Rising Shards

I stared at Zeta as she stared out the car window, her content little smile made me warm.

“Hey,” She whispered when she caught me admiring her profile.

“Hey.” I said back, our gloved hands interlacing. 

I had never been to any holiday light show. We were on our way to the Lights of the First. The fable goes that the first Cani family that made it to our world went through a series of gateways on their journey, and the last group was filled with beautiful glowing orbs. The orbs were said to be the spirits of Cani that didn’t make it to that point cheering on the Silver Family. So we were headed to a park with a path cut into it and a bunch of pretty glowy things.

Dr. Diast did end up staying behind, but Stella kept talking about how excited she was for her next visit, so the mood wasn’t too bad without Diast around.

“It would be kinda stressful to have to deal with that all night,” Zeta said. “Kalei will be fine eventually, but she’s gonna go in joke overload when she finds out.”

“You’re gonna tell her soon though, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, I don’t want to lie to her,” Zeta said.

We definitely had some issues as a trio with Kalei getting mad that we kept things from her. I didn’t want to feel like I hadn’t learned anything from that. 

“I’ll take all the guilt,” Stella said. “And we’ll tell her soon, I promise. Since you guys are gonna be around the apartment anyways, it’ll be easier to just get it out there soon than dancing around it. Maybe you two can come up with the best way to tell her?”

“On it!” I said, saluting. 

“But tonight, let’s not have any worries, just fun time!” Stella said.

When we arrived at the park, Lillia and her younger sister Lilith were already there. That Cadence timeliness in full effect. Lillia had a lighter jacket on than the rest of us, which made me wonder if her fire powers kept her warm.

“Greetings,” Lillia said. 

“You haven’t been waiting long, have you?” I asked.

“Oh no, we just got here,” Lillia said.

“Howdy there,” Stella said. “Is it just you two today?”

“Yes,” Lillia said. “Our parents aren’t big fans of entertainment such as this.”

“No parents, only war,” Lilith said, lifting her winter cap to reveal a deep blue camouflage bandana.

“Lilith is very into Mail Warriors at the moment.” Lillia explained.

“Ah…” I said, not having any clue what that was.

“Here you go,” Lilith said, handing Zeta and I an envelope.

“Thanks,” Zeta said, forcing a smile that was maybe a touch too wide, as it made Lilith hide behind her big sister.

Zeta became significantly less scary to Lilith as the Koridias approached, deciding that shouting from a distance and sprinting toward us was the best way to say hello. Kalei’s mother Mahina introduced herself to Stella first, answering Stella’s handshake with a painful looking grasp.

“Bit of a line this time,” Mahina stretched. “Anyone have any favorite carols?”

“Ma.” Kalei said.

“What?” Mahina asked.

“I thought I said no Safe Silver songs.” Kalei said.

“Since when are you in charge?” Mahina asked. “Maybe your beloved friends have some songs they’d like to sing, and you'd be hurting their feelings denying them the chance.”

“I’ve heard Zeta sing, it’s worth issuing a ban on all carols tonight.” Kalei said.

“Hey!” Zeta said.

“Your friends are loud,” Lilith said.

With Zeta and Kalei’s guardians present, I wondered if I should have invited Berin to this. Maybe he would’ve been too busy so I wouldn’t have had to feel bad.

We got our tickets and waited for our turn to get into one of the carts. They looked like boats, but each had a motorized little mechanism at their base to roll them around. They were big enough to house all of us in one ride.

Zeta was a little wobbly getting onto the cart, which Kalei of course immediately made fun of her for.

“Alright Koridia, ease up on the girlfriend,” I said.

Lilith looked scared to get onto the ride, but her kind big sister Lillia helped her up.

“I like the front left spot,” Zeta explained. “I hope that’s alright.”

“As long as my spot’s next to you,” I said.

The cart was a bit clunky getting started, but soon we were rolling, the path ahead suddenly growing dark. Pitch black. We were alone in the cold, just like the Silver Family in the void.

“Any lovebirds aboard: just a reminder that this dark part only lasts a few seconds, so if you start making out, you will be caught.” Mahina said.

“Mom, oh my god, shut up!” Kalei said as her mom snickered.

“I’m speaking from experience, it’s a warning.” Mahina said.

“That is so much worse, I did not need to hear that.” Kalei said.

It looked like a rainbow of fireflies began floating around us. The tradition was done by Cani with light and illusion powers. Whoever this particular group of Cani was, they were very good at their jobs. The firefly-like lights cut through the darkness, giving us a way forward. I watched with awe as all sorts of beautiful images appeared before us, some like the fireflies, some like lasers in front of us, while others were like fireworks. During some of the lights, I turned to Zeta and watched her lit up by the lovely display. Some glances to the others as well, all of them looking so happy, but most of my attention was on Zeta.

The cart didn’t move very fast, but the speed of some of the lights made it feel almost like a roller coaster.

As I cheered at the increasingly thrilling display of lights with a group of people very dear to me, I found myself thinking about the Silver Family. About their legend of traveling through a place like this. I’d been on a journey too. Like the Silver Family, I left a desolate place, and although my journey wasn’t as physically long, mentally it was arduous in a way that felt similar. I made it someplace better, too.

Maybe that was how I could celebrate Safe Silver and make it work for me. My way of celebrating would be to think about how far I’d come in my own life. About how I’d made it to a safer, happier place, with people who cared about me so much more than the monsters I left behind. As the ride ended, my eyes were very watery.

“Dude, are you crying at the freaking Safe Silver light show?” Kalei asked.

“I—” I started.

“Shut up,” Zeta sniffed. “They’re so pretty, I cry every time!”

Kalei didn’t notice my watery eyes at all, too focused on ribbing Zeta. Well, she didn’t notice me for a second.

“And now you got Oka crying too,” Kalei said.

“Tough talk from the girl who cried so hard last year,” Mahina said. “You cried harder than these two!”

“I so didn’t!” Kalei said.

“She was like, ‘Wahhhh! Mom! It’s just so prettyyyy…’” Mahina said.

As the Koridias argued, Zeta and I grinned at each other, our eyes similarly red. Stella was emotional too, giving her little sister a gentle hug.

“Can we go again?” Lilith asked, having gotten over her nerves about the ride about halfway through.

“Not if you’re going to try to climb out again.” Lillia said, having a firm grip on Lilith’s shoulders so she wouldn’t get away.

“That’s what the Mail Warriors would do. Dive into the danger!” Lilith said.

Finishing the ride had me feeling really bad I didn’t ask Berin if he wanted to. I decided that I’d been avoiding him long enough.