Crossing the lake

Her mother looked troubled. It didn’t surprise Hikary, after the story which she had just told her, but her mother’s troubled look made everything so much more real and so much more urgent. She and Vin had arrived at the castle late the previous evening. Of course her mother had already gone to bed, but Stelline was still up. Stelline had told her all that had happened while she had been gone.

Taira… had retrieved her memory and had run off to the west. Hikary had been shocked to hear she had gone away to find her daughter so quickly. She was glad Taira had gotten her memory back, but how much did she actually remember? Was she even sure where to go? And how wise was it for her to run off straight away? Hikary had known Taira would eventually remember, now that her memories were no longer locked away, but she had hoped it would take a little while longer, so that her sister would have had some more time to settle down before she would realize where her loved ones were. What was more, she had wanted to go with her, to watch over her. As the second daughter of the queen, it was, after all, her duty to watch over her older sister. But now she had been away, and her young sister Ivy was the one with Taira now. How much did Ivy even know of the world? Hikary wondered who would end up watching over whom. Ivy did not even have access to her royal powers now, after all… How much would she really be able to do for her sister if something would happen?

She should have gone with her sister, she had thought as soon as she had heard Taira had run off. She should never have left her alone. Yet she immediately realized that wouldn’t have solved anything, either. She would not have found out about the stones, and she would not have met Vin either. Vin was asleep now, in one of the soft beds of the palace. Vin had admitted before he fell asleep last night that he had never slept in such a soft bed before. She felt so sorry for him, that when she had woken up this morning she had not dared to wake him up, too. He had looked so peaceful… she wanted him to forget about everything for just a little while longer.

“Five stones… we have to find five stones of which we know nothing about within six years and then we have to place them together on the day of the daylight star together with the last winged one? That doesn’t even make any sense!” Her mother cried desperately, drawing Hikary back to the current situation. Her mother looked beaten while she sat on her throne. She had not seen her mother this defeated before.
“Four, mother. I already have one here.” Hikary said to comfort her mother, pointing at her bag.
“But you still don’t know anything about any of the others.” Her mother asked.
“No, I do not.” Hikary had to admit. She did not know at all where they had to begin with searching. No idea at all… And time was already running out.

“Then what do we do?”

Through the morning mist, Ivy was unable to see the island, but she knew it was there. She could hear the birds greet the rays of morning light on the other side of the water, though she could not see the land. In fact, she could hardly see five meters ahead of her. She could not even see the boat Taira was talking about. Slowly she approached Taira, of whom only a shadow was visible, careful of her steps.

“You think we can row to the island?” She asked when she saw the boat. It was a simple wooden rowing boat, which actually looked quite old.
“Yeah. That’s how it always was. We will be fine.” Taira said with confidence as she stepped into the boat. Ivy wasn’t so sure, but she followed nonetheless. She had to watch over her sister, after all. But would they be able to find the island when their view was this bad?

The boat rocked badly when Ivy stepped in, but it stayed afloat. When she sat down Taira untied the rope. Her sister looked very tense, Ivy noticed, but she was not surprised. The closer they had come to the island, the less Taira had talked. She had seemed so lost in her thoughts, and Ivy had not dared to interrupt. And if she was honest with herself, she had to admit she had been pretty occupied with her own discoveries.

The west was so different from what she knew. The strange trees that seemed to glow, the different speech, the beautiful way in which ponies build their houses, the respect for the High King and, what amazed her most, was the lack of respect for women. She had known the western powers were wielded by the men instead of the women, but she had no idea that meant women were seen as secondary ponies. Did men feel the same in the east? She did not think she treated men this way in her country… Or at least she hoped she did not.

They had been shut out of one market once, because they did not have male guardians, and ponies had stared at them in inns because they traveled alone. It had not improved once ponies had realized they were from the east, something which she had hoped for. Ivy was still not sure what the view of western ponies was on the east. She was sure there was hardly any contact, and most ponies did not know what to think, but most ponies did not look at them positively. She suspected some ponies thought of them as backward ponies, underdeveloped from the savage lands of the east.

She could see where that came from, though. The villages here were so orderly and neat, the eastern villages could not even hope to come close. Everything was so clean here and in such great shape. There were no old or uninhabited buildings anywhere and there was no trash or dust to be found anywhere. Every single village they had visited had been as pretty as the last one. There was no decay, something which she had seen so prominently in the east.

Maybe it was all because the High King was still in place here. His picture was in every inn she had visited this far. He was seen as the one who had kept everything in place, who made sure the crops grew in spring, who took care of them all. Whether this was true Ivy did not know, but he was definitely seen like this. It was so different from the way things were back home… Of course the ponies of their country looked at her mother with respect, but no one saw her as some sort of semi-God, which was what the High King looked like to her.

Ivy blinked. Had she fallen asleep? She did not know, but she felt as if she had just woken up. She looked at her sister, but she did not show any sign of surprise. Ivy looked behind, but she did not see anything at all except for mist and blue water. The water was so clear, she could see her own reflection in the water better than she could in her own mirror at home.

Taira was slowly moving the oars while Ivy held on to the steering wheel. She could see Taira had done this before. She was moving the oars steadily at the same pace and they moved swiftly through the mist. Sometimes Taira would tell her to go more to the left or to the right. Ivy had no idea how her sister knew which way they had to go because all they ever saw was mist, but she did not doubt her sister’s determination.

It did not take long for Ivy to realize the mist was fading. Slowly but surely, she began to see further away. The rays of sun were breaking through the mist, but all she could see was more water. Still, she could hear the birds louder and louder, so she knew she had to go closer.

The water looked so pure, Ivy realized. It was so clean, and now that the mist was fading it was reflecting the clear blue sky above. This area was so pure… Somehow it felt different than any place she had been before. Even every place she had been in in the west… they had been clean, pure, neat, but not like this.
“Is that… music?” Ivy whispered to her sister. The soft sound of a violin was coming to them out of the fading mist.
“Yes.” Taira whispered, but she offered no explanation to the strange phenomenon. Was someone playing on the island?

The sound got louder as Ivy felt they were getting closer to the island. As she heard the sound of chirping birds, she began to see the outline of land ahead of her. She could hardly believe it was an island inside a lake; it looked so big she could hardly see the end of the island on either side. Was it really an island? And how long had they been on the boat anyway? An hour? More, or maybe much less? She really had no idea. And I usually have a good sense of time, too, she thought. There was something about this lake that, even though it wasn’t unnatural, was not something she could recognize easily. Taira still did not seem to mind, and she did not feel like asking. If she was meant to know, she would find out soon enough, she thought.

There was a small dock ahead of them and Taira rowed straight at it without even looking where she had to go once. The island ahead of them became clearer every second. Ivy noticed there was what seemed like a big forest on it, something which she had somehow not expected.

At first, Ivy did not doubt that the trees had pink leaves on the island. Though odd, it seemed so natural she did not stop to think it over. It was only after Taira had tied the boat to the dock and they were safely on the land that she realized they weren’t pink at all. The power of the earth that flowed in the west was so strong, though, that you could hardly see the leaves through it. She had seen this glow on almost all the trees in the west, though sometimes it was blue or purple, but it had never been this strong on so many trees in one place before.

“Wow…” Ivy gasped as she stared at the trees in front of her.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Taira said.
“Yes… Why is it so strong here?” Ivy asked, still gazing at the trees.
“I don’t know exactly,” Taira had to admit, “But I think it is because this place is so isolated from the outside world. Prana, which is the pink you see, can be used for many things, and is the essence of the powers of the earth. Lots of ponies use it, even if they don’t always know it, for example for making their crops grow healthy. The king of this place though… He hardly ever uses it, there aren’t many other ponies here and this island is so remote no one else ever comes here, so there is lots of untainted prana here. I don’t think you can see this in any other place. Besides, there is something about the lake here which keeps the trees and the land healthy, which also strengthens the prana.”

Ivy didn’t understand completely, but she did know it was really pure here. The air felt fresh, the sky had never seemed so blue in her entire life and the earth felt so clean it made her hoofs tingle. This was definitely a special place, and Ivy was curious what kind of ponies lived here.
“Shall we go?” Taira asked, and Ivy realized her sister had to be really impatient. She had almost forgotten, but they were finally here, on the island of Batafurai. Taira’s daughter had to be close by.
“Yes, let’s go.” Ivy nodded, and they both followed the small path that led them into the pink woods, and which would hopefully bring them to Taira’s daughter.