The Lost Girl (Complete)

Chapter Five - The Talking Walls

Standing on the threshold, Celestia glance back at Uncle in agitation, "I'm not sure..."

His eyes came back to hers after he had finished looking over the front of the house, its peeling paint and dirt covered windows, "I would like to see. I can't believe that I've been so stupid and so blind." He sighed, "I never knew Marie that well but you look quite a bit like her. The hair and the shape of the face, although everything about you is far more delicate."

She blushed, turning away quickly to push open the door. It was a shock, to see walk in to her childhood home and see it through his eyes. No one could say that it wasn't tidy but it was...tired and Celestia was sure that the walls would be weeping if they could.

Watching him look around, she felt a sharp flush of shame. The carpets were stained, the floor and walls needed a coat of paint and there was a lingering smell of beer, sweat and despair that she just couldn't get rid of.

"Would you like a drink? I've got," She tucked her hair behind an ear, thinking, "cold water and maybe a little bit of milk."

If she'd been looking him in the eye, Celestia would have recognised the sympathy in his expression but she carefully kept her gaze on his shoes.

"I can't believe that it still looks just the same," He murmured, carefully skirting an unidentifiable spot on the living room floor as he crossed to pull open the curtains. Sunshine poured in, reminding her sharply that they should both still be at work.

As soon as Celestia had finished telling Uncle about the journal and her search for Sang, he had insisted that she escort him down so that he could see everything for himself. She wasn't sure if it was simple astonishment or he didn't quite believe her.

She had to admit that it hurt slightly even though she knew that she couldn't blame him.

"You've been here before?" Celestia dropped the keys into a small bowl on the side table.

"Only once when Sang needed a little more support," He sighed. "At seventeen, she was told to leave by her stepmother but wasn't allowed to retrieve any of her belongings. I turned up in time to stop my North from hitting the woman." Shaking his head, he ran a hand over his scalp, "Sang agreed to leave everything behind when her stepmother threatened to have them all arrested if they didn't get off the property. There was no other choice and I believe that Sang made the boys all agree to forget about it all."

"They never tried to retrieve anything once my grandmother died?"

Uncle shrugged, "I think by that time none of them really cared. Sang had washed her hands of her entire family and she wasn't concerned about any of it when it could be easily replaced."

Unable to think of anything more to say, she asked him to follow her up the stairs, the silence awkward in a way that she wasn't familiar with around Uncle.

"This is it," Celestia murmured, pushing the pin to unlock the door.

It was still the same as the first day she had explored, not a thing out of place.

"God," He whispered, eyes wide with shock. "It looks like a shrine."

"That's exactly what I thought when I first opened it. I expected to find out that my mother had lost a sister when they were young and none of them could bring themselves to touch the room," Celestia glanced around, "If Mum hated her so much I wonder why she didn't destroy everything."

"That's a good question," He walked over the bookcase, fingers tracing the carvings Celestia had only found days before. "This is North and Silas' work," He murmured, "This pattern is something they've got carved into a few pieces of furniture in their study."

"Really?" Celestia asked excitedly, seeing Uncle's hesitance slip away.

"Yes." He bent carefully in front of the small door beside the shelf, "I can't get in there to have a look around but I know that," He pulled open the door, reaching an arm through with a smile, "they installed a light in there."

Celestia wedged in beside him, her breath catching as tiny lights came on both sides of the carpeted path towards the platform. She also noticed that there was a stronger sense of light coming from the spot where she knew the photographs still hung.

"What they did in there was amazing," She breathed, wishing that she had someone in her life who would go to so much trouble.

"Love turned them all inside out," He replied softly, turning his beloved face to her. "What do you want to do, Tia? You're their niece and you've spent the last few weeks searching for them...do you want me to take you over to their house?"

Freezing, she felt her expression cloud over, "I don't know. I don't know what to do or what I'd say to them. How do I explain everything?" Her heart almost stopped, "I'm going to have to tell Sang that her sister's dead! Oh god."

Her breath coming too fast, she fell back on her bottom and scuttled into the side of the bed, "I'm not sure if I can do it. What if they hate me?"

Uncle looked as though he wanted to laugh, "Sweetie, you need to calm down. None of them are going to hate you and if needed, I'll tell Sang about Marie." He reached over to grab her hands gently, "They're going to love you, Celestia, but there's something that I feel you need to know before we make any more plans." His lips pursed, "It's hard to explain and will probably be hard for you to understand but when I say that your aunt lives with my boys and their friends, I don't mean that they all platonically live together as roommates or that Sang is only involved with one of them. You see, they..."

"They're all together together," Celestia cut in, her panic subsiding as she tried to alleviate the worry crowding over Uncle's face. "Sang wrote about it in her diary. They all came up with a plan to try a polyandrous relationship, didn't they? It obviously succeeded if they're all still sharing a life."

Almost choking on his tongue in surprise, he squeezed her fingers, "You accept it so easily? It took me years to really understand and feel comfortable with it all."

Celestia smiled, "After what I saw my mother get up to, it's nice to hear about love actually existing no matter what type. It must have been beautiful for them all, to know that they had so many people willing to sacrifice and compromise just so everyone could be happy."

His eyes softened, "It was hard for them in the beginning, they were only young when they first met but now there's nothing I love more than to visit their enormous house and see how much they've accomplished together. I've got nine amazing nephews, a gorgeous niece, six great-nephews and two great-nieces."

"Wow," She whispered, imagining what might be like to have such a big family. "I want to meet them," She admitted, meeting his eyes, "Even if it's just the once. Will you give me their address?"

His bones creaked but Uncle slowly straightened, pulling her up with him, "I can do better than that. Let's head back to work for now and tomorrow I'll drive you over. I'd like to be there for you when you meet them, if that's ok?"

Her eyes clouding with tears, Celestia wrapped her arms around his neck, "Thank you, Uncle."

"Anytime, Tia. You are my niece now after all and there's nothing more important to me than family."