Fuzzy... soft... squishy... What was this sensation pressing on my nose? Opening my eyes, I saw an orange paw.
I shook it away and grabbed the feline before sitting up. The kitten let out a high-pitched meow.
"What are you doing here in my room? Wait, how did you even come in?"
I went to see if my dorm door was locked, and apparently it still was.
"How did you get in?"
"Nya~"
A gush of wind suddenly blew on me, and I realized that I had left my window open.
"Did you just come in to wake me up? And won't Eris be worried if you are gone?"
"Nya!"
After walking to Devina's office and dropping off the kitten, she suddenly stopped me before I left.
"Please tell me you aren't gonna send me off on another mission," I said pleadingly.
"No, no, it isn't that... well maybe a little... I will make it worth your while." She waved her finger as if I were a dog, trying to coax me closer.
I had just wanted to enjoy this summer break alongside Aylin and my club, but every day that I thought I would have free time, this blonde-haired professor decided to send me off on some bothersome mission.
"What do you want now?"
"The Lusians wish to return back home. Celia has awakened and she has requested to return to her Lusian village."
"She really woke up?"
"Yeah, Eris is talking with her at the moment."
I stepped inside her office and saw Eris licking her friend's face wet with her tongue, her tail wagging intensely.
"She seems much better now, but still I doubt that she will recover that quickly," Devina said.
The kitten leapt onto Celia's lap and nudged itself against her.
"Princess, you are alright..." She stroked the cat with her wings.
"Celia!!!" Eris cried out again before hugging her tightly.
"Calm down, Eris, I won't go anywhere."
"So how are you feeling now?" Devina asked.
As Celia continued to rub the cat, she answered honestly that she still felt horrible inside.
"I broke the promise all we Lusians made to our Mother. I thought it was the end of me. That she would forsake me, that I would no longer be a Lusian, but as I was sinking into the depths of darkness, I felt a gentle hand reaching out to me.
They took ahold of my hand and dragged me out of the bottomless ocean, and we soared high up into the clouds. Beyond the clouds, before my eyes, I saw her."
"Who?" Devina asked.
Celia smiled and said that she had met the Aeon of Desire, Celestia.
"WHAT?!"
Devina took ahold of Celia's shoulders and shook her back and forth.
I pulled Devina back, trying to get her under control.
"You met Celestia? Are you sure you weren't dreaming or something?"
Celia shook her head.
"I would never mistake the lukini of our Mother."
"What did she say?"
"It was an eternal garden filled with blue lilies covered in silver pearls. It was natural, not constructed with purpose. Every step on the grass felt as if Mother's warm arms embraced me. Crystal-clear blue water ran through this garden with crescent moon formations scattered across the plain. There, sleeping on the ground in a ring of blue flowers, was undoubtedly the Moon Goddess. It seemed like the moment I arrived she sensed my presence and awoke from her slumber. Rising slowly like the moon at night, she walked up towards me. Her eyes were blindfolded with a thin net, her hair dark red like the crimson moon, her flowy dress as white as silk. The moment she was face to face with me, she seemed confused, dashing around me and leaving behind a trail of white dust.
"You still have your physical body, yet you are here on the moon. That's quite the oddity. Mmmm~"
She crouched down beside a white rabbit and picked it up into her arms.
"Want attention too, little one?"
"I was honestly speechless, still wondering how I managed to reach the moon."
"Hmm? Still standing there? Won't you come?"
"Oh... uhh... are you... really... no, you are... I would recognize this lukini anywhere. You are our Mother."
"Hmm?"
Rabbit in hand, she walked up to me and smiled.
"Come, Celia."
"I just listened to her and followed her through the garden of flowers."
♫ Sleep, my little child, my little child. The moon will watch over you as slumber embraces you. The night will be calm and the crickets shall sing you asleep. The night wind shall cool your body. The lyrics of the moon shall quell your thoughts. ♬
"We are here, take a seat."
"I sat down on one of the moon structures and she asked me why I was here so early.
I told her I didn't know why exactly I was here."
"Mmm..."
"Mother? Did you see what happened?"
"She let the rabbit down onto her lap and raised her gaze towards me."
"My Celia, that which you have no control over shall not dictate what others think. And it's not the moon that will judge you for your sins, it's here every time you need something to lean on. I promise you one thing, and it is that it will never leave you."
"She then appeared behind me, embracing me with her small arms around my waist. For somebody so far away from Earth, she was the warmest person I had ever hugged.
I just couldn't help but cry and let her soft hums comfort me. She told me that everything would be alright and that I shouldn't sulk too much over things that wouldn't change. I couldn't help but ask her who those white animals circling her were.
She picked up a white cat and smiled warmly.
"It's Ita!"
"What? Auntie Ita?"
Eris turned her head sideways upon hearing that name.
"You met Auntie Ita, who died several years ago?"
"Let me finish, Eris."
"So, Mother explained that the moon is where all the Lusians will go after living out their lives on Earth. The human form they take on is due to their father. Their souls, which are pure, will return to the moon and live out the rest of their lives as Lusians.
After a long and heartfelt conversation with our Mother, I felt as if I had been completely healed, and she told me it would be best for my soul not to linger too long on the moon, otherwise I wouldn't be able to return to Earth, so she sent me back."
Devina couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"You hear that, Istroth? Celestia is doing quite well."
I scanned Celia's body and saw the flower on her stomach had disappeared entirely. So that mark that Aylin left on her, it was a connection between this world and the moon.
"There's one issue though," Devina said.
"You are pregnant," Devina said, scratching her head.
Celia rubbed her stomach, looking down.
"If you want, I could help you remove it before it turns into something bigger," Devina said nonchalantly.
I stared at Devina in awe at how brutally straightforward she could be.
"No."
"What are you saying, Celia? You have been tainted by a human without the moon's blessing?"
"It is true that I didn't want this to happen. I still feel awful, but this isn't this child's fault. I cannot end somebody's life for no reason. This child is protected by the moon."
Eris pulled back, staring at her friend in disbelief before smiling and hugging her.
"As for how you will return back to your Lusian village without being caught by humans again... hmmm... How about you guys become students here at the Academy? You will earn international protection rights, and no one will come after you if you are studying under the Royal Academy. After becoming students, you can return back to your village."
Eris and Celia stared at each other before nodding.
"We will do it, please help us."