2 - Inside the Box

Because Ellaine was running so fast, she didn’t know what went on between the people she left. She really regretted that she even had the idea of leaving the house. She was just so grateful that she could finally go home and rest in bed.

             Meanwhile just in front of the shop she left, Margarette unabashedly stared at the arrogant man standing proudly in front of her. “You really had the guts to wear that kind of thing here. Only a dumb person can’t see that you are fully armored!” She said in disgust.

            “That girl didn’t.” He even laid a hand and polished the glinting string of Jades surrounding the neck of his emerald armor.

            “Oh please, Finrod. Don’t give me that. And don’t bark at every single creature you come across this world, especially that girl.”

            “Marga, I don’t bark.” He shot her a look, “Tell me, since when did you had sympathy with those mortals? Have you gone human yourself?”

            “Of course not! I am a witch of my birthright. I am just fascinated with Ellaine.”

            “Who?”

            “The stupid girl you bumped a while ago.”

            “I didn’t say she’s stupid.”

            “But you’re thinking about it.” She pinched his nose out of stress, “Hey! I’m about Nine Hundred years older than you. I don't care if you're the king of the world. Obey me!”

            “Alright! Alright!” He stood straight and stayed calm to recover his composure. “What did you see in that girl for you to be fussing over her like that?”

            “She’s just unusual. She’s got little shadow on her, that’s all.” Margarette’s mind wandered as she spoke.

            “And, you’re worrying about her because she has a shadow?”

            “No. I’m worried because she’s losing her shadow, Finrod. And that lady who just left us has very little shadow left.” Realizing the depth of her thoughts, she shifted to a lighter mood and pushed the issue away. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”

            “I need your help in tracking the fragments of the holy Nromais.”

            “I’m sorry but I think you have mistaken me for radar or some sort of metal detecting machine.”

            She was about to go back inside her shop when the man stopped him, “Marga, the Queen Aera herself sent for you.”

            His words stopped her. Looking back, she asked, “Princess Aera is the Queen now?”

            “Affirmative. About a hundred year ago.”

            “What about Queen Sliofe?”

            “She withered.”

            “I’m sorry to hear that.” It looks like things at Lenriad changed a lot since she went away.

            “It’s alright. She had lived a long and happy life. It was time for her reunion with the Creator.”

            “If the new Queen asked for my assistance, then I shall follow.” She invited him inside her shop and offered him a seat. “Why is the Queen in search of the Nromais remains?”

            “The air had been full of the talks of a Dark Child who seeks it out. Queen Aera wants to salvage it and keep it from the wrong hands.”

            “Who is this Dark Child?”

            Finrod stood up to pace, “His name had haunted Lenriad for Twenty years. He is travelling the lands to recruit for his army. It was said that no one had ever glimpsed his face.”

            “Fine. Let’s get into the real business.” Margarette opened a casket which contained the materials she needed to track the Nromais’ fragments easier.

            Meanwhile, Ellaine had her fair share of a good afternoon nap. Yes, she had dreamed of the Virsathen tree again but at least the empty town wasn’t a part of it this time.

            In her dream, the tree sang to her songs of rejoice, love, sadness, and fear. She sat beneath its shade and it felt as though she was embraced and comforted. Once more, she caught sight of the glinting moonstone and this time she managed to get hold of it.

But it wasn’t a moonstone after all! It was a beautiful white pearl as big as her favorite fishballs. Its upper part was covered with gold .hanging on a circle of twisted gold and silver. There were a couple of gold hoops on each side of it.

It’s yours.” There’s that female voice again.

“Mine? But I’m afraid I can’t take it.”

“Take good care of it.” The voice echoed then faded to silence as if the woman who was speaking left.

A loud knock on the door woke Ellaine up. It swung a little bit and revealed Aunt Caroline’s face. She sang ‘Happy Birthday’ softly.

“I’ve made us a little meal for celebration. Come along.” She said after she finished singing.

“Okay. I’ll come down in three minutes.”

Her aunt smiled at her before she left.

They’ve been like this since she was a child. They would always fight about big things and little things alike. There were times that they would even get to the point of shouting at one another. But they always reconciled in the end. It was just a matter of time before one of them approached the other.

In the kitchen, they shared a silent meal. They had spaghetti, fruit salad, and a cake with a candle shaped 18 on it.

Ellaine was forced to speak just to break the awkward silence, “Auntie, a while ago I met a strange woman. Her name is Margarette.” 

“Margarette? I don’t know a woman named Margarette living in the neighborhood.”

“Maybe that’s because she’s living near the city proper. She has this shop selling weird stuffs as well.” Ellaine was not interested in eating her spaghetti anymore. She was merely poking it with her fork.

“What kind of weird stuffs?”

“Uhm, there were bowls filled with varieties of what seems to me as herbs. Some were differently colored stones.”

“Maybe she’s a herbalist.” Aunt Caroline concluded and they were again silent for some time.

Ellaine cast a look on Aunt Caroline’s face. She had a knot on her forehead which simply told that her attention was in some place altogether. She had these straight, tight lips which was so unusual of her.

To say or not to say was all Ellaine could think about. She remembered Margarette’s instructions. She hesitated at first but then, what’s there to loose?

“Oh, by the way, she also told me to tell something to you.”

“Go on,”

“‘When buds are roses and seeds are green.’”

Aunt Caroline dropped the fork with a loud clatter. “Who told you that?” Her voice had this tone of urgency that made her suspicious.

“Is there something I need to know?”

“Nothing important.”  Aunt Caroline refused to look at her eyes.

Ellaine wasn’t convinced. “When you think about it, I know so little about my parents. All I know was—”

Her aunt stood up immediately, “Let’s just talk about it sometime. I’ve got lots to do.”

“Aunt Caroline!” She hastily stood up after her aunt. “You're too obvious. What are you hiding from me?” She tried hard to suppress it but tears streamed from her eyes. She had this great fear that she had been fooled all her life.

“Am I not enough? Are you unsatisfied with what I give you?”

“It’s not what you think.”

“Then what’s the use of telling you?”

“I have the right to know the truth, Aunt Caroline. I do. How could you raise me without guilt knowing that you are hiding something from me?”

“It’s because you’re the only one I have. When Hazel and Jonathan died, they left you under my care.”

“Please, I am begging you. I want to know the truth. Am I really their daughter? Am I adopted?”

Aunt Caroline left the room without a word. Ellaine took her seat again, stared at the door, dumbfounded. She knew her aunt to be stern and no-nonsense but how can she just dismiss their conversation like that?

But she was mistaken. Her aunt returned with a box in her hand. She laid it on the table in front of Ellaine.

“I planned to give this to you when you grow up. But then halfway I was afraid you’ll leave me so I hid it instead. Now I guess it’s the right thing to do.”

At the top of the rectangular box was a handwritten note. It said:

“When buds are roses and seeds are green,

when sun is down and leaves are falling,

remember me Ellaine, my dearest child,

even if you find out that you’re not mine.”

“I always loved her poems. It had always come from her heart.” Aunt Caroline said with a hint of longing in her voice.

Ellaine didn’t dare utter a word. It seemed as though Aunt Caroline was ready to tell her everything. So she remained silent and waited for what she had to say.

“Your parents—Hazel and Jonathan—were just newly weds then. Easy and slow, they regularly stroll the outskirts of Dela Paz. To the grass plains and the river, to the bridge that marks the borderline of Dela Paz and Malaban, they would always go there and hang around.

One day, from their usual walk, they brought home an infant. It was one of the rare instances that Hazel was extremely happy. She went to me and said she would be the mom of the child.

At first, I disagreed. I said we should look for the child’s biological mother. But then they said they found the infant near the river bank. They insisted no one would look for the child. So I compromised.”

Caroline shed a tear with the memory of her sister’s death. What's more was her fear of being alone. Yet she pulled herself together and continued.

“It was true when I said they died in a car accident. Before her last breath, Hazel instructed me to give that box to you. She said it was something that lay beside you when she found you near the riverbank.”

She stopped there and waited for Ellaine to open the box. Inside was a gold and silver necklace with a pearl as a pendant.

“It looked exactly as the one in my dream.” She looked at it closely and recalled, “Aunt Caroline, I always dreamed seeing this as I sit under a tree.”

“Is that so?” The pain in her voice was so evident that Ellaine felt compelled to hug her.

“Don’t worry Aunt Caroline, I won’t leave you.”

“What if your real mom comes for you?” She felt her aunt holding back her tears.

“I’ll tell her I won’t leave you.” She swore. She had to do it because she cannot stand seeing Aunt Caroline unhappy. After all, she only wanted the truth.

She told herself she doesn’t need her real mother.

How she hoped her heart would listen well.