Chapter 424: A Flower of Hope
Slowly, the evening wore on, and the sun, a ball of light filtering through the white canvas of my tent, dipped behind the mountains. The setting sun bathed the tent in a warm red glow before fading completely, leaving us in darkness. Sari eagerly demonstrated her light magic once again, but Elinore soon gently ushered her away.
"Bye, Xiviyah! I’ll visit tomorrow!" Sari said as the life mage pushed her outside.
I waved with a gentle laugh, but my smile faded the moment she was gone. It had been wonderful to see and speak with her, but I wished I could have seen Korra. But she hadn’t come by.
Perhaps that was for the best, as I had no doubt she’d greet me with the same boundless enthusiasm as Sari, and I wasn’t sure I could hold back tears the next time someone threw their arms around me. The thought of being unable to embrace her filled me with a sense of longing and loneliness, but the ever-present pain from the sunpurge made the prospect of hugging anyone seem daunting.
The thoughts faded as I snuggled against Fable, letting myself sink into the waiting darkness. There were a hundred things I wanted to try to know that my soul was healed, but first, I needed sleep.
As soon as I drifted off, I opened my eyes and found myself in...my tent? Blinking away sleep, I stretched and yawned, hardly daring to believe it: no dreams, no visions, and no nightmares. The sunpurge growled distantly, yet I felt a thousand times better. The constant ache and soreness were gone, and my mind felt clear and awake. It was the best I’d felt since shattering my soul, or even maybe as far back as before Soltair first afflicted me with Sunpurge.
"Good morning," Elinore said. I glanced at her, startled. She sat in the same position she’d been in when I’d fallen asleep. Had she even moved at all?
Smiling faintly, the Life Mage extended a cup of tea. Steam curled off the glimmering surface of the cup, and I could just make out faint strands of mana woven through the fluid. I glanced at her, tail twitching in confusion, but she just smiled.
"Drink."