Hello again, people! It is my great honor to bestow you with this chapter of my ever continuing story! Although I must admit that I am rather dissappointed that nobody had yet reviewed... So just do it, 'kay?

Happy reading!


Singing to the Wind

Chapter 3

Departure


About a fortnight (that's two weeks) after Hikari's second twelfth birthday, Ellyria was flying across the land. She often did this, but for several reasons. Sometimes, she wanted to hunt slightly larger game, such as a deer. Other times the reason would be for her to scout out an threats coming near to her little girl's village. Today, she simply felt uneasy, and wanted the wind to calm her.

Down on the ground, hundreds of feet below the airborne dragon, a spider youkai was also hunting, but he had a taste for birds. He saw the speck high above him, and mistook it for an animal of the aviary sort. Very common for a spider, considering they have such horrible eyesight. He lit his ball of silk on fire, and aimed. Oftentimes, the ball would cook his prey as well as kill it, and this spider liked that sort of convenience.

The ball let loose from the spider's legs and appeared to fly true, but the spider was confused when it didn't reach in the anticipated amount of time.

Nonetheless, it hit it's mark, and Ellyria was burned and fell from the sky, just barely managing to steer herself in the direction of the village while she hurtled to the ground. She almost lost consciousness from the pain, only thoughts of her daughter fueling her mind and burned body.

Back in the village, Hikari was telling the children a wonderful story of romance when the very ground beneath them shuddered. While earthquakes were not unheard of, they didn't happen in this area of the land. Hikari thought she heard a cry, and picked the child off of her lap and told them to stay before bolting for the only edge of the forest not facing a mountain. She somehow transformed into a phoenix in mid-stride, surprising most of the locals. The villagers sensed that something was terribly awry, and the men and the few women without children dropped everything and ran after her.

They found her standing stock still right at the forest's edge, staring at her mother's great mass, wounded and dying. She slowly staggered over to her mother's head, gently lifting it up and placing it on her lap. Her mother strained to see her.

"Hikari? Is that you?" A few tears landed on her eyes, making them glow a bit, and then she could see better. "Ah, my little one. There you are." Then Hikari's strength shattered. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, entire rivers, then oceans, until it seemed all would drown. She shook her head.

"No, mommy, don't go. I need you here."

Ellyria smiled feebly. "You'll be able to see the path now that my wings are not here to shade you from the truth."

"What path," Hikari pleaded. "Mommy, I don't know what you mean. I can't live without you here, with me."

"No you don't," Ellyria said, her voice beginning a permanent decrescendo. "You have no need for me. Be strong while I'm gone, my little fire fairy."

"You make it sound okay. It isn't! You can't go! Don't leave me here alone! Mommy!" It was no use. The intelligent glint had left the old dragon's eyes, and she had departed. Hikari buried her face in her mother's scales, sobbing uncontrollably.

Then something miraculous happened. Hundreds of birds, large and small, flew from the trees. They all grabbed hold of the dragon and with their collective strength, lifted her up and begun a sort of aerial funeral procession to Hikari's palace. They set Ellyria's corpse on the bare ground before the cliff and fluttered off.

Hikari went to the nearest tree and felled it with a wave of the hand, stripping it of all it's branches, and arranging it around her mother's body. The other observers understood her wishes and gathered any sticks they could find, piling them upon the beloved caretaker of theirleader.

Hikari held her palm in front of her, staring at it in an odd way, and a ball of fire appeared. She set it lovingly down onto the kindling, a blaze growing until it consumed the remains of Ellyria.

The bonfire burned all through the day, night, and the next morning, and the last embers died the following night, Hikari not having moved much of all. She had refused anything that anyone would offer her. When night came again, she finally curled up into a ball, watching her mother's ashes cool.

The monk had stayed to watch over her, and he was sleeping nearby. His presence only added to the girl's despair. She had loved her mother, the first being she had ever known. Thinking about her not being there was tearing her apart. She just wanted the pain to stop. Crying helped, but Hikari had no more tears in her. She looked at the cliff, wondering. Would it hurt anymore to die than it would to live? No, it would hurt much less, she concluded.

Standing, she brushed the dirt from her kimono. Then she sped for the edge. As she threw herself off, her heart soared. The wind was against her face, and her pain was about to end. Surely this would be the better way.

But there was one problem. She wasn't falling anymore. She opened her eyes, and she found why. She had wings. Large, white, and full of feathers that were halting her descent.

The pain hit her, and it was a wave of pure desperation. She didn't want this to happen. It was all supposed to stop. But she still felt more loneliness than anyone could possibly survive, and her feet
touched down on gentle soil. But though the landing was soft, Hikari still crumpled, more tears finding their way down her cheeks once more. Her sobs racked her body, waves of anger and hurt and heartache pouring off of her.

That night, she had a dream. A strange one indeed.

-- Strange reflective shapes surrounded her, and there was an almost constant blaring. Undisturbed lakes were on the sides of huge structures, and she was standing on hard black dirt. Her clothes were strange, too. She was wearing some sort of fitted tunic, with sleeves that grew gradually wider toward the wrist. She was wearing coarse blue leggings that, at second glance, appeared to be finely woven. A pack was strapped to her back. And she was moving. She didn't have much control over where she was going.

Then a girl called to her. Or, she called a name and Hikari turned and ran towards her. The girl had light brown hair that reached to just past her shoulders, and it was pulled into a ponytail.

"Come on, we can't stay here forever. Cars may run you over yet." And then the girl giggled, pulling her towards one of the towering buildings. This one had strange writing on it's side, and Hikari had no idea what it meant. "Hurry up, you slowpoke, Kelsey and Scarlet and the others are waiting for us." They took a strange moving staircase up to a corridor, where the girl opened up a white door. Inside were five girls and one boy.

Somehow, Hikari knew all their name by looking at them. The petite one with shoulder-length brown hair was Kelsey. The taller one with a dark complexion and fairly curly hair was Scarlet. The small one with thin brown hair and pieces of glass suspended in front of her eyes was Amber, and the tall one next to her with very short light brown hair was Lynn. A stouter girl with short hair and similar pieces of glass in front of her eyes was Vanessa. There was also a boy with cropped blonde hair whose name she felt was Kyle. They all were in a small chamber with cushy-looking seating.--

The dream ended there, and Hikari woke up, already beginning to forget. She didn't feel capable of emotion. Standing up, she walked stiffly to her palace. The monk was still asleep, so she stood over him for a few seconds. It always seems that when one does that, the other person wakes up very quickly. And the monk did. He looked around, noticing the lack of fire.

"Did it die out, milady?"

Hikari nodded. "Sometime in the night, while you were sleeping."

The monk stood, brushing dirt off of his robes. He started to say something but paused. Then he reconsidered, and tried again. "I know that this may step on sensitive ground, but may I ask what is to be done with your mother's remains?"

"They will be scattered to the winds," the stately girl replied. "She so enjoyed flying. Let her do it forever." Hikari then turned, but not before noticing a glint in the ashes. Upon further investigation, it turned out to be a gigantic sapphire. It had not melted in the fire, but Hikari could not imagine where it had come from. Then, without warning,she suddenly realized that it was her mother's heart. And underneath it she found a single scale and the drawing she had made when she was just a little girl.

Hikari gently picked up these items and walked up to the top of the mountain. The very top was flat, and about two meters wide ('bout six feet) and two and a half long. She conjured a plain stone table, that was very smooth on the top. Upon this table, she set down the things and bowed her head. When she brought it up, there was a small necklace on the table. It seemed to be made from part of the sapphire, and was on a silver chain, with a circle holding the piece of gem, and the pendant was in the shape of a three-pointed celtic knot. She didn't understand, but she clasped it around her neck anyway.


Hikari-Good morning! I hope you were engaged in this latest chapter. It's sad, I know, but froms sadness springs great joy. I can't remember if I'm making that up or if I heard that froms some great proverb, like 'never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups'. Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter anyway! Let's see who the visitor for today is!

Ani- Hi there, Hikari. What's going on?

Hikari- You're in the ending of my fanfiction!

Ani- Oh joy. Really. I'm just thrilled to be taken away from YET ANOTHER book, and dumped into your writing.

Hikari-I'm glad to hear it!

Ani- You know what? I'll just sit here until you decide to end the chapter, okay? Good.

Hikari- Okay, then! Readers, this is Ani! She also writes fanfictions here. You can find her if you go to my profile and into the 'favorite authors' section! And, until next time, bye!