Black Butler: The Stellar Dove

Chapter 22: The Legend

  I rested my head on my arm, leaning on the balcony as I looked from the distance to the paper clutched in my hand. The cooing of evening birds could be heard in the serene silence.

"My lady," his voice greeted me as he came to my side, chuckling slightly as he rested against the railing beside me. "I expected to startle you, as you do to me often."

"I'm sure you would have, had I not been so relaxed," I shrugged.

"It is a rather peaceful night," he agreed. "Now, what was it you wanted to speak to me about?"

I hesitated for a moment, trying to think of how to word it. "I just wanted to ask... does your name have a significance?"

He seemed a bit confused, since the question was a bit out of context. He answered, nevertheless. "Yes. It was given to me by my master. He said that as his servant, I should take the name if his dog."

I covered my mouth in an attempt to quiet the giggle. He turned his icy gaze to me. For some reason, that only made it worse.

"I—I'm sorry," I coughed. "I'm not laughing at you. It's just... that child. The way he goes about like that amuses me."

"I suppose I can't disagree," Sebastian sighed, his frown melting back into a smile. "So then, while we're on the subject, do you believe your name has a significance?"

"I..." I paused. "Possibly. It's a theory, but based off of a dream that I think may be a fragment of a memory."

His eyes widened at that word. "What was your dream?"

"It was... strange. Simply a jumble of words that hardly made sense. And when I woke, I wrote them down, and two ideas came together and..." I took a breath. "Sorry, I'm still a bit dizzy from it."

"Just take your time in explaining it," Sebastian told me, placing a hand on mine.

"I'm not sure if you heard, when I first dined with Ciel, I mentioned that my family may have been artists. Well, I think they were, and I think the dream was a memory of a poem that my name may have been from."

"May I see the paper?" Sebastian asked. I handed it to him. He observed it for a moment, then looked back up to me. "Ah, 'The Stellar Dove,' that does have a significance to your name, doesn't it?"

"Yes," I nodded. "Estella Dove... I'm not sure about the 'Jones' part of it, considering you found no record of it, but I know that this poem may hold clues to my past. Though..." I sighed, hanging my head and turning back to the distance. "It may not help at finding the author at all, if it were never published."

"That is true," Sebastian slipped it in his pocket. "I can check, anyway, just for the chance that it could be known."

There was a long silence as we gazed out at the night sky. It was such a perfect peace, neither of us wanted to speak if the words would be less than the moment.

"Estella," Sebastian began. "I don't mean to pry, but... may I ask if you're content here?"

The question caught me off guard. "Yes...? What do you mean, Sebastian?"

"I was simply wondering if it bothers you, not knowing... I know it used to."

"No, in all honesty, it doesn't anymore," I answered with a smile, my eyes distant. "It's strange. It used to tear at my mind and eat at my soul—who I was, if someone was out there missing me, what my life could be, that I couldn't find it, that I didn't know... but now it doesn't seem like that. Now, it's simply something that's there, but not something that I spend every waking hour craving. I am content here, and I believe if I never were to know... I would be just as happy living a life here."

Sebastian seemed stunned by my words. "I was only worried for you," he explained. "Most would be worn down from it, or fall into a depression, but you're very accepting."

I shrugged. "It's simply who I am."

Our words ceased as the moment overtook us again. No other verbal communication was necessary. It was a time where everything had come to balance at last for me, for us. The wind storming inside my chest had settled into stillness at last. There was not even a breeze to be felt. I was at perfect peace in that moment, where he was suddenly embracing me, and I him. When I felt myself in his grasp, his aura illuminating my being, when his warmth was my haven. How badly I wish that time had frozen.

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