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3 Years Later
🌣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣☄⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣⍣☾
As the sun rose, a crown of inky black hair slowly peaked out from beneath the blanket, carefully peering over the cabin for signs of movement. When the shimmering silvery eyes found none, the nearly five years old labouriously tiptoed away from the bed, slowly making her way to the door. This little girl was called Lycée Artemia and she was the daughter of Séléné, the moon goddess.
However, the girl's actions contradicted her very identity. Lycée was an early riser through and through, always up as the first rays of sunlight shone through the sky. As people say, early birds get the worm. Lycée wholeheartedly believed so. After all, wasn't she the first one to enjoy this ethereal scenery every morning? She was as far from Séléné as she could possibly get.
Yet, in some ways, the black-haired girl was still very much her mother's daughter. For example, while Lycée certainly enjoyed watching the sunrise, she far preferred admiring the moon being set afire. In her opinion, this was when it was the most beautiful. The combination of fire bleeding over ice was simply breathtaking.
The young girl did not know how long she laid down in the grass admiring her mother's canvas but by the time the sheep were let out, the moon was already gone. Lycée scrunched up her nose in discomfort when a sheep - one she had personally named Woo - started nuzzling her face. She finally drew the line when she felt Woo munching on her hair.
Sitting up, Lycée pried her hair away from the beast's maw. The brunette faux glared at the animal.
"Woo-woo, there is top quality grass everywhere! Why must you always go for my hair? Is it truly tasty?"
Now that the idea was in her head, there was no way Lycée would not try. Grabbing an uncontaminated strand of hair, the girl put it into her mouth. As saliva filled in, the silver-eyed girl frowned.
'It did not taste good at all!' In comparison, grass tasted heavenly - and Lycée would know, she had tried it once out of curiosity when she was younger. Thoroughly disgusted, Lycée spat it out.
Coincidentally, it was this scene her father walked in on. Already used to Lycée's spontaneousness, Endymion's reaction was merely a fond shake of his head. Turning a blind eye on his daughter's antics, the young father started tending to the sheep.
Meanwhile, in the cabin, Lucien was still fast asleep. As expected, Lycée could not let this go. The sun was already high up in the sky, it wouldn't do to waste away the entire day tucked under a warm blanket.
One had to live life to the fullest and that started with beginning one's day early. Daylight was not something to be wasted, none understood it more than Lycée, ironically, the daughter of the moon. It was quite unfortunate for her brother, the avatar of the night.
Lycée strode in the cabin with heavy but quick steps. With a steady hand, she unwrapped the cocoon her twin had made for himself once she was no longer occupying the place next to him. Lucien snapped open one eye, hazel directly stared into silver in a silent standoff. The boy lost.
"Go away, Lys. I am sleepy~", the curly-haired boy drawled sleepily, rolling away from his twin.
Said girl huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
"No, you don't! The day is young, you need to get out there! Lucci, get up!"
The boy grumbled but he eventually got out of bed. Lucien knew debating with his sister was futile. Lycée was as stubborn as a mule, there was no reasoning with her. It was better to go along with her, it certainly wasted less time and effort.
Satisfied for having accomplished her self-appointed task, Lycée ran out of the cabin to mingle with the sheep. This lifestyle was assuredly peaceful and while the young girl enjoyed spending time with her family, she still found it lacked some profound excitement. Every day was more or less the same.
The only time monotony was broken was when they moved cabins and pastures for the sheep. At first, Lycée had loved moving from cabin to cabin but the thrill of it quickly died out. Wherever they went, the surroundings were the same. There was nothing new to see, nowhere to explore - just grass everywhere.
Bored, Lycée often found herself wandering further away from the sheep and closer to either the river flowing down the valley or towards the rocky terrain up north.
Endymion, her father, disliked it when she wandered off and Lycée distinctly remembers the first time she strayed away from him. He had been terrified of finding her gone and he had spent two hours looking for her. Panicked, her father made her promise him she would not do so again. Lycée said nothing.
Thereafter, Endymion always made sure to always have Lucien follow his sister around lest she wandered off too far and got lost. For Lycée, it was admittedly less fun to have her brother shadow her every movement. Her twin didn't let her explore as far as she wanted nor as long. It was disappointing but Lycée resented neither her twin nor her father. The girl understood they worried because they cared.
It reminded her of the one time Endymion was ill, around a year ago. Neither twin knew what to do or what was wrong with their father as neither Lycée nor Lucien had ever fallen sick. When Endymion had laid down on his cot, unresponsive and shivering, the twins had been so scared.
In the end, Lycée made an executive decision to run down the valley - thankfully this happened when they lived the closest to it - and go get the farmer couple while Lucien stayed in the cabin to monitor their father. Thankfully, the elderly couple had not been busy that day and were willing to travel all the way to the family of three's cabin.
In the end, it had not been a severe illness and Endymion was back on his feet in two days. For the twins, however, it was the scariest moment of their life.
As for today, Lycée decided to go play at a nearby stream. Her father allowed her to go there on her own because it was close enough to the pasture and shallow enough for it not to be dangerous.
Sitting at the bank, Lycée dropped her feet into the water and wiggled her toes. The brunette had found some time ago she quite liked watching water swirling around her toes. It was strangely entertaining.
However, the main reason she enjoyed doing so so much was because Lycée was told by her father that her mother, Séléné, had loved doing so as well. It was rare for Lycée to learn more about her mother as Endymion hardly ever mentioned his first and only love.
From the little Lycée knew of Séléné, her character did not at all resemble her mother's. Maybe that was why Lycée liked seeing her reflection in the water so much - it mirrored her half-crescent birthmark, her direct connection to her mother, the moon goddess.
Somehow, looking at it made Lycée feel closer to her mother and the girl often liked to think Séléné was watching her too. One day, Lycée knew deep within her heart, the mother and daughter would meet again. But, until then, looking at her reflection would have to do.