Astrid Blu: Orion's Curse

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The old man looked at the people standing in his room. His whole body looked frail and weak. His hair was white as snow and every inch of his skin, wrinkled. He was older than Astrid imagined him to be.

Ainsworth faced them as they walked towards his chair. Even his eyebrows were drooped.

"Yes, sir." Arthur bows at the elder man, with respect.

"The Rosenheims in my house!!" He simply says.

Arthur looks at the brooch right on his chest, which proves that he is indeed a Rosenheim, one of the richest families in blue Haven.

"Yes, I'm Arthur Rosenheim. We're here to..." Arthur says.

Ainsworth completely ignores Arthur and looks straight at Astrid. She was looking around the room. The poppies adoring the room had her under control.

"She is not one. She is not...from here." He lets out, blankly.

Harry and Katherine, both gasp at the same time. That old man identified that Astrid wasn't from Blue Haven in the blink of an eye. It was definite that he was a very experienced sorcerer, and his age proves how much he has lived through.

Astrid looks at the old man upon hearing this. Her eyes wide, as she looks at Arthur for confirmation. Arthur just nods before turning back to face the old man and kneel down, to be on his level.

"Yes, and we need your help, sir." He says.

He was still looking at Astrid, as she stares back at him and looks at Katherine. She didn't know what to do.

"No, she needs my help." He says in his raspy voice.

He knew everything. It was indeed clear that the old man was experienced beyond their imagination. It felt like he could read minds or feel things happening around. How is that even possible?

Arthur looked at the man with wide eyes. The old man doesn't need any explanation. He seems to know everything already. So Arthur just motions Astrid to come forward.

"You are right, sir." Arthur moves back, giving Astrid space to get in front of the old man. Astrid stands in front of the seated man. Her eyes roaming over his face, to sense something. Anything.

But, Ainsworth had a blank expression on. As if it wasn't the first time he's encountering a situation like this. And that was true.

"What do you want to know?" He straight up asks Astrid.

"The person who came from earth, before me." Astrid fearlessly lets out. She doesn't know whether the question was appropriate.

Ainsworth looks down at his feet, clad in old work boots. He was wearing a gray sweater. He thinks for a minute before reaching sideways to take hold of his round reading glasses from the table beside him. He placed the glasses over his eyes and looks at Astrid once again. The man folds his hands in front of his chest.

"She was a young lady and worked at the library. She said her name was Helena. It was probably a fake name." He refreshes his memory.

It was a lady. Just like in the story of princess of Gaea.

"Did she say anything about earth?" Astrid asks.

"Never. She always talked and behaved different, but never acted as if she's from earth. Everyone in Blue haven is different, so no one gave much priority to a woman being undeniably kind and forgiving." He says.

"Did she ever say anything about her family or her past?" Arthur comes forwards with another question.

"She used to come to me after work everyday. She told me about her family, and how she wants to meet them again. I never realized she was talking about going back to earth. She also told me that she was working away from her family so that she could return home with a lot of money and live happily with them." He coughs. His daughter runs to him and stroke his slouched back.

"I'm fine, Gloria." He says to his daughter and once again faces Astrid, who was curiously thinking about everything that the old man just told her right now. Katherine said that people pretend to be from earth for money. Then, why did Helena chose to stay put, when she could have gotten enough money by proving that she's from earth? If what she wanted was to gain money, she could have exposed herself instead of working at a library for gaining money. There is probably a lot more about her than Ainsworth knows.

"She disappeared after working at the library for half a year. Didn't tell anyone at all. Not even me. One day she came to me and gave me a book to read. She said it was a good one and that I should read it. We used to share the books that we've read. I've never seen her after that day. She didn't come to work the next or any other day. Just disappeared. Forever." He says and looks at Astrid. He offers Astrid his wrinkled hand.

Looking at the old man and his opened hands, Astrid slowly places her much smaller and younger hands into his slightly shaking one's. He tightens the hold, and closes his eyes. His eyes shoot open right after. Staring right into her eyes, which are big and blue. His mouth parts and a whimper comes out of it.

"You are special." He whispers, inaudibly.

Astrid doesn't hear what he just said, nor did anyone else.

"I have her journal. The book that she gave me and told me to read on her last day on Blue Haven was her journal. At the end of the book, she wrote to keep the book to myself and never give it to anyone else." He says. Katherine and Arthur lets out a sigh of happiness, together.

"I don't know how the news of her spread even when I kept the book hidden." Ainsworth says, still holding the girls hand in his wrinkled one.

"I'm going to give it to you." He gives a slight smile, before opening the drawer of the table near him with his right hand, while his left is still holding Astrid's hand. He takes a brown book out of it and gives it to Astrid. She kindly takes it.

Why is he giving her that, when he never gave it to anyone else? He promised to always keep it hidden, then why is he ready to break the promise for her? She just takes the old book from his hands and holds it close to her chest. It's her only hope of figuring everything out.

"I'm giving it to you because you're special. And I know you need it." He says and squeezes her hand one more time, before letting go.

***