Lost Wings

30~ Goodbyes

Chapter 30

    I landed on a wooden platform in the trees surrounding the village and folded by wings behind my back.

    "You can take a break," I told the bored fairy in front of me.

    "Yes!" He sped off before I could change my mind.

    Aric was sitting down against the trunk of the tree. He tensed when he saw me, looking away.

    "Hey." I sat down in front of him.

    He said nothing.

    "I'm sure you heard about the battle and about its result." Still no reaction. "Aric." He finally looked at me.

    "Where's Autumn?"

    "She left."

    He slumped down even more.

    "She went to the Outpost for help. Soon, I'm going to go there too." After a pause, I continued. "What about you?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "What are you going to do?"

    "I'm your prisoner. I don't get a choice in my fate." He looked away.

    "Look at me," I snapped. He did, a bit surprised at my outburst. "We could have been friends. In fact, I thought we were. So did Autumn. Of course, you threw all of that out of the window, but nevertheless: in the name of that past friendship, I don't want to throw you into a jail cell if I can avoid it. So I'm asking you, what are you going to do?"

    "What can I do?"

    "Go home. Stay in the forest, at your own risk, of course. Come with us. We have a thing called community service. It's better than jail time, trust me." I had no idea if community service did exist here, but I was sure I could work something out if it didn't.

    "If I go home, I die."

    I didn't answer. What could I have said?

    "If I don't, she dies," he continued.

    "Your sister." It wasn't a question.

    "Of course, she could already be dead, but I think our leader had other things to worry about so far."

    We were lost in our own thoughts for a moment. This was a situation for which I didn't have an answer.

    "Let me come to the outpost," he finally said. "I want to talk to Autumn. Then I'll leave and go find my sister."

    "All right. And Aric?"

    "Yes?"

    "When you do find your sister, come back to the forest with her. The fairies will find you, tell them you're here in my name. Have them lead you back to the outpost. Autumn and I would be happy to meet your sister."

    He looked at me. "Thank you. You will make a good leader one day. I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused. Maybe one day the freedom of your subjects will be shared by my people as well."

    I nodded. I didn't know what to say. I didn't even think I would ever be ready to lead anyone. "Have you eaten?"

    "Yes."

    "Good. We'll be leaving in a little while." I stood up, but as a walked away a thought struck me. "Aric?"

    "Yes?"

    "What about your lizard?"

    He looked down. Wordlessly, he opened his pocket. A tiny green head peeked out. "I promise I didn't contact anyone."

    I smiled. "I believe you. I'm glad he found you again."

    Then I left him to his thoughts.

    On the ground below me, Bree was giving out instructions to her soldiers to organize our departure.

    "Hailey!" She called as I flew by. "Fair warning, if anyone's missing twenty minutes from now, I'm leaving without them."

    "I'll try to disappoint you and be there, then," I called down.

    "Please don't!" She shouted back.

    I kept flying until I reached the Great Tree. I sat cross-legged in front of it, studying the silhouette of my mother etched in the bark.

"Hi Mom. It's me, again. I just wanted to say I was happy to meet you, and to have gotten to talk to you. I understand why you did what you did; this really is a wonderful place and I'm proud to be able to say my mother is the one who saved it. I know Dad will understand, too. He was never mad at you for leaving, anyway. He knew you'd have a good reason. I... Thank you for taking care of me. Not only this time, but when I was younger, too. I love you, Mom. Dad and I both love you."

I let out a breath. I was sad, but somehow lighter. Giving her a proper goodbye had been important to me. And what better memorial was there than a beautiful magic tree?

    Above me, one of the glowing flowers bloomed. A tiny fairy smaller than the palm of my hand slipped out. An adult flew up to meet them right away. The petals from the flower detached and floated down with the whim of the light breeze. I caught one. It had stopped glowing, but it was soft. I kept it.

    I stood up. Chase was coming back from the statues of the winged explorers, having said his goodbye as well. I walked towards him and wrapped my arms around him.

    "That was some trip." He rested his cheek on my forehead. The stubble he had grown made him look older.

I lifted my head and kissed his cheek.  "Come on, let's go home."

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Hi!
I just started Uni, so we'll have to see if that has any impact on update times, but I'll do my best to avoid it.
Also, dil_kaur made this colorful cover! Thank you!

Here are your cuties for this update:

Take care!