Chapter 12: The Summoning
"Presea," Fuu called out as she stumbled into the garden.
"Fuu? I thought you had gone..." Presea was caught off guard as she was sitting by the statue of Clef.
Fuu explained to her everything that had happened and showed her the scroll. "Presea, you and I have had our differences lately, and don't think I will forget, but we have to put those behind us for a bigger and more pressing cause."
Presea nodded in agreement. This was the Fuu she had known, quiet when necessary but strong willed when she truly believed in something.
"I want to summon back all of the people who have helped us in the past and representatives from all the major peoples of Cephiro. If they are already out there, we shall find them! …And we will save this land!" Fuu finished and Presea thought she saw the flames of conviction that Hikaru so often showed.
"I know just who we need, follow me," Presea said walking back towards the castle. As she left, Fuu thought she saw a flash of light in Clef's eyes, but he was gone now, it couldn't be…
Presea led her into the castle and up a large spiral stair case. It seemed as though they had been walking forever when they finally reached a landing that opened up from a long hall. They pressed on through the corridor. It was lined with large oil paintings of what appeared to be Cephiro, and for the first time Fuu began to realize the level of change the country had gone through over the years and even from when she had come here.
"Here," Presea said pushing a large translucent emerald door open. Inside, Fuu saw an enormous botanical garden even grander than the one surrounding the castle. It had plants of every kind growing in it. Some were potted, some draped down from the ceiling, and some seemed to grow straight out of the floor. Fuu was hypnotized by its beauty. The ceiling was a large dome of the same green glass the door had been made of. Very slowly, Fuu began to sense something else. It seemed that her hypnotic state had not been caused by what she saw but what she heard!
Beautiful serene flute music surrounded her and seemed to cause the plants to actively grow. As she turned a corner in the garden she found the origin of the music. She saw a woman with long straight brown hair wearing a brown leather jerkin and pants and a long blue robe with hood. The hood was down revealing her soft white face. She was playing a reed flute and she was surround by birds of all sorts fluttering around entranced by her tunes.
"Hello," said a voice as soft as the light chime of a bell, "I am Suyan."
"Hello," Fuu said calmly.
"We have a request to make of you," said Presea who was also entranced but it seemed as if she were more used to it.
Suyan didn't move or answer, but waited calmly for Presea to continue.
"We need you to send out a message with your birds and gather the important people of the country to this place for a very important meeting of powers."
"Then your intentions are pure." Suyan said as she lifted the flute to her mouth and played a long series of notes before all the birds flew away on their mission.
"For the future of Cephiro!" Fuu and Presea called out in unison raising their hands towards the sky.