The Tears of Aurora

Seeking Sisters

Aurora left the forest in the early afternoon. If she had decided to go home, it wasn't from lassitude. Time spent in nature always refreshed her, but this time the images of her nightmare kept reappearing: the grey eyes of the elderly lady, the boulders, the ruins of the citadel, the disgusting black stuff that had brushed against her. She had already forgotten its name.... And then, what was the connection with Berg? That city was located on the other side of the mountain and Aurora had little interest in it. But she was certain of one thing: it had not been an ordinary dream. She was racking her brain to figure out the meaning.

Aurora did not often leave Hordaland county. The countryside was beautiful and vast enough to make her really happy. She was not lacking friends among the animals, the trees and spirits. She didn't really dislike the town, though. It sometimes happened that she accompanied her sisters or her parents to Berg, but always at a certain distance. She knew she was different from others. Her family accepted her abilities, her eccentricities. But faced with the rest of the world, she felt the need to hide her true, deep nature.

Aurora often wondered where she had came from. Of course her parents had told her the circumstances of her birth, but that really did not explain very much. She discussed it sometimes with Igor. Recently, a little more often than usual. Her friend racked his brains to try to find answers. They came sometimes unexpectedly, as if he had taken them down from the sky by shaking some strings, and they didn't always make a lot of sense....

"You know that for the Vikings the aurora borealis are the reflections of the armor of warriors fallen in combat, frrt? They shine in the sky when Odin takes them to Valhalla."

His remarks pulled Aurora from her thoughts. She opened her eyes wide, burst out laughing, then ruffled him tenderly. They were in sight of their home. Mrs. Skaljnes was gathering some achillea millefeuille, an aromatic herb, in the garden.

"Well, look who's here!" she said upon seeing her daughter. "You're back early. To what do we owe the honor of your presence? A little hunger? There's some leftover chicken in the fridge you could warm up."

Aurora gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, mom. And no thank you."

"And Igor? He's not too hot in the sun?"

"No, he's fine. He's a toughie."

"Do you know that dragon scales resist fire, frrt? Logical, you might say. If not, they'd burn themselves every time they open their mouths. That said, though, they have many other qualities that are less well known, frrt. For example, did you know that...."

"That's very interesting, Igor. Thank you."

"But I didn't finish, frrt!"

"What is he saying?" asked Mrs. Skaljnes.

Aurora shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant way. Her mother bit her lip in order not to laugh out loud. She knew the ball of moss was a little sensitive.