Grow
Legacy Name: Grow

Deep into the countryside, what one would consider the middle of no where, lived a 6 year old girl named Lily and her single mother. Now, they had just moved here recently pending the disappearance of her dad, and thought that this was a much safer and heartwarming place to live than the city. Not to mention that both her grandmas lived here, this was truly the place where she would be given the most familial love.

Oh, right. To get to know this story, we must get to know Lily. She was energetic and rambunctious as all little kids her age were with that curiosity that starts to fade once reality sets in. She was optimistic and cheerful, her dimples popped out when her mom made her favorite cookies. Lily did not understand what was happening but all she knew was that they were here to provide company for her elderly grandparents.

And wouldn't you know, she settled in quite nicely to the quiet country life. Playing with the dogs that lived on her grandpa's farm and getting to pet the ponies when he came in from a full day of work. It was summer when she first got there, and it was as if she was an explorer in the jungle when she traipsed into the sunflower fields. The stalks towered over here, causing her mother some panic if she took her eyes off her for just a bit.

Days passed, weeks spent, and months disappeared. All of a sudden it was the beginning of fall, and all hands were on deck to help with the harvesting of crops, picking of fruit, and preparation for winter. Lily had gotten so used to the place, figuring the ins and outs as well as the shortcuts, that her mother decided she would be safe as long as she was with her grandfather's trusty companion dog, Roxie. Honestly, you should see Roxie in action. Whenever there would be rustling, Roxie would put herself in between the unknown and Lily. If Lily was being particularly clumsy, Roxie would throw herself on the ground right where she was to fall before Lily even came close to hurting herself.

Now today, Lily and Roxie were yet again on an adventure into the sunflower fields. The field was was beginning to dull from yellow, as it entered the middle of fall. The vibrant yellow sunflower petals were falling and stalks were dropping leaves like no other. But that was okay, she could still use this field as her hideout where she would hold her flowery tea parties with Roxie or where she would pretend to be teaching school to her imaginary students.

However, on the way to her favorite spot in the field, Lily spots what seems to be an ecliptic shiny diamond. It was something out of a princess fairytale, gleaming as did Cinderella's glass shoe did, at the prince's ball. She ran back home to her mother helping out grandma in the kitchen and proceeded to show her momma her new treasure. Both grandma and mom stared at the small round object, chalking it up to Lily's extraordinary imagination and played along. For to them, the diamond that Lily had seen, just looked like an abnormally large sunflower seed.

After lunch, Lily and her mother walked out of the house to search for new treasures. Her mother had told her that she was so so lucky to have found a magical fairy seed. But they didn't want it in the house so she recommended that they go out and plant the abnormally large seed, so that they could release the magic into the soil. Lily was so ecstatic and excited. Lily brought out her toy shovel and ran back into the field with Roxie - leaving her mother far out of her periphery. She was going to dig her treasured fairy seed into her secret hideout, so that it would become even more special.

Not too long after, Lily had forgotten about her seed. The weather was getting cold, the temperature dropped, and snowflakes were in abundance outside. She was to stay inside, with the rest of her family, which wasn't too hard because they all played with her. Several holidays passed. Halloween, came and went. Thanksgiving, was fantastic - her grandma's cooking was the best (far better than her mother's) and the food was fresh from the farm. Christmas, was superb. They had brought in a tree, baked cookies for Santa, and left out milk for him to fuel himself as he took his trip around the world to deliver presents.

On Christmas morning, Lily ran down stairs. The tree had so many presents under it, way much more than she had seen when she was still living in the city. However, her mood had dropped. This was her first Christmas without her father, and there was simply no sign of his return. She had quietly opened her presents, not forgetting to thank her family for all they had given her, but not smiled or shrieked as they had anticipated. After breakfast with hot cocoa, she excused herself from the table, and went to her room to prepare. For she was going to go on a journey to find her father. She packed a small backpack with a set of clothes, took her favorite stuffed toy and leashed up Roxie.

Tiptoeing quietly downstairs to the front door, Lily avoided saying goodbye to her family. She knew that they would stop her, and tell her she was too young. But, Lily was determined. She went to her favorite playing spot in the now empty sunflower field to see a single white bud where she had planted her magical seed. Lily poked at the bud, and to her surprised it opened quite immediately, revealing the tiniest little snowy white kitten in the middle of the flower.