Dear journal:
So, here I am, as promised. As I write these words, I'm sailing the Aegean Sea towards the port city of Gytheio - to do the quest I've dreamed of the most... It all began in Berlin, as it was with so many explorers before me. The sources I'd researched pointed at an old house in Berlin, where the famous explorer Schliemann was supposed to have lived. I'd have gone alone, but my sister Cleopatra had to see me taking that bus... We went deep into the house together, until we found a very dusty room - and there we found a desk. I felt like my heart was about to burst out of my chest when I found that inscription that hinted at where an actual map to Troy could be found - so far, it was all going according to what I had researched. But I confess I was surprised when Cleopatra found a couple of very old diaries inside the desk - and then my heart beat faster, because those were none other than copies of Helen's diary - the Helen, the one of the "face that launched a thousand ships"... Now I had to go on and find out if the rest of the story was true, so I (rather, we, 'cause Cleopatra can be really clingy sometimes) took a flight to Nashville. That was a... weird step of the adventure, since we had to unearth someone's tomb to find that map, but... well, I swear we put it all back the way it was before leaving. Well, in the end, isn't that what being a "tomb raider" really means? So, next we went to Izmir. I always liked that city, but mostly because from there we can see the Aegea Sea, blue like a sapphire, with those waters that were the stage of so many ancient adventures... And now, it's time for my (our) adventure. The sun's shining brightly, as expected, there's a warm wind blowing from the south, and Cleopatra is by my side at the boat's prow. Just a few more miles and we'll be setting foot on the lands of myth...
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Coming to Rio de Janeiro is always one of my favourite parts in touring with mom's band: the heat, the warmth of people, the beaches with soft golden sands...
And today is the first time I've come here as a 12 years old. Mom's band was playing in the Big Bang, and this time I didn't just stay in the backstage watching the show through TV: I watched the show from the crowd (ok, mom's personal assistant was taking care of me to make sure I didn't get lost, but still), with other kids and teens, probably children of other artists playing there... Can't say I made friends there, but I did see again some kids I'd met in the past Wintermoon Christmas. Afterwards, of course I had to take the chance to try the waves of Rio for the first time. Singapore was nice, but Rio is Rio, after all - plus, Singapore doesn't have as many cute boys as Praia do Arpoador... [^w^] It's true that I hit my head in a rock after a wave caught me, and I had to be saved by Cleopatra (I can't believe I had to be saved by her... ), but I won't let that spoil this magic afternoon. And the best part? Just a couple of days more, and we'll be back for another show of my mom's band... Dear Journal:
So, today, just one day before I turn 12, I got my first birthday gift. Mom just couldn't contain herself from giving it to me (probably she wanted to see how happy I would be ^w^): a surfboard, of all things! Like, really, of all things! I, Olympia, the nerd, picking a surfboard and going to the sea! Sure, I just didn't know what to do, at first (I never surfed before, obviously), so I just did what I already saw people doing: I lay on the surfboard, swam a little, waiting until a nice-looking wave came... And when it came, I quickly jumped on top of the surfboard... And I'll tell you, I never thought that feeling would be so good... Pure adrenaline, sliding so quickly over the water I couldn't even think - I honestly still don't know how I did it: I just let my body move on its own... The wave quickly closed in on me, and I felt I was going to get knocked out... Then, I just slid out of the water tube, and stood on the surfboard while the wave crashed down away. Only then I started thinking again - and when I understood I had just faced a tube and won... oh, the glory! So it turns out that the first skill I've learned in my life was not Ancient History, or Heavy Metal - but Surfing. But, now that I think about it, even when I lived in Istanbul, I'd always look at the Bosphorus, where the Marmara and the Black Sea meet, and feel a strange... What's the word again? Oh, "longing"... Right, I'd always feel this strange longing for the sea. Now, here on the waters of Singapore on the corner of the world, I feel the sea calling to me - but the seas of my first home, the seas once sailed by those heroes and heroines of ancient legend. That's right, my first adventure's got to be in Turkey and then Greece. Aegean Sea, just you wait for me... All right, not reeaally grown up, but compared to how I was days ago, when I was still 6-year-old, 10 years old feels a lot. Back then, it was hard for me to hold my little sis Athena, and now I can hold both her and Ursula (she's Britany's daughter, but she counts as my sister too). Our infinity pool used to feel like a whole ocean, and now... Well, it still feels like an ocean, but an Indian Ocean now (before, it was like the whole Pacific!). Coolest of all: days ago, I was always afraid of climbing my bunk bed, but now I can do this easily - and without the stairs!
Like, it's almost as if there's nothing I can't do. I can climb the trees in our greenhouse, I can climb the antenna on the terrace... And, awesomest of all: I'm allowed to go outside on my own! Ok, I have to take care of my sis Cleo too (she always wants to go outside too) but she's a cool company, when she isn't sulking or telling to go only where she wants to... And the best part of being allowed to go out is exploring places. I remember I used to walk a lot in Istanbul (that's where I was born), and even though I'm in London since I was 4, most of the time I was around the world with my mom's band. There's so much of London I still don't know... But I'll explore it a lot before the next tour, and I'll explore all the cities we visit. When I grow up, I want to be an explorer like Laura Croft, and so I must get used to it as soon as possible! I just have to be careful with mom, tho. She keeps getting worried with me... That's all for now, dear diary! With love, Olympia She'd always known this wouldn't work...
Ever since she'd first opened the Book of Wintermoon, Rhiannon had had that mixed feeling of awe and fear; awe at the lore it contained, and fear of what it might bring. Then she'd used it to ressurrect Agata. Even now she felt cursed for having broken one of nature's most sacred laws for such a selfish reason; but to see her cousin alive and well always convinced her that it had all been for the best. But then she'd seen Agata gloomily musing over everything she had missed, all the years of youth she had been robbed of by that accident, and how her strength and beauty were fading just as she was about to live the life she'd always wanted... And Rhiannon once again opened the ancient tome, this time on a spell that twisted the flow of time, making one younger or older at will. She could already see its effects on Agata, and her happiness once again made Rhiannon blind to the danger... No longer. She had just returned home from the album release party; while she took off her shoes, Olympia and Cleopatra ran inside, as usual - though, unusually that time, Cleopatra carried Athena to her cradle while Olympia disappeared from Rhiannon's view. She didn't bother to go after the girl; she seldom needed to, as her eldest was so responsible... But when she heard a loud wispy noise followed by Olympia's scream, Rhiannon ran after her - and her heart skipped a beat as she saw the glowing, ethereal smoke coming out of her room, just where she kept the Book of Wintermoon... And, as she entered it, her eyes aprehended the scene in a second: the book of her ancestors opened on her bed, right on the pages of the so-called "Flashpoint" spell... And Olympia right before it, healthy, but different: she was taller, her face less rounded and less childish. She looked at her mother with frightened eyes, but Rhiannon just hugged her, apologising relentlessly; for her irresponsibility had just cost her daughter 4 precious years of childhood... The candles were set in the right places; the sigils, painstakingly drawn on the ashen ground, were too. The cauldron, set at the centre of everything, perched above a blue bonfire, its contents – a swirling, ethereal liquid – bubbling lazily. The only thing that didn't seem to be in its rightful place was Rhiannon's own mind – though she was sure that at least her heart was.
That was a spell from her clan's ancient book: Aes Sidhe Heldrasil, the most forbidden one - for that was the spell brought the dead back to life. Rhiannon knew that her soul would probably be damned for that – hell, she had avoided the legacy of her clan for so long [i]because[/i] of that – but her recent visit to Antenora, and her clash with the undead shell of her beloved cousin there, had changed her mind. Agata had been one of her greatest friends, caring for her when she had no parent to do that; how could she leave her like that, rotting in that cursed darkness forever…? Taking a deep breath, Rhiannon followed the final steps of the spell: adding a handful of aurochs horn powder to the cauldron, the liquid became blood-red and boiled more intensely; next, she added a rune carved in elm wood – Jera, the rune of life –; the last ingredient was a handful of ectoplasm – a memento from Antenora, taken from Bubba Ho-tep himself. At the last addition, the cauldron's mixture became ghostly blue and started to glow. Finally, and more carefully than ever, she crouched near the central bonfire and blew it with the most special ingredient: powdered silver branches from the Isle of Skye. The flames went from blue to a mystical silvery, and then Rhiannon stepped out of the circle and uttered the ancient words from the book; the wind grew more violent, the trees ruffled, as if Nature itself protested against that violation… But it was too late for any intervention. The cauldron became engulfed in a column of silver fire, and then exploded, extinguishing both the column and the candles' fire. Rhiannon peered through the thick resulting mist, apprehensive… And then she smiled, tears quickly welling up her eyes, as she distinguished the tall, trembling silhouette, the dirty blonde hair and then the bright green eyes of her cousin. Rhiannon hurried to cover her naked body, protecting it from the cold wind of that world she hadn't seen in 17 years – and to her relief and joy, she quickly recognized her, and smiled too. Agata Mathiasson was back to the living world. Rhiannon sighed, exhausted: she had spent the whole afternoon, plus most of the evening, receiving and organizing the furniture for her new home, but now she was finally done - well, not quite: the greenhouse was still unfinished, as was the infinity pool (which she had always joked to be her "capitalist elite" dream). Nonetheless, it was done enough for the girls and herself to sleep there.
She walked around the place: she had ordered it painted in tones of blue and turquoise, and the furniture matched these colours for the most part. Most of it was made of metal or glass: the chandelier, the fountain on the terrace, the pillars topped by marble busts - all of which represented, in one way or another, each of her and Britany's children. Rhiannon smiled as she watched the thoughtful gaze of the goddess Athena; coincidence or not, her own Athena already had a similarly inquisitive look... Rhiannon called Britany, asking her to bring the girls. In the meantime, she herself went to the terrace, watching the city below, the lights popping here and there as night fell, while the fountain's waters sang behind her. Being on the southern edge of Westminster, the view from there reached some of London's most iconic landmarks: the Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Thames, London's Eye, Elizabeth Tower, even Cleopatra's Needle, the Shard, London Bridge and Hyde Park farther away... Rhiannon smiled and breathed deeply that chilly evening air: to think that she once found herself in that same Hyde Park as a 28-year-old without a job, or a band, or a house... It didn't take long until the ecstatic cries of Cleopatra and Olympia, followed by the indistinct, but cheerful babbling of Athena and Leona, and even the sulking of Drakon and Ursula, echoed in that crystal-like home - for the first time. Rhiannon smiled even more, going down to the living room to receive everyone: now she could say her home was completed. Rhiannon sighed tiredly as she stretched on the sofa that furnished the deluxe nightliner's first level. Coven of the Nightqueen had just finished the always long European and Turkish stages of the world tour and was now heading to Shanghai for the East Asian stage. Xênia, Laetitia, Zilda and Synnove - her bandmates - were sound asleep on the nightliner's upper level, as were her daughters Athena and Cleopatra; her eldest, Olympia, had fallen asleep on her lap after finding her there and asking for some cuddling. Through the window, Rhiannon could see the moonlit, snowy peaks of the Ural Mountains: the gateway between Europe and Asia.
With her face leant against the cold window, Rhiannon thought about those last three years of her life. To think that, not long before the end of the year 88, she found herself alone with Laetitia in an otherwise inactive band, without a home of her own, just another citizen in the world's second largest city and having just entered her forties, almost resigned to the fact that, at that age, she'd hardly find either her much-dreamed musical success nor a love like Heitor's... Heitor... It still hurt a bit, to think of him. She vividly remembered the day they had met: she had gone to Rio de Janeiro to try and forget the loss of he who had been her first love, and as if a gift from the universe, she had met that 18-year-old young man - she was, at the time, 32, though the age gap didn't prove to be an obstacle. Career-wise, the years spent with him hadn't been productive, and at certain height all her old bandmates started deserting to pursue other goals - but she was happy as long as she was with him. He was the man she wanted to marry, build a life and have a bunch of kids; but then, that summer of 88, there was that car accident... In hindsight, Rhiannon knew she owed much of her current happiness to Laetitia - the only of her old friends who remained, and the one who kept her hopeful and loving. She was the one who motivated her to give it another try, and it had been then, at the end of 88, that Rhiannon met those who became her new bandmates and friends: Synnove, a young Norwegian who had just moved to London pursuing her musical dreams, and Xênia, who was none other than a cousin of Heitor, and who Rhiannon basically took under her wing. It was also in late 88 that Rhiannon finally realised her dream of getting pregnant: though the father was no Heitor, he was kind and she liked him. It was also around that time that she married Britany, whom she had been dating since before Heitor's death - well, their relationship had always been of the "open" type, after all. They became pregnant around the same time, as did Xênia, and their first daughters - Athena, Leona and Isis respectively - were born around the same time, little after the first part of the renewed Coven's first tour. Now, not only was she the leader of a promising band, owner of a thriving record studio and of a luxurious penthouse in London (well, she too had her "guilty capitalist pleasures"...), but, most importantly: she was once again surrounded by friends, now with the addition of being surrounded by beloved daughters. She was once again surrounded in happiness. Sighing again, but now with a smile, Rhiannon carried Olympia's frail body upstairs, lying her on the ample bed she shared with Athena and Cleopatra - and then she herself lay there, surrounded by her daughters. The Coven still had quite a few shows ahead, and she needed to rest if she was to give a worthy performance. |
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