Ch. 7- Goodbyes are Hard

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"Bard, wake up. Bard, it's time to get up," I said as I gently shook him awake. It was about nine and Violet and I had just got back from our morning flight. Bard had been traveling with me for two years. He was seven years old; I was twelve.

"What? Oh! I'm up, I'm up." He quickly got ready while I made breakfast. "Ready!" he called, coming out of the forest fully dressed.

"Good. Come on, we'll eat on the way. It'll take us about fifteen minutes to walk. Violet, Amber, stay." I grabbed Bard's hand, and we walked to the village as we ate our bread and shared fish.

"Where do you want to start?"

"Well, first let's look around to see who's trading for stuff we need."

"Well, what do we need?"

I thought for a minute, "We need cloth, food and maybe a small knife for you."

"I get a knife?" I nodded. "Cool! Let's hurry. I miss Amber, already."

I chuckled, "It hasn't been that long, but I understand. Race you." We looked around and found a little bit of food, a small knife but no cloth. I sighed, "Looks like we'll have to make another stop soon. Oh well."

"We looked everywhere. Let's get going," Bard said. I agreed, wanting to get back to Amber and Violet.

"Bard? Bard, is that you?" Someone asked as we were just about to leave town.

We turned around. "Auntie? Is that you?"

"Bard! It is you," the woman wrapped her arms around him. "Who is this?" She asked, looking up at me. She turned back to Bard, who was still in her arms. "Where's your mom and dad?"

"Oh, they died about three years ago. This is Star, my new sister. I found her about two years ago, and we've been together ever since."

"Well, hello, Star. I'm Bard's Aunt Janet, you can call me Janet or Auntie if you wish." She held out her hand and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you."

Her face lit up, "Why don't you two live with us? Oh, it'll be wonderful and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Us?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, there's me, Uncle Kota, Snook, Shark."

"Snook and Shark?" I asked, trying my best not to snicker. Luckily, she didn't seem to notice.

"Yes, my sons. Come, come." She pushed us into a nearby house. "Kota! Snook! Shark! Come see who's here."

"Mom, what is it?" a boy Bard's age and another boy a few years older than me came down the stairs.

"Bard!" The little one yelled and ran to him.

"Hey, Snook. Nice to see you again," he laughed.

"Hello," the older boy said to me. "I'm Shark, who are you?"

"Um, I'm Star."

"Star, what a lovely name for a lovely girl." He took my hand in his and kissed it. I snatched it back and stepped back, feeling uncomfortable.

"Well," Janet gushed. "I'll give you two some privacy. Come Bard, Snook."

"What? No," I said as they left the room.

"How nice," Shark whispered in my ear. "Alone time. Let's go to my room, shall we?" Before I could say no he pulled me upstairs and into his room. He shut the door and shoved me on the bed. "You're pretty. You must be mine."

"What? No! Leave me alone!" I cried as he came closer.

"My dad is chief, so I can do whatever I want here. Mom and dad have been wanting me to find a girl. Guess I found her. You look pretty strong, too. So you should be able to bare many children."

"What? No!" I tried to get away but couldn't. He was too strong.

"Shark!" Someone- I'm guessing his father- knocked on the door. "Dragon attack! Finish up later and come on!"

Shark got off of me with a sigh and ran off. "Don't move," he said, before he shut the door.

Time to leave. And now I'm able to, I thought in relief as I waited a minute before moving. I didn't want to run into Shark by being impatient. I also needed to catch my breath and calm down, no matter how miniscule the difference was.

I went downstairs where Janet, Snook, and Bard was.

"Bard," I gasped, "I have to speak with you. Alone."

"Okay, this way," he lead me into the other room.

I knelt down next to him and pulled him into a hug. "I'll miss you, Bard," I said my goodbyes.

He quickly pulled away, "What?"

I placed my hands on his shoulders. "Don't let them find Amber. Not until they realise dragons are good, okay? Don't try to force it either, that probably won't end well for you or Amber." I wiped away one of Bard's tears. He knew what I meant. "Don't cry. I have to leave; I have to find my family. You found your family, Bard, and I'm not going to take you away from them. I love you and I'll miss you." I gave him another hug and he cried into my shoulder. "Shh, it'll be alright, buddy." I sat down and brought him into my lap, softly rocking him for a minute.

"What's going on?" Janet asked, walking into the room. Her eyes widened at the sight of Bard, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, Janet. It's just," I took a quick breath, "saying goodbye is hard," I gave her a small, sad smile to go with it.

"You're leaving," she concluded. I nodded. "Bard-"

"Isn't leaving. He's staying with you."

"No!" Bard wrapped his hands around my neck. "Star, you can't leave me! No! You can't! No! I don't want you to leave! Please, Star!"

"Shh," I cooed, "calm down, bud. It'll be fine. You'll be fine, Bard."

"Of course, Bard," Janet agreed, sitting next to me. "You'll be safe and loved for here."

"But, Star is one of my best friends. Amber," he whispered the last part in my ear.

"I'll always be your sister. One of your best friends, Bard. As for Amber, you can still see her; just don't the others see her," I whispered the last two parts. I kissed his forehead, "I love you, Bard. I'll miss you, friend. I promise I'll write." I hugged him one last time before handing him to Janet and running out of there.

"Star! Star! Don't leave me, Star!" His calling got fainter and fainter the father away I got.

After about fifteen minutes of running, I made it Violet and Amber. I may have had to backtrack a little. My bad.

"Violet, we have to go. Amber stay. Bard will visit you soon." I hopped on Violet. "Violet, say goodbye to Amber. We won't be seeing her or Bard for a while. Bye, Amber. See you someday. But probably not for a while. I hope you and Bard won't forget us."

I wrote a quick note to Bard and left it with Amber and flew off on Violet.

Violet called to Amber; Amber called back. They were probably saying their goodbyes. Good.

Goodbye, Bard, my little brother. I'll never forget you or Amber. I love you, and I want what's best for you. I'll see you eventually. But probably not for a while. I hope you don't forget me.

Love,

       Your loving sister,

                         Starfire.

I went over the note in my head over and over again, for about two to three months.

As promised, I wrote letters to him. One letter a week. I wasn't able to send them once a week, but I did every time I could. Once, I sent six letters at once.

I haven't gotten any letters back. I understand though, I mean, it's not like I stay in one place to receive any. I didn't even know if he was writing letters for me. Who knows if he even got them? I mean, I hoped he did, but I didn't really know.

I thought about Bard and Amber while I walked through the forest on an uninhabited island.

After half an hour we reached a cliff that was over the ocean. I sat down on the ledge, my feet swung back and forth.

I looked to the south. Towards the island Bard now lives on. I hadn't seen him for a year. The last time I saw him he was crying, begging for me not to leave him. If I went to visit him, it would take a while to get there.

"Come on, Vi. Time to go." And with that, we flew farther and farther away from Bard.

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"Land here, Vi. I'll search those two villages, and we'll leave in a day or two." She landed, and I fed her before taking off with a, "Bye, Violet."

I walked into the village and looked around. I didn't know what else to do. If it wasn't for my dreams, I would've forgotten my family, in fact, their faces are getting a little fuzzy, even in my dreams.

I traded for some bread, chicken, and cloth.

"Do you know someone by the name Starfire?" I asked many people. "A child who perhaps disappeared years ago?"

"No. Now go away, child," one person said, rudely.

"Sorry, but I don't," another person said.

"Nope," a child said before running off.

"No."

"No. Sorry, lass."

"Nope. Sorry, dear."

"Never in my life. Hope you find her soon."

"No."

"Never heard of anyone by that name. Sorry."

"Never. Sorry. Now, good day, miss."

I sighed when I got back to Violet at the end of the day. "I didn't find anything, Vi. What if my family died in that storm all those years ago? What if all this searching is a waste of our time? We could settle down somewhere and just live. Live our lives like normal people and dragons, not traveling everywhere everyday."

Violet tilted her head and looked at me with her big green eyes. She made a soft dragon purr and nudged me with her nose basically saying, it'll be alright, Star.

I laughed once and started to pet her. "Thanks, Violet. I needed that."

Deciding being depressed wasn't going to get me anywhere, I played with Violet all day.

"You're the best, Vi," I told her, as we set up camp for the night after a long day of flying and fun. She put her wing over me, and we fell into a peaceful sleep.

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"Hurry, Star," brother yelled, running towards the forest.

"Slow dow-!" I called back, falling.

"Starfire!" brother ran back to me. "Starfire, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, standing up.

"Your knee," brother stared at it. It was red and bleeding slightly. I had skinned it.

"I'm fine. Let's go." I grabbed his arm and started running, ignoring the pain in my knee.

"Are you sure your alright, Star?" he asked, easily catching up to me.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're crying," he stopped me and turned me to face him. Sure enough, he wiped away a few tears. "And you're limping. And you're-"

"I get it! I'll be fine, let's just get to the cove. I wanna go swimming."

"Are you sure we should be doing this? Dad said not to go swimming without an adult watching us."

"This was your idea, ------, and no, I'm not sure. Do you still want to?" I asked, looking around to see if anyone was nearby. No one was there.

He shook his head, "No, not really. Let's just go to the cave."

"Our cave?"

"Where else? Of course our cave, come on." We changed our direction and walked to the cave. Our secret cave.

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I woke with a start. The first thing that went through my mind were my brothers. Bard and the one with the forgotten name. I wish I remembered his name. But I remember almost nothing from before I met Violet. The only memories I had were the ones I got in dreams.

"Come on, Vi," I said, packing up our stuff. "Time to go see Bard and Amber."

Violet perked up, instantly recognising the names. She jumped, rushing me to pack up camp.

I chuckled, "Alright. Alright. Let's just hope they still remember us."

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