I went home a few months ago.
The moment she saw me, my mother sank to the floor and started to cry. When she finally managed to speak, she said she was so glad I was alive, and it hit me all over again how much pain her children had caused her. It made my heart ache just to think of it.
My younger brother had been deceived by humans, had his heart stolen, and died. When Mother heard the news, she’d fainted on the spot.
My sister, driven by my revenge, had committed a forbidden offense and been stripped of her name. She’s been sentenced to a thousand years of imprisonment, and even after her sentence ends, she’ll be exiled from the Dragonlands forever.
Mother spent half a year bedridden, thinking she would never see her daughter again.
And as for me, I left home to search for my sister and hadn’t returned for seven hundred years.
I couldn’t imagine the grief Mother had been carrying all that time.
Then Father came home. When he saw me, he just stood there, almost too stunned to move.
“You’re alive,” he said.
“Yes. I’m home.”
“I see that. I’m glad you’re safe,” Father said, letting out a long sigh of relief. When he tried to speak again, all that came out was a hushed whisper.
He must’ve been trying to say my sister’s name, but he couldn’t because that name was lost.
“The girl…”
Is she alive? Is she dead? That had to be what he wanted to ask.
“…”
I almost said her name before I caught myself and cleared my throat to cover it up.
“I don’t know.”
“I see.”
A conflicted look passed across Father’s face.
I knew the truth, though. A human named Setsuna had come upon me by chance and shown me proof that my sister was alive. She hadn’t died when her magic surged out of control. She wasn’t alone, either, and she had a new name.
I knew that Father and Mother would be overjoyed to hear the news, but I fought down the urge to tell them and stuffed it deep within my heart.
I cast a spell on myself to keep me from ever uttering Tuuli’s name out loud.
“Does your return mean you’re ready to make a pact with the dragon king?” Father asked quietly.
I shook my head.
“No, I’ve already made a pact with a human I met recently.”
Father fell silent, and all the color drained from Mother’s face. “Why?” she wailed. “Why would you make a pact with a human?!” Her voice was filled with anguish, and I understood her feelings all too well.
I hated humans, as well.
Maybe our family would still be together, still smiling, had we never gotten involved with them.
There were times when I felt an ache so strong it nearly turned into rage when I thought about that.
I helped Mother into a chair and tried to calm her down, while Father’s face twisted with pain. “You would refuse the dragon king’s pact even if it means binding yourself to a human?”
The only answer I could give him was silence.
“Then why did you come back? I thought you said you’d never return.”
I tried to decide how to respond. I couldn’t tell him the truth, but he’d know if I was lying.
“My master said I was in the way and told me to go home. So I’m planning on taking it easy here for a while.”
They both gave me a puzzled look. Under normal circumstances, a dragon would stay by the side of the human with whom they’d made their pact.
Since they looked so bewildered, I left out anything about my sister or the fact that we’d fought and simply told them how I met Setsuna.
“It’s hard to believe, but if all that’s true, does that mean you’ll be staying here for a while?” Mother asked hopefully.
“Yes. My plan is to stay here for about two years as long as nothing else comes up. I left matters regarding the other continent and my sister’s situation in my master’s hands. While I’m here, I intend to look into what the former dragon king is planning. If my sister’s still alive two years from now, I doubt he’ll simply leave her be.”
“…”
I also thought that I might come to understand why my parents had never left to search for Tuuli. But I didn’t say that out loud.
I couldn’t stand to see the pain on their faces anymore, so I turned and headed for my room.
When I opened the door, I saw that the inside had been cleaned until it was spotless. Mother must’ve come in here every day to make sure it was in the same condition as it was when I’d left. I was certain she’d done the same with my siblings’ rooms.
Staying here wasn’t particularly convenient if I was going to investigate freely; the two of them would get caught up in trouble if anything happened. So I decided to wait and start my investigation once I’d moved out.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to leave right away.
I needed to stay here at least until Mother regained a bit of strength. Since neither my brother nor sister could do it anymore, I felt it was up to me to comfort her, even if I could only do so much.
I’ve been living with my parents all this time, carrying those burdens and emotions.
But now that Mother was slowly returning to her old self, I was planning to move out as early as the next day.
I’d already arranged for a place to live through the connections of a friend, so I could settle in there anytime. All I needed to do was take my things over.
I suddenly felt nostalgic when I thought my time in my childhood home was almost over, and decided to visit the place where I used to play with my siblings. It had been so long since the last time I was here, but it looked exactly the same. Even the same gentle breeze was blowing.
I remembered how back then, my brother, sister, Kyle, and I would all sit here, talking and laughing while the wind blew around us.
I also remembered how my sister had always worn that necklace Kyle had given her. I’d told her it was too soon for her to have something like that, but when Setsuna showed me what she looked like now, it suited her perfectly.
I gazed out at the view, lost in thought, when a single white bird suddenly appeared in the distance and flew right toward me.
It circled overhead a few times, gliding on the wind, then perched gently on my shoulder. It let out a clear, lovely chirp—then vanished without a trace.
In that moment, I heard a voice echo in my mind. Before me, a stone appeared, floating in the air, and the voice in my head told me it was a magical device used for communication.
What struck me as odd, however, was that the stone contained my own mana even though I had no memory of ever sharing it with that creature.
I thought about it for a moment, and the only explanation I could come up with was that it must have extracted mana from my blood.
“…”
The idea that he might’ve collected my blood during our fight sent a shiver through me.
I shook my head, trying to dispel the sense of unease inside me, and instead tried to recall the other piece of information the bird had brought me.
“Tuuli is well. Today she contacted me and said she wants to learn how to mix medicines.”
That was all.
Yet it was enough to reassure me that she was trying to live with her head held high.