Ivy’s home

Whistling, Ivy walked over the road. The sun was shining, the birds that still lingered before going south were chirping, and Ivy was in a particularly good mood. Yes, it was a nice day indeed. The clouds had finally cleared after all those days of rain, and she was on her way to visit her friend Aline. Of course, the real purpose was work. She was 21 years old now, and official steward of the Friendship Lands. She barely had a day off, and even now there was work to be done. But today… the matter was only small, and it was a rather long walk anyway. She would probably sleep over there, and have some fun with Aline, like her sister had been doing a week ago.

An official steward, with her own castle… Ivy still didn’t completely grasp the meaning of it. Of course, it would be a while until the castle was officially hers. Still, she was already making plans for the redecoration of the castle. It would become beautiful… and she wouldn’t even change much. She didn’t even want to move in to her mother’s old bedroom. It just felt weird. It was her mother’s bedroom, after all. She had already decided it would become a living room. There were enough bedrooms upstairs, after all.

Yet it was also exciting, and scary. Now, every time there was something she did not know how to solve, she could run to her mother, or ask one of her sisters. But once they had all moved away… she had to solve everything on her own. Or maybe with Fleur. Her sister still hadn’t figured it out… if she wanted to move to the new castle or not. Then again, Fleur had more things she had not figured out yet. What she wanted to do with her life, for example. The girl was twenty now, for crying out loud, and still all she did was wander around.

Ahead of her, she could see Aline’s mansion. It truly was beautiful. Not closed in by a large wall like a castle was, you could clearly see the beautiful garden that now shone in yellow and red. The trees were growing nicely. A small river was made to encircle the mansion, but it was small enough to jump over it. It was only there for decoration. Several small bridges crossed it, and a path was made out of shells that connected them. The path led you, at least in summer, past several beautiful flowers.

In the center of all this stood Aline’s mansion. It had two floors and a curved roof that was highest in the middle, and then went down so that at the edges it hit the top of the first floor. The mansion was white with a purple roof. The windows were set in dark yellow painted wood. The door was painted in this same color. Of the bottom floor, one half were Aline’s private quarters, while in the other half there was a room where she met citizens, and one for her studies.

Ivy sighed as she entered the garden. Even though Aline’s house had been done for a while, not many ponies already lived in the new quarters. As soon as the mansion was done, all of the builders almost immediately started building the new castle, so there were little ponies left capable of building a house for commoners who wanted to live in this part. Only ponies who just started to live on their own managed to move over here, and most of them were farmers, as there was no market in this part yet.

Therefore, all of Aline’s work until now existed of talking to ponies who had decided to build a house in the new part, and discussing where they wanted to live and if it was at all possible. Those tasks were rather different from Ivy’s indeed, for she usually attended to disagreements ponies could not settle on their own, or registering births and marriages.

Ivy rang the doorbell, and a few moments later, Ikuya, Aline’s personal servant, opened the door.
“Hello there, princess Ivy.” She greeted the princess.
“Hello there, Ikuya. I had an appointment with lady Aline.” Ivy told the girl as she stepped in the house. “The lady told me so. She is in the living room.” Ivy thanked the girl, and walked through the small hallway.
She opened the first door on her left, which led her to the richly decorated living room. Colorful paintings were on every wall, and the furniture was all light yellow. The walls themselves were light blue. Aline was lying on one of her couches, reading a book. The girl looked ages older than when Ivy first met her, and she could not help but notice it every time she saw her. Her coat never shone as brightly as before, and her mane was no longer cared for like they used to.

“Hello, Ivy.” Aline greeted her, putting her book aside.
 “Hello there, Aline. How are you doing?” Ivy asked.
“Oh, just fine. Just had a quiet morning. It was open hour but only one person showed up. How are you?” Aline asked.
“Fine as well, thank you. Had a nice walk here, the weather is great.” Ivy smiled as she sat down on the couch opposite from Aline.

“Yes, it looks beautiful indeed.” Aline agreed.
Ikuya came in, carrying a tray with a bowl of tea and two cups on it. After she was done putting it down and pouring the tea in the cups, Aline thanked her, and the girl took off again.
“So,” Aline said while putting a sugar cube in her tea cup, “How are things in the castle these days?”

“Oh just fine, nothing changed really. They are actively arranging the moving now, as it will not be long until the new castle will be ready. Hikary visited it last week, and they were already decorating the throne room. Can you imagine? I remember it only being a field, and now the castle is almost done.” Ivy smiled.
“Yes, it has gone rather quickly indeed.” Aline agreed.
Ivy sipped a bit of her tea, then continued.

“Hikary is, of course, still actively looking for clues on the stone. They are still studying on the Fiume river. Chances are that there is in fact a stone somewhere linked to that river, but they are not sure where, and there is simply no way they have time to search the entire river.” Ivy told Aline.
Aline smiled. “I can hardly believe it… a guardian stone, in the river I lived so close to my entire childhood?”
“Well, it does make sense, considering the powers that river seems to have. Hikary is pretty sure it is a lead.

“She is currently the only one working on it though, with Stelline helping her out occasionally. Taira used to help her, but of course, with the birth coming this close, she spends most of her time resting, even though she prefers to actually do things. She doesn’t like to lie around letting others work.” Ivy quickly said, silently cursing herself.
Why did she have to start about Taira’s pregnancy now? She knew perfectly well that it was a delicate matter for Aline still.

She could see Aline was reminded of that painful time, but she quickly smiled. “I see. Taira does well to rest. She shouldn’t be so strict on herself. When is the baby due anyway?” Aline asked.
Ivy, grateful that Aline seemed to be able to talk about it normally, smiled. “In about one and a half week, I think. That’s what the nurse thinks, anyway. So it could be any moment now. Seeing Taira’s swollen belly, I don’t think it will be much longer, to be honest.”

“And this newborn will be the future queen, huh…” Aline pondered.
“If we don’t find Ruki.” Ivy reminded her friend.
“And if we find all the stones in time.” Aline added.
Yes, if they would… “It still seems so surreal.” Ivy said. Aline nodded.
 “I know. It does, to me, too. And we’re not even allowed to talk about it to anyone…” Aline sighed.

Ivy could see her sister’s point. After all, Aline lived here in this remote place with, for now, only her work, her servant and her parents to keep her company. Still, Ivy wondered if it was such a good idea to keep the citizens of this country in the dark about what was going to happen. What they needed. Wouldn’t it be easier to find the remaining three stones if everyone was out there was looking for them? Still, she could understand her mother’s point. What would ponies do when you told them the world would be destroyed unless they found five stones and placed them together to summon guardians which by now were, to the common folk, nothing more but a remote legend?

They would either panic at the idea that the world would meet its end, or just simply not believe it at all. Most of them, anyway. That was Regina’s conclusion, and Taira and Hikary had agreed. After that, the decision was already taken, and it was not Ivy’s place to discuss it with them. She had accepted their decision… but she did not know if she actually agreed with them.

And she sometimes had to deal with worried citizens… In the beginning, only her mother and Taira, and later Hikary, were able to see the fading of the stars, as they called it. Their strong royal powers enabled them to perceive the loss of even the smallest star in the sky. Later even Stelline began to see it, and about a year ago, even Fleur. She herself, however, still had her powers sealed away. Sometimes she wondered if Hikary was even still looking for a solution, even though she agreed that the stones had a higher priority now.

Even so, about half a year ago, on a bright night, even she noticed the unusual darkness in the sky. The stars were, indeed, fading, she realized, and it was that moment that it dawned on her that it was not a game, but reality. The world was fading. And by that time, citizens began to notice it, too, and she was the one forced to talk her way out of it, assuring the citizens that it was, in fact, not a big deal.

“Did Fleur get home safely last week? She left rather late in the afternoon, I was afraid she had to walk in the dark. And she’s not the fastest.” Aline asked, waking Ivy from her thoughts.
“Yes… She got home safely, but she indeed was late. She got home after I went to bed, which is usually around midnight.” Ivy replied.
Aline grinned. “She’s not the fastest.”
“No, she is not.” Ivy agreed. “She is just really lazy.”

“Don’t go too hard on her, though.” Aline said. “Life has been hard on her.”
Ivy smirked. “Yea, right. What is hard on her? She doesn’t have to do anything and she’s not doing anything, either.”
“That’s exactly why.” Aline replied. “Fleur is… not exactly happy, Ivy. After all… all of you have a role, a place in life, and you are connected to the old Friendship Lands. But what does she have? Regina is not paying her much attention, there is no specific path for her like there is for her sisters. She feels unnecessary and unwanted. She has to figure out what her role is in life and nobody is guiding her, nor does she have an example because the lives of those close to her are already laid out for them. Do you really not see, Ivy, why she is not happy?”

Ivy sighed deeply. She had never considered her sister like this. And Aline’s words were not a lie. Her sister Fleur was the only one of the family not knowing her path. Taira was the heir, Hikary would devote her life serving Taira, Stelline was their mother’s advisor, Ivy would become steward… but there was nothing left for Fleur. Instantly, she decided she would talk with her sister once she got home. She knew, for sure, that there was something her sister would like to do. And she would help her find it.

“Thank you, Aline, for telling me this. I will help Fleur in any way she desires.”
Aline smiled, obviously satisfied.
“Shall we get to work then?” Aline asked after finishing her tea.
“Sounds fine by me.” Ivy replied.
She followed Aline out of the living room. Yes… this country was her home. She had her own place in it now. And she would help her younger sister find hers.