Page 492

She feared the former, because it would mean she would have to leave, to go to another part of Blairville, due to the strict rules of the Water Quatra Society.

“Well, then I guess you're something better, Alaister Westcode.”

She emptied her cup, tied her platinum blonde hair – which had a warmer tone than mine – into a messy bun, and threw her worn backpack over her shoulder before pulling her mainly blue yet colorful Aztec fleece jacket tighter and disappearing into the hallway.

I wanted to stop her, tell her she had misunderstood, but I felt weak. Much weaker and more fragile than I had been a few months ago.

Looking back, I was more alive two years ago than I am these days. If the Alaister of that time had known that there was really no hope, he would have taken his own life.

What Did You Really See

The Newton Brothers

Saturday, June 7, 1997

Entry 5

I watched her, her subtle smile, how she tilted her head while the rest of her body tried to relax.

She sat next to Alice's mother at one of the five long stone tables in Moenia's festively decorated and lively dining hall, reminiscent of bygone eras, and both were engrossed in conversation.

Rosalynd had taken her into her heart, had become our godmother, and we had regularly eaten together. Just the Blairs and the Westcodes.

The table was long, and several other Quatura – dressed in ceremonial clothing, each of them with their individual black, gray, or gray-blue Quatura stole across their chest, embroidered with their individual silver rank and element symbols – sat between us and talked loudly, which was why I couldn't hear them.

There hadn't been a celebration like this in a long time, but it was customary for us to perform the traditional Quatura ceremonies here in the ancient stone banquet hall with the statues of the gods on the columns.

There were four major celebrations for the main gods, smaller ones for all the other gods, and this one, called Lumina, which was dedicated to Celestia. The primordial goddess. The deity who had not only created the other elements, but also represented the light of the universe and would protect us from darkness as long as we rendered her our true and faithful service.

Some Quatura hoped that this celebration would convince Celestia to bring the Lucillians back so that they could rid the island of all the darkness, but I was among those who did not say aloud that they did not believe in the existence of the celestial race.

Back then, I had enjoyed this day. However, it was not because I had been interested in the decorations covered with storage energy.

Flickering candles floated through the corridors of Moenia. Swirling water balls with white-blue light danced in the air in front of the statues at the temple entrances and even decorated the fountains outside in the gardens. Glowing crystals in various colors in the ornate stone wall mounts and decorative steel brackets in the Victorian pavilions adorned the entire property, giving this place a mysterious flair with their pleasant, heartbeat-like flickering, especially on the night of the celebration. And a sea of sparks from red-hot embers floated above us in the dining hall, like a burning ocean of stars, high up, close to the ceiling.

Alice had exhausted herself storing some of her core energy for this evening in the embers up there, which was why she had been taken up to her room earlier when she had almost lost consciousness.

Oh, how I wished I could be with her instead of down here.

All these things had their deceptive, reality-distracting effect, making one forget what was happening behind the walls of this place, but it had always been Alice's sparkling eyes through which I had much preferred to see all these things.

She loved these celebrations, even though she hadn't seen much of them in recent years, since her element had been used for all kinds of representative decorative storage practices.

Celebrations that the Quatura society was said to have celebrated on an immense scale thousands of years ago, but this had declined dramatically since the Quatura had withdrawn and lived in secrecy since the Middle Ages.

Around 1800, when Catholicism had been predominant in Blairville and the Quatura had subordinated themselves to the human religion in order to remain undercover, they had even completely abandoned the hidden festivities at a certain point, even though this had led to severe conflicts within the Quatura society.

Moenia was now the last exception in this world where there were large celebrations of this magnitude, to which Quatura dynasties from all over the world traveled, even the other male Quatura, accompanied by their Custodes as well as by representatives of the Councils. Something I was fortunately spared, thanks to the destructive curse that lay upon me, as the Councils still did not know how best to handle the “Alaister matter”.

Mother always talked about how those times would return, that Blairville would one day be a Quatura metropolis where our society could properly serve the gods once all the darkness had been eradicated from this town.

I stared at her as she presented this fake, albeit restrained smile, while Rosalynd introduced her to the Indian Dhawan Domini. And somehow, at that moment, I was so fascinated by my mother's behavior that I didn't know if I was dreaming or if she was really smiling.

“Hey.” I looked at my sister in her gray stole with silver rhombus embroidery patterns, who held out the crystal glass to me. “Here's to many more years of her managing to maintain this friendship.”

She pointed to Rosalynd and our mother. Rosalynd glanced briefly at us and Manda smiled at her as if nothing were amiss.

“What are you implying?” I asked with a strange feeling in my stomach.