Soon Vienna was reunited with her old friends. Ezzie and Frey's expressions were complicated as they saw her return. The children having grown in the four years she had been gone squinted at her as if trying to remember.
“V?”
Taryn and Garren looked at Vienna with wide eyes before running towards her their frames nearly reaching her height even though she had grown taller.
“My have you two grown, just like sprouts.”
Vienna looked up at Ezzie whose straight face didn’t even hold disappointment or resentment, it was without emotion or perhaps so full of emotions it couldn’t quite be expressed.
Frey stepped forward with a wobbly smile, “It’s good to have you back, Miss Thorne.”
It hurt that he didn’t call her by her first name and yet she couldn’t blame the awkwardness on them. She knew she was the one who had run away without a word to any of them, only a small note in her letter to her father to let them know she said goodbye. It wasn’t enough she was aware of that. She had let them down, and she would have to regain their trust through deeds, not just words.
Still, words weren’t without their merit.
“I’m sorry. I should have at least left you all a letter but I didn’t.”
“Yes, you should have. I thought…” Ezzie’s straight features crumbled before she cleared her throat turning her head away. Frey wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulder.
“We all missed you very much, Miss Vienna.”
Still with the Miss but it was better somehow to hear her name on her old friend’s lips.
“Miss, you have guests.” One of the tenant farmers came up, gesturing towards the end of the dirt road.
Vienna wrinkled her brow, “But I just got home.”
Down the road came two familiar figures. “Eiryls, Aelius?”
They flew down the road and landed on either side of her wrapping her up in big hugs.
“You didn’t think you could leave us behind, did you?”
“I…” Vienna blushed when she realized she was short-sighted again. “I thought you would want to stay where your home was. I told you I was going back home.”
Eiryls looked at her sternly just as Aelius nuzzled the top of her head like Vienna was his teddy bear.
Eirlys raised a thin snow-white eyebrow, “You are our home. You were our Song-giver after all.”
“Vienna, is there something you failed to mention?” Pop looked at her with his own raised eyebrow.
Vienna couldn’t help the small awkward chuckle that escaped her, “Oh Pop so much happened, I’m not sure where to start.”
Ezzie patted her apron and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye that Vienna had missed, “I’ll go bring some biscuits and tea. Come along.” She hurried her family away without a look back as Pop sat back down beneath the tree and Vienna sat beside him, waving Eirlys and Aelius to come sit down.
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“It seems the Caretakers did not tell me everything about what a Starlight Soul means in this world.”
Vienna then proceeded to tell Pop of the Naming, of the Mapmaker who was now an equivalent to a brother, to the Elem king and their talks. Of the stories of the first Starlight Soul on Terra, Queen Idril gave her life for the planet thus finding a loophole in the Caretakers instructions.
“What of this Elem king? Is he safe?”
This time Aelius spoke, “It is told in stories that being a descendant of Starlight Soul the king must protect any others that come after. Our king would never seek to harm Vienna especially when she’s helped so many once Nameless.”
“So an ally then?” Vienna’s father hummed beneath his breath. “Vienna you will need to forge new allies when you go to the Academy. No matter how powerful your current allies may be that won’t help you with the day-to-day when you are in school. Nesrin has dominated the social scene but you can become friends with all. Her blindspot is those she chooses to ignore, this shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“We may be able to help with that. There are several Elem that were once Nameless that with a recommendation could be enrolled in the Academy. This could help Vienna have some allies at her back from the start.”
“Who’s coming?”
“They’ve already arrived in the Capital. They’ve been there since after you Named them, many figured out who you were rather quickly despite your nickname.”
Her father looked at her in question.
“I asked them to call me Bhelfl'ōr.”
“My little flower.” His smile was warm.
Vienna nodded.
----------------------------------------
The next morning found Vienna rising with the sun as she had done in the Secret Garden. She went with her father on his early morning jog around the estate lands. They raced through the fields, breathless laughs escaping them as they reached the back stoop of the house.
“I’m glad to see you have been staying healthy.”
Vienna nodded and caught her breath.
“What will you be doing today, little flower?”
Vienna tilted her head, hands on her hips as she looked out to the spot by the Old One that was bare.
“I thought I would plant some of the seeds today.”
The sun caused a golden glow across the landscape reminding Vienna of how the Elems wings would sparkle in the dawn light in the Širdkryp-Gardinōs.
“Was mother Okren?” Vienna looked at her father to see his features surprised before they eased into his sad reminiscing face.
“Asena was Okren and Terran, her Terran side was rumored to have some Elem too.”
Vienna nodded her head, “So that’s why my gift is so similar to the Elem’s glamour abilities.”
“Your gift?”
“It’s something all Starlight Souls are embued with, a talent that the Caretakers themselves possess. Knowing I might be hunted down by Nesrin, I asked for the ability to be invisible or camouflaged.” Vienna tilted her head to the side, “Mother’s possible Elem ancestry was possibly why Atlas was so surprised when I first used it around him.”
“Atlas…ah the Mapmaker.”
“Yes, he could tell it was something different but it felt similar to what the Elem could do. But now I suppose it's only if aided by their rings?”
Her father nodded, “It is not an ability they can have on their own.”
After going into the house and grabbing the seeds. Her father and she walked to the patch of land beside the Old One, a small meadow surrounded by the estate’s trees as if guarding the parcel.
Vienna knelt her hands testing the firmness of the land. Trying to find a patch with soil easily turned to allow for better planting. Her father set tools beside her before taking the one in his hand and helping her turn up some of the dirt so it was ready for seeding.
From the worn pouch at her side, she stuck her hand in her eyes closing unconsciously as she felt around for the perfect seed. It wasn’t like the branches or sprigs that could almost whisper to her, but it was a feeling in her gut like the feeling you get when you hear a familiar song that brings feelings of home and safety. She felt her fingertips grasp the seed and pulled it out almost expecting to see a green fresh seed but still, it was black and deadlike like the ones she had first planted in the Secret Garden. She bequeathed it a kiss before digging a small hole in the tilled ground and covering it with the loose soil. Her hands cupped the mound, her eyes closed as she felt the life in the seed stir. She felt the solid warm presence of her father beside her and she opened her eyes to see he was offering her a small ladle of water that she took and sprinkled over the covered pocket of soil. Once again she covered the little mound with her hand, and she remembered the songs that she’d been taught in that ancient place. The songs of growth and life. A hum existed at the back of her throat and she felt something tickle the inside of her palm, she lifted her hand to see a small sprout coming out. Bright green leaves sprang from the stem as if rising to greet the world.
She looked over at her father to see tears pouring down his face.
“I have not heard such songs for so long.”
Vienna jumped into her father’s arms as if she were four again and felt him hold her tight. His tears dampened the top of her head, as choked sobs came from his chest. She patted his back knowing that he’d been alone for so long, with only the Old One and the trees for company not hearing any echoes of his once home. Just silence and the cool reassurance of the life of the forest.
She helped him up and grabbed his hand pulling him toward the Old One setting his hand upon it before she placed her own and closed her eyes. She streamed all her thoughts, all she had learned in the ancient wood into the tree unknowing that the little sprout grew into a sapling as she shared her experiences with her father. The old songs echoed in their minds as they sunk to the base of the tree, neither of their cheeks dry. There was a grief that could not be spoken aloud but only felt but there was a long-forgotten joy intermixed in it all.