The next morning, Alethes went through her routine as usual, but seemed to be in a hurry, like she intended to go somewhere. She found Epifany asleep, and hurried toward the backdoor.
"Where are you going?"
She turned around to see Drea following her.
"To the woods," she answered. "I lost something there, I know it. Something I really need to find."
"Well I'm coming too then," Drea said.
Glad for the company, Alethes held the door open for her and they went out back to get their horses. "You're different," Drea said out of the blue as they walked toward the pasture.
"In what way?" Alethes asked.
"I can't tell if you're Miran or not," Drea said.
"It's my heritage," Alethes said. "It's who I am and who I'll always be and I'm proud of that. I love the history and culture, and most importantly I believe that the gods led the Miran movement. But that doesn't mean I don't want to keep moving."
"What do you mean 'keep moving?'"
"Learning, changing," Alethes said, "understanding myself and others and the gods and improving all those relationships."
"My relationships need no improvement," Drea said. "I hardly have any. I live on my own and do everything my own way and no one gets in the way of that. I'm living the life."
Alethes laughed as she climbed onto her palomino. "I guess I hardly have any relationships either," she said. "I wouldn't mind having more but I would want them to be worthwhile. I would want to still be myself and live by my convictions."
"Self-respect is a fine only friend," Drea said as the horses started toward the woods. "The friends I grew up with didn't like me going rogue. They were all happy with their Legends and leelighs. When I was 14 I got my tattoo, mainly because I liked the way it looked. Besides, I grew up Miran and didn't think there was any reason I would change my mind. But after I got my horse and got out on my own, I decided I liked making my own rules and didn't care about the old ones or what anyone thought of me but me."
"So what made you change your mind?" Alethes asked.
"I never really liked doing what I was told," Drea answered. "And the singing and dancing at leelighs were fun, and my snake tattoo made me feel grown-up. I was pretty competitive about memorizing passages of the Legends and Narsil. I had more memorized than any of the other kids." She snickered. "But I started to realize as I was getting older that I didn't want what the rest of them wanted. I wanted to explore and have bigger adventures, and I couldn't really do that if I just grew up and got a man and a house and a bunch of kids tying me down. No thank you! Not for me! So I found a way to be independent and have my own kind of fun. And I see my friends when I want to, and I get to be alone most of the time. The only thing that could make it better would be if I could have the roads all to myself and the markets all to myself so I could get what I want and be on my way."
Alethes laughed again. "So you just basically left your religion because another way of life was more appealing to you."
"Yep!" Drea said. "I have the right to do what I want with my life."
"My story's kind of the opposite," Alethes said. "I wanted a man and a house and a bunch of kids, and I loved my religion. So really, leaving it behind meant leaving my dreams behind."
"So why'd you do it then?" Drea asked as they approached the edge of the woods.
"Honestly," Alethes said, "I'm not entirely sure. But I guess I felt like something was missing, and I wasn't sure what it was, but I really felt like the gods were telling me to follow the new light, find the answers to my questions instead of just believing everything Mirans believed if it didn't make sense to me anymore."
"Speaking of something being missing," Drea said, "what exactly are we looking for out here?"
"I don't know for sure," Alethes admitted. "But I think it's small."
"That's helpful," Drea snickered. "You're like my brother though. He had the same dreams as you but never tried to get them. He's always been a deep thinker and doesn't do anything unless he's thought about it and talked to Gadriel about it and knows for sure that it's the right thing. You should've seen him when we were teenagers," she laughed. "My friend Galené was trying so hard to get his attention, but to no avail. I mean, he was the son of the great leader and people expected a lot out of him, but he wouldn't even get his mark. He always did what he felt was right in spite of everyone else. It drove my dad crazy that he wouldn't just agree to get the tattoo, because he was supposed to be the exemplary Miran. I think Viggo was more popular than he wanted to be, but still never quite as popular as Dad wanted him to be. But not to worry," she grinned. "Ajnin was all too willing to be the exemplary Miran boy, and he hasn't changed a bit."
"I believe you," Alethes said, then slipped off her horse and pointed toward one of the trees. "I think I fell over here."
Drea slipped off her horse and followed, asking, "So how did you just remember this thing today after a couple of months without it?"
"I had a dream," Alethes answered. "I've had the dream several times and it's always pretty much the same. I'm laying in the woods with a headache where I fell, and I feel like I have an important duty I need to get up and do. But this time, the sun was directly above me, higher than it's ever been in the dream, and I knew that I was holding something before Whinnem bolted. And it must have gone flying and I needed to find it."
"But you have no idea what it is?" Drea asked, shuffling through the weeds observantly.
"Well," Alethes said, "not exactly. But my biological father gave it to me the first and only time I talked to him. It's some kind of family heirloom that's been passed down from his ancestors, and I guess he thought I would be more interested in it than he was. And if I can just find it," she said, shoving aside some plants with her foot, "it might help me remember more."
"Then I guess we better find it," Drea said.
Conversation was sparse as they combed the area. One minute turned into five, and five turned into fifteen as they repeatedly covered a circle of ground looking for something "small."
"Are you sure this is where it is?" Drea asked.
"It should be," Alethes said, confused. "I know this is where I fell, and it couldn't have gone far."
"And you're sure you had this... heirloom with you at the time?" Drea asked. "It wasn't just a strange dream?"
"You don't understand," Alethes exhaled in frustration. "That's not how my dreams work."
Drea laughed, "Well then how do they work? Do they normally send you on scavenger hunts through the woods?"
"No," Alethes said. She was beginning to wonder if it was just a strange dream when she heard Drea's skeptical voice behind her, sounding confused. "It can't be this, can it?"
Alethes turned around and saw the old silver key in Drea's hand. "That's it!" she exclaimed, hurrying to take it. "Oh, thank the gods!"
"You know what this is, don't you?" Drea asked, withholding it as she looked at Alethes and back at the key in amazement.
"I think I will when I get a look at it," Alethes answered, putting out her hand to receive it.
Speechless, Drea handed it over with her eyebrows raised. As soon as Alethes touched the cool metal and recognized the symbol on the head of the key, she dropped it, startled and overwhelmed.
"Well don't lose it again just yet!" Drea exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking.
Alethes couldn't help but feel her arms trembling as she reached for the ground to pick it back up. Then she brushed the dirt off the key and held it carefully in her hands, slowly turning and studying it. Most prominent was the symbol molded deeply into one side of the head - an eye with a triangular white on each side of the iris, and three wavy sunrays each above and below the iris.
"That's the seal of Narsil," Drea said, making Alethes notice her face just a few inches away from her own.
"I know," she breathed.
"But that means you're... you're--"
"I know," Alethes said. "I did know, at least."
"How could you forget that?!" Drea exclaimed, a little too loud for being so close to her ear.
Alethes stepped back. "It brought me trouble," she answered, knitting her brows as she continued to look at it. "I don't think I wanted to remember."
Drea laughed. "So you don't want to be Narsil's heir," she said. "Well it's not like you'd have to be the new queen of the lunatics anyway. They're quite content with the dead one."
"But what if that was my calling?" Alethes asked.
"I'd pity you," Drea said. "Miras doesn't want anything new. They think they know everything already. Can I see that?"
Alethes handed it to her and she studied the symbol. "So Narsil actually used this to stamp her seal on all her writings," Drea said in awe. Then she turned it over and saw the other side of the key head where the letters were engraved: "EYE."
"So it's an eye... I never would have figured that out on my own," she said sarcastically.
"It's not just the word 'eye,'" Alethes said. "It's actually an acronym for a phrase she heard in many of her dreams: 'Enlighten your eyes.' It's about changing the way you look at things so you can see them in the clear light of reality."
"Huh," Drea grunted in acknowledgment, then said, "So we know the head was used as her royal seal, but what does the key itself open? I don't think it was made just to open eyes."
Alethes rolled her eyes in amusement. "I don't know what it goes to," she said.
"Well you should find out," Drea said. "What if it goes to a chest that contains a nice, fat inheritance?"
"You're really fond of money, aren't you?" Alethes asked, holding her heirloom carefully in both hands as they walked back to their horses to return to the house.
"Is there something better in life?" Drea asked.
"I hope so," Alethes snickered.
When they entered the front door of the house, Drea loudly announced, "The queen has arrived! All hail and long live the queen!"
Embarrassed, Alethes touched her forehead with her hand and went looking for Viggo while Drea talked to Ajnin. When she found Viggo, she was surprised to see him on the kitchen floor reading his Legends like a good little Miran. When he looked up at her, they both said, "I found something!"
"You first," Alethes laughed.
"You have to have read this before," Viggo said. "But I'm going to read it to you because you've never mentioned it to me and it has everything to do with the things we've been talking about."
She nodded, and he read aloud:
"When they least expect it, a light shall arise to awaken those who slumber. Night shall turn to day, for she shall bring a new kingdom, such as the world has never seen, the final kingdom of Lumenagea. She is the last star I have placed in the sky before you see the morning light. I have called her, and you who know me will know her, when you see the sign I have given you. For she shall be true to her calling and true to her light when her people embrace darkness, and she shall hold the key to the Kingdom of Light."
"That's the prophecy of Zahn," Alethes said. "Mirans apply it to Narsil."
"But it's not Narsil," he said. "You have to know that."
"It's not about what I know," she sighed, sitting in front of him on the floor. "What makes a difference is what people believe in."
"So I'll be your witness," he said earnestly. "If I can believe in you, others can. But more importantly Alethes, how can anyone believe in you if you don't first believe in yourself?"
"I know that in theory," she said. "But how do I have faith when I don't think my own people will listen?"
"Has Gadriel called you?" he asked.
"I think so," she whined.
"Either he has or he hasn't," Viggo said firmly. "What's it gonna be?"
Alethes closed her eyes and took a breath. "He has," she said.
"So the evidence of his calling is enough for you?" he asked.
"Unfortunately it is," she said. "There's no escaping it." She covered her eyes with one hand and shook her head.
"Then it definitely won't be easy," he said, "knowing him. But it can be done. And people might not believe us right away, but as we persevere, we'll get past their barriers and open their minds."
Us, and we. Alethes was overcome with gratitude for his faith, love, and support and she threw her arms around him. "I can't tell you how much it means to me to have you in my life," she said. "I don't know how I lived without you!"
"Likewise," he laughed in surprise, returning the hug and patting her back a couple times before she released him.
"Okay," she said, wiping her eyes and sitting back in front of him. "What now?"
"Well, according to Zahn," he said, looking at the page, "we have a new kingdom to build, the Kingdom of Light. And before that, we need to build your faith. And let me just tell you, you and the things you have said make so much sense out of this prophecy. Narsil said the slumber would come upon Miras, and Zahn says someone will come to awaken them. And I don't think that's Narsil's job," he laughed. "And the new kingdom it speaks of is obviously the Kingdom of Light. But Mirans think it was referring to Narsil establishing the kingdom of Miras--"
"--Because they thought Miras was the final kingdom of Lumenagea," Alethes said. "They don't realize that the Kingdom of Light itself is it, because they think the Kingdom of Light is on the moon instead of here." They both laughed.
"And night shall turn to day," Viggo said, "because the Kingdom of Light will spread eventually to the whole world as people accept the light and it changes their hearts. Even my dad would be thrilled to be a part of this movement if he could just get past the initial newness of the idea."
Alethes looked at his face. He looked happier and more hopeful than ever. "Do you ever miss your dad?" she asked thoughtfully.
"He has good in him," Viggo answered. "I've seen it and my mother's seen it, and whether Drea will admit it or not, she's seen it too. I do hope he'll cultivate that part of himself instead of the uglier part. I would forgive him. But mostly, I hope he comes when Ma needs his support most."
"Don't get your hopes up over him," Drea said, coming to the doorway.
"Drea," Ajnin said warningly.
"We stopped to see him on the way here," she went on. "And we couldn't get him to come with us. He just said some nasty things about Ma and I was fed up. Why would he say she's making up her sickness? He can't really believe that!"
Then she noticed Epifany coming in the front door and realized why Ajnin was trying to quiet her. But it was too late. Epifany had heard the whole thing. In her already weak state, the heartbreaking report was too much and she crumpled to her knees on the floor, dropping the orange lily she'd just picked from the side of the road. Ajnin was nearby and the first to rush beside her, then Drea, Viggo, and Alethes. Drea knew there was nothing she could say to soothe the pain her mother was feeling, but she tried anyway. "It doesn't matter what he says. He's just an old grump and doesn't really mean it. We all love you."
Epifany nodded shakily as Ajnin and Drea helped her to her feet, and after swallowing, she whispered, "I need to write him a letter, make him understand."
"Ma," Drea started, "he's not worth it--"
"One more letter," Epifany said. "There isn't much time left."
Viggo picked up the lily and Alethes followed the procession to Epifany's room, where Epifany collapsed exhausted into the bed. They propped her up with pillows and Ajnin gave her a pen and paper, but she became frustrated when her hand trembled too much to hold the pen. "Is there nothing I can do anymore?" she sighed, dropping her weary arms to her sides.
"I can write for you," Viggo said, feeling like he was trembling himself. "Do you want to tell me what to write?"
"No," she said. She thought for a moment, then added, "Next time you see him, just tell him I'm sorry for compromising my principles for him. I never should have done that, and he might be different now if I'd been stronger then. But tell him I always loved him, and I hope we can be together in the Kingdom of Light."
She seemed reconciled to that hope and at peace with herself. Alethes brought in a glass of water to put the lily in, and it stayed on the table next to the bed, where Epifany could always see its beauty over the next few days, surrounded by those she loved and who loved her. But like the middle-aged woman in the bed beside it, the flower had been cut off early from its source of life. And together, like clockwork, they both slowly withered until their wilted forms rested at long last in the comforting arms of death.
Click here to go to the last page and read Chapter 27 and Chapter 28