Lily's Promise

Silence and tension fell as Emma stepped out.. I tried to focus, but inexplicable feeling overtook my every thought. I was conflicted. Was I happy? Relived? Worried? Scared? Confused? The tornado of emotions hit me with absolute, raw, crippling force. 

“Was that her Madam?”, Mateo asks, anticipation evident in his voice, excitement palpable. “Is that her?”, his voice full of hope. “Is that Catherine’s daughter”? His face was expressionless, but I could feel his wanting, his love and his tension. We all loved Catherine. Whole family did. She was special. She was somebody that held us together, even thought that was technically Kal’s job. He did not get a say, after she was born, not that he complained much. He too was mesmerized by her, taken with her in a way none other were. He, my mighty son, everybody was deathly afraid of worshiped the ground she walked on. I thought of those years with a smile and happiness; ever since she was born, it was her presence, her sheer personality, her aura, her everything which kept us together, kept us a family, regardless of our mistakes, or differences and shortcomings. She loved all, forgave all and allowed us to see each other and ourselves in different light. She truly was most incredible being I ever created. 

Not in a million years would I ever think we would lose her. Even I, who has seen the future, who has ability to create life, even I could not ever imagine, hers would be extinguished, that her light would disappear. Skies were ever so darker, flowers ever so dull since she left. I missed her not only as her mother, I missed her as a friend, my companion, my little girl who ran to me all those centuries ago. I missed love, as she was love itself. I never forgave myself, and not sure I ever could. Here I was, the all powerful Gia, unable to save my child. Tears were coming again, chocking me in fact. 

Her loss weighed heavy on us all, something none of us have fully come to terms with. I thought back, I thought again of my daughter, her kindness, selflessness, and love she gave to everybody. In the end, they could not defeat her with dark magic or even with raw power. They used her kindness against her. They used her kind heart, her willingness to put others above herself, above anything really. They used that to kill her, I thought, tears coming again, my heart ready to explode. I asked Father numerous times as to why, and never really got a definitive answer. “It is all for a reason”, was not an answer I understood or wanted to hear even after millennia in existence. I knew things happen for a reason, the sheer existence on Earth had a sequence of events which happened for a Reason. My daughter’s death at this time did not seem justified – in fact it never was. I could never find the “reason” the father was talking about. I could never understand why she had to die. 

I sigh, looking at him, wanting to be in position to encourage him in some way, yet falling short of it. “Yes.. It is her… She has her eyes”, I simply said. 

Mateo looks at me in the rear-view mirror and I give him a tiny smile… The child is even more beautiful than I though, I continue my inner dialogue. She has retained her innocence, a rare quality in this world anymore, rare indeed. If only she knew!

My thoughts drift and I am sent back in time.. All my first tribe human children had those eyes, those unmistakable beacons of my connection to my birth world, to my father. I always wanted First Tribes to look like that – they reminded me of Father, they reminded me of creation, and of just being. There was something about Catherine that even I could not explain, something about human nature that even I, who created them, could not fully identify or grasp.

My thoughts took me further. I think back of the lush gardens of my birthplace and my Father … So much time has passed... So many changes, so many challenges. What has remained???

“Where to Madam?”, I hear Mateo’s husky voice, bringing me out of my daydreaming and my internal struggle. Mateo was never forceful, but when he spoke you listened – even I did. “The mountain cabin will do.. I need to be in the forest my son”, I said, knowing that I needed the power resting within it. 

He nods, his eyes ever so worrying on me. “Understood… Should I notify anyone else?” he asked. 

“Not yet Mateo, not yet.. I need to think” I say, falling back into a chasm of emptiness, of emotion and of wanting, one that Catherine left in my heart after dying. I should have never allowed that to happen! I have made it a rule, an iron clad rule, not to interfere in human affairs. And it has cost me her life, I said to myself somberly. “It has cost you much more then just that”, I heard the voice of my Father. He was right. 

Perhaps, just perhaps this was my chance to set things right.. I failed Catherine; I could not fail her daughter as well.