Dad came to visit me. As with Mom before him, I struggled to keep my tears from showing. He had died long before Mom had and I knew, based on the unwritten past, that he did not have much time left. I hugged him tightly and then tried to pass it off as being home sick.
“What are you doing with yourself?” he asked, looking around my sad excuse for a lot.
I told him that I was indulging in fishing… while I awaited an application with the Conservation Department. I had only joined them late in my career last time. This time around, I thought perhaps the resources I would have there would aide me in the Mission. Dad seemed to agree. He patted my back and told me that he thought that would be a good fit.
While I waited on a hoped-for job, I went about my life in much the same way as I had the first time around. Aunt Diana called this a chance to do it better, but I was so afraid that if I made one step different, I would miss the moment I met Aleah. And I already worried that the job application, even if it was a job I held after we were married, might be just the ripple to change things. I’d taken the chance anyway, and now I was fearful.
Dawn visits often. I keep waiting for the day that she invites me to the lounge for talent night. That signified the beginning of the events were I met Aleah.
But the waiting is hard, and I am not the same person inside that I am on the outside. Life changed my heart and living alone sucks. So I head out in search of some entertainment and wind up at a museum in Brindleton Bay. I paint for a while and then look around. The lady from the food cart is there. We talk for a while, as she is surprised to see me here in Brindleton Bay.
Afterwards, I walk down to the banks of the creek and check out the local fishing waters. I haven’t been there long when the sound of dog barking startles me out of my thoughts. I turn to see a young woman walking a dog, Kaya.
Well… the dog’s name is Kaya. The woman introduces herself as Blue. Blue Sargent. It’s a strange thing, to name someone after a color. Then again, I hear there is a celebrity in Del Sol Valley by the name of Orange. But Blue is not a celebrity. She’s just a normal person like me (well, not really like me because our family is not normal) who likes to walk her dog down by the creek.
We chat about ordinary things while her dog plays in the sand. It reminds me of the dream of Sulani I had given up long ago, in another life.
“Have you ever been to Sulani?” I asked Blue.
“No, but I would like to one day,” she admitted. “I think it would nice to vacation there once in my lifetime.”
“I used to think I wanted to live there,” I told her.
She wrinkled her brow. “Why would you want to leave your family and friends?” she asked.
I had never really thought about it that way before. But before I could stammer an answer, she was off with Kaya and I doubted very much that would see her again.
Not long afterwards, I went to the Magic Realm for the Rite of Ascension which would begin my Magical training. I wasn’t nervous about it like I was the first time around. The Sage of Practical Magic did the deed and I was Magic again. I instantly started looking into Tomes to help me… and lingered long into the night because I hoped Aleah might show up. I even managed to squeeze in some fishing.
But Aleah did not show up.
On my way home, I stopped by the houses in Glimmerbrook, where we’d stumbled across each other the last time. The old lot where my family’s home used to stand was still there, but there was no sign of Aleah either. I told myself that it was too soon. Dawn hadn’t called to ask me to the Talent Show. I wasn’t going to parties.
But if she lived there, wouldn’t she be in Glimmerbrook? Would it change anything if I just walked up to the Collette house and introduce myself? I was risking so much already, but I was impatient to have my life back.