"Leon!" Temasek noticed her feline friend that left her since she start living under Sang Nila Utama. "It's been so long…" she embraced the creature and hot droplets of tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry… Temasek haven't been a good girl… Temasek… is alone again…" she lamented and her embrace grew tighter as she recalled back the hundred lonely nights she spent after the invasion.
The shrill cries of the crickets accompanied the rhythm of Temasek sobs. The lion licked her cheeks as a form of comfort. "It's hard isn't it?" it spoke in a smooth, deep voice. Temasek nodded. Silence... "Is Temasek going to be alone forever?" She sobbed… "Why… why! I didn't do anything wrong, why!" The lion watched her silently until she cooled down. He sighed, "Follow me…" and with that its sly brown eyes diverted from the little girl's gaze as its large body slid away into the dense rainforest.
Temasek gave a puzzled look before she got up and ran after Leon. She looked around her; the dense rainforest with a green earthly glow which illuminated the glamour it hold deep within. "Where are we…" before she could finish the question, something strikes the little girl's head. She abruptly stopped in her track.
"You're not leading me there… I'm not going there!" She screamed as she cautiously backed away with little frightened steps. She trembled, "Never am I seeing my past… Never ever, am I seeing my past!" "Temasek!" Leon roared with much impatience built up in him. She cowered into a nearby bush. Leon sighed, "we are not going to see your past, ok?" and with that, he gave a smile and continued walking towards their destination.
A curtain of vines, twisted and tangled greeted the two. Leon looked at Temasek, signaling her that she should be the one opening the curtain. "Uh…." The tiny girl drew her hand out with much anxiety, her heart beat treaded through her vessels. "I can't!" She turned to Leon, a downcast look on her small face.
Leon smiled and moved forward and nudged at Temasek's hand. "Of course you can, my girl…" She gave a nervous stare… "Well, go on. It's not going to open itself," he teased. She drew a deep breath and mustered up all the courage left in her and her hand reached out once more at the green glow that waits behind the curtain of vines.
She slowly parted the rough twisted vines and stepped into the fate that waits in front of her. Ruins. Ruins was what left of that time… the only place where Temasek heart flustered for someone and the only place where everything was shattered. "I should go back…" her voice shook and she stepped one step backwards… "Stay!" Leon ordered.
"Why? This is tormenting me; I don't want to remember it… why are you doing this to me?" Temasek cried. "Cool down!" Leon said, giving a hint of impatience under his breath. "I am going back!" Temasek prepared her feet to run away, "This is too much!" "I told you to stay!" Leon blasted off which rooted the little lady in her tracks.
The large feline beast turned its large majestic body towards her, "I have never, ever expected that you would be such a weakling like you are now, I didn't leave you in the care of Sang Nila Utama so that you would grow into a loser who runs away so easily!" He rebuked, "But… I" Temasek defended, "Don't give any excuses young lady. It is true that you couldn't do anything when Majapahit attacked you, it is not wrong when you cry, but I cannot accept someone who runs away from the responsibility of living!"
Temasek grew silent and stared at her friend… "A true country wouldn't act that way…You know that," he smiled painfully and turned away. "Now, ready to face what you feared?" Temasek gulped and nodded. She stood up on her tiny sore feet and followed Leon. Silence was now aloft in the air like the darkest night.
"Um… I think I should know what you are leading me to…" she enquired. He smiled and walked on, "This is the place where your childish heart blossomed into that of a woman isn't it?" Temasek blushed, "That was just a mistake…" she murmured, "He doesn't really like me…" and hung her head low… "In the end I was the same weak and childish brat from long ago, nothing differed."
Leon chuckled, "Are you sure? The Temasek I knew wouldn't think and mourn with a frozen heart; she would just go forward and forward. The Temasek now has the knowledge of the how the world works; a strong girl not really fully bloomed into that of a lady." "You're just saying that…"
Temasek pouted.
"Am I?" he asked, a decently optimistic tone aloft in the deep rich bronze voice. Temasek knew he have something going on in that mind of his… she knew it. "So what are you leading me to, I have the right to know don't I?" Leon stared at the ruins for a few moments before turning to the curious Temasek. "Let's walk further before I get to that, shall we?" he whispered softly.
The eternal beauty of the forest peaceful, as if the sun's majestic glow kept it in the depths of a trance that not one creature would dare to stir from. The two friends took step by step toward the seeming endless goal. Their paws and feet created a crunchy rhythm as they step on the fallen rusty brown leaves.
'We're here…" Leon stood rooted now. Temasek scanned around, "But, we didn't even go anywhere… we're still back at where we …" a familiar object caught her gaze. A potter's wheel. "That… I didn't see that before… how come I didn't…" A puzzled face was gradually forming on her head. "It's because you refuse to see them before. Those are things that carry fragments of your past does it not?"
She nodded and held the potter's wheel near her heart like a precious item. Those memories flash past her, some happy while others, sad. It was the potter's wheel that witnessed Temasek's happy face with Majapahit. All those times that she had wasted as a fool, she only realized that now.
The soft noon light reached into the depths of the forest, passing leaf by leaf, leaving a green haven that illuminated Temasek alone in an auroral glow as if they had been waiting for this moment. Light, a small white light irradiated from the center of the potter's wheel. Its heavenly aura soothed the trance like state that whole forest had been hypnotized into.
The light enlarged itself; larger and larger it grew until it stayed ablaze in the phosphorescent light. The wind stirred from its long cold slumber of the tropical regions blowing vigorously with muvh strength and the sky dissolved into complete darkness as if a drop of black ink has splattered onto the earth. The place was now only lighted by the potter's wheel and the potter's wheel alone.
Temasek watched with astonishment, at the miracles went in place before her shocked eyes. Never did she utter one word throughout the whole procession.
"Oh anima effimera (Oh, ephemeral soul)
Che ti celi nel profondo dell' iggano (you conceal yourself in the depths of deception)
Che hai continuato ad aspettare nel bosco deserto? (Why do you continue to wait in the deserted forest?)"
The song resounded through out the superficial realm, and continued on and on smoothly in the lonesome dark void.
"Riposa, riposa in pace (rest, rest in peace)
Nell' illusione che hai creato (In the illusion that you created)
Ho conosciuto l'amore (I came to know love)"
The lost images of Temasek and Majapahit replayed again and again. Tears of remorse, sorrow mixed together, Temasek let down her final tears of this past. "This song…" she turned to her unperturbed lion friend. The feline beast stretched its massive body, its front legs reached upwards and stood on its hind legs. Its lips whispered into Temasek, "It's hope, waiting. You have a wish don't you?"
The question circled in her mind as she thought about what she wants. She once had everything, all the happiness a country can attain, "What do I want?" She thought hard pounding a head mentally for one answer. Brighter, the potter's wheel grew brighter ad if it is hinting something.
Temasek smiled, she knows what to wish for now, "I wish, I can start all over again! Please give me one more chance to change myself!" The potter's wheel gave a silent but violent explosion, as if the whole atmosphere has turned into a vacuum. The energy from ti spread like that of an atomic bomb but instead the white light speeded across the whole island.
""That's my girl…" Leon smiled. The inky sky disappeared and the warm colours of the evening greeted the two companions. Temasek smiled, "Thank you…" she chuckled, "now I see your point." She said, her heart lifted from the chains of sorrow. She ran to Leon and embraced him, "I love you, you're my best friend forever…" Leon comforted her, "of course, my child."
Leon walks past Temasek to a pile of brick and dust. "What is it?" Temasek got up and ran to him. On the pile were two broken clay jars, the jars she and Majapahit made. "Its all broken now…" she uttered. "Temasek, do you know," Leon turned to her, who did very much the same, "a broken bone gets stronger each time it breaks." He cleared away the fragments of clay, a small Sindora wallichii was sprouting out under the protection of the two jars. Temasek covered her cheeks with her palm, she had now found a new reason, a new reason to live for.
Author's note, hello sorry for not updating for so long. BTW the song is not original it's an Italian theme song of an anime, Ricordando il passato. Check it out if you want to listen to it, quite classical but still cute to hear.