Alyanna"s POV
"Vander!" Finally, the cutest Garden Gnome I am acquainted with has returned. "It"s good to see you back!" And then we spun around the living room with me carrying him. I really missed his naughtiness.
"Wait, wait, wait..." The little gnome stared at me - and to the skirt I am currently wearing. "Is that a new trend? Leafy Skirt?"
When Brylle entered the house and saw the scene where Vander was asking me that, he suddenly laughed. We have just arrived home after leaving the forest! "Her clothes were robbed away by a Hobgoblin!"
Vander also laughed when he heard what his master said. "My master!" And as greeting to his boss, the gnome kissed Brylle"s hand.
Meanwhile, Brylle put his hand on top of Vander"s head. "It"s good that you"re back!" There"s something fishy on their exchange of stares yet she couldn"t tell what it means.
"What did you do? Vander, why are you not around for so long? Brylle doesn"t want to tell me, eh."
"You know, just go upstairs and change your clothes. It seems to me that you"re enjoying wearing my T-shirt and your amazing skirt." Oh, come on, more teasing! (TN: note the sarcasm) "And also prepare all the sweets that Vander likes to eat. He had travelled far."
"Yum, yum, yum! I missed the food you always prepare, Yana!"
"What did you do first? Didn"t you bring home any souvenirs, Vander?"
I planned to pester him more but Brylle made me fly. I can"t do anything when he made me fly all the way to the second floor. "Just be there, upstairs! Go have a change of clothes!" He shouted at me.
When I stepped onto the floor, "So mean! Vander, later please tell me about it, okay?" Then I ran towards my room.
They are really hiding something from me. It"s not that I want to meddle with it so much, but it can be said that I"m already part of their life. That"s why I want to know. I can say that Brylle and Vander are now my kindest friends - family. They are not the same with those who I have live with before.
About Brylle being my boss, the way he treated me has been a world apart from how my relatives treated me before. And to think those people are my relatives!
...
Brylle"s POV
"Here po, Master Brylle!" Vander handed me a paper with words hand-written by Sorceress Louhi.
"What"s this, Vander? A Locator Spell?"
"Yes po."
Vander stared at me for a long time first before I asked what happened when he conversed with Sorceress Louhi.
= Flashback =
"What is someone from Zaffiro doing at my humble palace?" greeted Sorceress Louhi to Vander.
"I was sent here by my Master Brylle." He immediately uncovered a jar containing the Yosuzume feathers and then Louhi, the cla.s.s S old woman, suddenly became excited. "My Master Brylle can readily offer everything inside this jar as long as you can locate someone from the Mortal World."
"Hyahahahaha! A Cla.s.s B+ Wizard, can"t even locate a simple mortal!"
"We highly believe that the one we"re searching for is not a simple mortal. She could possibly be in possession of a powerful amulet which made my Master unable to locate her. Only someone in Cla.s.s S like you could find her!"
"Someone in possession of a powerful amulet? We"ll know soon. But before I fulfil your wish, give me first the payment."
Vander held out to the sorceress what she has been demanding. As she stared at the shining Yosuzume feathers, the joy on the old woman"s face is undeniable.
Without speaking a single word, the sorceress took out a cauldron, magic staff and a thick Book of Spells. She flipped through the pages and after a moment, she started the ritual.
"Tutelle van naar Terre, Steun mihi vondst ҫa mortelle.
Pomást je deres skjerme, Être meg der hvor de bo."
She mixed in a variety of ingredients until the place was filled with smoke. Vander watched her quietly and expressed admiration to the ritual the sorceress was conducting.
When the place brightened up, Vander and Sorceress suddenly saw a person. They can be sure that she"s the one they"re looking for.
"Med alle meg måtte, da vidim se.
Med alle meg kraft, utlei meg se!"
At that last part which Louhi had shouted, his reaction changed at the sight of new vision. Their search ended, yet they unexpectedly discovered something surprising.
"Lux Amulet! They have the Lux Amulet!"
"Lux Amulet of the White Light Clan!"
They were both shocked. They both know how important that amulet is.
"It"s impossible that the person we"re looking for has Lux"s blood."
"Right. The person is clearly a mortal. Only a fool and weak mortal! But since she possesses the most important amulet from the Lux, she"s using its power to hide herself."
"If that"s the case, then how can we locate her?"
"We both know what the Lux Amulet can do. No one can break the power it holds. But there"s a way to know the answer."
Sorceress Louhi grabbed a paper and pen. Using the blood of the dead creature hanging on the wall, she began to write.
"If that mortal stole away another item from someone else, only the person they robbed those items away from can trace her. Let that person read this oration and then her feet will move by themselves to bring her to the rightful place!"
Vander listened carefully to the old Cla.s.s S sorceress" advice. After that, he hastily made a trip back to deliver the oration which can point out where Yana"s aunt is.
= End of Flashback =
"Do you mean, the sacred Lux amulet of the White Light clan was one of those things pa.s.sed by Yana"s parents" to her?" I couldn"t believe what I learned.
"It"s a huge, huge, huge mess, right, Master?" I nodded at Vander"s question.
We both pondered deeply. How come that the Lux Amulet became one of Yana"s inheritance? Was her parents connected to the chaos that took place long ago to the White Light Clan?
"What are we going to do, Master?"
I gripped the paper containing Sorceress Louhi"s oration tightly. "Let"s make Yana read this oration."
"You mean, we"re gonna let her know that we"re searching for her relatives?"
"It seems it will be like that, Vander. She"ll end up knowing about it anyway. And one more thing, Sorceress Louhi mentioned that if Yana will read this, she"ll learn where her aunt is."
"Brylle?"
The two of us turned our heads back. "Yana? Have you been listening there since the start?"
"You"re looking for my aunt?"
...
Alyanna"s POV
I immediately changed my clothes so that I can head back and chat with Vander again. We haven"t bonded for quite a while, I really missed him!
However, when I got back, I heard the secret that Brylle and Vander was hiding from me. I learned that they"ve been searching for my aunt.
"Why? Why are you doing this to help me? And why are the two of you so good to me?"
"Because you already belong to this family." I can feel the seriousness and sincerity from his voice. "When I saw you being detained by the police because of the debt that you shouldn"t have been paying, I realized the extent of suffering you experienced at their hands. I want to free you from your pasts, Yana."
I was touched by what Brylle said, yet, "What would happen when I see my aunt again?" What if Brylle do something bad to them? What if they take revenge against my relatives?
"All I will do is protect you. And the rest is up to you, Yana." Then he approached me and put a paper on my hand. "Isn"t this what you want? To find them and get back what they stole from you."
The paper seems to have an oration written on it. "All you have to do is chant those words and you"ll know where to find them."
I stared at Brylle"s face for a long time, then my eyes went down to the paper. "I"m scared, Brylle. I"m scared of my aunt." Because when I tried to think of her face, all the pain, bullying and exploitation surfaced on my mind.
"They won"t be able to hurt you, Yana. You"re at my place."
"I"m also with you, Yana."
From the words they said together with their desire to be a help to me, I felt joy.
Brylle is right. It"s already time for me to be courageous. It"s already time for me to face my nightmares which are in the form of those relatives of mine. It"s already time to retrieve what they robbed away from me.
I carefully scrutinized the paper, stared at each letter and word written on it. I breathed deeply and then read the oration in front of them.
"Láta indeværende, ord mi hvorfra de er!"
I read the words slowly yet just with the first line, I can already see the face of my aunt.
"Láta indeværende, ord mi hvorfra de er!"
And now I can clearly see it. I can"t explain it but I can see her each and every movement. It"s like I am watching them at this exact moment.
"Láta indeværende, ord mi hvorfra de er!"
The wind suddenly brushed by me. Brylle and Vander suddenly stared at her.
"What now, Yana?"
I can"t believe what"s happening right now. The words I was uttering have a strange magic on them. It was unexplainable. "I now know where they are."