The Lost Element

Chapter 18

Ardiel was stunned, the shock still hadn't worn off.

"What..?" She managed to say. 

"Can we go somewhere private, please?" Illya pleaded.

"Ye..yeah, lead the way." Ardiel stuttered.

Her eyes were still plastered open, she was trying to process everything. If Illya was her mother, that meant Angela had been her aunt this whole time. Legally, so was Melisa. On one hand, her entire life was a lie. On the other, she finally met her real mother, and could potentially get some answers. Ardiel was so lost in thought, she hadn't even paid attention to where she was following Illya to until they arrived at a wall in the main lobby. In between the Flaming Corridor and Earth's Enigma, in the back of the lobby, Illya laid her hand against the wall. Shutting her eyes, she channeled her energy and poured forth a surge of air. The wall broke open, separating itself so that a door formed before them. They walked through the door and into the room. 

A rectangular room, the floor was knotted and uneven, as were the walls and the ceiling. Looking down to see why the floor felt so irregular, she realized that there were roots of a tree rippling across the floor.

"Are we inside a tree right now?" Ardiel asked, baffled.

"Yes, the first headmaster started building the school from this exact point, and grew a tree around himself to serve as his quarters. The largest tree on the grounds is the one we're inside right now." Illya walked as she talked, going around a massive desk set in the center of the room, toward the back wall. Bookshelves covered either side of the room, similar to the ones in the library, but clearly older. 

Illya offered Ardiel a seat, but she refused.

"I don't feel like sitting right now. So, you're my biological mother?"

"Yes." Illya spoke, "Just let me ex-"

"Is that why you left your family after what happened with Darios?" Ardiel cut her off, catching Illya off guard. 

"How do you know about that?" She was quiet. 

"I met your father, or I guess, my grandfather." Ardiel was still in shock, she wasn't sure if anger was the appropriate reaction or excitement.

"I'm sorry, Ardiel," She started again, making eye contact with Ardiel, "I only did what I thought was best for you."

"You abandoned me! Here I was wondering why it felt like we had a connection. So Angela and Melisa are really my Aunts! Do you know how confused that makes me?" Ardiel still hadn't figured out how she felt, but she needed to yell about it.

"I have no idea how that might feel. But I mean it when I say I did what was best. You wouldn't have had a proper upbringing with me, I was in a dark place."

"I also wondered why my parents left me. I'm blessed to have Angela and Melisa but there's always been a cloud over my head. There's always been that horrible fear that I was abandoned because I was never wanted." Ardiel's eyes started to well up.

"It killed me to let you go Ardiel. I don't know how much my dad told you, but you're all I've ever cared about after what happened. I lost one little girl because of the way I lived, I couldn't stand to lose another." She looked down at the floor, clearly full of shame, before looking back into Ardiel's eyes. "Your eyes are blue now. Do they change with your mood?"

"Don't change the subject. Why didn't you tell me when we first met? Why hide everything from me?"

They stood in silence only for a moment, but to Ardiel, it felt like an hour. She stood at one side of the desk, Illya at the other, staring into eachothers eyes.