The sea was blowing in a cold wind as the Queen of Day stared off into the horizon where a dark cloud was growing bigger the longer she stood. The Night was coming once again, trying to steal the light from her domain. In her arms, the young babe lay asleep, her moon eyes closed to the tragedy that was about to unfold. How she wished things could be different...
"You don't have to do this" she heard a familiar voice say behind her.
She sighed, knowing he would say that, knowing that he would try anything to convince her not to do what she had to.
"Carrion" she said softly "It's the only way."
"No it isn't" he said placing a bony hand on her shoulder. She turned to look up at him, his frightening face softened since he had become one of her most trusted friends along with Malingo and John Mischief, but today, his face was hard and full of sadness.
"Kry is coming" she said looking up into those stone eyes "And if I don't do this the Islands will be wiped out completely."
"I can protect you" he said sternly "I can protect the-"
"You cannot protect both of us" she said looking away from him "Not with Kry. Not with Motley. One of us needs to go."
She began to walk away from him, the skirt of her dress flowing into the shore of the beach along the coast of the the Nonce. A tiny basket swirled along with the sea, as if the Izabella herself was waiting to receive an offering.
"I'm so sorry" she said looking down at her beautiful little girl, her blonde hair sticking to her scalp from the salty water that was splashing against them. She knew this was the only way. The Abarat would survive as long as one of them did. Quietly she rocked her babe against her breast, her lips humming a small lullaby against the child's head before placing her down in the wicker basket. Carefully she pulled out the locket she had spellbound around the babe's neck before carefully tucking her tight in the wicker.
She pushed the basket away into the water, watching as the sea took her babe away as the tears blurred her vision quickly.
Yes, it was the only way she would be safe.
"CANDY!" she heard her name being screamed from the beach as she turned to face not only Carrion now on the beach, but Malingo and his child as well. Little Lupita, her blue skin glittering against the fading light ran straight into the ocean after the basket, but Candy solemnly shook her head, knowing the girl wouldn't catch up to the speed of the Izabella's tide.
"What have you done?" Malingo said coming into the waters of the shore as Carrion followed silently behind.
"What I must" she said closing her eyes.
"But.." Malingo began but his words fell short with what he realized her words meant.
"Carrion" Candy said turning her head slightly as the former Prince of Midnight came to her side.
"My Queen" he said trying to mask the anger in his voice.
"You must protect her" Candy said looking straight at him "Promise me."
Carrion's brow furrowed as he tried to understand why she would request this of him. He was not the child's father. A promise in the Abarat was a spell in itself, if he promised, he would be bonded to the child.
"Christopher" Candy said sharply "Promise me you will protect her. No matter the cost, no matter the situation."
Carrion simply shook his head and agreed "I will protect her."
Candy gently raised her hand and pressed her palm against his face as Malingo switched from watching them to watching Lupita sea skip her way into the horizon to hopefully catch up to the wicker basket that had disappeared moments ago.
"For your promise, I will give you one last thing" Candy said letting the magic of the Abarat start to fill her body.
Carrion remained silent, watching as the magic took hold of the Queen's body, her skin becoming light as she began to raise up in the air like a restored star that was about to rejoin the heavens above.
Malingo could not help it, he began to cry, knowing he could not stop his lady from doing what she had to, to save them all. It was a curse, this magic she held, for it only brought death to the ones people loved the most.
Lupita ran as fast as her webbed feet were allowing her, her small body still trying to learn the ways of a sea skipper, even if she was only a halfling. Her dark matted hair whipped around her blue tinted face as she saw the wicker basket in her view.
"So close!" she said to herself.
The Izabella was not being forgiving today. Usually her mother would take her out near Yzil where the waters were a bit calmer, but out here in the Night seas, the dark water was choppy and the waves massive.
She knew her father would scold her up and down if she made it back, baby or no baby. She had never wandered this far away, but seeing the little princess that she had watched come into this world being sailed away, well, her tiny heart couldn't let it happen just like that. Despite what the Queen thought, what everyone thought, Lupita couldn't just let the princess go like this.
Bursting through the water Lupita screamed as she dodged a thick sea serpent that almost swallowed the basket up whole ahead of her, but the Izabella was crafty and had whirlpooled the basket away just as the serpent went crashing into the sea.
"Faster Lupita! Faster!" she yelled to herself over the roaring thunder above her that was no doubt about to bring rain.
They were far into the Night now, the darkness of the clouds making the light almost completely black, just like the Hag had wanted since Lupita could remember. And now her precious little friend was heading straight towards the edge of the sea!
She weaved and jumped through the waters, her dress now sticking to her body as she was drenched from head to fins. The edge of the Abarat was something her father only told her about late at bedtime, when she needed something to dream about. But seeing it now, it was a sight to behold as the water just seemed to merge with the sky, the drop off into an unknown mist that only her father and the Queen had gone through and lived.
And the basket was inches away from falling in.
"NO!" she screamed as she splashed forward, but her feet had tripped over themselves and she went crashing into the water, her mouth filled with the salty sea as she swam up to the surface quickly.
But to her horror, the basket disappeared over the edge into the mist as Lupita screamed before crawling on top of a nearby rock that overlooked the edge below.
"No" she whimpered as the wind of the mist blue her hair away from her face "Princess..."
She held her face in her hands, her small body shivering and heaving as heavy tears started to soak her face.
But then, the wind changed, no longer blowing up as it had been only moments ago. She quickly wiped her tears away and looked down, only to gasp at the sight below her.
The mist had swirled and opened, like a portal into another land, as Lupita watched the basket laying peacefully in a field of flowers. The baby slept quietly, as if she had not been disturbed from the crossing whatsoever.
Lupita felt her mouth inhale quickly as a figure appeared near the basket.
It was a man, a young man as he looked around bewildered and then back down at the basket. Quickly but gently he picked up the baby, his finger brushing her little blonde curls away from her face.
Lupita sighed, the feeling inside of her chest slowly relaxing as she realized this man would not harm the little princess. The mist began to swirl again, closing the portal and leaving Lupita the last image of the princess anyone would see.
"Come back someday" Lupita whispered "Come and save us, like she saved you."
And with that, the baby was gone from the Abarat.
Lupita rubbed her eyes again and turned back towards the sea of the Izabella, knowing she would be in a lot of trouble when she got back to the Nonce. She began to descend off the sea rock when suddenly a light caught her attention in the distance of the horizon. Lupita stopped and stood watching this light, that ascended slowly up and up until Lupita guessed the whole Abarat could see it, especially since she was this far away.
The light grew bigger and brighter, a ethereal brightness that Lupita couldn't look away from. Then like a bomb, it imploded in on itself and then exploded in a great burst of light that seemed to shake the heavens, the air knocking Lupita back against the rock as the dark clouds were blown away like feathers in the wind. She pushed her hands against her ears as the deafening roar blew past her.
And then, silence.
As Lupita stood back up, her shaky legs straightening their best, Lupita saw the light, tiny and glowing in the air before disappearing gently.
She knew then, that everything she had ever known had changed.
For better, and for worse.
Abarat: The Twilight Princess