TheFallenHer0: I totally agree. Selene as matchmaker is going to be fun. I even know how to write a matchmaker because I've done it enough in real life (*insert laughing emoji*). And I'm glad you see Selene and Klaus as equals, because that's what I wanted them to be. I'm a big believer in balance, and that's why I believe the best relationships, the strongest and longest-lasting relationships are the ones where one person balances the other out. They can't be too much the same or they don't balance and it doesn't work. They can't be completely different in a way that puts on or the other out of balance. Balance is key for the perfect relationship, in my honest opinion. Also, I'm glad you liked the castle! I really wanted to try and incorporate it in at some point, and I'm so happy I managed to find a place where it made sense.

"Hold on to me,

'cause I'm a little unsteady.

If you love me,

don't let go."

—Sam Harris

Chapter 7—(Chapter 58)

Selene opened the door and revealed an empty room, the walls all stone. There was a large, ovalish-shaped hole in the wall. It let in the light of the almost-full moon, lighting up the room more than enough to see clearly. There were tree branches just visible outside of it.

"I thought we were higher up." Selene said.

"I've been thinking that the areas in this manor aren't connected in the normal way, as expected since the entire place was made with magic. I've heard of doors that lead to anywhere you want them to, but not an entire castle of the same principal," Klaus sighed. "But then again, I should stop thinking I know so much when I keep learning things to prove wrong what I've previously learned."

"Good choice," she teased him. "And if what you've just explained is true, I'm guessing at something else. We don't know what's in the manor, so we don't know where we want to go. I think this castle is leading us where it's magic wants us to go."

"That sounds reasonable," he agreed.

Selene glanced at a spot where the light seemed to gather. There was a stone marker surrounded by lilies. They were a gentle brown with glowing silver threads. She walked over and knelt by the stone. There was a lily mark on the stone, carved with a careful hand. There was a strange language written on it. Not that Philyra would really know. She couldn't read to begin with.

"Huh?" Klaus said, "And this stone, it looks almost like an old grave."

"That's what it says. 'I do not rest here'." Selene said, no louder than she had to, "I don't think it's a grave, though. But perhaps something was buried here." She reached out and brushed the lily on the stone and didn't even gasp as it started to glow, though Sienna did.

"What's wrong?" Klaus asked, confused. She hushed him and backed up. She could clearly see something, Sienna too, but Philyra, and Klaus, couldn't.

"That had to have been Aless. She...she put her magic in here. She separated everything that made her a halfling, anything of her elementalism, from herself, sealed it into a key, and...buried it here." Selene went to the grave again and began to dig with her hands. It came away easily, like fresh soil. No one disturbed her, and were unable to bring themselves to do anything. "She looked younger than me, even. No more than fifteen. It must have been lonely, to be isolated for something you couldn't help, something you were born with."

Philyra felt a pang of sympathy for Aless. She knew what it was like to be lonely, isolated because you had something others didn't. To feel that your magic was a curse because it kept you from being normal. How having it made you a freak.

Eventually Selene pulled out a small key, and it was glowing with a dim pink-silver light, magic and moonlight. The flowers that had surrounded the stone stopped glowing.

"I can see a barrier around it. How are you able to touch it?" Klaus reached to it, but his hand couldn't get within a foot of it, and slid away like it had an invisible bubble around it.

"I think that Aless wanted it to be found by someone like her, a halfling like Selene." Sienna said, "Selene, didn't you say that the voice called you 'sister'?"

she nodded, and turned the key over in her hand, brushing her thumb against it.

'Thank you, wind-sister, we've had fun…'

Klaus made a startled noise, and Philyra jumped. They had heard the voice, too.

"You're welcome, Aless. You may have separated your human from your animal, your element, but you two are still here, aren't you? Waiting, hoping to be found." Selene held the key to her heart. "You won't be alone anymore." She kept the key in her hand as she stood up.

You won't be alone anymore.

Selene had made her the same promise. Philyra wasn't going to be alone as long as Selene was there. Philyra wasn't sure how she knew it, but something in her trusted Selene, and she desperately wanted to be worthy of that promise.

"No one ever did know what became of her. She disappeared, and wasn't seen or heard from again," Klaus commented.

"I guess we know now. I'd guess her human self went back to having a normal life. I don't think she understood that she left behind not only her magic, but two actually personages. I don't think I could leave mine behind, no matter how much trouble they are." Selene's face looked sad. Not like she wanted to cry or she pitied something, but it was a sadness an elderly person would have looking back on their mistakes. It was odd to see it on her face. Selene wasn't even an adult yet.

"Have either of them said anything to you?" Sienna asked.

She shook my head, "I'm guessing they're tired out. They used so much magical power protecting this place for so long, and leading us here. The only thing keeping me going is reserves of energy...remind me to explain my theory of overtiredness sometime...when my mind is a little more...organized and...awake…"

Selene started to sway, and Klaus lurched forward to catch her before she hit the ground. He fell to his knees, having lost his balance. He just knelt there and cradled her for a moment before getting back up. "She's too light." he murmured, "Too weak."

"Klaus." Philyra spoke. "Don't blame yourself."

Klaus jumped, having never heard the young girl speak. "You can talk?"

She nodded, the shook her head.

"You can but you can't." He sighed, "I swear Selene is rubbing her self-contradictoriness onto you. You can speak, but you don't like to, then?"

She nodded again, and dared another whisper, "Let's find somewhere to put her. She's tired."

Klaus was the one who nodded this time. Leading the way, Sienna went to look for a room where they could spend the night.

…. …. ….

They had eventually found a few rooms, and settled into one that had a door linking it to the one next door. Selene was put on her own bed, and Klaus settled down in a chair next to it, keeping guard. Philyra and Sienna were sharing the one in the other room, Blayze using the arm of a chair as a perch.

Everyone else had fallen asleep. Philyra had, but had woken up and was now sprawled on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. Sienna was asleep in miniature form on the other pillow. It was weird having a pillow. She'd never really had one before. It was very comfortable. Far more than she was used to, hence the reason she was awake. The bed was also really soft.

She was listening to the night sounds coming in through the window when she heard soft voices in the next room over. She carefully slid out of bed and peeked through the crack in the door only to see Klaus crawl in next to a trembling Selene.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" he asked her. Oh. She must have had a nightmare. No one could blame her after recent events.

"Not really, but...can we stay like this?"

He nodded. A few moments later, Selene spoke up.

"Klaus, I have something to tell you."

"Yes?"

"Well, while I was still captive and whatnot, I realized something."

"What?"

She pulled away from him slightly and looked him in the eyes, but then seemed to lose her nerve, "Umm…" she looked down again.

"What is it?" He said gently.

She inhaled, then exhaled slowly before looking up and...kissing Klaus.

Philyra's face flushed and she yanked back (silently, mind) from the door. She shouldn't have been watching. That was a private moment. She crept back to the bed and curled up on top.

"Wha ha'ned?" Sienna muttered, cracking open an eye.

"Uh…"

"They kissed, didn't they?"

Philyra's face flushed anew and she nodded.

"Ugh. Finally. I've been watching them for months, just waiting for it to happen. And now that it's happened, it'll be so much easier to go from there. I'm glad." Sienna smiled, "G'night."

"N-night…" Philyra mumbled. Hopefully she hadn't been seen. That would not be a fun explanation.