Leala sat in the conference room, alone, with her head in her hands rethinking old memories of her and her dear sister.
"Adiree! Adiree!" Leala awoke with panic in the middle of the night. Her big brown eyes full of fear and tears. It had been 2 years since Adira found her scared and abandoned in a dark alley, she was was now 6-years old. Adira, now 8, scrambled into her sister's room, her curly brown hair in tangles with puffy blue eyes.
"What's the matter Lee?" She asked, a little out of breath from running, she turned on the lamp. "Was it another nightmare?" She examined as she sat on her sister's bed, Leala sadly nodded her head as she began to cry softly. "Shh, everything will be alright. Shh no one will harm you while I'm here." She said tenderly, embracing her sister.
"And what if you're not here." She sniffled into Adira's shoulder.
"I'll always be here for you." She lovingly smiled . "I might be small, and not very strong, no one will or can get to you. You wanna know why?"
"Why?" She said looking up into her eyes.
"Because I love you and love is the most powerful weapon in the world... Don't tell dad I said that, he'll think I'm crazy." They both giggled.
"Where is dad, sissy?"
"He's off on a mission, he'll be back. He always comes back. But until I'm here to protect you."
"I wish I were as brave as you sissy."
"You can be."
"Really?" She smiled gleefully.
Adira smiled back at her with reassurance. "Anything's possible." She kept holding onto Leala, but that only comforted her so much. "You know what normally helps me feel better?"
"What?" She said looking up.
"Singing." Adira smiled.
"Could you sing to me? Please."
"Sure."
"The sky is dark and the hills are white
As the storm-king speeds from the north to-night;
And this is the song the storm-king sings,
As over the world his cloak he flings:
"Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;"
He rustles his wings and gruffly sings:
"Sleep, little one, sleep."
On yonder mountain-side a vine
Clings at the foot of a mother pine;
The tree bends over the trembling thing,
And only the vine can hear her sing:
"Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;
What shall you fear when I am here?
Sleep, little one, sleep.-"
When Leala had woken up the next morning, comfortably tucked in, her fear felt washed away.
A tear raced down her cheek as she remembered how her sister promised to always keep her safe, how she never broke it. Leala couldn't help but feel guilty for her sister's situation. If I hadn't ran, drawing attention to myself, Adira wouldn't have had to save me by intercepting the the path of that energy blast... She would have been able to run to the helicopter with me. She cried softly into her hands.
"No. Adira wouldn't want me to cry, she would want me to pull myself together and fight." She said wiping away her tears.