A day later, Richard, Konnor and Bella were ready to go back to Ciscera, after a quick breakfast and tending to Elias it was time to say goodbye. Bella was standing at the entrance of the shack looking at the rising sun, she took a deep breath and filled her lungs with the cold air of the morning. Shivers ran through her body as a chilly wind rose but this sensation was the most pleasant feeling she ever experienced other than being in Richard's arms. She turned around and entered the home to say her farewell to Elias. Richard, Konnor and Mia were outside preparing the horse and packing their bags. Bella approached the bed where Elias was.

  " Hey .. it's time for me to go. "

  Still laying on his side with his back turned to the room, Elias simply gave her a wave.

  " Oh come on Elias don't be like that. "

  " Just leave Isabella. "

  " Why are you mad at me? "

  " I'm not mad at you. "

  " Then what is it? "

  Elias turned around with tears in his eyes.

  " I'm growing old, my child, and my time is soon to come. I was hoping you would one day find someone to protect you properly and I could rest easy.. " He looked outside at Richard brushing his horse. " And I'm glad you found him but now, I feel like I have no purpose, I'm just an old man living in the forest waiting for the creator to claim me. "

  " You aren't useless Elias, ever since mom passed you took care of me despite me never writing and sometimes being ungrateful, you never closed your door, you never stopped teaching me how to survive in this world. "

  Silence fell between the two of them, Bella put her hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

  " Elias, I know you're being eaten away by the guilt of what happened to your son but just know that from my perspective, you are a great man. I'll be glad to call you my own father because you are great at it. And the day the creator claims you, Torik will be waiting for you and hugging you again. "

  Unable to form his gratitude, Elias simply leaned forward and hugged his granddaughter.

  " Your mother would be so proud of the young woman you've become. " Elias paused for a moment, thinking carefully about the next set of words he was about to use. " Listen to me child, you have something now, outside of this forest, you do not need to come back every year to see her or me. We are like shackles making you unable to truly move forward in life. "

  Tears were flowing out of her eyes like a waterfall, she hugged him tighter, almost sanking her fingers into his skin.

  " How could you ask me to leave you behind? You are my last relative, I don't want to give up on you. "

  Isabella was crying and shaking with emotions, Elias kept her against him, patting her back like when she was a little girl.

  " There there my child it's alright. Even if you don't come here, even if I'm no longer walking on this plane of existence, know that I will always be there by your side. " He slightly pushed her away from him and first pointed at her chest where her heart was. " I will be right there.. " He then pointed at her forehead. " ... and in there."

  " I'm not strong enough to do it, I'm scared Elias, I still miss mom and dad .. "

  " Listen my child, I have lived through many winters, buried many friends and my son and just recently I understood a very important lesson about grieving. It is a long, difficult and complex process, it is a battle against time itself to keep the deceased in your life as long as possible after their passing but it is a foolish battle as time will always win. So it would be my salvation if you could finally move forward without ever looking back. "

  He pulled her back in for a final embrace, she rested her head against his chest and let the tears flow without restraint. The both of them stayed like this for a moment, thinking about their loved ones, the living ones and the ones that went and joined the creator. Finally Isabella stood back and smiled at Elias one final time.

  " Thank you for everything Elias. "

  " Go in peace my child. "

  Isabella stood up and walked towards the entrance of the house, she touched the old wood of the door frame, reliving through some of her memories in here. Holding back new tears, she looked back at Elias, still lying in bed, she wanted to say one last thing but the words were stuck in her throat, an invisible weight was now on her shoulders and going through the door was almost impossible. She wanted to say so much but there was no words to express her feelings at this exact instant, as if he knew this exact feeling, Elias simply gave her the answer to her unspoken last words to him.

  " I love you too, my child. "

  Those words acted like a spell that took the pressure off her shoulders and finally, after a long wait, she could finally take a step forward.

  A few days had passed since the group had reunited and they were now on the edge of the forest of Milivelle and finally ready to return to Ciscera. While walking on a path, Isabella was looking upwards at the orange and yellow leaves falling from the chilly spring wind of the morning. Richard was walking right beside her, holding his horse's reins, simply enjoying her presence. In front of them Konnor was trying his best to push Mia away from him as she always wanted to hug or play. Richard looked at her, her curly red hair held in a low ponytail and the single white strand of white hair not in it. He was amazed at her ability to look beautiful at all times under all angles.

  " It's so sad that the Circadium will be over by the time we get back. "

  She looked at him with surprise.

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  " What do you mean? "

  " Well, unless you know a teleportation spell, the month ends in a few days and we won't be back until at best three weeks. "

  " The Circadium is not just one month, it extends from the beginning till the end of spring, the festivities just happen to take place early or when the duchess decides it. But people can technically gift each others presents for the whole spring till summer begins. "

  " Ohhh. "

  " Why? Did you only come get me so I could give you a present in time? "

  Richard laughed and leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the lips.

  " Being in your presence is already a gift in itself. "

  He had this talent of finding the words that would make her heart skip a beat. They kept on walking and soon could see the tavern where they all slept once. They took a small break before resuming their trip. Konnor walked over to Richard and slightly tapped his shoulder, asking him to follow him away from their break spot. Once they were far enough Richard finally asked for the reason for all this secrecy.

  " So Richard, what do we do with Mia? She belongs in this forest but she seems glued to us. "

  " It is indeed concerning, we don't know what her being away from here might do to her psychologically and physically. We need to explain it to her and leave her here. "

  " It doesn't feel right ... "

  " Tough decisions rarely do young man, now come. "

  They returned to the camp and found the young miryan just touching Isabella's hair. Richard sat down next to Mia and touched her shoulder.

  " Mia, you cannot come with us to where we came from, this forest is your home and I think it's better if you belong here. Do you understand? "

  Mia stood there in silence for a few seconds, as if she knew this was coming, she simply smiled but for the first time, her teeth weren't showing. The group realised they had given less credit to Mia than what she was due. In complete silence, she hugged each of her new companions. Once she was done, she started walking away into the forest but before she disappeared, she turned around and held out three fingers in front of her with one hand and waved with the other.

  " Friends. "

  She then vanished into thin air as if she was brushed by a gust of wind. The goodbyes were quick yet packed with emotions, Richard heard sniffing to his left and looked at Konnor.

  " Are you crying boy? "

  Konnor turned his back to Richard and scratched his eyes.

  " No you asshole, it's just allergies ok?! "

  " I'm gonna miss her too. "

  " Yeah .. lets get going before I run back in there please. "

  The group packed their bags and started their journey back to Ciscera.

  Back at the tavern, Maureen was running among the customers to serve them as fast as she could, the Circardium had brought new faces and new traffic to the tavern. She was used to rude or touchy customers so Malik's tavern was a breath of fresh air from the suffocating feeling of the Cauldron. Towards the end of the day she looked around the room and noticed Izi looking rather lost in his thoughts. She decided to approach him and inquire about what was troubling him.

  " Hey ziki, you should stop frowning so much, your cute baby face is gonna suffer from it! "

  " Hmm. "

  " How talkative of you, mind to expand on it? "

  " Hm hm. "

  " Oh great, and how did that make you feel? "

  " Maureen ... "

  " Yes it's my name, who is asking? "

  " I'm not in the mood for your shit.. "

  " Oh I didn't realise, tell me more please. "

  " I'm just .. thinking a lot. "

  Maureen sat down on the opposite side of the table and scratched her eyebrow piercing.

  " Well that is an unusual thing for you, are you sick? "

  " Go fuck yourself Maureen. "

  " Oh I wish someone would ahah! But more seriously kiddo, what is troubling you? "

  " I'm just thinking about my life choices right now, I don't know where I'm going or if my choices are right. And I don't know what to feel about certain things. "

  " Does one of those things involve our thick skin friend? "

  " Yeeaaa ... "

  " Well what about it, did you fall for your prince charming when he rescued you from your tower? "

  " Ok I'm done talking to you. "

  " I'm joking!! Ohhh come on Ziki! Tell me what you feel, I promise I will stop. "

  " I don't know what I feel Maureen fuck! "

  " You enjoy his presence right? "

  " Yes. "

  " And does it make you feel g'ood' to talk with him? "

  " I guess. "

  " Ok, how close are you physically? "

  " Maureen ... "

  " It's a serious question! "

  " We just sleep in the same bed, that's it, like there is nothing more to it. "

  Even with his skin being tanned, she could tell he was blushing and decided to dig further.

  " Did you ever touch each other in a special way? "

  " You are making me awfully uncomfortable.. "

  " I know and I don't really care. "

  Izi let out a heavy sigh and buried his face in his hands.

  " ..kissed "

  " What's that? "

  " We ... kissed . "

  " Ohhhh who went in first? "

  " He kissed me first and we didn't talk about it. "

  " Well I understand why you can be confused about these sort of things but it's important to tell him if the feelings aren't mutu- "

  " And before he went on his trip I kissed him. "

  " Oh. "

  " Yeah, oh. "

  The two of them sat there in silence for a few seconds and Maureen tried another approach.

  " Have you ever felt this way for someone before? "

  " No, before him I never even had friends to begin with. But I'm just overthinking a lot. What if my current feelings were just a really strong expression towards my first friend and nothing more? "

  " It could be but I know for a fact friends don't kiss that way. "

  " Yeah I know I'm not a dimwit! It's just weird and he is the only other man I'm ok to be in contact with. "

  Maureen knew that Lozan's shadow was still hovering over Izi's shoulders despite all that had happened. " The poor kid, how can someone develop a healthy relationship when an abusive dad is all they know? "

  " Let me tell you a story, when I was eleven winters old, I was already an employee at the Cauldron. Luckily the customers never laid a finger on me but not every other girl could say the same. My best friend Leika, she was a pure ray of sunshine in this gutter, despite the shit we were living in she could make me smile anyday, I started feeling things I thought were not normal to feel about another girl. We used to sleep in the same small bed and hold each other tightly at night to warm ourselves when the tunnels were growing cold. We would spend our nights under the blanket fantasising about our lives as grown ups and what we would do later. I remember she had this stupid project of becoming a princess, I told her 'You aren't born from a noble, you can't be a princess!' and she said 'I just need to find a prince that will take care of me and make me his princess.' And I remember very vividly that at this moment I controlled what I said, I remember saying 'I hope you find him'. While the words I wanted to say were ' I want to be your prince then. Let's run off towards our dream.'. Ever since that day, I think about how different things could have been if I just said it and we ran away. A few days later, I found her getting plowed by drunkyards in one of the many rooms of the tunnels. The usual glimmer in her eyes was gone, it was completely empty, that same night, I talked to her and she was completely shut down, she stopped talking. Weeks after weeks I would see her disappear from the main room and return only at night, covered by the scent of men. One morning I woke up, and the bed sheets were feeling soggy. I turned around because I thought she had wet the bed. When I touched her cheek, she was so cold. I never felt anything colder in my whole life.... "

  Maureen wiped some tears that were forming at the corner of her eyes.

  " I could never tell her how I felt, she would have never known, and our dream died with her. " She reached to grab Izi's hand and gently squeezed it. " Never feel afraid of telling someone how you feel about them, tell them that you love them because one second they could be here making plans but the next they could be gone. "

  " I'm so sorry Mau' .."

  " It's ok, it's been years now. "

  She took a deep breath and huffed loudly.

  " Come on, let's get back to work Ziki, this room won't clean itself. "

  Maureen got up, quickly followed by Izi.

  " Hey Maureen. "

  " What? "

  Izi stepped forward and pulled her in for a hug.

  " You are alright sometimes. "

  " Thank you Ziki, thank you. "