Avatar: The Return of The Songbirds

Chapter Sixty - The End

Vialo and her family had been walking around their new home tree for hours. She still couldn't believe she was here. It was a nearly identical replica of the home she had lost ten years ago. But the part that kept bringing tears to her eyes was watching Tsovey soak it all in. For the past ten years Vialo never imagined that Tsovey would see this. She never admitted these feelings to her family because she knew how important the hope was. The hope that Tatal, Solko, and Henilo would reunite with their mates. The hope that both Sakire and herself would meet their closest friends again. And the hope that Tsovey would one day be able to go home.

Vialo fought the hope because the idea of hope made her feel hopeless. She remembered the deviation from the day they fled. There was nothing but piles of rubble and ash left behind and every vision Vialo had of her fallen home that flash in her mind for those ten years had been drenched in a red hue. She would repeat the sentiment of "hope" to her family because that was what she felt she had to do, but the words were hollow.

So when they arrived at the bottom of this new home tree, and could hear the sounds of the life she had lost all hope of seeing again...she went numb. The numbness wasn't because she wasn't happy though! No, of course she was happy. It was a numbness to keep her sanity. She had spent ten years feeling an emptiness so large within her chest that it had begun to weigh her down. But with every step forward she took, a piece of that weight was lifted. And so, she kept taking those steps. To the tree top, through the pathways that made those ten long years feel like a bad dream, and into her practically identical childhood home. Everything was exactly the way she remembered it before Rey'eng Fmongyu arrived and destroyed everything she had ever known.

She had been so focused on taking the next step forward that she had missed the final piece of weight leaving her body. "Ma Vialo, are you alright?" Pxäkngam's gentle voice snapped Vialo out of her numbed haze.

"Yes...I am fine." Vialo replied softly, but there was no conviction behind her words, and her father knew her far too well to fall for the lie.

"My sweet child, you have lived for 21 years and have never once been able to lie to me." Pxäkngam joked as he placed his right hand onto Vialo's cheek. "What is troubling you?"

Vialo stared into her father's eyes for a brief moment before her façade came crumbling down all at once. "I had lost hope of finding them again." Vialo cried. It was like a dam had shattered apart in the center of her chest and there was no way for her to stop the flood that was now tearing through her. "I had no hope of coming home. I would...I would lie and say I had hope we would find them because lying to all of you was easier than telling you the truth about how I truly felt." Vialo's body began shaking as if it had a mind of its own before her knees buckled, threatening to throw her to the ground, but her father was faster.

Pxäkngam caught Vialo in his arms and kept her upright with one arm while gently stroking Vialo's head with the other. "Vialo, my sweet girl. You did not have to fight a battle this treacherous on your own. I had lost hope as well, until I found them. I went out month after month...year after year and returned with less and less hope of finding them until I had no hope left." Pxäkngam's voice wavered for only a brief moment before pulling Vialo into a tight embrace, laying his head atop of Vialo's. "I am so sorry you carried that weight alone, Vialo. My job as your father was to carry that weight for you, but I was so lost in my own grief that I neglected to acknowledge yours at all."

Vialo lifted her head up just enough to meet her father's gaze and shook her head weakly. "No, your job as my father was not to carry that weight for me...it was to be there for me." Vialo took in a sharp breath. "And whether you see it or not, you were there for me dad." Vialo placed her head against her father's chest once more and sobbed. "Whenever you came home you made sure to keep the hope alive for everyone. I was so mad at myself because the idea of hope made me feel hopeless." Vialo's voice cracked as she tried to find the right words to say. "But you always made sure to give me extra reassurance because deep down I think you knew I needed it. I lied about so many things the past ten years, but if it was not for you being there and showing me that hope could be found again if you looked hard enough I don't know where I would be now." Vialo tightened her grip around her father and let out a shaky sigh. "Thank you dad...for being there for me when I needed you the most." Vialo exclaimed before pulling back and giving Pxäkngam her signature smile. "I love you."