Airya vomited. Anything left inside her spilled all over the ground as she fell, weak and hollow. She was disgusted with herself and hated herself even. She had just banished someone from their home when they were trying to protect it. Trying to protect it from her. She turned her head and saw her mother lying there as still as death. No… she had banished a monster. Anger began rising in her again, mixing with the tears of hatred for herself. She didn't want to feel the way she did. She didn't want to hate. She didn't want any of this to have happened. She sat up. She was alone now. She was all alone.

When Hethei landed on her shoulder, Airya laid back down, causing Hethei to fly away. She still had her one friend, but she yearned for someone she could talk to on a deeper level. Someone who could help her work through her feelings and pain. Someone like her dad. She threw her arm over her eyes and cried.

It wasn't until she felt Hethei tugging at her hair roots that she was willing to move. She knew it was time to play queen and act like the queen that she had just announced she was. Wasn't she raised for this? Wasn't this her home? But how was she to be queen without any people? Could you be Queen of a land with a possibility of paradise without people living in it? Having such a land beneath her feet, was that enough to be a queen or a protector regardless of if anyone else was on it?

She got up and then hissed in pain. She looked down at her foot and lifted it. It was still bleeding with countless beak shards in it. Her stomach turned. Wasn't part of protecting the land and her kingdom doing things that she may not agree with when it came to the bigger picture of what may be necessary?

Walking on her tiptoes, she flinched with each step. She made her way to the river with Hethei flying above her. Sitting gently, she immersed her injured foot in the water, then brought it up into her lap and began the long process of picking out the shards and tossing them into the current. She let her mind go blank, only focusing on the work and task at hand. When she was done, she put her foot back in the water and let the flow of the current cool her painful flesh.

The statement she had made churned her stomach. But she knew being queen was her birthright. She was born of this temple. She was the only one who had to uphold her parents’ dreams and wishes. She was the only one left of this world. The only one except the other Solocs.

Airya's blood began to bubble. The Solocs. The ones who had planned for her people to be killed. The ones who wanted to extinguish her mother's dreams and make the Yellow Eyes' lives worth nothing. Was getting rid of Stilk enough? Should she get rid of them all? Should she make them rule under her and threaten them with her power to make them leave if they didn't listen? How could she rule them knowing she couldn't stand to look any of them in the face? How was she supposed to be their Queen and show love and compassion like her mother and father had when all she felt was hatred?

She would leave them alone. At least for now. Wondering what to do about them when they were not a threat at the moment was a waste of time. And if she was honest with herself, she was scared. Scared that she would act as she had with Stilk. Scared that she would do something that her mother and father, if they were still alive, would hate her for. She was scared to undo all that they had worked so hard to do. She didn't want to be the one to vanquish their dreams completely. She was still here. She was the only one left to build her parents’ legacy and make sure they didn't die for nothing. But what? What could she do to make sure this stayed a perfect paradise? What could she do if she had no people and it was empty?

The first thing she knew she had to do was protect the kingdom, even from the Solocs, who had proved their vengeance and hatred for life. To protect the kingdom from them, she had to stay. She couldn't leave. But what about people? What about her people? She could go and find people from other worlds and bring them back here. But how was she supposed to trust them and trust that they wouldn't poison the place in any way? She had seen what people could do and how they attacked things they didn’t understand. She couldn't have that in her kingdom.

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She opened a hole, stood up, and went inside. Hethei noticed and then panicked, scared to be left behind. She wound up where she wanted to be, on the flat roof of the temple. Somewhere where she had never been before. Somewhere to view all her land that she needed to protect.

Normally beautiful, her world was now grey and dull. Instead of tasting a fresh crisp normally in the air, she tasted a dry hardness that was hard to inhale. The river was running out of the temple, refusing to glisten. The grass in the fields leading to the lake refused to sway. The trees by the mountains stood still. She sat, Hethei by her side, looking at the never-ending mountains that rose to the sky. For the first time in a long time, she felt trapped. Trapped, confused, and alone. She brushed her hand over Hethei's head.

"Hethei, if only you could tell me what to do..."

The image of her mom and dad's faces before they had aged to death glimmered across her mind. She shook her head, trying to hold in her tears. A lone owl flew close by. Airya squinted for a closer look.

The owl looked familiar.

"Hethei! Do we know that owl?"

Hethei perked up, took notice of the flying friend, and flew off to it. They had a brief conversation midair before they both flew back, landing next to Airya. Airya smiled and looked down at the new friend. It was the same build as Hethei but brown feathered. There were scars on his feet. She then realized it was the same owl she had seen that woman throw into the fire. Somehow it had ended up here like Hethei must have long ago.

She put her finger on the top of its head. It recoiled and looked at Hethei for reassurance. Hethei nodded, and the owl relaxed while Airya stroked its head. "Why don't the two of you find some rats?" she suggested.

They both took flight together off into the sky.

Hope began to flutter inside her.

A miracle. A miraculous miracle. She had sworn that that owl had been turned to dust, forever dead, but it wasn't. It was here.

Power had taken that owl's life in one place but brought it back here. A power had taken away her people's lives, so was there a chance they were somewhere else? Was there a chance that if there is a power or item to bring such death as it did them, there is a power to bring them back to life? Could she give her people their lives back?

That’s what she would try to do. She knew how to read. She knew how to find things. She could even travel different worlds. There had to be something somewhere out there. She had to be able to find something if she worked and looked hard enough. She had to be able to find a way to bring them back. If she did, then she wouldn't have to rule alone. Maybe she could even get her parents back.

She stood up, and the wind gently pushed her, encouraging her.

But first, she had another task to do.

Shutting down her hope and excitement, she opened a hole and walked into the throne room of the temple. Without stopping, she headed to the aging room, where she found her mother still lying there. She went over and hugged her one last time before opening a hole next to her and dragging her inside.

They came out at the pit. The light from the world made it look more gruesome and haunting than it had looked in the dark. She let go of her mom and bent down to look closer at her people. Their bodies looked the same. She wondered if they would ever age, rot, or turn to dust since ageing didn't seem to exist in Ausrine.

Countless eyes bore into hers.

"I will bring you back. I will save you all," she whispered the promise.

Turning back to her mom, she grabbed both of her mom's fragile hands and closed her eyes as she half dragged and threw their deceased queen over the edge into the pile of her people. She couldn't look to see if her mom had landed anywhere close to her dad.

That deep ache where her heart should be swelled, and she let it. It reminded her of the aching emptiness that tore through her when she had met Obsviden. She allowed herself reach into that pain. Let herself remember the crackling under her fingertips when she had touched his stamp and forced her mind to only think of him. Obsviden was the one who knew all about death. He could guide her to where she needed to go to bring back her people.

It was as if the hole in her chest opened a hole in her world, inviting her to experience her pain inside it. She looked to the sky for Hethei and was happy she did not see him. When she met Obsviden this time, she wanted to be alone.