Reunion

 I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My trusty dagger, the one I’d always kept to help calm me down in times of trouble since coming to this world, disappeared right before my eyes.

“That’s… good, right?” Damos asked.

I turned to him. “It has to be.”

Lynn put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Remember, we’re right here with you. You aren’t alone.”

The warmth of her tender, soft hand on my bare skin only made the butterflies worse.

Damn it, Lynn.

The doors in front of us opened agonizingly slowly, sending a creak that probably echoed through the whole temple, if not the whole city.

I closed my eyes, unsure if I wanted to really see what was behind the doors. After a few moments, Lynn and Damos both nudged me, and I peeked out one eye.

A huge library revealed itself. Not just any library, either; this one would have put the Library of Congress to shame, far surpassing it in size and grandeur. The same polished wood we’d been seeing everywhere in the city lined banisters, bookshelves, chairs, everything. A marble floor, covered in places by a thick carpet with an intricate design, contrasted the dark wood with pure white and balanced the color of it all.

The strangest thing was all the wildlife. There were so, so many birds, in every color of the rainbow. Mostly, they stayed quiet — thank goddess — though a few chirped a quiet song, and the gentle fluttering of their wings almost sounded like the turning of the pages of a book.

It took my breath away.

And there, in the center of it all, at the top of some steps leading up to a huge glass window overlooking the entire city, backlit by the fading sunset, a woman sat at a desk. It looked like she had been reading a book moments before our arrival, and was still holding it.

Her gaze, however, was trained right on us. She smiled and waved us in.

Huh. Like office hours with a professor. It certainly felt like that, but with the stress multiplied by ten thousand. This was a goddess, not some poor overworked PhD student with a mandate from the dean.

We tentatively stepped in. Lynn and Damos were both awestruck by the room around them. I, on the other hand, couldn’t focus on anything but the lady in front of us. She was the very same one from the statue, the one in the square that made me feel so… strange. Not necessarily unfamiliar, and definitely comforting.

The same weird feeling stirred within me as I looked at her now.

The goddess at the desk closed her book, and stood up to greet us. Her dress was incredible, a deep V-neck in a purer white than should have been physically possible, with long, flowing sleeves like a kimono. I stared a little longer than I should have, probably.

As she stepped around her desk to come down to us, I thought about what I was going to ask. It’d been a really long road up here. Maybe “who am I?”, though that felt childishly simple to me.

No. It had to be about Phoebe, first. That was more important. She was the only reason we had made it to the island in the first place. Hell, she was the only reason I even had a shot at making a life for myself in this world.

I thought back to that day in my room above Damos’ shop, when she came in and opened her heart to me. Where would I be without her?

I took a deep breath, strengthening my resolve. We had to ask about Phoebe first. Even though the odds were slim, this was the peak of the mountain. If it were going to happen anywhere, it would be here.

The woman reached the bottom of the carpeted stairs and smiled.

Damos and Lynn both kneeled, and I remembered that was the thing you were supposed to do. I joined them.

“Welcome, Camellia. Damos. Lynn.” Her voice was melodic, like honey was being poured directly in my ears. “Please, stand. We have much to discuss.”

We obliged. I stepped forward. “Lady… um, what is your name, actually?”

“Aurea. Goddess of the Sky, Lady of the Clouds, Empress of the Blue.” She paused, then winked. “Without the title is fine. I’m not Sylvia.”

I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Oh, thank goddess, she’s not an asshole.

“Aurea, we’re here to make a request,” I began.

“I believe I already know what you will ask.” Though her voice was softer than cotton, her tone carried with it a profound sadness that made my stomach drop. “It is about Phoebe, yes?”

I nodded.

With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes. “This is not the answer you wish to hear, I know. But death is a boundary that even we goddesses are constrained by.”

My heart sank. And yet somehow, I had expected it. It was a long shot, anyway. Hell, the bookish girl we talked to didn’t even say it was possible, only that she wanted to talk to her brother one more time.

I looked to Lynn and Damos. Their expressions matched mine, a somber, pained melancholy in plain sight.

We stood there, listening to the birds flap their wings and sing their songs, as the sun fully set outside the windows, revealing a blanket of stars. Chandeliers of flame and candles kept the room lit with warmth.

A stark contrast to the frigid void in my chest.

The hard conversation we had had inside the home next to the beach, where Damos, Lynn, and I reconciled our pain and resolved to move forward, swam through my mind.

Well, that’s what it is.

I turned to Damos and Lynn, and brought them both in for a hug. “There’s always a way forward,” I whispered, choking back a sob. They nodded.

Aurea cleared her throat, catching our attention. “Though I am truly sorry to tell you that, as I understand it, there is another thing you have come in search of, is there not?”

I wiped the tear from my eye, recentering myself with a breath. “Yeah. There is.”

“Then come. Sit.” She gestured to a coffee table surrounded by heavily padded, comfortable-looking seats. She led us to them, and we sat down, staring at her.

Before I could even open my mouth to ask just why I had these wings and what it all meant, Aurea looked around the library in wonder with a loud sigh. “I truly do love to look at all the little birdies.”

I stopped. There it was again, that strange feeling. But it wasn’t just comfort, it was definitely familiarity. What in the world was that?

“Back in my mortal days, as a matter of fact, I spent lots of time studying them.” She giggled, and looked me right in the eyes. “I was so very engaged in that research.”

The feeling grew stronger. My mind was on fire, trying to puzzle it through. What about this woman was so familiar?

One of the songbirds fluttered down, landing on her shoulder. It began to sing a simple tune, and Aurea joined in, humming along.

It froze me in my seat.

The tune she was humming. I’d heard it before, a hundred times. No, a thousand — ten thousand. The favorite song of someone from my past life.

I looked at the goddess smiling at me from the chair.

No. Impossible.

“…Mom?”