Arthur notices the fact that Astrid seemed to be disturbed after he broke the news to her. The news she was waiting for since the day she came here. The fact that Astrid must return to her home planet was not a pleasuring news to him either. But he can't let her know that he is sad or that he doesn't want her to leave. After all, what right does he have to stop her from going back? He is just a stranger she met only yesterday. He walks with Astrid following him. He doesn't dare to start a conversation. He keeps his gaze on the floor while heading towards the library for something he doesn't even want to do. Overwhelming silence was the only thing between them, throughout the journey to the library.
The door to the big room full of books was wide open, this time. With a keenly concentrated Katherine sitting on a chair, with a book. The whole table was clean and neat unlike the last time. All the books which were scattered on the table was now neatly placed on the side of the table. Arthur walked in without saying a word. His usual giddy aura was long gone. With a serious expression on, which is quite foreign on his face, he elegantly sits down on the chair beside his sister's. He motions her to take the seat across him. She quickly sits on the chair made of wood placed right across Arthur.
Katherine was still immersed in the book she was reading. She probably noticed them coming in. She is just choosing not to give it any attention. It seemed classy of her.
"So, did you sleep tight?" She asks out of nowhere. Her eyes still deep inside the book.
"Yes." Astrid keeps her answer short and classy, just like how Katherine is.
"Mm. So, I kind of found a way for you to return to your home planet. But, it's too complicated. And let me tell you, it's not going to happen any time soon." She says and turns her attention back into the book.
Astrid felt relived. Not at the fact that she finally found a way, but at how she will get to spend some more days over here. She wanted to return but, at the same time, wanted to stay here, forever. She would never say that to anyone though. Not to Arthur, not to Katherine, not to any one after she returns. They would think she's nuts. Someone on their right mind would never want to stay somewhere unknown, somewhere that isn't proven to exist, somewhere away from earth. That's what Blue Haven is, after all. A place she neither knew nor ever will. Unknown but beautiful. Astrid cannot stop thinking about all the possibilities through which she could get back to earth. What is the plan?
"Cathy, enough reading. Tell her more about it. She deserves to know." Arthur speaks up. But, his sister doesn't even budge. She simply ignores him and continues flipping some pages and reading them. Her eyes squint as she holds the book in her hand. She lays it onto the table, and looks straight at Astrid.
"Here," she looks at Arthur and motions for him to come closer to the book. "Read this. This was all I could find, after searching throughout the library." She sighs, clearly exhausted after the big search.
Astrid leans in and takes the book in her hands. Arthur moves from his chair and walks to the other side of the table to sit beside her. He looks into the page which is opened.
A picture of a blue blob. And a few things written here and there with black ink. It was a handwritten book. The scribbling were really hard to understand. On the top right, something is written with different and large letters. It read 'Gaea'.
"What's Gaea?" Astrid asked Katherine.
"Earth." Instead, Arthur answered almost instantly.
She looked over him. He was still immersed in the book. His lips slowly moving as he is whispering the words while reading them.
"Earth? Gaea is earth. So this is earth?" She points towards the deformed blue figure on the picture.
"Yes, that's what it says." Arthur mumbles.
That's not how earth looks like. Then again, she have never seen how earth looks like from outside. Only pictures and drawings by the lucky people who got to see it. It's such a pity that people live on earth but never know how it actually looks from outside. It's like living in a house but never seeing how it looks like.
Astrid quits trying to make out the scribbling. All she could make out were a few words from the numerous sentences. Planet, blue, star and Apollo.
Apollo. That's our sun.
"I can't understand anything." She whispers to Arthur. He takes the book from her hands.
"It's quite hard to understand. The hard writing is rough and it's quite old. Let me help you." he smiles.
His sister clears her voice from across the table making Arthur scoff.
"Look, this is one of the only person in blue haven to draw a picture of Gaea. Or earth. He lived a long time ago, his name was Alexander something. I don't remember." He continues.
"He is the only person who came up with a visual image of the earth, which was accepted by everyone at that time. He drew a blue circle, which is slightly squished. No one knows how he came up with it. This is all we know about earth till now." He looks at her.
"This is not something you see everyday, Katherine. How did you get this? This says it belongs to Alexander himself?" He looks at the name tag, which says 'Alexander Amonond'.
"I have my ways." She simply replies.
He signs and brings his attention back to Astrid.
"So, it's written in here that, the portal made by Sirius star, showed him how Gaea looked." He says with a lot of confusion.
"So the portal is real!!" Astrid asks. Her eyes bigger than usual.
"Maybe. Probably? And then he says over here that people of earth are just like people of blue haven. Then all this," he points towards the rest of the scribbling, "they are all comparison between Blue Haven and Gaea. They are random stuff they teach children in school." He closes the book.
"Cathy, that didn't have anything that could help her." He complains.
"Yes, it did. It said about the portal. He is the only one who mentioned a portal from the myth. All the other writers, scientists, they all are just developing what he wrote in there." She takes another book.
"This...is going to have something that will definitely help her." She hands the book over to Arthur, who takes it and flips through the pages. He stops at one.
"Princess of Gaea." He reads out loud.
"Yes, this story says about a princess who travels to many planets and stars through her portal. She goes to each place and solves their problems and disappears. No one knows who she is or where she comes from. At the end of the story, she gets caught by the Gods and that's when it is revealed that she is actually from Gaea and she is doing this for saving everyone. Not just your family or friends. Not just the people you love, or the people you know. Not just the people of your city or the people of your planet. But, everyone. She says she would help everyone in this wide universe who needs help. That's the story of the Princess of Gaea." She looks at Astrid, who is clearly not understanding anything.
"Cathy, it's a children's story!" He sighs and closes the book. "How can a children's book help in this situation?" He asks.
"These are the only books in this whole library that says about a portal and earth." She says and sinks into her chair. Astrid was silent throughout the conversation. Arthur rubs his temples and rests his head on top of his hand which are elbowing the table. They are stressed because of her. They are doing all of this for her. Astrid felt guilty and surprised at the same time. She can't do anything to help. All she can do is be thankful to them and try to pay them back for all the things they are doing for her. Things no one ever did for her.
"So, that's all? You said you found a way. What way?" Arthur questions, clearly exhausted.
"The portal. That's the only way." She answers.
"We don't even know if that's real. It could be just a myth or a thing that exists only in children's stories." He raises his hands dramatically and waves them.
"I came through a mirror." Astrid finally decides to help them, by telling all that she knows. Her throat feels dry after staying silent for so long. She didn't even have any breakfast. Her stomach is grumbling. But, she is too into the topic to even notice it.
"Mirror? That could be the portal." Katherine claps her hands together.
"But.... I tried to get through other mirrors over here. But, they didn't work." Astrid looks down at her lap while fiddling with her fingers.
"The myth said that Sirius star made two portals. One is a thing that belongs to earth. One portal is a mirror that is on earth, what about the other, though?" Arthur goes back to thinking.
"The myth doesn't say anything about how those portals look like. But, we know one is a mirror. We have to find what the other is." Katherine says.
"We don't even know if the other portal is on Blue Haven. What if it's not on Blue Haven?" Arthur asks.
"There's only one way to find out." Katherine raises from her chair. She takes hold of both the books and proceeds to walk.
"What?" Arthur asks as he watches his sister's each and every move.
"We search through all the books in here." She simply says as if it's no big deal digging through all the books in a huge library like this.
"What!!! You can say that because you're a reading freak. Not me!!" He says and puts his hands up as if surrendering to the situation.
Katherine looks over her shoulder at her brother.
"You can't even do that for her??" She sarcastically asks.
Arthur's cheeks start their work at her words. They flush red as he looks away. Astrid stands up and follows Katherine, who is laughing at her blushing brother, and walks towards a book shelf.
Astrid smiles at Arthur before disappearing behind the book shelves.
Arthur stands there blushing like never before at her cute gesture. Even though he doesn't want Astrid to go, he still wants to help her as much as possible. He will do anything to get her back home, even if it hurts seeing the girl, he recently got close to, leave. It's for her best. He would do anything in his power to get her back home safely even if, in the end he gets hurt. And he is pretty sure, he will be hurt, when she leaves.
****