A melesare flower will bloom only once in sixty years. I planted this bush when Wynn and I first moved into this cabin all those years ago. I planted them for her, something I hoped would remind her of me long after I was gone. I didn’t think I would live long enough to see it bloom myself.

Melesare flowers were part of an ancient elven ritual, men would give a melesare flower to a woman they loved by trying to place it in her hair. If she accepted the flower, the two would be married. I had to learn a lot of elven customs after I met Wynn.

“After all these years! I’ve never seen an actual melesare flower before!” Sasha said.

'With a little luck, you might be seeing one again soon', I thought to myself. I looked over at Mae and she gave me a wink, thinking exactly as I did.

I gave both the girls a hug and sent them on their way. They tried to protest, but I knew they were busy and couldn’t stay long, besides, I told them I was about to leave and visit their mother, and that I’d like to be alone this time.

It was hard to walk up the path to the little clearing these days. My hips burn in pain as they were put under the stress of simple walking. The cane helped, but made it difficult to hold the melesare flower I had plucked. Such a delicate thing, and so easy to crush, but I made it there with the flower in pristine condition.

In the center of the clearing was an oak tree, almost fifty years old at this point. I made my way to the tree and I placed the melesara flower in its leaves, just as I had put one in Wynn’s hair all those years ago.

I slid down and rested my back against the tree, feeling a warm comfort that I only felt here. Wynn had been brave and courageous back in our adventuring days. I know it’s wrong, but when I think back on all the lives that she saved when she sacrificed herself, I can’t help but feel cheated.

Some people can come back from the dead, and some can’t. Wynn couldn’t be brought back, no matter how much I spent or what magic I tried. So I put her to rest here, at the home we made. From her grave sprouted this tree, and I’ve cared for it ever since.

I leaned back and closed my eyes, daydreaming, as I often did here. I don’t know if there is anything after life. Those we bring back say they can’t remember anything after death. But the fact that they return must mean they go somewhere.

Maybe I will see her again some day, or maybe this life is all we get. I don’t know the answer. All I know is that I promised not to leave her alone.

I took a few liberties with the prompt, hope that's okay:

******************************************************

A knock at the door roused me from my slumber.

“Wynn?” I called, reached across the bed for her, but she was nowhere to be found. I grumbled to myself, throwing off the fur blankets and wincing at the morning cold. Our simple cabin didn’t have much in the way of glamor, nor of heating, but she wanted to be closer to nature. In a heartbeat, I sold the manor and moved out here.

I dressed myself while sitting in bed, a slow and clumsy process. In my youth, I would have strapped my sword to my hip, but these days, all I clutched was a cane.

The knocking continued all the while. When I reached the door, I threw it open and saw them standing there, my two lovely daughters. Sasha took her looks from me, being tall and slender, but she had her mother's awkward and overly formal way of speaking. Mae was the spitting image of her mother physically, short and plump, but she had a mischievous streak in her that she got from me.

“You have your mother’s patience,” I muttered at the two of them.

“Nice to see you too, old man,” Mae smiled and threw herself against me, wrapping me in a hug. Sasha came after her, giving me an awkward hug of her own.

“Father,” Sasha said, quietly and curtly. “Did you find what we needed?”

“Oh, yes, I’m sure I have it, just take a seat, I’ll dig it up,” I said.

Mae sat down on the bed, Sasha walked over to the small table and pulled out one of the two chairs, sitting down and watching me.

I made my way over to a large wooden and metal chest. I popped the lid open, no reason to keep it locked these days, no one comes down these roads all that often any more, and started to root around inside, being perhaps less cautious then I should as I pushed around old vials and dusty amulets.

“So, how have you both been? Keeping out of trouble?” I asked.

“Of course, father,” Sasha said.

“Well, that’s not completely true,” Mae said with a smile.

“Will you shut up!” Sasha’s formal demeanor broke, as often it did under Mae’s teasing.

I stopped looking in the chest and turned to Sasha. “What is she talking about?” I asked.

“Nothing, it’s nothing at all,”

“She’s been talking to a b-o-o-o-o-y,” Mae sang sweetly.

I laughed as Sasha’s face turned bright red. “Is that all? You scared me, I thought it was something horrible! So, is it serious?”

“No. Well, I don’t know.It’s complicated. I...well, it’s just that.... he’s....human,” Sasha said.

“I’m human,” I reminded her.

“I know, I don’t care that he’s human except for...” Sasha gave me a look, as if she was conflicted about something. Then she asked me, “Father, was the age difference ever an issue for you and mother?”

“Oh, of course it was. Every time I talked to her, she was so cold to me, I figured she hated me!’ I laughed. “Turns out she had feelings for me like I did for her, but she was trying to save herself from the heartache, she said. ‘How am I going to just move on in ninety years and forget about you?’. And it never really goes away, it’s always there,”

I could never tell Sasha this, but it was the worst after she was born. Wynn was watching me as I cradled Sasha in my arms. I looked up at her and I saw into those bright green eyes, clear as crystal, and I saw them fill with tears. I put Sasha back into her crib and rushed to Wynn’s side to ask her what was wrong.

“I’m so scared I’m going to be alone again some day. How can I ever be alone again? You and Sasha, you’re both going to leave me, no matter what I do to make you stay, and we won’t be together again until I die a thousand years later.”

I held her in my arms and promised her she would never be alone, I would find a way to be with her always. A lie, we both knew, but a comforting one.

The memory faded as I looked at my daughter, now a grown woman. Sasha was in her fifties now, she would still be a child if she were a full elf, but as a half-elf, she was just starting a life on her own as an adult.

“Do you love him, Sasha?” I asked.

“I do,” she said without hesitation.

“Then don’t worry about decades in the future. Enjoy being in love while you can. Besides, any plans you make, life will change without consulting you. Trust me, that’s one thing your foolish old man knows for sure,” I said.

I pulled a vial from the chest and dusted it off, then handed it to Mae. “That should help you with your dragon problem, just apply the oil, then wait five minutes, the dragon won’t be able to hunt you by smell. Just be aware that you will smell like slimy fish oil for a few days.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Mae said. “Sasha, go get the flour and meat we brought for dad, we have to get going. Sorry we can’t stay long, people to save and all,” Mae said as she wiggled the vial.

Sasha left the cabin, and Mae took a look around. The firewood needed to be restocked, dirty clothes littered the floor, and the only food I had out was a stale half-loaf of bread still sitting on the stove.

“Dad...do you ever think about moving back into the city, like we talked about last time?” Mae asked.

I smiled. She was worried about me, wanted me to be closer so she could take care of me, but she knew what my answer would be. “Not going to happen, Mae”

She shrugged, trying to hide her concern with mock disdain. “Fine then, rot away out here, old man, see if I care.”

Sasha returned with a heavy sack of flour over her shoulder and a bag held to her hip. “Father, I think it’s finally in bloom!”

With my cane I made my way outside, Sasha and Mae in tow. Outside, there was a small garden, the fence was falling apart and weeds were growing thick, but not around a small flower bush.

The flower bush had a single large bulb inside of it that had finally bloomed, revealing petals of alternating streaks of red and yellow that were so straight and angular that it almost looked like a stained glass window. The flower released a smell, saturating the garden with a sweet cinnamon scent.