Chapter 81: Chapter 81 - Farewell To Jennie ( Part 5)
Three days were left.
When there wasn’t a hint of the sun in the kingdom yet, Jennie slowly opened her eyes.
The house was still.
Not a single bird started its morning songs.
Not a single step of someone outside disturbed the silence.
There was only the sound of dying embers in the fireplace.
Slowly, Jennie got up from her bed.
For some time, she silently listened.
This serene silence...
This quietness used to be so common for her.
And it had become such a treasure now.
Silently, she put on her clothes without making any sounds.
Excalibur was lying beside her bed.
The holy sword itself stayed silent.
There weren’t any words which could take away this pain.
Gently, she pushed the door of her bedroom wide open.
Softly, the wooden floor squeaked under her steps.
She stopped.
There wasn’t anyone in the house.
"...Good."
She quietly smiled.
This morning...
She wanted to remember every detail.
Each place in the house.
Each sound she had heard in this place.
Each smell which was her home.
---
Quietly, she moved to the room of her parents.
Their door was slightly opened.
She stopped near it for a while and pushed it further open.
Arthur and Elena were sleeping.
Arthur was lying on one side of their bed with an arm hanging outside the blanket.
Elena was lying turned to him and had a peaceful smile on her face.
Jennie smiled.
"They really look happy."
She stood in the doorway for a long time.
A thousand years ago...
Leonis used to wake up alone every morning.
Camps.
Castles.
Battlefields.
There wasn’t anyone who would wake him up in the morning.
No family.
No home.
But...
Since she became Jennie...
Arthur taught her how to use a wooden sword.
Elena scolded her each time when she missed her meal.
They celebrated her birthdays.
Had shared dinners together.
They laughed over insignificant trifles.
They gave her something which Leonis hadn’t had.
A childhood.
Tears came into Jennie’s eyes.
"...Thank you."
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"For choosing me..."
"For loving me..."
"For raising me..."
She moved nearer.
Very gently, she knelt near Elena.
One lock of hair of her mother fell across her face.
Jennie brushed it off Elena’s face.
Elena had a faint smile on her face in her sleep.
The sight of this smile nearly broke Jennie’s heart.
She leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Elena’s forehead.
"...Thank you, Mom."
It wasn’t a farewell dictated by circumstances.
It was a quiet gratitude of a daughter.
Then, Jennie turned toward Arthur.
She reached out with trembling fingers and gently grasped his callous hand.
These hands had carried her on his shoulder when she was little.
They had built this house.
Protected their family.
Still sleeping, Arthur tightly closed his hand around her fingers.
Jennie stopped.
"...Dad?"
Sleeping still, Arthur smiled softly.
"...Jennie..."
He whispered her name so quietly that it was carried away by the wind.
"You’ll always..."
"...be our little girl..."
Jennie’s lips started trembling.
How?
He wasn’t waking up.
He shouldn’t know that she was there.
But somehow...
Even sleeping...
He managed to grasp his daughter’s hand.
A sob broke out before she could hold it.
Hastily, she put her hand to her mouth.
"No..."
"Don’t cry..."
Gently, she freed Arthur’s hand before he could wake up.
His hand dropped to the blanket.
Jennie dried her tears again and again.
"I have to be strong."
"If I cry now..."
"I won’t be able to leave."
---
Then, quietly, she returned to the dining table.
There, she took a piece of paper and a fountain pen.
For several minutes...
She couldn’t write a single word.
Finally, the pen began to move.
«Dear Mom, Dad, and Lucas,
Thank you for giving me the happiest fifteen years anyone could ever have.
Dad, thank you for teaching me that real strength is kindness.
Mom, thank you for every meal, every embrace, and every time you believed in me.
Lucas, thank you for always treating me like your annoying little sister.
Thanks to all of you, I’ve learned what a family is.
I don’t know if fate will ever give us a chance to see each other again, but if it does, I hope I could call this place my home once again.
Please stay smiling.
That would make me happier than anything else.
I love you all.
— Jennie»
One tear fell on the paper.
Jennie gently wiped it off before the ink could smudge.
Then, she folded the letter and put it in the middle of the table.
She understood...
When the miracle ends...
They won’t remember receiving this letter.
Maybe, they will read it.
Maybe, reality will erase it.
It doesn’t matter.
She wrote the words she couldn’t pronounce aloud.
---
Before leaving the house, Jennie stopped in front of its doorway one last time.
Sunlight already started filling the windows.
Soon Arthur would wake up.
Elena would make breakfast.
Lucas would start complaining about having to get up so early.
It would seem like an ordinary day.
Jennie smiled through her tears.
"...Good morning."
"...And thank you."
Then, quietly, she closed the door.
Outside, the first birds started singing.
Three days were left.
With each coming sunrise...
The farewell was getting closer.
But Jennie didn’t go immediately.
Her hand rested against the wooden door.
It was quiet behind it.
Very peaceful.
For a while, she stayed there, closing her eyes.
She could clearly imagine everything that was going to happen in a couple of minutes.
Arthur would wake up first.
He usually did.
He would light the stove without a sound before anyone opens their eyes.
Then Elena would enter the kitchen and gently scold him for starting the breakfast without her.
Lucas would enter the kitchen, looking untidy and complaining about how mornings should have been abolished.
Jennie smiled.
The picture in her head was clear enough to feel almost real.
"... I wish I could see it one more time."
Excalibur’s calm voice resounded in her heart.
"You still can."
Jennie looked at the house.
"... If I do..."
"I’m afraid I won’t be able to leave."
Excalibur was silent.
Because he knew that Jennie was right.
Sometimes some goodbyes become harder with each second of staying.
Jennie approached the small garden near the house.
The flowers Elena had planted many years ago were flourishing now.
White lilies.
Bluebells.
Little yellow daisies.
Jennie bent down beside them.
She remembered that when she was five years old, she stepped on one of those flower beds.
And she cried more than flowers themselves.
Instead of blaming her, Elena just laughed and showed her how to plant them.
"Flowers blossom again if you take care of them."
Those words remained with Jennie ever since.
Jennie gently touched one of the white lilies.
"... Mom."
"I hope you’ll keep taking care of them."
Gentle breeze brought the smell of the flowers to the garden.
Jennie rose to her feet and approached the oak tree behind the house.
It’s proud branches reached towards the sky.
There was a little mark on its trunk.
Jennie smiled.
Lucas had been marking their heights on the tree every year on their birthdays.
Jennie found the oldest mark.
Little line with clumsy handwriting.
Jennie - Age 5
Above it...
Age 6.
Age 7.
Age 8.
Every year.
Every memory.
And at the top...
Age 15
Lucas was whining about the fact that she was almost as tall as him.
Jennie silently leaned against the tree.
"... Thank you."
She didn’t know if she was thanking the tree itself...
Or the years it had been silently witnessing her family.
All of a sudden, the door opened.
Jennie’s heart stopped.
Arthur entered the yard, stretching and yawning.
Jennie instinctively hid behind the oak tree.
"... That was close."
Arthur looked around the yard.
For a moment...
His gaze fell exactly where Jennie was hiding.
Jennie stopped breathing.
Had he noticed?
Arthur frowned a little.
He slowly approached the tree.
Every step he was making made Jennie’s heart beating louder.
She stood still.
Finally, Arthur reached the tree.
Then...
He gently put his hand on the trunk.
"... Strange."
He looked around once again.
"I could have sworn..."
His voice faded away.
Jennie pressed her hand to her mouth.
Arthur smiled slightly.
"... It seems like someone was here."
He sighed to himself.
"Old man sentimentalities."
After one last look around the garden, he headed back towards the house.
Jennie remained standing until the door was closed.
Only then she slid down the tree and started crying.
"... Dad..."
Excalibur’s soft voice sounded in her heart.
"His heart sensed you."
Jennie dried her tears.
"But his eyes didn’t."
She looked at the window.
Arthur started cooking breakfast, humming something quietly, as if nothing had happened.
Jennie smiled through her tears.
"He always notices even the little things."
Jennie looked at the house one more time and went towards the palace.
The morning market had woken up now.
Merchants greeted each other with happy smiles.
Children ran after each other in the streets.
Fragrant smell of fresh bread spread through the air.
It was the same kingdom she had been protecting for fifteen years.
Every face was familiar.
Every street was full of memories.
Jennie greeted the old baker that waved at her from his shop.
"Good morning, Lady Jennie!"
She bowed.
"Good morning."
"I’ve just made your favorite sweet rolls."
He offered one with a smile.
"Take it."
"As a gift."
Jennie accepted it with two hands.
"...Thank you very much."
Baker laughed.
"You’ve done so much for this kingdom."
"This is the least I can do."
Jennie looked at the warm bread in her hands.
A simple gift.
An ordinary present.
Something that Leonis could never experience.
Jennie took a little bite.
It was incredibly sweet.
"So good..."
She whispered, smiling.
While she was moving to the palace under the rays of the rising sun, Jennie silently made herself another promise.
In the next three days...
She would greet everyone she knows.
She would appreciate every ordinary conversation.
And smile as if tomorrow would come.
Even though, in the end...
Tomorrow would come in a world that wouldn’t remember a girl called Jennie anymore.
