The following day, Darian woke up with Snowy, curled up next to him, still sleeping.
Darian first stretched himself, then he got out of the bed without making any sound; he did not want to wake Snowy yet.
While Darian was dressing, Snowy slowly opened his eyes. "Oh, morning, Snowy!" said Darian the moment Snowy woke up. He opened the window and Darian noticed that the sun was already high in the sky.
"I guess I slept too much…" he whispered. In less than two minutes he was ready and he came out of the room, with Snowy curled up on his shoulder. The house was really silent. It felt like the other three were still asleep and Darian was the first one who woke up.
"Let's see if Naluri is awake…" whispered Darian as he walked down the stairs, just to see Naluri in the kitchen sewing. She was on her usual chair near the window. As Darian walked down the stairs, the old woman heard him and stopped sewing to greet him.
"Hello, Darian," said Naluri with a big smile on her face. "Hello!" said Darian as he entered the kitchen.
"At what time did the four of you return yesterday?" asked Naluri with a small smirk on her face. It felt like she already knew what they had been doing.
Darian suddenly remembered that Naluri had told Lily that she could not enter the tower after the incident with her eye, so he started to sweat a bit, not knowing what to reply. "Oh well, you know… we've been around a bit."
Naluri laughed softly. "You don't need to lie." She looked directly into Darian's eyes, who tried to break the contact. "I know that Lily has never stopped going to the tower… sadly there is nothing I can do to warn that girl about the problems that this world has," sighed Naluri.
"I promise that no one got hurt; we just went there out of curiosity," said Darian as he felt he had done something wrong. He was the oldest one in that small group, so it was totally his fault.
Naluri understood that Darian was feeling a bit guilty, so she reassured him. "You don't need to worry. Lily has always been like that since she was a child; she just can't stay still," said Naluri as she looked outside the window.
Darian remained silent after hearing that. Naluri had returned to her sewing. "By the way, I was wondering your relationship with Lily. Is she your niece?" asked Darian. Naluri shook her head.
"I wish she was, but sadly that isn't true. We're not related by blood," said Naluri. Darian noticed that she started to feel a bit sad.
"Sorry, maybe I should have not as-" Darian got interrupted by Naluri in the middle of the sentence.
"Don't worry, it's normal to ask. Now I think that you're wondering why she's with me, right?" asked Naluri as she smirked. Darian nodded his head.
"The story isn't much longer. As I've told you before, Lily is not my niece. She was born in a normal family. I knew both her father and mother; they were both good people. The parents were both happy to have such a beautiful daughter, and in a few months, they were going to have another child… but," Naluri started to tell her relationship with Lily. Darian took a seat and started to listen carefully. Snowy lay on the table next to Darian's hands.
"But things don't always go well. Their house suddenly caught fire. Lily was able to save herself thanks to the help of her father that pushed her out of the door before the fire could have crushed all of them. Her mother remained inside. None of her parents could make it in time. Lily was only three years old when she saw both her parents being charred to death. Many people gathered around the burning house and tried to help, but it was already too late."
"But then why did you decide to take and raise her as your child?"
"I have always loved the idea of having a child and raising them… but it wasn't possible. I have never married anyone… and this is my biggest regret in life," said Naluri as some tears started to flow down her cheek. Darian remained silent and kept listening to her.
"My dad was the old leader of the Tideflares. The moment he saw that he had an Alterid child, he immediately wanted to train me. For him, I was only the next leader of the Tideflares." Naluri slowly wiped her tears and returned to normal.
"Why did he want that? If the city never really went outside, was there really a need to have strong Alterids?" asked Darian.
"Around 50 years ago, there were multiple people that wanted Yalemba to become stronger; they wanted to make more expeditions. My dad was an Alterid and he had always loved to fight. He thought that you could only win a fight just with pure strength, but… I have never enjoyed fighting. He has obliged me to enter into the Tideflares, so that someday I would be the one to guide the next expedition… but he has completely wasted my whole life into his stupid fantasy," said Naluri with anger in her voice.
"For my dad, a husband needed to be strong. All the guys who wanted to marry me had to fight against my dad. He wanted to prove them, to see if they were really strong, but none of them was able to defeat him. Because of this, they were always scared to get near me, and because of this, I never ended up marrying anyone. Once my dad died, I was already 45; it was too late for me to find someone." Naluri started to look down below.
Suddenly, a smile appeared on Naluri's face. "But I'm glad that I was able to grow Lily by myself. I was already 50 when the fire happened… she has been the best thing that has ever happened in my entire life. That's why I'm so protective with her; I don't want her to get hurt," said Naluri, looking up at the ceiling. She knew Lily's room was right on top of the kitchen.
Darian was literally in tears as he heard this story. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," said Darian with a low voice.
"Oh, oh, there is no need to worry. I'm old; I have lived enough. Telling this story barely makes me sad anymore. I'm just sorry that you had to listen to some stories of an old person," said Naluri as she returned to sew.
The air felt heavy. No one else had woken up yet, so Darian tried to change the topic. "By the way, Lily has told us that the festival of the city is about to arrive, right?"
"Yes, it will be tomorrow. I'm sure that everyone in the city is extremely happy about that. It's such a great moment to stay in company," said Naluri as she felt happy again.
"You will not go away, right? You need to see how beautiful the party is, especially thanks to Garoo," added Naluri.
"Hehe, Lily has already told us this. We still need to be here, especially because if the attack will really happen…" said Darian. Naluri returned serious and with a sad face looked outside the window.
"There will probably be no more festival to do," she said before turning again towards Darian. "Us Tideflares swear with our life that we will protect the city."
"By the way, tell me more about this festival; I'm really curious. I want to know more," said Darian. Naluri kept telling about the festival for another good 30 minutes.
In this festival, all the people of Yalemba dance and make an offer to a fantasy creature that is said to live in the sea right under the city. No one has ever known if this is really true. What everyone knows is that this creature eats the magic, and thanks to this, the creature goes to sleep. That is why, at the end of the festival, everyone launches their magic into the sea, because thanks to this the creature absorbs this magic and keeps staying asleep.
Naluri was talking about this in a totally different way; you could tell that she really believed in something like this, while Lily thought that it was fake.
"But why do you really think it is true? Do you really think something like that exists?" asked Darian. Naluri laughed a bit.
"Oh, oh, if it is true, it doesn't matter. It's thanks to that day that we're able to have a day in which the city really feels alive and happy at the same moment. It might be true or not, but this is the meaning of a myth, right?" Naluri smiled warmly.
The two of them kept speaking until the other three woke up. "Hey, you're already awake, Darian," said Liro as him, Vane, and Lily were coming down the stairs.
"Hehe, he has kept me company for so long," said Naluri as she laughed softly.
"By the way, we were thinking of going a bit around the city. Are you with us, Darian?" asked Liro. Darian first looked to Naluri. Now that he heard her story, he thought that she might feel alone, but she signed with her hand that he could go.
"I'm coming, guys," said Darian. Snowy jumped on his shoulder, and the group went out of the house, waving at Naluri, who remained in the house.
"So? Did Naluri ask anything to you about what happened yesterday?" asked Lily, scared, the moment the group came out of the house. Darian thought for a moment before answering.
"Don't worry, she doesn't know," said Darian, smiling. Lily felt a bit more relieved. "Woah, thank god… I don't want her to worry for me, but at the same moment I want to experience many new things," said Lily.
"I'm sure that the day in which you'll be able to do that will arrive," said Darian, smiling warmly the way Naluri does towards Lily, who did the same.
"Don't lose yourself in words, let's go. I'm curious about the city," said Liro. Near him there was Vane; they were already a few steps ahead. "Right," said Lily as she walked towards them.
"Have fun, my child…" whispered Naluri, smiling. She still had her window open and could hear everything.