Aurnia soared gracefully through the starless sky, savouring the quiet peace and freedom offered by the open air. Down below, the passing towns glimmered like fireflies and she could not resist opening her heart to the world. Smatterings of voices pierced through her mind, a lover's quarrel, a mother's admonishment and the feathery laughter of a brother and sister playing with their toys. It was times like these when Aurnia treasured the gift her mother had bestowed upon her and it stung to think of how quickly her mood would sour once she reached the Morinstar Forest. There was no need to second guess what was to come. She would knock on that door and Reuna would open it with a wavering smile. Her mother would ignore her and Orion would be asleep, or out, or anywhere but the treehouse and Aurnia would be unable to greet him yet again.

Two days of flying had eaten into her energies and sighing and dipped closer to the ground. Out here, the villages were less troubled by the sights of magic, so she could afford to fly beneath the clouds and the itching cold that loomed above them. Her ears pricked up at the sound of a river roaring in the distance and she knew that she was close. Aurnia coasted to the right towards the noise and soon the river churned beneath her as it snaked through the ground like a glistening black snake.

Aurnia shuddered at the memory of Agrona's winged serpent before pausing. The notebook! She had forgotten to ask Agrona about the pages she'd found in the cave and the frequent scrawlings of Selene's name upon them had unsettled her. Aurnia cursed her lapse in memory. The goddess of death had stressed the urgency of finding Orion and her relatives, there was no time to double back and ask.

It was then Aurnia felt her bag shudder and Koa popped his head out from within his pouch and scratched his ear. He looked at Aurnia before tilting his head and Aurnia quickly offered an apology.

"I didn't mean to wake you. I had merely realised that I'd forgotten to ask about something we'd found." She offered Koa a small smile but when he didn't return it, it wavered and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but you seem more nervous after the Death lady told you to find your nephew." Koa shook his head and shifted to tuck his paws beneath his chin, "You never told me that you had a nephew."

Aurnia hesitated. "I don't know if I have the right to call him that. He is indeed Lily's son, but I fear my cowardice led me to abandon him."

"Abandon?"

"Yes, abandon." Her gaze shifted to the trees below and she could not bring herself to look Koa in the eye. After a few beats of silence, she continued. "After smuggling Orion out from the king's dungeons, I tried so hard to raise him. But I soon realised that I could not balance returning to care for Liliy with the duties of raising a newborn child. The cottage was no place for him. He was miserable and the king's men were relentless in hunting me down. I could not risk hurting him so I entrusted him over to my mother and my aunt. But perhaps I should have tried harder." "

Aurnia trailed off, her voice softening as tears threatened to well up. Then Koa's voice suddenly swam into her head.

"I don't think you abandoned him, you gave him a family."

Aurnia frowned and shook her head. "Koa, I promised Lily that I would do anything to keep him safe and–"

"And was he safe with your mother and your aunt?" Koa interrupted and placed a paw on her side.

Aurnia paused and considered what Koa had said. It struck her that she'd never truly thought of how Orion had been safe. Over the years, with the king's men breathing down her neck she had done her best to stay away. Birthdays were celebrated at a distance, with gifts ferried secretly on the wings of Lily's remaining allies, and for every achievement, the winds had carried her praise. That was until five months later when she'd had no choice but to turn up outside their door to ask her mother about the Worldtree and its mysteries. Answers had not been given but Aurnia had caught a glimpse of a lanky teenage boy peeking out from behind a curtain.

By now the dark shadow on the Morinstar Forest spread endlessly beneath her, swallowing the river and muffling its thunderous roar. Aurnia looked down, wincing at the sight of the thorny trees. In the short time since her last visit, it appeared that the spirits imprisoned within the dense forest had warped the trees even more. She shuddered. Reuna's decision to set up residence within Morinstar was a clever one. Few would brave the forest on foot and after being told about the unfortunate rabbit skewered on a tree, Aurnia had decided that flying was a safer option.

She sighed and scanned the horizon for the tell-tale shimmer of the barrier concealing Reuna's tree from the world. When nothing came to view, she dipped her head and forged onwards towards the centre of the forest, only slowing to remind Koa not to lean too far from her bag, lest he take a tumble and plummet towards the trees below. For although her wings were strong, she did not trust her ability to catch him fast enough and Koa was too sweet for the forest's bitter appetite.

As she continued to glide through the sky, flickers fo white and misty grey darted through the trees down below. Aurnia hissed and beat her wings to quicken her speed. The spirits and their ability to sense her presence never failed to amaze her. Like flies to a jam-pot, they would amble towards her wailing, pleading, and in some cases throwing themselves at her in hopes that she would syphon their discomforts from them. Their formless shapes thankfully passed through Aurnia, leaving them scrambling to gather their pieces. By the time they had made themselves whole, Aurnia was long gone.

While Arunia marvelled at the persistent spirits, her focus quickly shifted as she sensed a flicker of green in the distance. Her heartbeat quickened and carefully she reached out with her magic. It didn't take long before a gentle warmth spread touched on the edges of her mind and instinctively, Aurnia uttered a chant that Reuna had taught her long ago. In response to her call, Reuna's barrier shimmered into view and as the early morning sun rose from behind the mountain, Aurnia took a breath and dove beneath its surface.

She had finally arrived.

"Why is the front door so far from the ground?"

Koa poked his head out from within her bag and Aurnia slowed her ascent up the wooden stairs to mull over his question. Reuna had never really explained why she'd decided to build most of her home within the tree's canopy, but Aurnia had always assumed that it was a matter of personal preference. What's more, it wasn't as if Reuna had overlooked all the advantages of living in such a massive tree for, over the years, the spirit of spring had carved out several rooms in the upper sections of the trunk.

Aurnia turned to Koa with a smile and said, "I was never told the exact reasons behind my aunt's decision but you are free to ask when we meet her."

At that, Koa's ears flattened and he shook his head. "I don't wish to bother your aunt with silly questions."

"Oh," Aurnia reached down and tenderly stroked his head. "You need not worry about that. Reuna has a warmth that rivals the sun and I am sure that she will adore you. Besides, I am willing to bet that you can't be sillier than me. When I first met Reuna, I asked her if she was the one who had to go around painting flowers with the vibrant springtime colours."

Koa nestled into her bag, giggling. His little squeaks lifted Aurnia's spirits and hardened her resolve. It struck her when she realised that a smile had broken out across her face and she allowed herself to laugh alongside the little creature. Without realising it, Koa had become a refreshing ray of light in her life.

She stopped climbing, took a deep breath and looked around. Early morning sunlight fell through the tree's thick canopy, dappling the steps and the gnarled branches supporting them. In the distance, the Morinstar forest extended indefinitely into the distance before hitting a mountain that loomed on the horizon. Aurnia took a step towards the edge of the steps, stopping just before the railings that Reuna had no doubt taken great care to place and looked down into the pond hugging a large section of the tree's roots.

Far below, beneath the tree's roots, flashes of silver and orange darted through the pond's clear waters. Aurnia watched as a particularly large one raced to hide within the shadows. She smiled, gaze shifting as she traced a worn cobbled path leading from the edge of the pond towards a patch of tilled ground and makeshift straw man with its head lolling clumsily to the side. Whoever had last practised on the dummy had succeeded in inflicting significant damage and Aurnia was hit by the memory of the day Orion had been presented with his first sword.

It had been another one of those days. Reuna had managed to convince her to return to the treehouse to celebrate Orion's fifth birthday. Orion barely recognised her and the sting intensified when her mother showed up with a small double edged sword. Neither she nor Reuna had approved of the weapon , but her mother had insisted that Orion needed to learn to protect himself and not wanting to let Orion down, they had relented. Orion, of course, took no note of their clipped word and spent his day hollering and jabbing bushes at random.

The thought of a gift gave her pause and it hit her that she had no gift for Orion but perhaps her nephew wouldn't mind her lapse in thoughtfulness. Then again, the boy was sixteen and Aurnia couldn't begin to think of what she could have given him. She turned back towards the steps and sighed, Orion may have been separated from her but between Reuna's kindness and her mother's firm hand, he had hopefully had a childhood where he was safe and free to be happy. She continued her slow climb up the stairs, their gentle creaks seemed to whisper of ancient secrets and it occurred to Aurnia that she'd never asked how old the tree was or how Reuna had managed to get it to grow.

The wooden steps seemed to stretch into eternity and she looked up with a sigh. If only Reuna had gotten around to expanding the veranda around her front door. As it stood right now, the space was only large enough to hold several potted plants and an old chair, and certainly not a dragon so she'd had to shift back into a person and take the long trek up the tree.

As Aurnia finally neared the top, her heart raced with anticipation and worry. Words tumbled through her head like leaves on a stormy day and it struck her that she had not given thought to what she wanted to say. She could hardly show up, claim that Death had sent her and then demand to see her nephew because he supposedly held the answers for saving the kingdom and his mother's heart. Except that was the truth and if her mother had any remaining faith in her, then Aurnia hoped that she would at least consider what Aurnia had to say.

The sounds of birds singing in the canopy soothed her clamouring thoughts and when she looked up, she caught sight of a few watching her from between the branches. She paused and weighed her options. The Goddess of Death was right in saying that Lily was running out of time. Even if Lily had succeeded in freeing her heart from the kingdom, she still needed to escape from Helias' dungeons. The years of mistreatment had weakened Lily and it frightened Aurnia to think what the king would do if he knew that Lily had managed to reclaim her powers. Dancing around the reasons behind her return would only waste time, and at worst spark another argument that Aurnia could not bear facing.

Aurnia climbed the final step and a breeze carrying the fresh scent of blooming flowers ruffled her hair. She had always loved Reuna's door. Traces of magic lingered in the air before it, glittering like fireflies. Her hand reached out and she let her fingers trace the whorls in the dark wood. Reuna had refused to simply cut a tree and carve a door from its remains. Rather, Aurnia remembered her painstakingly growing it, carefully guiding its every twist and turn until it formed an intricate display of branches and bark. Pieces of coloured glass had been carefully interested into the gaps in the wood and when the morning sun hit them, sunlight danced through the air. The kaleidoscope of waltzing colours was nearly enough to completely silence the doubts roaring through Aurnia's mind.

Her hand hovered over the door and she hesitated, still not ready to face what was sure to come. Koa shifted in her bag and suddenly, she felt it lighten as he sprang out and jumped to curl around her shoulders. When she looked over, Koa blinked and patted her with his paw.

"You looked sad, so I thought you might have needed a hug. But I can go back into the bag if you want!"

Aurnia quickly shook her head, "No, that won't be necessary." She lifted him from around her neck and cradled him in her arms. "I appreciate you looking out for me in this way, thank you."

Koa chirped in response and taking a deep breath, Aurnia decided to knock. Her knuckles rapped gently against the door and it was only then that she caught the distinct sound of frantic shouting emanating from behind the thick door. Stiffening, she took a step back, not wanting to intrude. If tempers were already frayed, then her presence was bound to make it worse. Aurnia turned to find somewhere to wait, but before she could move, the door creaked open and she was face to face with the person she had not wanted to see.

She swallowed, hoping to the gods above that her displeasure and unease were not shown upon her face and greeted her mother with a hesitant, "Hello."