Chapter 4: Parental Support

Thirteen years have past since the announcement of Luna's journey. Luna finished schooling at her grandfather's magic school with Gale, her father, as her mentor. Luna's short brown hair grew long to where her favorite hairstyle is braids. Her light silver streak never faded as she grew older and now it mixes with her other locks. Her dichromatic brown and green eyes are strong and her symbol of power proudly displays brightly on her arm. Her aura is a fiery red which represents her very stubborn and independent personality. The symbol itself is a burgundy crescent with an arrow through the middle of it. Luna enjoys helping her mother on her ranch and when she's not busy, she'll swing by her father's old house and find an interesting magical book to read. Tonight is her last night at home before she embarks on her journey to Waffle Island.

"I got it!" Luna called out to her mother as she ran to the door. She unlatched the lock and opened it to find her father hidden behind large packages. "Dad?" Luna raised her brow, "Why didn't you just teleport inside of the house?"

"Because," Gale huffed and walked past her to drop the boxes inside of the house, "I thought told you..."

"Yeah, yeah," She interrupted him and waved him off, "Don't use unnecessary magic."

"Then why did you ask?" He glared at his daughter and dropped a book on her head.

"Ow!" Luna grabbed her head and rubbed it, "What was that for?!"

"Your rudeness." Gale scowled and walked off to find Anna.

"Geez..." Luna grabbed a box off of the ground, "You'd think he'd lighten up a bit."

"Is your father home?" Anna opened the front door.

"Mom!" Luna jumped, "I thought you were in the other room!"

Anna giggled and placed her finger to her lips. Luna rolled her eyes and unboxed the groceries that her father brought home.

"I tell our daughter to do one thing, yet you do the other." Gale caught Anna.

"Oh, come on dear..." She rolled her eyes, "How is Luna supposed to remember anything that she has learned if she can't use it in her everyday life?"

Gale glared at Anna and said nothing. He walked into their bedroom silently and gently shut the door behind him.

"Woah..." Luna felt the tension, "What's wrong with dad?"

Anna sighed and placed her hands on her temples, "Sometimes your father needs to get his head out of the past."

"What do you mean?" Luna pried.

"I'll let your father tell you when you return." She laughed and lifted a box off of the ground, "We better start supper soon or he'll be in an even worse mood."

"How come you and dad never talk about your pasts?" Luna noticed, "I mean I only know bits and pieces from what Grandfather Charles told me."

"Well..." Anna rubbed her head nervously, "I don't want to tell too much without talking about it to your father first."

"Just tell me a little bit." Luna shrugged then begged, "Please mom..."

"Well, you already know that Charles is my uncle and your father's adopted parent." Anna thought of what she could tell Luna, "You know that your Aunt Vivi is your father's adopted sister... you know about my parents... you know about the bells..." Anna frowned to herself, "I don't know what else to tell you."

"How did you and dad meet?" Luna sat on the counter and watched her mother was the potatoes.

"Your father fell in love with me before I could even walk." Anna recalled the memory.

"Wait..." Luna stopped, "You're kidding, right? That's just..." Luna closed her eyes in disgust, "Eww."

Anna laughed at her daughter's reaction, "He never took advantage of me or anything. Your father was a true gentlemen." She continued, "He met me before I was even born."

"How?" Luna gasped.

"He..." Anna started but then was interrupted.

"I saw your mother... in Isabelle's womb." Gale entered the kitchen.

Luna's jaw dropped, "What!? That's so cool dad!"

"Shouldn't you be helping... your mother?" Gale asked.

Luna jumped off of the counter, grabbed a potato from the clean pile, began to peel it. She asked her mother, "When did you first start loving dad?"

Anna stopped washing and thought for a while, "To be honest with you Luna," she continued to wash, "I can't remember, but I would have to say that it was when your father saved me."

"From what?" Luna grew curious.

"That's enough for today..." Gale interrupted and rubbed his wife's shoulders.

"I agree." Anna smiled sheepishly and kissed Gale's cheek.

Luna glanced at her parents disgusted. They're always hiding something. She dropped the potato that she was washing and excused herself, "I'm going to walk the beach." Luna walked out the door.

"She's upset," Anna watched their daughter run off towards the shore from the kitchen window.

"She'll be fine." Gale resumed Luna's potato cleaning position.

"Go talk to her Gale." Anna nudged him, "I can finish this up."

"Why me?" Gale asked nervously, "You should do it... you're better at these things..."

"She doesn't need me Gale," Anna leaned her head on his shoulder, "She needs you."

"Alright." Gale sighed and dried his hands on a rag before he headed out to follow Luna.

Once he was out the front door, Gale figured that if Luna was really on a walk then if would be easier for him to teleport to her. Then she'll call me a hypocrite... Gale frowned but continued to form a portal anyway. The portals that he formed to reach his daughter were always a fiery red, just like her aura, but in the center there was a streak of white. He located Luna and immediately stepped through the portal. When he arrived, Gale walked out of the portal behind Luna who had her head in her knees and mindlessly drug a stick through the sand. Gale wondered if she noticed his presence or the fact that the waves her coming up past her toes.

"Luna..." Gale placed his hand on her shoulder. She jumped, "How are you feeling...?"

"I've been better..." Luna shrugged.

"Are you... nervous... about tomorrow?" Gale sat beside her.

"No, I'm not," She turned her body to face her father, "But to be honest with you, I'm mad." Luna continued and her speech quickened, "I'm mad because I hardly know anything about you and mom. When I go to this new world tomorrow people might ask me about my parents and I don't even know what to tell them!"

Gale glanced down at the sand, "I'm sorry..." There was an awkward minute of silence between the two of them before Gale spoke up once again, "Our past goes back over several centuries... and most of it... is disturbing." He looked out at the sun setting on the ocean, "it frightens me..."

Luna turned from angry to sympathetic, "Dad... I didn't know..."

"What frightens me the most is... you leaving tomorrow because..." Gale frowned, "I'm afraid that I am going to lose you... like I almost lost your mother..."

"Dad..." Luna hugged her father, "You're not going to lose me, and besides!," She kissed his cheek with a smile to reassure him, "I'll be back as soon as my task is complete!

He smiled halfheartedly, "I know..." He sighed and then shrugged her off of him. Gale faced Luna and asked, "Would you like... to learn a spell that... your grandfather taught me?"

"What?!" Luna stifled a laugh, "Grandfather Charles taught you a spell?!"

"He was my mentor... and the headmaster of heart..." Gale placed his hand to his chin and recalled the spell.

"He never told me that!" Luna gasped, "How did you, out of all immortals, become his mentee?"

Gale smirked at her, "Do you want to learn it... or not?"

"Of course!" Luna nodded eagerly.

"The spell is simple, but it is most powerful..." Gale placed his hand above Luna's heart and chanted, "Oh heart of gold, never weary or old, share the beliefs of the purest self." Above the location of Luna's heart glowed faintly and moments later it illuminated a bright, white glow.

"Cool!" Luna yelled, "Is that my heart?"

"Yes," Gale smiled, "And just as I suspected... you have my personality... and your mother's heart..."

"So it shows the aura of the heart," Luna noted, "But how is that a powerful spell?"

"It shows the intentions of a person..." Gale released the spell with a flick of his wrist, "It will help show you... who are your friends and you're foes..."

"Nifty..." Luna understood and then asked eagerly, "Can I see your heart?!"

"I think you should try it on your mother..." Gale laughed nervously.

"Please dad?" Luna begged.

"Alright..." He agreed, "But no questions..."

"Fine..." Luna repeated the spell and her eyes grew to see her father's multicolored heart, "What do all of the colors mean?!"

"Purple is the color of my aura... And black show the impurities of my heart..." Gale explained.

"But why so little white?" Luna noticed only a few streaks of purity, "What did you do?"

"I thought I said no questions..." Gale laughed at Luna's curiosity, "I don't think you want to know about what I think of your mother..."

"Ahhh..." Luna released the spell and blushed, "Too much information..."

Gale laughed harder and rose to his feet, "Let's go home Luna..." He held out his hand to pull Luna up to her feet.

"Yeah," Luna smiled and hugged her father once again, "And Luna… don't… worry about tomorrow..." Gale kissed his daughter's head.

"I'm anything but worried dad!" She giggled and held his hand like she did when she was a child, "Thanks dad; I love you."

"I love you too." Together they walked back home, hand in hand.