Chapter 61:

Epilogue: Luna

The Wind Calls the Flowers


As the light from outside wormed its way into my eyes, I tried to turn over to my side to avoid it. After turning, my bangs came rushing on top of my eyelids. The feeling was irritating and forced me to open my eyes earlier than I had wished to.

Slowly opening them, they recoiled slightly at the brightness of the world around, causing them to shut again for a moment. The darkness my eyeballs were once gazing into was gone, and instead replaced by the familiar sight of morning. After becoming adjusted to the darkness they had while sleeping, they now had to spend time adjusting to the brightness.

Fully opening my eyes, I began rubbing them in hopes that they would adjust faster like this. While I was in the middle of rubbing my eyes, a great yawn came to me. Covering my mouth with my left hand and stretching with my right, the yawn I let out was quite powerful. It seemed I was still not quite ready to wake up just yet.

The yawn I had let out forced tears to start building in my eyes. After I had finished letting it out, I went back to massaging my eyes, this time removing the small drops which had formed on them.

“Good morning.” I let out the phrase sleepily.

Hearing nothing but silence, I could only stop my current motions and look around. While I tried to look around, my vision still wasn’t quite one hundred percent. Instead, most things that were more than three feet away from me were still blurry.

Maybe Celestia had left early without me to go eat then? She did do that sometimes, but the last time she went somewhere without me she had been attacked. Still, I can’t remember what happened after that. I can only remember seeing Celestia hurt on the floor and rushing over to help her.

It was weird how everyone gave us strange looks or how we had to leave so quickly. Maybe it was because for some reason my hair had reverted to the colour bestowed upon it by those despicable trials. The thought of my time spent there caused a chill to carry through my body.

My breathing started to increase rapidly until it felt like the air wasn’t even reaching my lungs anymore. With a fit of coughing, I was able to start calming down from the feelings which had started to build in me. Loosening my tight grip on the sheet which I didn’t even realize I had, I began looking around the room again.

This time I could see perfectly but Celestia was not in the room. As a chilly breeze pushed against me, I looked over to the source of it. It seems Celestia forgot to close the window. Getting up, I quickly make my way to the window and shut it to make sure the cold air would not end up freezing me.

Looking back towards the room, I could see that there was a piece of paper and a small familiar pouch on the table. It seemed to be a letter and the pouch we kept our money in. Maybe the letter was something someone had given Celestia. I’m sure she would get mad at me if I just looked at it without permission.

But I would be lying to say I was not curious at all. All right then, I’ll just go ask her myself what was in the letter. That way she can’t get mad at me. Let’s see… If she went to go eat breakfast by herself then that must mean she was probably downstairs at the restaurant. Wait! That idiot forgot the money here!

Quickly grabbing the pouch, I knocked the letter onto the floor. Believing there wasn’t enough time to worry about it, I sprinted out of the room to go find Celestia. It would be bad if she ate and then realized that she forgot the money here.

As I reached the stairs which led downwards, the cold stone of the stairway reminded me I forgot to put on shoes. I really wanted to go back for them, but I already made it all the way here. I’m only giving Celestia the money anyways, after that I’ll go back and get my shoes.

Resolving myself on this, I made my way down the stairs as quickly as possible to avoid having to feel the floor for too long. The speed at which I was going must have been pretty fast, but all I could think while moving was how I wanted to use wind magic to keep myself in the air. I would have liked to, but one of Celestia’s rules was to not use magic when unnecessary in public so that we didn’t draw attention to ourselves.

I was not sure why Celestia didn’t like having any attention to herself. She is a very talented mage. Apparently she even created a type of healing magic which allows people to use their limbs after they have been severed. When she told me that, I was almost taken aback with shock. It didn’t help that she told me this when she was teaching me the technique.

At the time I didn’t believe she was telling the truth, but after travelling for so long with her, I came to realize she was. None of the other people we ran into who could use healing magic had that ability.

Thinking about it now, I was wondering why Celestia didn’t share the technique with anyone other than me. I guess it all went back to keep attention away from herself. Thinking about the events of the day she was attacked, maybe that was the reason she didn’t like attention.

Maybe people attack those who have great power. If that was the case, then I knew she was just protecting me. Even if that wasn’t the case, I always had a feeling that in some way she was protecting me.

Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, I was met with the main lobby. The place was fairly empty and quiet. It seemed this place was somewhat pricey and that not a lot of people were able to afford the luxuries of such a place.

I looked around, lost in thought. Another large gust of wind hit me in the side of the face from the giant opening which led to the beach behind the hotel. It caused me to cover the side of my face to avoid any dust from getting into my eyes.

However, this had snapped me out of my thoughts and reminded me of what I was doing. That’s right! I don’t have time to waste thinking, Celestia could be in trouble without any money. I continued with my sprint after a momentary pause, entering the restaurant.

“Welcome Mada-” The waiter started.

“Have you…...seen a lady with white hair…...and slight bits of purple?” I cut him off by asking, all while being out of breath.

“No. I can’t say I have seen someone fitting such a description.”

“I…...see. Thank….you.” I responded.

Making my way out of the establishment inside the hotel, I could only wonder where Celestia had gone. I thought about it, but nothing came to mind for where she may have left. Maybe the staff at the front had seen her.

I looked around the lobby trying to find the lady who had spoken with us yesterday. After a minute of looking I was able to find her. I swiftly made my way over to her.

“Hey!” I called to her.

“Why, hello.” She replied enthusiastically. “What happened to your shoes?”

“Oh, uh, nothing.” I answered, slightly embarrassed.

“Okay then.”

“Have you seen the lady who was with me yesterday?”

“Hmm. The last time I saw her was last night.”

“Where did she go last night?”

“Well she came down here and bought a quill and some paper. After which I think she went back to her room.”

“T-thank you!” I told her as I took off for the room.

If Celestia had bought paper and something to write with, it meant that in all likelihood she had written the letter. I needed to make my way to the room quickly so I could read what was inside. Maybe she had given me a task that I needed to complete when I woke up.

She may get angry with me if I didn’t finish what she had asked for before she had gotten back. I knew it was an understandable mistake as we had never communicated in this way, but still I’d prefer not letting her down.

As I made my way back up, a different feeling started to build. The feeling was causing my breathing to become more erratic and my chest to start aching. The expectation was causing knots to build in my stomach, making it harder and harder to keep making my way upwards.

By the time I finally reached the room again, I could not even push the door open. All the strength I had in my body had been spent fighting the looming sickness building inside of me. Pushing against the door, it felt as though I was pushing through a wall instead.

The strength in my legs gave out and I collapsed to my knees. The breathlessness I was feeling was far different than the attacks I would get from thinking about what had happened to me when I was younger. It felt like I was going to throw up.

If I had ignored the issue for any longer, I would not just throw up whatever food I had eaten, but my very organs as well. The taste of iron was filling my throat as though I had been consuming the metal on a regular basis.

My limbs were starting to go numb. The lack of feeling was as though I had been supported by nothing but air, yet seeing them still there caused the feeling of their weight to build onto me as though I had weights attached to me.

There was a burning sensation taking over the innards of my body. The warmth was so strong it felt as though it would suffocate me. My ability to see was becoming more and more hazed. I quickly sat on my bottom and leaned back against the door in an attempt to help alleviate the feeling.

Trying to slow my breathing, I took more relaxed breaths. I favoured the deeper breaths over the more shallow ones. I followed along with what Celestia had told me to do in these situations. After I had started doing this, the burning in my body was starting to calm down a little.

Sensations started to return to my limbs as well, ever so slowly. With the returning strength to my body, I could feel a tingling. It was as if everything had gone to sleep and was just now waking up again. The taste of iron still held strongly in my mouth.

Finally gaining back enough strength, I was able to push the door open and crawl my way inside. I made my way towards the bed where I knew there was a trash can in wait. Reaching it, I began throwing up inside of it.

With this action I was able to start regaining more of myself which had been lost for a moment. The feeling of sickness dissipated for the moment, leaving only emptiness. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I hated the feeling of it. The weakness I felt made me seem so powerless that even I could only take pity on myself.

I hated whatever had happened. I never wanted it to happen again, yet I don’t know what had caused it. If I didn’t know such a thing, it would also mean if it were to happen again in the future it would be something I’d be unable to prevent.

I thought I had made good progress with all that I had learned. I thought I had become someone who could protect those I cared for. I thought I had become a person who could protect themself and not rely on others. But in the end, it seems what I had wanted to reach was still far away.

Trying not to think about the realization I had come to, I made my way to the letter which was on the floor to read it. I needed to make sure Celestia was okay. There was a chance this letter would serve as a key to let me know that information.

As I reached for it, I was only met with my trembling hand. The sorry sight had caused me to look away for a moment. Refocusing my attention back onto the letter, I ignored the shaking and used both hands to pick up the letter. I slowly opened it to make sure I didn't end up tearing or smudging it.

As the full length of the paper came into my sight, I was met with handwriting I could only recognize as Celestia’s. I had seen it a few times, but this was the first time I got to examine it up close. It looked well crafted and thoroughly stylized in a way I imagined could only be unique to her.

I began reading the letter.

Dear Luna,

It’s me, Celestia. I’m leaving this letter to tell you that I am going away on a trip for a while. In fact, I will be gone for quite a long time, so while I’m gone I would like you to do what you would like to do. I have left you with the coin pouch and it should have enough money to pay for you to go to school. That is if you want to go. I think you should, but ultimately the decision is up to you. Sorry if this seems abrupt, but there was something I had to do. I could tell there was something you have to do as well. I can’t allow you to always be tied to me and never experience anything else. Good luck on what you decide to do Luna, you were a great student and a great friend to have.

See you later,

Celestia

Drops fell onto the letter, destroying parts of her stylized writing. I could not contain the sobbing which had started. In some regard I knew this day would have come eventually but I did not want it to be this quickly. I wanted to spend more time with her.

I wish that she would have at least let me say goodbye to her. That way we could see each other off properly, but now I will not get the chance to say that anymore. The letter fell from my hands and landed on its back, revealing a bit more ink.

Picking it up once again, I read the words on the backside.

P.S.

I know you’d probably be sad about everything I had just said, but read over the second last line of the letter again.

Following the instructions, I flipped it over slowly to see the side which had caused me such sadness. The big tears in my eyes were waiting there in anticipation at what I had missed.

“See you later,” I read aloud.

“See you later,” I confirmed.

“See you later,” I once more affirmed the words.

At this declaration the sadness had been lifted and a laughter came to me. She wasn’t saying goodbye, she was saying see you later. She still plans on meeting with me again. I can’t spend time crying now, I need to be strong for the next time I see her. That way she will praise me for how much I’ve grown.

Wiping away the remaining tears from my eyes, I made my way over to the window which had a view of the crystal ocean. I gave it a big smile as the sun’s light wrapped around me in a sense of comfort.

Maybe I will give school a shot.