Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Flora peeked into the parlor and saw Rook with a book open in his lap. He was staring down at the page but didn’t seem to be reading at all. She knocked on the doorframe waking him from his stare.

“Hey,” she spoke softly. “Have you been feeling alright? You haven’t been yourself lately.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve just been thinking. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Is there anyway I can help?”

He thought for a moment, over everything that had happened a few days ago. “Not right now. I’m not quite ready to talk about it yet.”

“I understand.” She offered, “I’m always willing to listen when you’re ready. Do you want to take a walk to get your mind off of it for a while?”

They headed down their usual course to the garden. Flora kept the conversation light, trying her best to ease the mood.

Something caught Flora’s attention out the window. Aero was running with her arms filled with parchment.

“Aero?” she called confused.

“Ah!” She turned her head, still running. “Sorry! I’m late for my first day. I’ll tell you about it later!” With a flap of her large brown wings she launched herself into the air.

“Is it just me or do her wings seem paler?” Flora asked suddenly.

“They’re paler,” Rook explained. “She was the light princess back when she lived in the Light Realm. The royal family was known for their white wings that were rather light sensitive, so to say. The closer she is to the darkness the darker brown they’ll get and vice versa.”

“I wonder if she knows that. There seems to be so much she doesn’t know about herself.”

“Sometimes it’s good to not know things about yourself. It makes life more peaceful,” Rook spoke softly, mainly to himself.

Flora gave him a concerned look, not wanting to pry.

“I’m sorry, Flora, maybe I should just be alone for a while,” he told her walking off.

“I’m here for you,” Flora called after him. “I’m here if you need to talk. Isn’t it harder to shoulder the burden alone?”

He stopped for a moment. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I just . . . can’t.” He walked away again, this time a little faster. As he turned the corner he ran into a maid.

“Excuse me!” she apologized bowing before she continued on her way.
Rook noticed a book had fallen on the ground. He picked it up realizing she must have dropped it and called after her but the hall was empty. Curious he opened it and read the first page.

Aero flew over the town, descending as she saw the fountain. She dropped down running towards Ive. “I’m sorry I’m late!” she told him breathlessly. “And on my first day too.”

He laughed. “It’s fine really. We’ll get there on time. I said morning expecting you to get here late.” He lead the way to a path in the forest that lead to the village where the group met to practice.

“Thanks for having so much faith in me.”

He smiled widely. “Let’s get going. The book made it’s rounds through our troupe and got sent back already. I think Kian read it to the village, too. I’ll try and spot it again so we can read the comments.”

“Oh, it’s out again. That was really quick.” She said trying to hide her disappointment.

“Aw, don’t so gloomy, it’ll show up again.”

“I’m not gloomy,” she retorted looking ahead on the narrow path. Very few traveled the path between the capitol and the village. The members of the troupe were of the majority.

“Where are we going exactly?” Aero asked after a bit.

“There’s a little Dark Faery village a few miles away from the capitol. We have a lot of friends who are musicians there. They also do a lot of our repairs.”

“Oh, you mean like Kian and his friends?”

“Yeah they live there.”

“If the village is so far away how did you meet them? It’s not like they come to the capitol very often, right?”

“Well I didn’t always live in the capitol, either. I lived in a small village over to the east. I only met them when I was asking directions to get here.” He laughed a bit at the memory. “That’s when Kian scolded me for not taking care of my lyre.”

“Did you come here on your own?” Aero asked curiously.

“Yeah, my mom still lives in the village. She’s not one for the city life. I try to write to her when I can, but I’m usually busy trying to reach my dream.”

Aero looked up at him, expecting him to go on.

“It’s a long story,” he told her.

“We have time.”

He paused for a moment considering. “Alright, a memory for a memory. Promise you won’t think badly of me?”

“I promise.”

“Well, I never had a father. I mean, I had one but . . . he didn’t really know I existed. I look a lot like my mother so I doubt he ever figured it out,” Ive began, looking ahead on the path. “My father was a minstrel. He came through the village a few times a year telling of the beautiful places that he’d seen while playing his lyre. He’s the reason I started playing.”

“That’s wonderful!” Aero explained, “you wanted to be as good as your father, right? I’m sure you will be. You’re already so talented at it!”

“Thanks!” Ive added, “but I have another dream. I want to play with him at the capitol, together. That’s the one place he always dreamed of playing. In order to make that dream come true the capitol has to change.”

“What do you mean?”

“As of now they’d never let my father play in the capitol because he’s a Dark Faery.”

“So that’s why you want peace so badly,” Aero realized.

“I guess that’s part of the reason I fight for it so badly.”

“I’m sure that day will come. After all, you aren’t the only one aiming for peace,” Aero assured him.

“I hope you’re right,” Ive told her. “The moves we’ve made for peace certainly leave a big impact.”

“Hmm?”

“The book, the concerts, the princess’ speech. I think they’ve really made a difference, can’t you feel it?”

“Yeah.” Aero smiled brightly. “Hopefully everyone will feel it soon.”

“The village isn’t much further. Let’s fly the rest of the way.” Ive asked. The two flew over the vast forest. The bright leaves of the autumn trees blew past them in the wind. The capitol was shrinking into the distance but the ancient tree rose over the forest never seeming to fade.

“Hey Ive. Is that tree really so powerful?”

“What do you mean?”

“The tree from the coronation,” she explained. “I heard a lot about it while we were there. They said it can save people even when they’re on Death’s door.”

“Well, I’ve never seen it first hand, but I think it’s true,” he told her. “Nature is powerful. We can manipulate it at times but there’s a lot more to our world than we can ever hope to understand.”

“I studied healing when I lived back in the village. I never questioned how it happened before. Lucidia would probably be in awe of that tree.”

“Lucidia? She was your . . . guardian, right?”

“Yeah. She was kind of like an older sister to me.”

“Why don’t you go visit her?”

Aero flew in silence for a while. “I can’t leave here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m waiting.” She clutched her parchment closer. “I have to stay here so he can find me.”

“Tornado?”

She nodded and flew in silence. The trees thinned slightly revealing a small village. They circled down landing in a clearing filled with people. Upon seeing them the crowd gathered around.

“Aero! You really came!”

“We read your book, it was really inspiring!”

The voices came from all around but there were so many at once she couldn’t tell who was saying what.

“Alright, alright, give her some air. You can all talk to her later.” Ive tried to break up the crowd.

“But we never get to see her!” One of the girls from the troupe whined.

“You’ll see a lot more of her now. She decide to join!” Ive seemed to be glowing with joy.

The troupe started cheering and clapping a few of the closer members started patting Aero on the head or hugging her. She was a little overwhelmed by the welcome. They all started talking to her and asking her questions.

“Hey-” Ive’s voice called over the crowd.

The troupe just ignored him and continued with their talking. Aero didn’t know how to answer all of them at once. Whenever she started to another would call her attention.

“Guys!” He called again.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Another voice called over the crowd. “Aren’t any of you listening to Ive? I know he’s an idiot but we should get to work, right?”

“Kian,” Ive complained. “You’re only making it worse by saying things like that.”

Kian laughed ruffling Ive’s hair. Aero couldn’t help but feel that the troupe and the members of the village really felt like a family. They were so close and joked around with each other constantly. Their main target was Ive but it was easy to see that they really cared for him despite all the teasing.

“Aero.” Kian waved her over as the troupe started to tune and set up.

“Is something wrong?” She asked when she was next to him.

“I just wanted to see how you were feeling. You have a lot that you’re carrying on your own,” Kian explained.

“I’ve felt a lot better since I let people know about it,” Aero told him. “I’ve been getting a lot of support from people, even if it’s just unvoiced comments written in the back of a book.”

Kian gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Someday they’ll be able to voice those opinions.”

“Yeah, I think so, too.” Aero nodded happily.

“Aero come sit with us when you sing!” One of the girls from the troupe offered on her way to the seats.

“Okay! I’m coming,” Aero called to them before turning to Kian. “Thank you for worrying about me.”

She headed to the group happily joining the other singers beside the musicians.

“We haven’t introduced our selves properly, have we?” The girl who had called her asked. “I’m Aaralyn and this is Pari and Mairi. I know it’ll take a while to learn everyone’s names but I’m sure you’ll feel at home soon enough.”

“Ah. Thank you.” Aero smiled. “I’ll try my best to remember.”

Ive stood calling silence to the group. “Alright everyone. We’ll start off easy and then move towards the more difficult pieces.”

As they played Aero felt herself getting caught in the music. She could feel the emotion from her fellow singers and the energy of the instruments. The others always gave the excuse that “she was an ethereal” but she felt this was something everyone could feel. It was clear from the look on their faces.

“Alright, let’s move to the next one. ‘Never far from my heart.’” Ive realized too late the meaning of the title. “Ah, actually let’s skip that for today.” He tried to fix the mistake.

The singers protested against the change. Aero among them also protested holding the music tightly. Ahe had only read over the music once before but she loved the song. She could relate to the emotion and cared for the story since it was similar to her own. The most beautiful sounds come from the heart and Aero wanted to share that sound with her friends.