The Tears of Aurora

One Last Night Together

The evening had ended. The storm had calmed. Mr. Svenson had generously given his room to the Skaljnes sisters. He was already asleep on the sofa in the next room, so they spoke in low voices in order not to disturb him. Mariann took off her robe, folded it, and put it on a dresser.

"It's been a long time since we all three slept together in the same bed. How do you feel, Aurora?"

"Exhausted. Sad. Anxious."

"All of that at the thought of us all sleeping together?"

Aurora shrugged her shoulders. She appreciated the effort of her older sister to try to make her laugh, but she didn't feel capable of it. She got on the mattress and wedged herself into the middle, her back to the wall. Vivian snuggled up against her.

"We know you did not do it on purpose."

"That's exactly the problem!" said Aurora a little too loud.

"Easy," said Vivian. "Listen, there was a storm, agreed. From what we know, no one was hurt. At the worst, we're sorry for the material damages."

"At the worst...."

"Tomorrow it will all just be a bad memory."

Mariann joined them again.

"A bad memory," she mocked. "Like the earth horses that were knocking against the walls of the house? You were afraid to get near Mr. Ragnar's minuscule pony for at least five years after that. Do you remember?"

"You're not helping me!"

"I'm teasing! Aurora, I know that you will not forget what just happened, and that you're mad at yourself. You are always very careful. This time, the situation got out of hand. You could not predict that Trolual would tell you... that. I worry more for mama and papa. They must be panicked at this late hour."

"Actually," noted Vivian, "you still haven't told us what you were doing in Berg? Why did you get here before us?"

Aurora leaned her head back and tapped it against the wall. In a monotonal voice, she told them of her nightmare and the bad feeling that had not left her the entire day. And her sisters listened without saying a word until the end.

"So there it is. I have been completely stupid. If I had stayed calmly at home, all of that would not have happened. I'm going to ask our parents to lock me up...."

"Don't be so dramatic," chided Mariann.

A light silence fell before Aurora breathed a great sigh.

"Do you think I could lead a normal life?"

"But you are not normal! Your powers are a wonderful gift! Your tears may start catastrophes, but they do not define who you are! You are brilliant, courageous, mischievous!"

"Your voice is a gift from heaven," added Vivian. "Do you realize the effect that you have when you sing? Did you not see Mr. Svenson just now? The worry on his face when he was mumbling by the window? It disappeared as soon as you started to sing!"

"And then," continued Mariann, "I don't know many little sisters ready to run kilometers and crawl beneath a mountain because she was worried about her sisters."

"You are our baby butterfly."

Aurora lifted her eyes to heaven. Mariann and Vivian pressed against her. They got really close to her face.

"Baby butterfly," they repeated.

"Stop it," said Aurora in defense.

But the older sisters drew near again. In one and the same movement, they each plopped a big kiss on her cheeks and then began to tickle her. Aurora stifled a squeal of surprise and twisted this way and that to escape the joyous torture.

"Stop! Stop! I'm better now. I won't complain any more... for tonight."

The tickles started again even stronger.

"No, no! I won't complain at all, promise! Stop! You're going to wake up Mr. Svenson!"

"Very well," agreed Mariann. "But the least negative word will be severely punished!"

She wiggled her fingers like the pincers on a crab to reinforce her threat. The teasing from her sisters had helped to lift Aurora's spirits. It was time to go to sleep. Vivian turned the light out and pulled the comforter up over them, but Aurora pushed it down again with her feet.

"Something is missing."

"What now," grumbled Mariann who had been letting herself fall asleep.

Without answering, Aurora slipped over her sister. Her feet made no noise on the floor. She opened the door carefully. She could not see Mr. Svenson but heard his slow and regular breathing. She crept into the kitchen, got what she was looking for, and went back right away.

"There!" she said, getting back into bed.

"What? Are you kidding?" asked Vivian indignantly. "We are not sleeping with Igor!"

"Aurora, could you please notify your sister that in spite of my lack of an ear canal, I can hear her perfectly well, frrt?"

"Oh! Come on! I am not going to leave him all alone in an unknown fridge over night."

"He's freezing!"

"He just got out of the fridge! In any case, he'll stay on me."

"Very well. After all, if our little fifteen-year-old sister sleeps with a living blankie, what can I do about it?"

"I am not a blankie, but a green alga of the Cladophoraceae family, frrt."

"Igor," quickly intervened Aurora. "Don't make me regret having brought you in with me. You be quiet, and you go to sleep!"

"Would you like me to take him back to the kitchen?" proposed Vivian mischievously.

"Very well, I will no longer say anything, frrt. You will not find out that those of my specie living in water float in the day and sink at night. I won't even tell you that it's because of photosynthesis, which, by producing oxygen, makes us lighter, frrt."

Aurora finally closed her eyes. Her sisters' warmth enveloped her. Injust an instant they had managed to make her forget the storm that she hadcaused. "They also possess a great power." She slid her hands till she foundtheirs, then squeezed them with her fingers. Mariann and Vivian squeezed back.Aurora fell asleep.