was helping her out. It sent the gillywood to the floor and she picked it up
She presented a pot of very large pink flowers which started talking before she even put the pot down on the table. "Oh, is everyone here for me? Thank you ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. I am the fairest flower in all the land. Is this my new home? I don’t like it? Get me some soil, the good stuff none of the dry rocky type. I wont bloom until you do."
The flowers wilted very quickly at that declaration.