The peace I left behind

Alone, Ruki walked through the forest, leaving the wooden house behind. For a free moment, she wanted to be alone, away from everybody else. She liked them… Well, of course she liked them. They were all nice people, they were supportive of her, but sometimes it was just so much. She had learned so much about herself, and the world, in such a short time she just needed some time to sit and think.

Takato’s revelation that she carried royal blood from the east had come as a shock to her. Takato had explained royal blood in the east was carried by women, and as her father was clearly of a western bloodline, she had come to the conclusion her mother was in fact a royal pony. Was she a queen? A princess? Or something else entirely? And what did that make her?

Well, obviously nothing as her mother had denied that she existed, Ruki thought sourly. Whatever her mother was, it did not affect her anymore. She had her own path to follow now, together with Takato and the Asano Bond. Her future lay here, in the west, where she was born, not with the east, or with any strange royalty that might step up and claim her as theirs.

During the time she had spent here, she had learned more about the evils of the High King. Not only had he killed his own daughter, he was also not fair on the ponies he ruled over. Like it had once been in the east, they had explained to her, the High King was not only the king of one of the kingdoms in the west, he was also King above all others. He ruled over the other kings like they were his subjects. It was his job to make sure the wealth of the west was divided evenly over all kingdoms. He had to make sure every country lived in the same wealth as the others and that hard times were equally shared.

What the current high king did, however, was nothing like that. He favored some kings more than others and to keep their loyalty, he spend more on them than on other kings. Those who disagreed with his decisions were not listened to in the council of kings, like it should be, but they were punished by receiving even less. As a result, no one dared to oppose the High King for fear of losing out and making their countries even poorer, or out of fear to be set up against stronger countries, for that is also one of the things the high king was doing. He was making use of grudges between countries and used them for his own good, but by doing so the grudges deepened and sometimes even ended in a fight. The peace that had ruled the west over the past thousand years had disappeared, Ruki was told, for several fights had already broken out between countries, and the high king had not even tried to stop them.

What his purpose was, nobody knew. Some suspected he wanted more power to himself, more control over the other countries, or maybe he even wanted to unite the entire continent under his rule. Others thought he was just a poor ruler, but none in the Asana Bond truly believed that. There were also ponies who suspected the high king was up to something entirely different, something they did not know anything about and thus something they could not suspect. Even though Takato mostly just wanted revenge for his sister’s death, most in the Asano Bond believed the latter, and they were desperately trying to find out what it was.

Ruki sighed as she continued to walk through the forest, searching for prada among the trees. When she had lived with her father, nothing seemed as complicated as it was now. The beauty of the island, the pink trees, the holy stone… Everything had been so easy and pretty. She had been so sure that once she left, she would return with her mother, and she had vowed not to return without her. Now she could never return at all, to the beautiful, easy place that had once been her home.

Instead, she had to make this her home, with Takato and the others. Takato… she wondered why he was so much on her mind, even though she saw little of him lately, and when she did, he was always accompanied by small Flora. He was never alone anymore, and there was no time left for their talks like they used to have them when they were still in the east. Even though she thought Flora was a sweet girl, she somehow blamed her for taking that away from her. She was surrounded by so many ponies now… but she still felt utterly alone.

When Taira left the mansion, leaving Fjaril behind as he was going to wake his mother, she met a familiar view. The morning dew covered the flowers while the trees rose out above it. The dew was colored pink where it hung over the pond. The holy stone… Taira had longed to see it again. It had been so long… and she remembered she used to sit there during her pregnancy, completely lost in the beauty of it, dreaming of what her daughter would be like.

She followed the road off the hill, which led her into the dew, and walked to the pond. The flowers were opening themselves to the morning light, but Taira suspected all the butterflies were still asleep. She had been shocked to hear only five of them were left. When she had left, there had still been ten… even that had seemed so little, and now only half of them remained.

She was surprised to see someone else already sat down at the pond. When she got closer, she was even more surprised to find it was Ivy, and that she was accompanied by Sindo. She had not seen her sister since they had arrived the day before, and by then the butterflies did not seem too fond of her. Had they come on better terms, or was it just coincidence? Taira was disappointed that she could not enjoy the beautiful pond by herself, but she was also curious as to why her sister was here with Sindo.

“Good morning, Ivy.” Taira said when she neared the pond. Both Ivy and Sindo looked up.
“Good morning, Taira.” Ivy smiled, while Sindo just nodded.
 “How are you?” Taira asked.
“Just fine… I got a lovely room with a wonderful soft bed, and the food here is just amazing. Last night, Sindo here showed me around the island. It is so beautiful, I could hardly sleep, even though I was really tired and the bed was so comfortable, so I went outside, where I met Sindo, who took me here to see the dew over the pond.”

Taira smiled at her younger sister. She could understand why Sindo took her here at this time. The holy stone colored the morning mist, which swirled over the pond, pink so that it became clearly visible, as if it was flowing over the pond absorbing the prana to give it back to the earth through the trees and flowers. Taira had sat here herself a lot of times.
“It is very pretty, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it really is… and that stone is very mysterious.” Ivy answered.

“It really is. Nobody knows how it came here, but everyone is convinced it is what keeps this island the way it is. This stone is really important, Ivy, not just for this island, but because of what it does for this island, it is also very important for the rest of the continent.” Taira told her sister, not knowing what Ivy had already heard from Sindo.

Ivy did not reply, but continued to keep staring at the stone. Taira decided to sit down and do the same. For a while, they just sat there, next to each other, sister and sister, looking at the morning mist that slowly disappeared when the sun grew stronger. When Taira looked at her sister, she felt a bond she had not felt before for anyone but Hikary. Ivy… truly was her sister. They were bound by more than blood. Taira smiled. It felt good. She realized she loved Ivy, her younger sister, and she was happy Ivy could see the beauty of the world now.

“Did you learn anything more about Ruki?” Ivy asked after a few more moments of silence. Taira sighed.
“Well, yes and no. Fjaril told me what happened, why she left, and how she had grown up, but even he does not know where she is now. She left, and she has not returned, nor has she informed her father of her current location. We simply do not know where she is.” Taira said with pain in her heart. Her little girl…

She could see Ivy thought this new information over for a moment.
After a while, she asked, “So what will we do now? Will we go look for her?”
Taira sighed again. She had asked this question herself too already, but she simply did not know the answer yet.
“I do not know, Ivy. In my heart, I long to look for her until I find her, even if it takes me the most years of my life. But reality tells me that is not something I can do. We have no idea where to start, we do not even know if she is in the east or in the west. Unless we even have a remote idea on where to look, we cannot do anything, no matter how painful I find it to admit that.”

Taira did not want to tell her sister of her memory, yet. She did not want to tell Ivy that she had in fact send her own daughter away, which was the very reason they had no idea where to look for her now. She would maybe tell her in due time, but not now.
“I see… I’m sorry to hear that, Taira. I know how much you longed to see your daughter.” Ivy said, true regret sounding in her voice.
“Thank you, Ivy.” Taira said, grateful for her sister’s words.

“So what do we do now?” Ivy asked. Taira sighed.
 “I don’t know yet. I know I want to stay here a little longer, if that is okay with you. I want to spend some time with Fjaril. He and I have lots to think about. But after that… I don’t know. I think there is nothing we can do but to go back home.” Taira replied truthfully. To her surprise, Ivy smiled.

“That sounds like a good plan. We can both use some rest anyway, and I understand you want to spend more time with the one you love, Taira. And I don’t mind staying here a while longer; I really am falling in love with this beautiful island.”
Taira couldn’t help but laugh at her sister’s words. She could see where her sister was coming from and she had not expected Ivy to dislike the island, but she was still amazed how much Ivy seemed to like it.

“That is decided then. We will stay here for a while, and then we will go back home together.” Taira said.
“Fjaril will not come, I assume?” Ivy asked.
Taira understood Sindo had already explained her love’s place in this island.
“No, he will not. He has to stay here to protect this island.” Taira replied. She wondered how their love would live on after this. Fjaril could not come and visit her, for the journey alone would mean he would be too long away from the island. She could come visit him, but she would be very busy, especially if she would become queen one day. She would not be able to leave long periods, either. Yet she was convinced they would find a way out.

“Oh, there he comes.” Sindo pointed out, speaking for the first time. Taira looked back, and indeed she saw Fjaril walk towards them from the mansion. Wait, no, she thought, he isn’t walking… he is running.
“Why is he in such a hurry?” Ivy asked, but Taira could not give her an answer.
 When it became obvious he was walking towards them, Taira went ahead to greet him.
“My love, what is wrong?” She asked when she saw his troubled face.
“My mother… she has suddenly become very ill. I don’t think she will be able to make it. Please Taira, Ivy… come and help me.”