Aura - Epilogue: I Won't Forget
Feb 17 15:01:19 2005

The sun was just barely visible over the forested horizon as
Aura finished tightening the crimson sash around her waist, the
last piece of her dress that she'd been allowed to pick out as
a show of homecoming. She smirked to herself as she remembered
a few of the villagers mentioning that they would've allowed her
sooner, but they couldn't find her anywhere since her
grandfather had taken her on that walk late in the morning. The
somewhat-snug-fitting, strawberry-hued single-piece was well
enough for her, as she didn't feel as though she needed anything
especially exuberant.

And it isn't like I'm going anywhere special, anyway... just
back to Truce. Assuming they still even know who I am...

She looked up and into a mirror, taking a moment for herself to
be pleased with what she saw in her reflection, the first time
she'd actually been happy with the way she looked for quite a
long time. Her grandfather had helped her pick it out, but he
was elsewhere at the moment, never mentioning where he was
going to be, either. Her gaze reflected in the mirror as one
of thought, thinking back on the last few hours of her
awakening.

I know he didn't seem overly pleased with what I wanted to do
and where I wanted to go... but then, he didn't seem that
upset, either. Are grandparents supposed to be like that, I
wonder?

A dryad burst into existence just then, only a foot or so away
from her face. It seemed to study her silently for a moment,
then looked into the mirror, where its already-large green eyes
grew even wider as it noticed itself. Aura laughed.

"No, that's not another dryad. It's called a 'reflection'.
Some shiny things, like mirrors and the surface of water,
show an image of anything that you put over or in front of
them. That's just you!"

With a puzzled look between her reflection and Aura, the dryad
shook her head in a sort of dismissive manner, flashing out of
existence in a green light almost as quickly as she'd made her
entrance before. Aura glanced sidelong towards the door leading
outside, her smirk fading into a look of relative neutrality.

I should head out soon... even though I can't walk all by
myself yet, that walking brand I found should at least let
me be mobile enough without relying on the elementals' help
-too- much...

She glanced back into the mirror once again, studying her
reflective counterpart with a silent reminiscence. No longer
the shiny red bodysuit, the dented metallic boots, or the
general uncomfortable feeling that she was apart of a world she
didn't belong to. The black rose was tied into her short,
midnight blue hair in the usual manner, but she couldn't help
but feel anything but normal, still.

My.. mother.. the Tree of Mana. I still can't get over it..

She tugged idly at a shoulderpiece of her dress, frowning just
visibly.

After all I've gone through.. all I've had to endure.. I
wonder if she'd be proud of the fact that I still want to go
back to it all? If she wasn't the core of all mana power,
an absolutely necessity to stay where she is... would she try
to stop me from going back? She said she knew that I had to
go, but I wonder if she really meant it...

She shrugged mildly, reaching towards a side table by the mirror
and grasping the thin satin choker that she suddenly thought of
as a bit odd, given to her by her grandfather when she'd first
reawakened form her slumber after passing out of the Holyland.

A 'limiter', he called it. Something about having to wear
if if I go outside the village, so I don't lose control of my
abilities. I can't help but wonder what he meant by that...

Fingering the material for a moment, she dropped it into a
pocket before reacquiring the sturdy wooden branch that she'd
been using to keep herself steady, and made a slow approach to
and outside the small house, the same that she'd been born in
only seventeen years prior.

No, she wouldn't forget. Not now, not ever. For her place in
the world was the beginning of something on a much grander
scale...