37. Lora
Lora
After over a week of travel, the familiar silhouette of my village finally emerged through the trees. I could barely breathe as I sat up straight in the boat, craning my neck to see.
Rootmere sprawled along the riverbank exactly as we’d left it. Tools clattered from workshops. Smoke curled from chimneys. Children’s laughter rang between the houses.
Relief flooded through me. No abandoned buildings. No chaos. No monsters.
We secured the boat and I stepped onto the docks, breathing in the familiar air of home.
People bustled through their afternoon routines while visiting travelers moved between shops, haggling over prices.
I dragged Erion up the road toward the healing hut and burst through the door.
“Lora!” Vela’s bright voice preceded her tackle of an embrace, hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. “Finally! You’re home!”
Easing back, she glanced over my shoulder. “And Erion! So nice to see you again!” Her smile could’ve outshone the sun as she studied him with unabashed curiosity. “Stars and sea, you won’t believe the rumors we’ve heard about you.”
Father stepped out from the back room. “Lora?”
Something crumpled in his expression. Then he moved, faster than I’d seen him move in years, and pulled me into his arms.
“You’re back.” The words came out rough, muffled against my hair.
A sobbing laugh escaped me. “Of course I am. Didn’t you get my messages?”
“We did!” Vela bounced beside us. “Did you get our replies?”
I shook my head, wiping happy tears away. “No, but we were constantly on the move.”
Father pulled back and squeezed Erion’s hand. “I’m so glad you’re back. Come on, we’ll close early today. Let’s head to my place. I’ll prepare a special meal to celebrate.”
As we turned to the door, Corin stepped into the hut, a bundle of bright wildflowers clutched in his hands. Auburn hair fell across his forehead, disheveled from the wind. His easy smile faltered as he spotted me. His gaze darted between me and Vela, uncertainty flickering across his features.
Vela’s posture went rigid beside me. “Corin!” Her voice pitched too high, too bright. “Here for supplies?”
He nodded, the motion jerky. “Yeah. More healing potions for my father.”
My attention snagged on the flowers, bright yellows and pinks wrapped in twine. “What are those for?”
Vela lunged forward and snatched them from his hands. “I asked him to gather these. They’re for a remedy.”
“Sunburst blooms?” Erion’s voice drifted through the tension. “They have no medicinal qualities.”
A blush flooded Vela’s cheeks. Corin scratched the back of his neck, gaze fixed on the floor.
Something warm unfurled in my chest. “Wait...” My lips twitched as I pointed between them. “Are you two...?”
Corin shrugged with a sheepish smile.
Vela spun toward me, eyes wide. “Lora, listen—I was planning to tell you, just not like this. Corin and I, we—” She swallowed, glancing at him.
He stepped beside her, taking her hand. “We finally found each other.”
Their eyes met, soft with affection.
Behind them, Father pressed his lips tight, suppressing a smile.
My sister and my former lover. The thought should’ve stirred something unpleasant—bitterness, jealousy, maybe even disgust. But only joy bloomed in my chest.
I let loose the grin I’d been holding in. “This is wonderful news!”
Vela’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Of course! I’m so happy for you!” I gave them each a hug.
Corin’s hand slid around Vela’s waist. “I guess we’ll have to postpone our dinner. You need to catch up with your sister.”
His lips brushed hers, and Vela’s ears reddened as she self-consciously backed away, glancing my way.
I beamed back at her. Seeing them kiss didn’t bother me in the least.
We left the healing hut and cut into a narrow alley, away from the main road. Corin’s hand lingered on Vela’s before he headed in a different direction.
Behind the row of shops, people’s homes spread into the forest. Father shared a house with a few friends, unmarried or widowed men of the village. The small building stood wedged between two ancient trees, their trunks so massive my arms wouldn’t reach halfway around them.
Inside, the scent of woodsmoke and herbs wrapped around us.
Father invited us to gather around a worn table with mismatched chairs in the main room.
The kitchen and hearth occupied one corner, and a corridor led to the bedrooms. None of Father’s roommates had arrived home yet, so we had the place to ourselves.
“Now, tell us everything!” Father spoke over his shoulder as he bustled in the kitchen, preparing the evening meal.
The grim story spilled from my lips, starting with the Queen’s council and the secret prophecy. Erion sat across from me, hands folded in his laps, adding occasional clarifications.
The warm scent of roasted vegetables and spiced broth thickened in the air as Father carried a heavy pot to the table. He served each of us generous portions. After our long journey, the food tasted like something from a dream.
As my tale unfurled about everything we’d been through—Erion’s posture relaxed. Soon he jumped in with excitement, hands gesturing as he described details I’d missed.
His intense gaze snagged on me as he mentioned how I’d stood between him and the pirates, refusing to back down. Those hazel eyes caught mine across the table, holding just a beat too long, and the corner of his mouth quirked up.
My pulse kicked. Currents take me, why did he have to look at me like that?
Vela leaned forward, chin propped on her hands, eyes glittering with eagerness. “And then what happened?”
Our dinner plates gradually emptied as we talked, and Father brought out steaming cups of tea without interrupting our tale.
When we reached the part about how we retrieved the moon stone after fighting the colossal monsters, Vela demanded to see it. Erion dug it from his bag and placed it on the table.
“That’s a moon stone?” Father leaned in, squinting at the white surface threaded with silver veins. “We have one.”
The words took a beat to land. “You... what?”
“We have one just like that.” Father crossed to the far wall where a shelf hung beneath the window, cluttered with pots of herbs rooted in a tray of river stones.
He rummaged among the water-worn pieces, and his hand emerged clutching a stone with a snow-white surface laced with silver streaks. Identical to the one on the table before me.
Blood roared in my ears. The room tilted.
“Where—” I choked. “Where did you get that?”
He settled at the table again, placing the stone beside its twin. “It’s been here forever. I have no idea where it came from.”
My throat worked. All this time, a moon stone had been collecting dust on Father’s shelf, while I nearly died to retrieve one.
“Scattered artifacts,” Erion murmured, staring at the stones.
My gaze snapped to him. “What?”
“The prophecy in the Queen’s Vault of Secrets. It called them ‘scattered artifacts.’ More stones like this are probably scattered across the Queendom.”
My eyes widened as the realization settled. “You’re right. And the way Caldera spoke about the sun stones made it sound like they’ve been scattered across the Sun Kingdom too, before the sun guard confiscated them.”
Father’s brow furrowed. “Let me get this straight… You need one moon stone and one sun stone to seal the rift. But where will you find a sun stone?”
A long sigh escaped Erion’s lips. “In the Sun Kingdom’s capital. Caldera told us they send all confiscated sun stones to a place called the Forbidden Archives.”
Father’s gaze flicked between Erion and me with dawning comprehension. Glancing away, I scratched the back of my neck, already sensing a heated debate.
His sharp tone lashed across the table. “You’re heading into the Sun Kingdom?”
“Father.” I leaned closer. “We need to see this through. Erion is the only one who can seal the rift, and we need to get that—”
“Sun stone,” he cut in, his jaw clenched. “I got that.”
Tense silence draped over us.
I braced for the argument, where he’d beg me not to go and I’d insist I had to, and we’d both end up saying things we’d regret.
He studied me with quiet assessment, like he used to when I’d come home from those first solo hunts, when he’d tended my injuries in strained silence.
“What do you need?” His voice came out clipped.
“What?”
He sighed. “There’s no stopping you, Lora.
I see it in your eyes.” He placed a hand over mine on the table.
“You’re a force of nature, just like your mother.
You have this passionate need to do what you believe is right, and I—” His words caught before he plunged on.
“I’m proud of you. Of what you’ve achieved.
What you’re trying to do.” His grip tightened.
“If anyone can save the world, it’s you. ”
Vela pressed a hand to her chest, a proud smile trembling on her lips, threatening to crumble into happy sobs.
I could barely speak past the burning in my eyes. “It’s not me, Father. Erion’s the one who’ll save the world.”
“Of course.” His gaze shifted to Erion, a sheepish grin flickering across his face.
Erion only shrugged and offered a warm smile in return.
Father squeezed my hand, his eyes softening. “But the world isn’t saved by one person, Lora. It’s saved by those who choose to fight for it. People like you.”