Heroes of Dreamland, Book 6 1/2: The Last Sakuranoki (OLD)

The Song of The Sakuranoki

As Cherry worked, she hummed to herself in Fairy and thought more about her project. The material she wanted to use was magic glass, but that was hard to find, especially on a planet that didn't have any need for weapons. She even knew exactly what kind of magic glass she wanted: dark pink, so crystalline that you could almost see through it, made of pure glass through and through. But how and where she would find it was still beyond her. And then there was the task of molding it into a sword, and then she had to find out how to give it the power of a star sword.

As she thought, she pulled out her notebook and did yet another sketch. She had drawn so many possible designs, but none of them had ever completely pleased her. She had katanas, longswords, Ninja swords, every kind of sword she'd ever heard of. She learned of new kinds of swords by finding pictures of them in her mother's old encyclopedia, which was an artifact of the Ancients. But no matter how many different designs she came up with, none of them ever quite suited her.

This time, the finished quick sketch still didn't seem quite like what she wanted. With a huff of impatience, she flipped to the very last page of the book and wrote 'チェリイ の ほし の けん' at the top. Cherii no hoshi no ken, Cherry's star sword. It might have been silly of her to work in the language of the Ancients when none of the other Fairies ever used it, but she did anyway. She loved how the characters looked on the page, how graceful and sloping they were, just like the floating blossoms that continuously fell from the hundreds of sakuranoki outside.

Maybe that name she had just written for the sword was simple and stupid, but until she could come up with a better name, one closer to the grandeur of 'Galaxia,' this one would work.

Shutting the notebook again, she stirred the pot of soup she was making with the homegrown vegetables that they had harvested all summer and were now working on canning for the winter. After a few minutes, she glanced up from the stove and over at her father again. She really was getting a little bit worried about him. He was usually so cheerful, but tonight he seemed so distant and afraid. What in the ripple would he be afraid of? Sakuranoki Farm was one of the most peaceful places on all of Ripple Star.

After supper, she told her father she was going to go to bed. With a weak smile, he touched his forehead to hers and agreed that turning in a little bit early sounded like a good plan to him too. And so she wished him a good night, and then climbed up the narrow wooden staircase that started in the corner of the kitchen.

Her bedroom was the attic of the small cottage. It wasn't huge, but it was hers, and it had been ever since she was little, so she loved it. The walls were covered with paintings and sketches that she had done of the sakuranoki, the other Fairies, the garden behind the cottage, the Spring of Song, and some of the places and characters from her dreams.

There was a particular sakuranoki that she often dreamed about, one off in some imaginary land that her mind had come up with all the back when she was very little. And so, she had several pictures on the walls of that tree and the beautiful garden it was in, with a fountain right beside it and a castle just outside of the garden's hedge walls. She had even more drawings of that place that wouldn't fit on the wall, and so just sat on her desk and floor and wherever else she could find space for them.

How she wished that place was real, it looked so wonderful. Truly, she would've given almost anything she had just to get to go there.

With a sigh, she forced herself out of her daydreaming and back into the present. After trying (and failing) to organize the unfinished drawings and sketches that were all over her desk, she paused for a long moment and then opened the drawer on the front of the desk. Slowly, she pulled out the one sketch she had never dared to put up on the wall where her parents could see it and be saddened by it.