An hour later, at the entrance of the Memorial Park, stand two people. One of them is healthily pink and goes through stretching motions while casually staring at the passing female ass. The second one is actively trying not to die and currently looks like a sweaty hobo.

Ambrose and Nathan agree to a drink on Wednesday and split. Nathan walks back to his grey Ford Escape and grabs a sweater and a bottle of water then goes hunting.

The Salt Spring Area used to be filled with half derelict Victorian houses. Ten years ago, a local group with the support of the Hallows township had acquired a large swath of land in an effort to create a living town center. Some companies had come and gone, but overall the place had lasted by being half decent and also by being the only real social meeting point in a twenty miles radius. On a Saturday morning it was bustling with activities with many Hallows denizens resupplying on locally made foodstuff and delicacies. Nathan takes note of a bakery offering discounts on home made bacon and maple syrup doughnuts and ponders whether or not he wants to die by massive heart attack. Maybe later.

Nathan reaches the place closest to where his new sense had activated and waits.

Nothing.

Nathan looks around. On his right the Park’s low wall and fence go on, on his left there is a well decorated flower shop, Hallows’ most expensive tailor and a darker place offering spiritual and magic stuff.

Nathan approaches the magics shop. There are cards, magician paraphernalia and books on display. Still nothing.

On a hunch, Nathan turns around and enters the flower shop.

The nature aura smashes into him as soon as he crosses the threshold, it feels like opening the door to an oven. A sensation like electricity but without the horrible pain courses through his limbs and climbs up his spine. It takes a good five seconds for him to recover his senses and observe the interior.

The place is well lit, well designed and warm.The smell of fresh flowers is almost overwhelming and green things of all size occupy every available space on ever shelf and table. The door to the back of the shop is framed by wisteria, kept in place by discreet metal supports. On the counter, tiny cacti surround a tree colored Maneki Neko, its moving paw inviting fortune. Behind it, a slim and beautiful woman in a green uniform finishes to pack a massive floral arrangement for an old man in flannel. The center of the shop is dedicated to a massive cherry tree bonsai and sitting next to that bonsai is a creature.

For just an instant Nathan is taken with vertigo. The bonsai is so perfect, so lifelike that it briefly looks like a huge tree in the distance with a normal size woman squatting beneath it. Soon however, the size of the leaves breaks the illusion.

Nathan stares dumbly at the creature. Two feet tall, she, definitely a she, has long brown hair falling to her deformed feet like a dress, a bark like garment starts from her chest and reaches her legs halfway to her knees. Yellow eyes peer at Nathan from a face that even a mother could not love. She is not ugly like the girl sitting at the back of the class, she is ugly as if it was made on purpose. No warts, mo wrinkles, no crooked teeth, her face is just so unbalanced and disgraceful it almost counts as a work of art.

The creature speaks.

“Long have I awaited a kin or a hero to come and save me. Instead, fate has sent… You.”

Nathan closes his mouth and composes himself. On top of the sarcasm, the most striking thing about the creature is her voice: smooth, beautiful. It is a voice that could sell companies. It is even a voice, Nathan reflects, that he could wake up to for his early shift and not want to immediately smother.

“Like it?”

Nathan jumps in surprise. The woman behind the counter is just next to him and he had not seen her move, not had he noticed the old man in flannel leaving. From up close, Nathan realizes that she is older than he first assumed. Her black wavy hair, held together in a practical knot, shows signs of grey and there are crows feet next to her chocolate eyes. Hey lithe figure and genuine smile make her look ten years younger at least. The patch on her chest reads “Elizabeth”. She obviously has no idea her store is inhabited by Miss Dogface.

“It’s, well, I have never seen anything like that”

Nope, never seen anything like that indeed.

“Free me now mortal, or feel my anger”

“Are you familiar with bonsai?”

“No.”

Elizabeth launches into an enthusiastic, and somewhat lengthy explanation on the art of bonsai. She is obviously a fan.

“A bargain then perhaps, but first you must take me away from this place.”

Nathan knows he is in unknown waters, but he feels that getting walked over is not the way to survive or succeed here. Despite the tiny creature's radiant power, it is obvious she is trapped and needs some help. That gives Nathan some bargaining power.

“How do I take care of it?”

“Oh, taking care of a bonsai is something you have to commit to but it can be both rewarding and relaxing…”

“You must remove me from this container and let me into rich soil, in a secluded place.”

Elizabeth and Nathan talk for a while and he purchases the bonsai. Then comes yet another realization: if Nathan wants to know more, he will need resources because the bonsai cost the reasonable sum of fifteen hundred dollars. Fifteen hundred for a stunted cherry tree and the ugliest female garden dwarf in existence, who could just be waiting to turn him into a giant cucumber for all he knows.

On the way back, Nathan stops at the bakery and gets himself the Marple syrup and bacon doughnut as dying of coronary disease looks more and more unlikely.