1 April, 2017

I may joke a lot and may not seem so serious at times but I do believe in fairness. I always had a motto that I still lived up to from this day, "Never take from the poor, never from the sick or infirm, and always to try other alternatives." Though I know that life is never fair, never have I felt this much pain.

There's an important Author's Notes at the end of this... I'm sorry I had to end it this way...

-Rollan-

"The time of the bamboo flowering comes to all."

Well, that whole part is true ever since Tarik and many others died. But it seemed so unfair when it happened that day...

-Years After the War-

"You think she's gonna say yes?" I asked Conor nervously as we were walking through the hallways.

He was currently reading through a couple of papers, his eyes crunched up. I rolled my eyes and took the papers from him.

"I was reading that," he mumbled.

"And I asked you something," I told him.

"You asked me a question with an answer so obvious," he sighed, "Of course she'd say yes. Now can I have those papers back?"

"Since when did you start reading?" I asked him, handing him the papers back, "Years ago, you couldn't even read!"

"That was years ago when I wasn't appointed the new commander of the Greencloaks," Conor told me.

Oh right, I forgot to mention. Our great, former, coffee-loving commander, Olvan, had peacefully died one night a few years ago but not before appointing Conor as the new commander. So he's the commander now and i'm a Greencloak trainer along with Abeke and sometimes Meilin. Usually, she lead missions (the dangerous ones) so she wasn't in Greenhaven most of the times.

At the thought Meilin, my hand immediately flew to my pocket and there I felt it. A small box.

"Excuse me, out of my way," a Greencloak urgently shouted from somewhere in front of us, "Where is the commander?"

"I'm here," Conor said as we both rushed towards him.

"Sir Con- I mean, Conor," the Greencloak corrected himself when he saw Conor's raised eyebrow, "They have come back from their mission but..."

"Is Meilin okay?" I asked, knowing exactly whose mission it was.

The Greencloak hesitated, "It's best if you...see for yourself."

I immediately pushed passed the Greencloak and ran as fast as I could. I could hear Conor say something to the guard before running after me. I pushed open the doors and ran to the docks were the ships were. I saw Greencloaks rushing towards the newly arrived ship and I pushed through, looking around in frantic.

That's when I saw her, looking tired, angry...sad?

Weak with relief, I ran towards her. She immediately looked up when I shouted her name and we met at an embrace.

"You're okay," I said, in relief, pulling away for a moment to look at her only to frown, "Are you okay?"

Meilin seemed like she was in the verge of crying but she only replied in a shaky breath, "You... you could say..."

"Surely you succeeded with the mission," this time, it was Conor who spoke, looking a little worried, "Did something go wrong?"

"We succeeded," Meilin replied, her voice slowly breaking, "but...it's not a victory worth celebrating."

"Where's Abeke?" Conor suddenly asked and just by looking at her face, I already knew the answer right before she said the words.

"She couldn't make it..."

-Two Years Later-

It didn't end there... This was probably the worse that had happened...

I was pacing nervously back and forth, right outside the room. Essix was perched on a table, looking at me in annoyance as if saying, 'Can you just sit down for a minute? You're giving me a migraine.' But even she looked a bit concern.

"I came as fast as I could," I looked up in relieved as I see Conor rushing towards me, "Any news yet?"

Then another heart-wrenching scream came from inside the room and we both flinch. I only shook my head, getting worried by the second.

Before I could get back to pacing back and forth again, Conor placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and offered a reassuring smile, that warm smile that still stayed over the years, "I'm sure she won't go down without a fight. She is, after all, a strong woman."

I smiled back. Ever since Abeke's death, Conor didn't seem to be coping well lately but he managed to pull it together. It was a shocking death, even Uraza didn't make it.

Just then, the doctor came out of the room and I demanded, "How is she? Is she okay?"

The doctor seemed hesitant, "Your... daughter is alive."

I breathed out a sigh of relief, "Thank the Great Beasts."

"But your wife..." the doctor hesitated before sighing, "Your wife wasn't so lucky."

"What?" I exclaimed, turning rigid once more, "Where is she? What happened?"

"Sir, please calm do-"

"Don't tell me to calm down when you just told me that something is wrong with my wife," I yelled at him, "Where is Meilin?"

"She died right after your daughter was born," the doctor blurted out, "She lost too much blood..."

But I spaced out after that. Meilin was gone.

-Four Years Later-

"Conor, are you sure you don't want me to come?" I asked him as we were walking towards the ship, "This seems pretty serious."

"That is exactly why I want you here, Rollan," Conor replied, "You're needed here in Greenhaven."

"But-"

"Cause I appoint you the next commander of Greenhaven if I don't make it," Conor interrupted. I just stared at him in shock for I did not see that coming.

"Uncle Conor, uncle Conor," I saw my three-year-old daughter, Lianna, running towards us, "Will you bring me a dagger when I come back?"

"Woah hold up," Conor said in amusement, "Aren't you a little too young to be having a dagger?"

"I wanna be a warrior like mom so I wanna start using daggers like dad," Lianna grinned at me.

Conor gave me a look but I only shrugged, "What?"

He then leaned on his knee so that he was on the same eye-level as Lianna, "I'll see what I can do, alright? For now, you be a good girl and we'll see if we can get you that dagger."

I raised an eyebrow at him as if to say, 'You? Giving her a dagger?'

'Oh shut up,' he returned with his own look then told me, "If something does go wrong-"

"Conor, do not say that-"

"If I die, Rollan," Conor cut me off, "I need you to be the next commander. I'm counting on you."

"You're not going to die," I argued back, "You can't-"

"Hey," he put a comforting hand on my shoulder, "I need my best friend to rely on. Just promise me that one."

He disappeared into the ship...

...and that was the last time i've ever seen him.

- - -

Okay, I have ALOT of explaining to do...

I have, sadly, fallen out of the Spirit Animals fandom and will no longer be continuing to write stories. I just lost my motivation and my interest in this fandom...

I'd just like to mention a few readers who have been reading for a while.

ShiningReaderForever
Leif777
PurpleRaptor
galaxy_runner
MouseyGameZ

And really, everyone else who had been reading this. This is a crappy author's notes, sorry about that, but thank you for voting, commenting and reading my stories. Really, thank you so much.

So... goodbye.