SWNOVELS Chapter 4: Final connections
The morning air is cool and crisp as I walk out onto the terrace, heading towards the banister overlooking the forest and streams below. The terrace is massive, yet still smaller than the training terrace at the Shyair estate. If I had to take a guess, it’s about the size of one and half tennis courts.
I lean onto the heavy, white stone railing and gaze out onto the lake and waterfalls in the distance. I sigh softly, just trying to process and reconvene my thoughts and settle my trembling heart. The waterfalls are helping with their distant, steady flows.
I feel the wind blowing against me. Once more, I have to get used to a massive change in seasons. When I left Dewloura it was late spring, now I’m back to the middle of winter. Think of it as whiplash…again. Only this time I’m not suffering from a massive sinus headache, or any trauma for that matter.
Yet another weight weighs on me. I can still see the words of Celes and Serasfall running through my mind. They each had plans for me, many more that weren’t written down. They all had plans for me. It still makes me wonder how my life may have turned out if I were to have lived out my days there.
I’d have a family watching over me, a sister, mother, and father. My aunt and uncle, cousins who were not too far from me. I might have eventually fallen in love and been married. Fenris and Athena would form a new pack, and I’d be there helping to raise the new pups.
However…it seems my time there may have been short for a reason. Yet did I speed it along or was my presence there the catalyst? Was it my fault that Dewloura fell and its people scattered? Even if it was to save it and possibly the continent, were my actions the direct cause of it all? Gah, temporal paradoxes make my head spin.
I let out long and slow sighs as I watch the water crash into the rocks below. It sometimes is enough to lose yourself in nature, let it heal you. Velhemina always said that the world will heal you if you allow it. I smile, missing my aunt. I scrape my nails over the stone, thinking of Silvi. I can still feel her warmth on my body the day of my exile, just lying on her chest.
I pan over to my right, seeing both of my wolves sitting beside me, also gazing out into the forest and fields below. I smile to them, knowing they must have gone hunting during the wee hours of the morning while I slept, only to return to make sure I was alright. Human or not, both are my parents.
I then gaze back out on the fields and streams, missing Mom all the more.
“Aria?”
I turn around to see Marron walking towards me. “Hey,” I smile, greeting her.
She smiles, and then holds up her letter, “Mind explaining this to me?”
I tilt my head as she hands it to me. I unfurl it and start reading.
“To Marron,
You and I are alike, each sharing a treasure beyond words, each sharing the love of a girl we call our younger sister. Through Aria, I’ve learned much about you, however I know that we are someone else entirely.
When I claimed her as my sister, fully claiming her, she asked how her ancestor can be her sister. I smiled, saying that bonds of sisterhood transcend lifetimes. A statement that is true. There were times when she would catch herself in saying my name, yet not my name. I found it strange at the time, thinking she was missing you.
There would also be times when she would catch herself saying phrases, or mannerisms that were clearly meant for someone else. However, they seemed to fit.
Aria is a bright and cheery girl, loving to be around others and her family, yet still holds something in when confronted with a problem with a solution that she won’t admit to.
As I said, we are more alike that you know. Through me, she saw something, a mirror perhaps or a portent of a truth. We…are that mirror. I saw this through her, and watching her. She knew certain things about me that I never told her about, yet were as normal as a flower.
I know she will be lonely without me, yet I shall stay at her side. I will always find her, forever shall she be my younger sister. Always there with a song to soothe her troubled heart, to fight at her side, to guide and love her.
Please continue to watch over our sister, for our eyes and soul are the same.
Be in your heart,
Celestine.”
Tears once more stream down my cheek, making me wipe them. I smile softly, “She knew,” whispering. I chuckle, "She actually knew."
Marron continues to watch me as I neatly fold the letter and hand it back to her. I sigh softly, letting the words in the letter shift and fall into place, already knowing their meaning. “Do…do you remember back in September when you talked about your connection to me? How you were so excited at the sound of my name, always able to soothe me or were somewhat able to know what words to say to calm me?”
She nods, smirking at the “somewhat” part.
I take a slow breath, “When I first met Celes, I felt like I was staring at you. While she didn’t quite have the same face as you, it was more a presence I felt that drew me to her. I felt the same as I do with you. Then as I listened to her, I instead find myself thinking I was listening to you, with a small change in tone.”
I keep my gaze low, still processing the letter and its author. “This same feeling stuck with me throughout my time in the past. When…when I returned, it was now reversed. When I saw you, I saw Celes.”
Marron steps slightly closer. To the side, the wolves watch in soft silence, with Athena smiling warmly. “What’s this leading to?”
I lean back on the banister, gripping my hands in front of as I bite the bottom of my lip, trying to think of the right words to say. I then gaze up into her emerald eyes, watching as her fiery, red hair sway in the breeze. “It means you’re Celes’ reincarnation.”
I smirk softly, shaking my head, “It seems that everyone is always working backwards when it comes to me, this includes you and me. Even when Mom and I came to the same revelation with the Kinstone.”
Marron looks at me stunned, then lowers her gaze. I watch as her eyes flutter back and forth as her mind processes this. She takes a slight step back, which make my heart jump, worrying she might bolt. I feel small, scared of what her reaction might be. Yet she stays, as if regaining her balance.
Even with the thunderous sounds of the waterfalls crashing in the distance, there is a deafening silence that has washed over us. I could feel the tension rising within me as time seems to drag on at a snail’s pace. I’m worried if I say anything now, she might actually do something.
She finally closes her eyes for a moment, and then smiles, chuckling slightly. “In some strange way,” she says, “this all makes sense the more I think about it. In fact explaining a few things.”
Her eyes open, revealing her glistening emerald eyes, gazing softly at me. “It does explain why my familiarity with you is so strong. I was always hearing a voice in my heart each time I saw you, how some buried image of you seemed to come more and more into focus.”
She steps a little closer, her smile gentle and honest, “Perhaps it was because of my past life that drew me to you, feeling excited when I heard your name for the first time.” Her smile broadens slightly, “I guess the bonds of sisterhood really do transcend lifetimes.”
My cheeks blush hotly at her saying that. For briefest of moments, I could hear Celes’ voice coming from Marron. My eyes gaze upon her, seeing both women standing in front me, faces overlapping if ever so slightly. I smile, now knowing the pair truly are one and the same. It’s just as Celes said in her letter, “Both sharing the same soul.”
Celes never left me. She’s standing right in front of me, and always has been. So many things now make sense between us. We are sisters sharing a love deeper and stronger than blood ever could. It explains how quickly Marron and I became sisters, ever so easily acting as such even before we realized it. It was as if we’d been together forever. Yet…something else is also true.
My gaze lowers, twiddling my fingers as my nervousness and a different fear enters my mind. A new worry about my sister, from this life and the past.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?”
I clasp my hands tightly, feeling even more nervous than before. How…how can I articulate something I know to be true about both of them? A fundamental truth about who each of them are.
“It’s…it’s nothing.” I bite the inside of my lip, trying to hold back the growing fear.
A shadow then casts over me. “Liar.”
I look up, seeing Marron smiling ever so gently to me. The same smile I’ve always known her to have. A loving warmth she’s given me from the very moment we met.
“I know what you’re thinking, that this revelation is going to change things between us,” she starts. “How this will change how we act around each other.” Marron gazes into my eyes, “I will admit that this is a shock, but it does clear up a lot of things between us.”
That’s…that’s part of it, yet I know there’s something else, a fear I place on myself. Something I really hate doing with people I love.
She then smirks, “Sweetie, nothing is going to change at all. Celestine and I may share the same heart and the love for a certain mischievous little kitsune.” I blush, grinning softly.
She smiles, “We are also completely different people. We’ve each lived completely different lives, not to mention different eras. I’m not jealous that she was a princess and I’m a seamstress. That really shouldn’t matter. I for one don’t care. I know you’re worried about comparing the both of us to each other. There’s no need to.”
I bite the inside of my lips harder, knowing she’s outed me again. Marron smirks, leaning over and flicking my forehead. “Like I said, we’re two completely different people, so you really shouldn’t be afraid of that.”
I sigh softly, nodding, still looking up at her.
She smiles, stepping closer again, “While this explains our connection, it doesn’t define it.” She then grins, “And besides, I’ve had you longer. Celes may have known you for four months. I however, have known you for three years. Hell, there are some things that not even Fenris knows about you.”
I giggle softly as tears start to well up in my eyes once more. She’s right, while both the same person, Celes and Marron really are two completely different people. Both are women I love dearly as my elder sisters, blood or not. Both have been a guide and place I can call home. This solves yet another mystery about my life, how so many people are bonded to me.
Marron then quickly pulls me into her, wrapping her arms around my tiny frame. I bury my face into her chest, clinging to her, to my sister.
She smiles, stroking my hair as we sway to the soft sounds of the waterfalls. We feel our hair being caught in the breeze. The air is filled with the scent of pine and spruce mixed with the coolness of water. A moment, one of so…so many between us that I feel at peace. With all that’s happened, all the revelations, the hardships, the trials and unexpected paths we’ve taken, the one fact that’s remained true since the day we met, is that we are sisters, forever.
“I love you.”
I feel a gentle kiss being placed on my forehead, “I love you too, Baby Ahri.”
I giggle softly, looking up at her. “I’ll never stop loving you calling me that.”
She grins, “You’ll always be a baby to me, no matter what happens.” My cheeks blush as I giggle softly. Marron’s smile warms, “Did Celes call you something special too?”
I grin, “She’d call me Nei’shy, meaning ‘beloved little sister’ in Alcoran.”
Marron smiles brightly, stroking my hair, “It’s pretty. We older sisters always have to give our younger sisters a cute name. Something special between us.” I grin. She gently taps my nose, “However, I think I’ll stick with calling you Baby Ahri.”
I giggle, nodding.
She smiles, stroking my hair, “That wonderful, soft laugh. Always a treasure.” I grin brightly, still blushing.
We then both feel something soft brushing against us. We look over to see Athena and Fenris smiling and standing beside us. I smile gently to my wolfish parents, reaching out and stroking her muzzle. She groans softly, her ice-blue eyes gazing lovingly into mine. I peer over to Fenris, smiling proudly and fatherly as always to me.
A new thought enters my mind as I look up at Marron for a moment and then back to Athena. “Are…are you going to bond with Marron?” I ask her.
Athena leans in and presses the side of her muzzle to my cheek, rubbing it gently. “No, little one,” she replies. The wolf then peers up at my sister, giving a gentle look of love and admiration. “While Marron is indeed Celestine, the pair are not the same.” She then looks back to me, “For I am bonded with you.”
I cling to her, “Was it the day you and I were alone in the crystal gardens?” I still remember that day clearly, just the two of us after school.
She smiles, eyes softening. “Not quite, but completely then yes. Our hearts became linked the day I first sensed you. I came running as fast as my legs could carry me until I found you. The truest of our bond only took longer for it to be truly forged.”
I blush deeply. I never sensed it the day we met. I didn’t sense Fenris until the end of November two years ago, and before then were we connected when I was born the first time. I look to Athena, still feeling confused about it with her.
“I too know what is transpiring in your mind,” she says, “the bond sometimes takes longer depending on the wolf and human. I know you and your father were bonded the day you were born. For us…our bond had to mature as your heart grew closer to mine.”
I blush and smile, “So you flirting and teasing Fenris was part of that?”
She chuckles, sounding more like a series of soft huffs and barks, “Yes, little one. I saw something in your father that I knew was meant to be between us.” She then looks to him and smiles, then turns back to me.
I look to him, seeing my wolf father sitting straighter as he smiles. I giggle, thinking how much of a proud father he looks. He found what he also needed in his heart, something other than his little girl to take care of. I still remember him and Abigale being together, but it turned out it never could work between them.
I turn back to Athena, thinking how she too had become a mother to me as Fenris is my father. I grin softly to them both, loving them as the daughter I am to them. “My family keeps growing, doesn’t it?” I ask giggling.
Marron strokes my hair, peering to both of my wolves. “It does.” I smile up at her.