Everything Has Changed

Yin and Yang

Surprisingly, the happenings of that fateful night had soon became forgotten to the four members of the Song family. Three years had passed since Fintan Pyren visited Choralmere, and now the song in Linh's heart was a different one.

Now a six-year old with a healthy blush in her cheeks, Linh Song set off confidently to the secret garden in the library with her twin brother, Tam Song. They were now allowed to explore around Choralmere as they please, as it became apparent that most things changed when they grew older-although, some things would stay the same-such as Quan's constant coldness toward them, Mai's occasional neglectance toward Linh, and Tam and Linh's bitterness directed at both of their parents.

And of course, there was the infamous untruth that Tam and Linh were just causing a nuisance and pretending to be twins. Since the mere age of three, Tam and Linh had told every elf that had ever stepped foot in Choralmere that they were twins, only to be separated at birth. Well, the only visitor that had never been personally told by them was Fintan Pyren, but the Fintan Pyren that had dinner with them had long been cast into Exile, to be long forgotten for millennia.

It was like he had become a ghost.

Despite that Tam and Linh's memories of Fintan had been completely Washed away from their minds, their parents, especially Quan Song, could still hear his raspy voice floating through their minds, warning them of an impending disaster.

I'll leave Choralmere alone-for now.

***

"Hey, Linh. Do you still remember the first book we ever read when we discovered this place?" asked six-year old Tam as he entered the secret garden with a book in tow. The gold seams crackling through the rocky wall shone and reflected into his eyes, turning the silver flecks in his eyes gold. His shoes stepped onto the fallen leaves on the grassy ground, making crunching sounds echo around the bright room, and stopped at the bottom a small uprun hill, on which a gallant tree stood proudly, its strong, thick branches fanning out, bearing lucid, star-shaped leaves and sprouting bluish-purplish-pink blossoms which seemed to shimmer in the light. But there was something strange about it Tam couldn't put his finger on. Although the tree looked completely magnificent and beautiful, it seemed a little too... unnatural, and looking at it made Tam's throat dry up with an indescribable feeling. It just felt... wrong.

Linh leaned on the bark of the tree, her legs crossed and her neck down-bending slightly to read the thick, hardback book she was holding in her hands. She flipped the page in about every fifteen seconds, and by the expression on her face, it was clear to Tam that she was concentrating hard to read the book.

She must have sensed that Tam had arrived, because she lifted her eyes from the pages of the book and locked her gaze with Tam's, her lips curling into a pleasant smile as she bookmarked the page she'd been reading with a dry leaf and set down her book. She beckoned Tam to come up with her, and Tam made his way up the small hill, plopping down beside her as they both leaned against the strong trunk of the tree. Tam thought the bark felt unreal against the touch of his fingers.

As if knowing what he was thinking, Linh sat up straighter and faced him, saying, "I don't think you know that we're touching an artificial tree."

"An artificial tree?" Tam repeated, not quite understanding what she was trying to tell him, his mind running through the possibilities of what an artificial tree could do.

"Yes, an artificial tree," agreed Linh, tracing the spirally knot in the bark of the tree. She tucked a stray strand of jet-black hair behind her ear as she continued to explain, "This garden has been here for millennia, Tam. Thousands and thousands of years without needing any gardening, and what is the explanation for this? It must be that all the living things here aren't actually living. The reason why they can thrive on forever without anything happening to them is because they're not real. They don't need anything, and they won't rot away because of the minimal number of living things coming in. They are stronger than the most Ancient of elves, Tam."