I knew the Chief.

I went still as death.

Under a wide tree, lay a throne, perched on it was the Chief, eyes dark and expressions resembling mine.

As I stared more into the face that looked a little wrinkled with age, unlike the portrait that I had found at the Virgo Palace, I felt my mind freezing up.

No. No. No.

That was impossible.

Just no.

This was life - my life - a bitter realization seeped in. Life out of the dungeon. Life catching up.

What does one feel when they meet their long-lost parent after nine years? Affection? Happiness? Relief? Maybe a few happy tears here and there?

But all I felt was a crushing sense of betrayal. Anger fast sliding in to create a deadly mixture.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that the most desired person in all the Four Realms, who had a hefty bounty on their head, the leader of all the Lueshas would be my own mother!

I forgot everything in the moment, forgot my own name, forgot everything that had happened to me. I only saw her. Her face full of speculation.

"Eleni..." she whispered in her gentle voice, the same voice that used to put me to sleep gently and wake me up in the morning.

My lips quivered.

You have an army.

You were alive all this time.

She slowly stood up and I felt the faint murmurs of the people around me.

"Chief, you know her?" Celia asked from my side, surprise dripped from her words.

I stared dead into the Chief's eyes, the eyes that gave me comfort, that reflected nothing but love eons ago. My hands trembled violently, as she took a step ahead. Her tall figure, and broad shoulders stiff, long black hair tied in a braid. Her eyes resembling to those that I saw in the mirror daily when I looked at my own reflection.

She muttered again, "Eleni, it's really you." A question or confirmation I did not know.

Why was I not feeling anything?

It was my mother, for the love of the Throne.

She walked slowly towards me, her steps deliberate and calculating.

At least one of us was feeling something.

"Eleni." She whispered again, her eyes shining in the dead of the night.

She stopped two feet away from me, her gaze taking me all in.

And I snapped out of my numbness.

"Do I know you, Chief?" I asked looking at her, my heart somersaulting in my chest.

"Eleni, it's me." She took another step.

Celia cleared her throat before interrupting, "Are we missing something here?"

Dylan spoke from my other side, "Not now, Celia."

The Chief's gaze did not leave me.

My mind wanted to shatter something, to burn something, as I watched her watching me.

I bit my lower lip looking at Celia and spoke with a smile, "Well, thank you for all your help but I must go now."

"Go where?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Anywhere is better than here." I said with a tight-lipped smile. A panic building up in my stomach.

My mother was alive!

"You can't go. They are looking for you." The Chief said taking another step close.

I glared at her, anger surging through me.

She was alive all these years and chose to never pay a visit.

"Eleni..."

"Stop saying my name." I suddenly screamed and the ground on which I stood, shook. The leaves of the surrounding trees rustled aloud. The birds flapped their wings, flying away, disturbing the silence of the nature. Celia swayed a little and clutched my arm to stop falling. I looked at her and swatted it.

"Chief, what's going on?" Someone asked from the crowd of the Eclipses.

"Eleni, I know, you are mad..." Her hoarse voice whispered, hinting at her choked throat.

"Why would I be?" I raised a brow and smiled at her. "This seems like a dream life, being a Chief, having a throne, rescuing Lueshas, living in an exile, having all the Four Realms looking for you. I am impressed."

"It's not what you think...I..."

My palms tingled; itching to let out all the fire in me. I had always obeyed my mother - even when she overworked me. It was always train, train, train. And I had been a good girl.

But the good girl had died when she had found her mother's portrait hanging in the Virgo House. The good girl had died when she found that her mother had a child, had me, with a married man. The good girl had died when she had realized her father was a royal.

The good girl had died when she found that she was the living amalgamation of Summer and Autumn Realms. And still having nowhere to go.

Ralph had suffered because she decided to snatch his father and then abandoned both of us!

And here she was living her dream in the wilderness, while I was desperately putting out all the fires, she and father had left in their wake.

"Honestly, Chief, I don't even want to hear what it is and what it isn't. I am going."

I turned on my heels, my feet heavy, chest heavy, my entire soul heavy.

My mother was alive sitting on a throne which she had carved for herself.

"Eleni, I did this for you." She said suddenly. I did not turn but I heard the gentle scuffling of footsteps. The crowd was dispersing.

A shrill laugh escaped my throat as I turned, "For me? So, you knew I was going to end up in a dungeon someday?"

"I... no... I knew you would need a place to be once you find out your powers."

"Chief," I spat, "Do you hear what you're saying?"

"Eleni, I made the Eclipses for you. You know what you are."

"I am the greatest Abomination of this world." I screamed. Her words falling on deaf ears.

"No. You are not. None of the Eclipses are. We are different, you are different. I built this for you. A safe haven. Let us show the world that we are not evil, that we have a chance at life. And you are finally here."

I cut her off a sudden question arising in my head, "Are...are you a Luesha too?"

She shut her eyes and took another step towards me, "No, I am not. But I made this for you, for my daughter who is the rarest Eclipse."

I found myself smiling at her, "Or you could have stayed with your daughter and warned her about what she was. But instead, you chose to play the Queen."

"I didn't have time to..."

"To come back home," I finished her sentence and nodded in pretentious understanding, "I can clearly see how busy you are."

"No way," a voice spoke and I turned my head to look at Celia, who was watching with her arms crossed, eyes wide. "Chief, that's your daughter!"

"Do you have a death wish?" I glared at her annoying face.

She raised her hands in surrender and walked away.

"Look, Chief..." I started.

"Will you stop calling me that?" She suddenly bellowed and I flinched. Her dark eyes shone.

"It's better than calling you a stranger." I shouted back.

She took in a deep breath and I held in one.

"Look, my child, let's just sit and talk, I can explain..."

I cut her off again, "Is father with you too? Is this another puzzle for your daughter to solve? Just so you know, I am so done with surprises that they don't even affect me anymore."

A tear dropped from her left cheek and my chest squirmed. "I am sorry you had to find out stuff all on your own, but I just couldn't come back."

"Honestly, I don't even want to know. I just... I just need to...I just need peace. Maybe a bath," I mumbled the last bit to myself.

She wiped her tear hastily and stood up straighter. "Yes, of course. Let's get you cleaned up. We can talk later..."

"No. I am not staying with you and your army." I hissed.

"Please, just think about it. There will be people looking for you. You will be safe with us."

Us. This was her world. This was her kingdom. And I was a guest.

"Just for a while..." She whispered, her face expectant.

I had no choice. Nowhere to go. No one to lean on.

But I did have some more questions for the Chief!

***

It was still dark outside, and out of habit, I looked for my satchel, looked for my sundial. And sighed at my stupidity. Doran had it. Hopefully.

There were dozens of tents flanked near a lake, a little away from the clearing. I had asked for a tent to myself being in no mood to interact. The hot bath, clean clothes and a wholesome meal of meatballs had shown me a little of what life had been back before all the 'Alchemical' stuff had commenced.

It had been a whole week, since I had stepped into the Gemini Palace and later found King Orlon, including the soul-wrecking five days in the dungeon. Seven days in all! The seven most horrible days of my entire existence.

My mother was alive. Shouldn't I be happy?

I had no idea where I was. The Piscean forests were dense as I had come to know, the green of the trees covered in abundant snow. I looked at Celia, who had barged into my tent on the pretext of healing my wounds. Her incessant nagging had made me relent.

She swirled her fingers over my back and my legs and I suddenly felt sleepy. My pain was receding.

"Does healing powers also come easily to Lue... Eclipses?" I asked.

"Yes, indeed. Everyone has healing powers but we have a little extra. Comes with practice though." She said smiling a little.

"What if someone finds out that you are hiding here?"

"Our wards are stronger than theirs. And we never stay in one place for too long. Don't worry." Celia added, "We have made our wards even better now by using all types of Eclipses power, since there have been some, uh, incidents."

"Incidents. What kinds of incidents?"

"Well, many of our Eclipses members have been going missing recently," she said through a sigh.

"I thought you were notorious for escaping," I speculated.

"We...yes," she smiled a sad smile, "but things change."

I nodded at her. Missing Eclipses?

But then she took my scarred palm in hers, and I snatched it out of her grip.

"It might infect you - it's badly cut." She said eyeing my palm.

"Let this one be." I said tracing a finger over the red severed skin.

"But..."

"Let this be." I said shutting my eyes close.

"You can keep the scar but let me clean it."

Angry tears let loose and I found myself screaming again, "I said let this be."

She flinched and raised her hands. Not in surrender but in defense.

Did she think I was going to attack her? What did they see when they looked at me? Their Chief's spoilt daughter? An evil Luesha that needs to be tamed?

The tent's flaps opened suddenly, and the Chief walked in, face etched with worry.

"What happened? I heard..." Her wide-eyed gaze bouncing off me and Celia.

The Chief sighed and spoke again, "Celia, can you give us a moment?"

"No," I hissed, "She stays, I don't want to be alone with you."

Celia pouted, "Do I get a say in this?"

"Why does everyone get a choice but me?" I roared.

Celia blinked her eyes, and moved a little away from me. I could see her thoughts behind her blue-gray eyes. She clearly saw me as a girl throwing tantrums to her mother.

"Eleni," the Chief said and sighed again. She sat down on a chair of the dining table, a little away from where I sat with Celia on a long settee.

"How is Amelia?" She spoke, making me snap my head at her.

"Oh, so you do remember what you left behind?" I cocked my head at her.

"There's not a day when I don't think about you."

I laughed, "It's hard to believe you, Chief, seeing all this," I said pointing at the luxurious tent situated in the middle of nowhere.

I added, "Why did you give birth to me? You knew what I was going to be, of course."

She shut her eyes close, placing her elbows on the table, "I and Egan were... we didn't know what we were doing. It...it... was not supposed to mean anything and when..."

I did not hear the rest of the words she said. A feeling of being splashed with cold water in the middle of a deep slumber, engulfed me. And while I had been sleeping, everything around me changed.

Not supposed to mean anything.

My body went numb as her words sunk into my guts, twisting like a dagger.

Not supposed to mean anything.

"I am a mistake." I whispered, the realization killing something in me.

"Eleni, no that's not what I meant..."

I was a mistake. I was never supposed to happen. Why did I never realize that? Of course, they didn't want me; of course, I was an unexpected result of their incessant, irresponsible, impulsive law-breaking deeds.

I blinked back the tears and rose my head to look at her. "I am a mistake."

A guttural laugh bloomed from my stomach. I had been blind. My parents had not expected me to be born. They had never planned for me. Of course!

"Eleni, stop assuming things, my child," she said and came to kneel beside me.

I shuddered as she placed a hand on my knee, and retreated, "Not a mistake. You weren't. We..."

Nothing of what she had to say to cover up the truth would work on me. I was a mistake.

"...We both loved you so much. I loved you and still do, my sapling. Your father loved you more than his own life. We were happy to be with you. You have no idea."

I looked down at my trembling hands, my world changed overnight. They must have been terrified when they found that my mother carried a child that was never supposed to exist. A child like me is never received with happiness.

"Why? You knew and you still... You abandoned me, both of you." My own salty tears fell on my tongue and I realized how badly I needed to cry.

"We fell in love and..." she said in a soft whisper.

"Love? How can you break the laws? How dare you make me and then shirk off all the responsibilities?" I hissed through the tears.

"Love makes people blind," she said, tears shining on her cheeks, "I am sure you know that."

"No, I don't know that. And I can control my urges." I shouted in her face.

"We are only humans. For how long can you control, Eleni?"

Doran's face flashed in my mind. The way he hugged me and the way I wanted to melt in his comfortable warmth. The almost kiss...

How long can you control?

I puffed my chest out, clearing my thoughts, "I can. You'll see. I'll never do what you did. Never repeat the history." My own words stabbed me like a sword.

The Chief, unhinged, sat down on the floor.

"I am not asking for your forgiveness, my child," she said, a hand on her chest, her breathing uneven.

"I am not a child anymore, Chief," I stood up, and walked around her. Celia could heal all my physical pain, but what about the invisible one that my heart was enduring. Was there any cure for it?

Not supposed to mean anything.

"And your so-called love, made another child fatherless. I am sure you know that. I am sure you know how many lives were wrecked because of your love."

"Eleni," she whispered. I turned around to look down at where she was sitting, her eyes red with tears, a hand to her chest.

"I know you've found out who your father was and his heritage but..."

Was.

"There have been many surprises, but Ralph is the only surprise that I liked so far." I cut her off, snorting.

"That boy is not to be trusted," she asserted, bewildered.

"That boy" I screamed, "protected me, unlike my parents," my voice piercing through the silence of the woods.

"Don't mix up with him, Eleni. Don't mix up with the Aries people." She suddenly stood up, anger flashing in her eyes, urgency soaked in her words.

"I didn't ask for your permission, Chief. Ralph is my half-brother. You should've thought before sleeping with a married man." I stared at her, my harsh words stinging myself.

"Eleni, your father..." she took in a huge breath, her eyes drooping, "his mother killed your father."

***

Author's Note: Yeah, so *nervous laugh* I am just gonna go. lol.