Fjaril's goodbye

The lifeless body of the small butterfly lay between Ivy's legs, it's head resting on her hoof. Around them, the prana continued to dissolve into the air. Taira saw her daughter was holding the stone now, but that did not stop her from crying. Sindo had been Ruki's friend, too. She remembered her little girl playing with the butterflies as a small baby. She could only imagine how they had bonded in the time Taira had not been there. And now they were all gone.

Hikary walked up to Ivy and held her. Their little sister cried louder than anyone else. Taira saw Fjaril was crying as well. She couldn't even begin to imagine how he must feel. She gently patted his mane, hoping to comfort him even a little bit.
“Mom, I...” Ruki began.
“Oh, come here my love.” Taira answered, unable to bear her daughter's teary face. Taira held Ruki while continuing to touch Fjaril's leg.

The prana above them was dissolving slowly as if the wind got hold of it and was blowing it away slowly. Taira lost track of time before any of them moved. By the time her daughter looked up again, the entire island had turned to normal, the prana all but gone. Taira saw some of the flowers withering away, unable to live without the dense prana around them, but some of the flowers seemed to survive.

The same could be said about the trees; some of the trees were completely brown, their leaves unable to breathe, while others were still green. Taira had no doubt that even the green trees and the blooming flowers would soon follow their kin. The island was dying... and nothing would be spared . And there was nothing they could do about it now; not even putting the stone back would resurrect the plants or the trees.

“We should bury him.” Fjaril said after a while. “With his family. And his friends.”
Strange, that they had never discussed this before. Had none of them wanted to think of what to do? They all had known what would happen.
“Yes. We should.” Taira agreed. Ivy only managed to nod.
“Do you want to carry him there, Ivy?” Fjaril asked. Once again, her younger sister could only nod.

Ivy picked up Sindo's lifeless body from the ground and they all followed Fjaril into the small forest. He led them over a path to a small shrine Taira had to admit she had never seen before.
“This is where all the butterflies were buried. Ponies were not supposed to come here, but I guess there is no one else left to...” Fjaril couldn't finish his sentence.

They did not see any graves, only the remains of flowers that had already withered away. They looked like they had been in some kind of order, and Taira guessed the flowers marked the graves of the butterflies. She saw a few open spots. Probably for the butterflies yet to come... which now was only Sindo.

“This looks like a good place. This tree seems to be holding on... it fits him.” Ruki said as she pointed at one of the empty spaces next to a fine old tree which still had it's green leaves and seemed undisturbed by the loss of prana. Silently, Taira wondered for how long the tree would last. Fjaril walked to the spot their daughter had selected, and began to dig with his bare hooves.

To her surprise, it was Yuuro who joined in. While Taira stood back with Ruki, and Hikary remained close to Ivy who was still carrying Sindo's body, the two men dug together in silence. It did not take them long to dig a grave that was big and deep enough; Sindo was only a small creature, after all.

“This should do.” Fjaril announced, and Yuuro took a step back. They all looked at Ivy now, who slowly walked to the grave still carrying Sindo. She gently put him inside, as if she put a child to sleep.
 “Rest in peace, Sindo. Thank you... for everything.” She whispered and then threw a bit of sand on top of him. Fjaril followed her example as soon as Ivy had walked away. “We will meet again in the next life, my friend.”

Ruki was up next.
“Say hello to Nayna, Sindo. I'm sure you are with her now... with her, and with your family.”
 Taira followed after her daughter, but she didn't know what to say. “Rest in peace, little one.” She whispered, desperate for more personal words.
 Like the others, she threw a bit of sand on the butterfly's body. When she was done, Taira turned to her family who stood a little further away.

Together, they waited for Hikary and Yuuro to finish.
“Shall we close the grave, mother?” Ruki proposed once Yuuro was done.
“Yes.” Taira agreed. She walked up to the grave again with her daughter and together they put the earth over the butterfly's body, until nothing but a mount of earth remained.
“There are no flowers...” Ruki cried when they were done. “The others all had flowers. But there are none left now.”

“But Sindo has the tree.” Taira pointed out. “A blooming tree, while the flowers have withered.”
“Yes... that's true. Thanks, mom.” Ruki smiled.
They stood there for a while, looking at the grave and the withering land. Not for a moment did Taira forget that this was their fault. The stone which Hikary was now holding... nothing would have happened if they hadn't removed it. The guardians better be magnificent indeed, if they required such sacrifices.

“Maybe... it is time we move on. It is almost noon already, and we still have a long way to go.” Hikary suggested.
“Yes... we should.” Ruki agreed. She was the first to move away from the grave, and Yuuro soon followed her. “Come... Ivy. Sindo rests now, with his family.” Hikary whispered to their sister. Ivy, still crying, only nodded and followed Hikary.

“My love... I think we should move too.” She whispered to Fjaril when he showed no intention to leave.
“Yes... we should. I was just saying goodbye.” Fjaril answered.
He nodded once more to the grave and then turned to follow the others. Taira trailed a little bit behind him. Poor Fjaril... his entire life had just been destroyed right in front of his eyes.

They soon arrived back at the well where they had left their bags. Hikary put the stone in a safe place and everyone picked up their own bag, and within moments they were on their way to the shore. Taira saw Ruki and Yuuro chat, but she couldn't hear what they were talking about. She was glad her daughter had Yuuro with her; he truly was a wonderful person.

“So... Yuuro, eh.” Fjaril said. Taira had barely noticed he was walking next to her.
“Yes... Ruki seems to like him a lot. They're good friends.”
“Friends? Or something else?” Fjaril winked. Taira laughed.
“Friends, for now. But I won't give you any guarantees on how long now will last. I think Ruki hasn't realized how much she cares for him yet.” Taira grinned. “Yuuro has, though.”
“I can see that.” Fjaril agreed.

“You don't have to do this, you know.” Taira muttered.
“Do what?” Fjaril asked.
“This. Leave it all behind. Come with me. If you rather stay here, or do something else... I know you promised to come with us after all this... but you don't have to...”
“Taira. I chose to come with you because it is what I want to do. This island no longer needs me.

I am sure the island will recover. It will not be what it was before... but one day flowers will bloom here again. But it no longer needs me. My path leads elsewhere. It leads to you, and to Ruki, and to the gorgeous daughter I never saw but in a memory. That is the life I am going to now, and the life I chose for myself. It may be painful to leave this behind, but I will not change my mind.”

Taira was glad to hear the confidence in his voice. He truly wanted to be with them. “That's... that's good. And you know we can always return here, right?”
“Yes. I know. The island will resurrect in time, I'm sure. Like a normal island, but I'm certain still more beautiful than most. Maybe when we are both old and gray, we can come back here. Just you and me. And live the life that was denied to us before.”

“Yes... I'd like that.”
When everything was said and done, when she had been the queen and Ruki had taken over, maybe it would not be such a bad prospect to come back to this island and live here together with Fjaril.
“I'd like it too.” Fjaril admitted.
Their conversation was cut short however when they arrived at the shore. The two boats were waiting for them.

“I think we should go twice. Yuuro and I can both take a boat to row. First we'll take one of you and all the bags, and then we'll come back for the other two.” Fjaril proposed.
“I... I'll go last.” Ivy whispered.
“I'll stay here too, then.” Hikary offered. They loaded all the bags in the boats and within minutes the four of them were on their way to the shore.

Taira awaited the moment where she would wake up, the feeling that always crawled over her whenever she went to or left the island. It never came. They hit the shore quickly and without any weird feelings. Taira was amazed to see the shore was sunny. For once, there was no mist and no dampness. Had that all been the work of the stone too?

As they unloaded the bags from the boats, Taira saw the prana on the leaves of the trees. Compared to the island, and even to other parts of the west, the prana sure was thin in this forest, she reflected. She could easily see the green leaves and the other colors of the forest; only when she looked carefully could she see the prana. It was almost more like a forest in the east than like a forest in the west.

“We're going back then.” Fjaril said, while looking at the forest. He had left the island only three of four times, and never in recent years since his father had passed away. The last time he had left had been when Ruki had ran away, and then his mind had probably not been on the forest or the surroundings, but on finding their daughter.

“Yes, okay. See you soon, dad.” Ruki hugged her father and said goodbye to Yuuro.
They helped the two get on the way again. As they watched them rowing back to the island, Taira realized they were finally going home now. For good. No more traveling, no more searching in the world's most forlorn places for stones they might not find. But there was one more thing they had to do, before all of this would be over.

“Ruki...” Taira begun, not certain that this was the right opportunity but not seeing another time where she would be alone with her daughter the next few weeks.
“Yes mom, what is it?” Ruki smiled.
Was that smile because of Yuuro? Her eyes were still sad, but her smile beamed. Well, they would talk about that later. She was sure Fjaril would have a thing or two to say about it, even though he seemed to like the lad well enough.

“Before we go home... you and I have another task to do. We are still short one piece.” Ruki's face instantly darkened.
“Ah... yes...” Ruki hesitated.
“Must we do that now, mom? Can't we go home first? I want to see my sister, and I want to show dad where we live.” Well, those were sentiments Taira shared with her daughter. She tried to think of little Frika as little as possible, as it was unbearable to think it would be so long still before she could hold her again.

“I understand, Ruki. But time is running out. If we go home first, we will have to depart right away again to travel to Twinkle Star's home. If we go there on our way home, it will save a lot of time.” Taira explained.
“Ah... Do you know where it is then?” Ruki asked.
 “I've never been there.” Taira admitted. “But Twinkle Star explained it to me. I'm sure we can find it together.”

“Together? You mean, the others are not coming?”
“No. I will explain to your father why later, so at least he understands why he must travel on without us. Only you and me can see her wings, Ruki. The others would not understand. And we will need to explain all of this to Twinkle Star and convince her to come with us. I do not think it will be smart to try to do so if we go there with our entire group. She would probably feel overwhelmed and forced to come.”

“Yes... Okay, I understand. So what, we split up from the others?”
“Once we are in the east, yes. We will tell them we have something important to do, and that we will be home as soon as we can.”
Her daughter did not yet look convinced, but Taira was certain Ruki would understand. If they wanted to complete the ritual, they needed Twinkle Star, and she would not come if she felt pressured.

“They're back.” Ruki pointed across the water.
 Sure enough, Taira saw two boats appear. Once everyone was safely on the shore, they tied up the boats and picked up their bags.
“Well, time to go home.” Fjaril smiled.
“Yes... time to go home. Let's go- we still have a long way to go.” Hikary said as she started walking.

Taira followed her sister silently. Ruki was walking next to Yuuro again, something that strangely enough comforted her. She will be safe with Yuuro. He will treat her well and protect her if need be. Her daughter was lucky indeed. Fjaril walked to her side and softly kissed her neck. She smiled, grateful that from now on, they would be together. She was lucky too.