"Did your mother mentioned the name of the goddess she met?"
Noraya tilted her head on the side, trying to remember the old story her mother told her. "Hmnn. I can't quite remember." Her brows were creased and glanced at her. "Why do you want to know?"
She secretly swallowed. Her nervousness was making her hands sweaty and trembling. She firmly gripped the sides of her shirt to hide her nerves from Noraya. "The story seems interesting." She smiled at her, trying not to show her anxiousness. "It is not usual to human to encounter such encounters with, you know, spirits and out of this world beings." She made her tone cheerful.
"Uh-huh! My mother encountered a lot of weird beings. But she said her most memorable was her encounter with this goddess. I just can't remember her name. She gave my mother a gift before she went back to her world. Now I remember." Noraya scratch her temple while trying to remember the story.
Macrena held her breath. "A gift? What kind of gift? How did the goddess go back home?" Her pulse was palpitating at a faster speed than usual. She suppressed the urge to hurry Noraya to tell the whole story. She doesn't want her to see her getting anxious about the story.
"I remember it was a mirror from her world. My mother gave it to me when she died."
"Do you still have it?" She wanted to pull Noraya's hair now in frustration. Why does she not just tell the whole story? Just tell the entire story, so she doesn't have to keep asking questions. Her anxiety and curiosity were giving her a heart attack!
"I think I kept it at home. I just don't remember where I put it."
Macrena sat next to Noraya and grab her hands, showing how eager she was to hear the whole story. If she can't pretend to be calm, might as well show her her excitement, maybe it will work for her to tell the story. "So, how did your mother meet the goddess?"
Noraya sighed. She can see the eagerness in her eyes to know the story of the goddess.
"So, according to my mother…"
-----
Twenty-seven years ago. Noraya was a six-month-old baby at that time.
Kandela creased her brows when she saw a passed-out woman in front of her shop. She stopped the baby stroller she was pushing on the side of the hallway and stoop down to the woman who was unconsciously leaned on the door of her shop.
"Miss!" she shook the woman's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
The woman wearily opened her eyes and looked around. "Where am I?" Alteya asked the woman looking down on her. Although the splitting pain in her head was already gone, she still felt dizzy.
"You passed out in front of my shop. Are you feeling okay? Can you get up?" Kandela asked the woman who was still sitting on the door.
"Ah, yes." She wearily tried to stand up. Kandela held her elbow to help her stand up.
"You can come inside and have some rest for now." Kandela offered to the woman.
Alteya nodded and waited till the woman opened the door of the shop and pushed the baby trolley inside the shop. She looked around the shop. It was obviously a psychic's office with all the mythical creatures embroidered in the tapestry that covers the windows. Images of the constellation and the zodiacs, some candles, and incense. She sat down on the sofa in the middle of the living room.
"How are you feeling?" Kandela came back from the back room with a glass of water in her hands. "Here, have some water first."
"Thank you." She took the glass of water from her hands and had a sip. She put the glass in the middle table after. "I came to see you." She said without any hesitation.
"You came to see me? Did someone recommend me to you?" Kandela asked the beautiful woman. She looked at her face. She had a small face framed with long blonde hair that was freely hanging from her back. Her blue eyes were bright and gazing at her with kindness. Her eyelashes were beautifully curved around that bright blue eyes. Delicately sculpted nose and lips. She looks like a goddess from heaven.
The beautiful creature smiled and nodded. "I need your help."
-----
"' I have never seen such a beautiful creature in my life.' That was my mother said when she saw the woman." Noraya said, remembering the sparkling eyes of her mother while she was telling the story to her.
"And?" Macrena leaned more to Noraya.
"Well, that was it." Noraya shrugged her shoulders. "She said the goddess asked for her help to make a potion or some liquid medicine. Then the goddess left after she got what she needed and gave my mother the mirror as a gift."
Macrena pouted her lips. "That was it? How about the medicine? How long did the goddess stayed in this world?" she really felt disappointed in the story. What was the medicine for? Why did she need a human help?
"Haha," Noraya made a cheeky laugh seeing the pretty face of Macrena plastered with disappointment like a child deprived of candy. "That was all my mother told me. She did not tell me how long the goddess stayed and how did she left. I did not ask her before. I thought the story was ridiculous."
Noraya stood up from the sofa and looked at the clock on the wall. "It's time to go home. We have to drop by the grocery first." She said while fixing her bag. She looked at the woman still seated on the sofa, not moving. Her face was still making a disappointed look. She couldn't help but admire her face. Even she was pouting, her face still emanates kindness. She couldn't understand herself, but she thinks this woman looks like a goddess too.
"Macrena, let's go!"
She blinked a few times breaking from the dissatisfied feeling that she had upon hearing the incomplete story of Noraya about the goddess. She let out a long sighed.
"You must be really interested in the story, huh?"
"Yes, I feel like the story has something to do with where I came from." She murmured to herself without realizing that Noraya heard it.
"What did you say?" Noraya was looking at her with wide eyes.
She looked at her, confused. "What did I say?"
"Yeah! You said something like the story of the goddess has something to do with you. From where you are?!"
She blinked. She did not realize that she had said something out of her consciousness. Noraya now is looking at her with probing eyes. She might not say it, but she knew that she was demanding an explanation.
She let out a nervous laugh. "I did not realize I am muttering nonsense!" She hoped for her not to notice her nervousness. She had never felt so startled in her life. Macrena, the queen goddess, was struggling to escape from the quizzical look of Noraya, a human.
Noraya still not convinced, always looking at her. "Tell me, where did you come from? Why are you asking too many questions about the goddess? You are not even sure if the story is true." She grew suspicious about the woman.
The barrage of questions coming from Noraya made her pulse out of the average speed again.
"Come to think about it. You just showed up unconscious beside that garbage bin, no identity, or whatsoever. Yet you have a hundred thousand jewelry! Isn't that absurd?!" Noraya's curiosity about her grew so big that her heart was beating loud on her chest.
Noraya started to connect the story of her mother and the circumstances of Macrena. Now, she thinks that she was a goddess too?! Which she can not believe it herself. She has always been logical in analyzing and making her decisions. This story does not make sense to her.
Macrena made a long sigh. "I just feel like the story was interesting. I heard a similar story before too. So, I got curious and wanted to know if the story is true." she calmly answered her. She knew that Noraya tends to exaggerate. This time, she was turning more suspicious about her. She was hoping that she would calm down.
It's a risk if she tells her identity now. She believes that if the goddess who met Noraya's mother gave her a mirror as a gift, she might recognize it if it came from her world.
She needs to see the mirror first and see how will Noraya will react, then she will decide if she could tell her the truth. They just started to get along; she might kick her out of her house if she knew the truth.
"What story?" Noraya calms down a little bit. Seeing how calm Macrena was, she felt embarrassed about how she felt suspicious about her without asking correctly.
She sighed a sigh of relief. At least she calmed down a little. "About a goddess who walked out from the other world through a portal. I am not sure if it was the same goddess that your mother saw." She was talking about her dream about her mother.
"Is there a story like that? I haven't heard that yet." Now she got curious. Maybe the story was true.
"That's what I know. The goddess walked through a portal going to the human world. I didn't know what happened to her or how did she come back to her world. When you told me about your mother's story, I thought it was quite like the story I heard." She was not lying, though.
Noraya finally back to her usual self. "If there's a story like that, maybe it was true. Now, I feel sorry for my mom for not believing her."
"Why did you not believe her. Didn't you said, she was handed a mirror gift from the goddess." She stood up now and started fixing herself too. Because of that exciting story, they forgot that they were about to go home.
Noraya just shrugged and walked to the shop's door, waiting for her to step out. "I just thought the story was ridiculous and did not really believe in the mirror. Besides, the mirror was nothing but ordinary."
"Ah…" she simply nodded. She didn't question anymore to instigate another misunderstanding.
Before going home, they went to a grocery store first and bought ingredients for their dinner. Noraya volunteered to cook dinner since she prepared their breakfast.
Macrena helped Noraya prepared their dinner since she has nothing to do anyway. While making dinner, Noraya happily shared her experiences as a psychic and how did she end up being one even she hated it.
"Before my mother died, she made me swear not to sell the shop and continue the business. I had no choice back then, and now I am scared that mom will visit me from her grave and scold me if I stop the business."
"You're scared of ghosts?" she teased. The atmosphere in the kitchen is light and friendly.
Noraya nodded without shame. "I just can't bear the creepy feeling." She shrugged her shoulders and rubbed her arms where her hair stood up.
She laughed. "Isn't it being a part of being a psychic? To feel the unseen forces?"
"I can never get used to it." She shrugged her shoulder again.
When they were finished eating their dinner, they washed up and got ready for bed.
They were already lying on the bed when Noraya suddenly sat up from the bed.
"What's wrong?" startled she sat up too.
"I think I put it here," Noraya mumbled to herself and stood up and started searching for something in her closet.
"What are you looking for." She was confused. Why was she suddenly searching up for something when they were about to sleep?
"Oh, I found it." She pulled out an object from one of the boxes in her closet. She climbed back up on her bed. "Look at this." She called Macrena to show the object she took from the box.
Macrena curiously got down from her bed and sat down beside Noraya in her bed. In Noraya's hand is a circular hand mirror.
"Here." Noraya handed her the mirror. "It's the mirror I am talking about."
She took it from her and took a good look. The handle and the frame were made of pure gold. Ivy leaves and butterflies were intricately engraved on the frame down to the handle. On the base of the stem, there it was! The emblem she wanted to see. The runic symbol of equilibrium and a crown above it. There was no mistake. It is the Ranti clan's emblem!