Solstice Children Part 7

Click here to view Episode 1  

Click here to view Episode 2

Click Here to view Episode 3

Click here to view Episode 4

Click here to view Episode 5

Click here to view Episode 6

Hope and I walked through the abandoned streets that stood in between the divided nations.  I assumed that perhaps we could stay in the forest, because I was torn.  I was torn between Eclipses and Equinox.  I was going back to neither.

After a few days of spending time with this girl, she knew a lot about me. I felt vulnerable that she knew so much, but safe because nobody was as sweet as she.

But what scared me was that I knew nothing about her, and neither did she.

She said that the last things he remembered is being tied up, and she woke up in the Baron’s evil Lair.

And I wasn’t sure whether or not I believed her.

Suddenly, she burst out, interrupting my thoughts, “I know that you don’t want to go back…” she began, and I held back a scream, “But I want to be safe, Eve.  I want to go somewhere where there are good people.  You said your friends and everyone you knew were back in this Eclipses place,”

“Trust me, Hope.  Nowhere is safe, and I don’t know who my friends are,” I shot back bitterly,

“Aren’t I your friend Eve?  Won’t you do this for me?”

She stared at me with her pleading eyes, and I knew what I had to do to keep this girl from the danger she had been in.

…

This girl.. she stood next to me.  Iris had almost completely drained her power once she had heard that I came back, and she brought this girl… my sister back to life.  I didn’t know what to say to her.  I barely knew her, I didn’t know her name.

But she was my sister.  We would sort things out together.

“My name is Eve,”

She mumbled back, “Astrid,”

“I know this isn’t the best situation to be in, but I think we should make the best of it.

“My father was right… or I guess he wasn’t my real father, but whoever he was, he was right,” she said, straying from the point of the conversation,

“What about?” I asked,

“It really is a horrible outside world.”

~Astrid’s POV~

I listened to this girl rattle on about her life.. her horrible life.  From betrayal, to death, to shock.  I interrupted on accident,
“I’ve never really lived my life until a few weeks ago, ” I confessed.  It was a true statement.

Eve gave me a puzzled look, and I took a deep breath,

“The man that raised me never allowed me to exit the house.  I escaped on the Summer Solstice… my birthday.  Our birthday, I guess.  That was the first time I was exposed to the outside world.”

“But I guess that now I have powers or something, and I get to live a life full of adventure.. and the thing is, I want to do it with my sister,”

Eve gasped, “Eve, I never thought that anyone was there for me.. and now you’re here.”

She pulled me over to her, and embraced me with a hug.

…

 

“I see you feel better now, Iris.”

I walked in on Iris standing up, silent and unmoving.

“I wanted to thank you, Iris.  You saved my sister.  I would never had forgiven myself if it wasn’t for what you did for us.”

“I’m fine.  I’m happy for you and your sister.  I suppose I should go home now,”

Right before she turned and walked away, I beckoned her, “Wait!  Iris!”

 

“What?” she sighed a deep sigh,

“D-do you want to maybe come train with me tomorrow?”

She smiled warmly, and right as I thought she would say yes, she said, “I’m fine on my own, thanks.”

She turned around and once more began walking, “Iris, come on.  Just one time?  I promise I won’t be too annoying,” I said jokingly.

“It’s not that you’re annoying, Eve.  It’s just that I’ve never had a friend.  Nobody ever wants to train with me.  Only best friends train together.  And clearly, you’re not interested,”

 

“Well actually, I am interested in training with you.  And if you’ve never had someone to be a friend… then consider me your best one,”

…

Astrid’s POV

Eve and I found the queen near the town square.  Her eyes were tear stained.  Clearly she had been crying recently.

She sighed when she laid eyes on us, “Hello, my daughters,” she said evenly, “How can I help you?”

“We have come because all 3 of us know that you owe us something,” I began,

Her face was covered in an expression of fake confusement.

“We want you, no, we need you to tell us our birth story.  And you know that what we demand is right,”

She began to argue, but Eve butted in, “We have decided that if you fail to tell us this, we will leave Eclipses, take our Pixies with us, and do everything we must to destroy you.”

 

“Is that a threat?”

“I thought you were wise.  Yes, of course it is a threat.”

She pondered our words for a few moments, “Very well,”

 

“It all began about 13 years ago,”

“I was married to the king.  We already had our heirs, one boy and one girl that were born many years earlier.  You two… were not planned.  But I loved you both,”

“There was you, Astrid, with dark brown hair and stormy gray eyes,”

“And there was you, my dear Eve, with dark eyes and chestnut hair,”

I feared that you would grow up hated.  You would never take to the throne while your two older siblings were alive.  That was the sole purpose of the queen’s marriage, to create an heir to the throne.  I had done what I was set to do.  But my 2 older children died playing in the woods, at the hands of an Equinox guard,”

“I was furious.  I set out to destroy Equinox forever.  So… I decided that I would make you both very valuable to the kingdom.  I put you, Eve in an Equinox orphanage, and you, Astrid, in the hands of one of the rebels.  I instructed him to never expose you to any danger.  You were older than Eve by 5 minutes, which meant that you were heir.  I wanted you to stay that way.  I’m very sorry.  I made the worst mistake of my life by doing what I did,”

 

“I-I hope you can forgive me,”

With a shaking voice, I said “Forgive is a very strong word,”

Eve added, “So… you planted us in the most dangerous community on the planet.  That was your logic?  Is the heir really that much more important to you than your own children?”

I was holding back tears,

“No.  You are more important than anything right now.  That is why I am puttig you in charge of one of the most important missions in the entire kingdom of Eclypses.

…

Hey guys!  I’m back from my trip!  I really meant to schedule more posts, but my family had to leave early, so I didn’t have time.  😉

I hope you liked this episode.  😀

I haven’t responded to many comments, however that will be the sole mission of my exeistence tommorow.

Byeeeeee!