Sanria, Colin, and Orn sat up in the boy's room. He had grown so much, so quickly and looked all of three rather than the infant he still should have been. Sanria rested her hand over her stomach and patted lightly. Her hope was that Leandra would come quickly enough to have a brother that wasn't years her senior. At the very least, she would have a sister or brother in the child that would be joining them from Arlenia. She watched Colin tickle Orn and a tiny smile crept onto her face. There was joy to be had here.
The tinkling of bells sounded, pulling Sanria and Colin from their play with Orn. "I'll go see who it is," Sanria volunteered, and headed down to the door. Upon opening it, she saw Gilean along with a glowing purple woman for whom her mind had no remembrance, but stories told her was an integral part of her return.
"I don't want to keep you from your family," Gilean said, "I was just hoping you might be able to help me with something."
"Would you like to ask over tea?" Sanria led the way into her kitchen and busily made preparations for tea. She had remembered more of how to do it the more she made it, as though the very muscles of her body had minds of their own and needed no thought over the matter.
"I would like to move forward in my relationship with Claire... but it would seem prudent to ensure that I don't already have a family out there somewhere," Gilean said.
"Well that definitely makes sense. You could have someone out there like Colin."
Sanria paused, realizing she had potentially made Claire feel very uncomfortable. "Not to say that... oh... forgive me."
"No. You are correct. It is why I don't wish to move forward."
"Not that it would change how I feel... but... anyway," Gilean said. "You see, most of my past is a mystery to me. It seems that I am actually a celestial being."
"Celestial..." Sanria asked, her brow furrowing. She should have known what the word meant, obviously, but her mind drew a complete blank.
"You don't remember your time spent in that plane, with the celestials, do you?"
"No. Only what Colin has told me, and it seems he doesn't want me to repeat the experience."
It was an experience that Sanria could not recall. It was the same black wall of nothing that greeted her for many thousands of memories that should be easily recalled. "When you returned, I noticed you brought a rose with you, from that place," Gilean said.
"That one?" Sanria asked, pointing to the perfectly shaped rose that sat in a vase on her kitchen counter.
"I was hoping I might be able to borrow it. To study it."
Sanria's stomach fell to her feet as she looked from the fiery purple Claire to Gilean. Let her treasure out of her sight... the thought of it was almost more than she could bear, and she didn't even understand why.
