The sound of a carriage trundled across the ground was heard in the forest as it moved along the road surrounded by trees on either side. It was being drawn by two horses manned by one person, whereas three people residing inside the sheltered covers of the carriage were talking among themselves. They had very recently begun on a journey to cross different countries to reach a certain destination: the Forest of Lone.

“Miss,” began Alex questioningly, looking up at his teacher once his family home was out of sight.

“What is it, Alex?” His teacher, Lucia Hartford, asked when she looked at him with a pleasant smile.

“Why didn’t you return the hug that your father was expecting from you?”

He noticed her smile crack a little under the pressure from his question before letting out a heavy sigh.

“To be frank, Alex, I felt very uncomfortable to do that when, you know, I don’t really… well…”

She could not finish the sentence and trailed away in a vague manner helplessly. Alex understood the feeling she had for her father was discomfort from the fact that he hid things from her. However, his childhood friend disagreed with the adult woman.

“That is very rude to speak like that about your dear father, miss!” Luna Pistam said, folding her arms in front of her while giving her a serious stare. “He said so in his letter and himself, albeit indirectly, that something is involved that it’s better that you don’t know anything about.”

“I’m not a kid that needs to be sheltered all the time, Luna,” the older woman replied, looking pained. “I’m a capable mage in my own right who can defend herself. He should have some faith in me if he were to expect the same from me.”

“Maybe you’re right, miss,” said Luna, agreeing with a nod, but her eyes fought back as she finished with, “but I still think there are some things adults wouldn’t want their children known, especially if they are troublesome things that could hurt our feelings.”

At her words, Lucia groaned and shifted her focus on her student, who quickly averted his gaze nervously. He knew she wanted to get his attention regarding the matter about Luna’s tragic backstory which the poor girl herself did not know anything about.

Alex had attempted to persuade his parents into revealing the truth to his childhood friend, whom he loved very dearly. Unfortunately, they backed down and chose the cowardly method of letting her live in the illusion that her parents were travelling the world since the truth could devastate her.

“Call it our selfishness, but we want this happiness to continue as long as it can last. That’s my wish, and the same goes for your father.”

Those were the exact words of his mother, who had told him with a bitter smile on her face. He, as her son and Luna’s childhood’s love, understood his parents’ feelings, but he felt they were betraying the trust that Luna had in them. However, not wishing to go against his parents’ wishes, he maintained his silence. As such, his teacher was forced to keep her silence on the matter as well.

So, seeing her student looking away made Lucia sigh and mutter, “This is difficult.”

There was a moment of tense silence between them before it was broken by the man in control of the horse reins.

“Madam,” he called, and the three passengers turned to focus on him. “Please pardon my interruption, but here is the money the sir wanted you to have.”

When he spoke, he passed on the reins to his other hand and rummaged through his clothes before pulling out a large pouch that jingled with the sound of many coins. Just from the sound alone they could tell that a lot was stored in it.

With a mutter of, “thank you,” Lucia took possession of the pouch and unwrapped it.

Sure enough, once she peeled the opening a little, she and the other two marvelled at the amazing sight that greeted them. Inside, there were many gold, silver, and copper coins mixed in together. Though it was difficult to tell the exact amount, one glance was enough to declare that she held a vast amount of fortune in her hands.

Luna had clapped both of her hands over her mouth in amazement while Alex stared at the contents of the pouch with a dumbfounded look on his face. The coachman, who had glanced sideways and noticed their expressions, only smiled as he returned to focusing on the road ahead.

“This is…” she said in a quiet voice and faltered, unable to express the exact feeling she had within her. She turned to the man and asked, “Why do you have it, and why didn’t he just give it to us directly?”

It was Alex who said from the side, “I think it’s more likely that you’d decline it on the spot.”

When Lucia looked at him quizzically, the coachman said, “The boy is correct.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah. Along with handing over the pouch to you, he also wanted me to pass on a message to you.”

“A message?” She asked suspiciously. “What is it?”

“If I were to give it to you directly, chances are that you’d refuse on the spot. So, I am giving the coachman to hold it until we were well on our way before handing it over to you.”

Lucia looked at the man’s back with a surprised expression on her face. Alex smiled a little at his teacher before turning to ask the man a question.

“Is that all?”

“Yes. Ah. He also wanted me to hand this over after passing on that message,” the coachman said, and he pulled out the envelope that he was carrying in his breast pocket and gave it to the kid.

With the letter in his hands, Alex glanced up at his teacher and asked, “May I, miss?”

She nodded wordlessly, her face looking muddled as her confusion could be seen right through. While she and Luna watched, Alex opened the enveloped and pulled out the letter that was neatly tucked inside. He shook it open and began reading the contents out loud for them to all hear.

“Dear Lucia,

Forgive me for not addressing this to you directly as I felt your animosity towards me would be quite high. While I am sure there would be no way for me to quell your anger towards me because of reasons, I still want you to know that, as my daughter, you were never a disappointment. If ever I pushed you into doing things, it was for your own good to help you in your future endeavours.

That is the reason I am not against your quest to the Forest of Lone despite the danger it poses. I have faith in you and your companions to venture into it to succeed in overturning the current predicament our society is facing. As your father, you have my full support, and I would go to any lengths to help you if it was not for my duty as a council member.

Still, one thing I do hope for in the future is to have us interact as father and daughter and not as strangers. I would really like that. I have no reason to deceive my only daughter that this world has offered me from my love with your mother. So, please believe me when I do say that I want to repair our relationship as parent and child. I think your mother would also like that.

I wish you and your companions a best of luck for the future and return safely and victoriously.”

Once he finished reading the sentence, Alex looked up and looked sympathetically at his teacher.

“You can almost feel his emotions when he wrote this letter, miss,” he remarked in a quiet voice.

Lucia looked troubled as she was facing a turmoil inside of her. She was very surprised to hear that he supported her actions as her father, but as councilmember, he despised her actions. This made her feeling very confused and complicated about the whole subject.

Just then, the coachman coughed and they turned to him as he said, “Madam, please forgive my interloping in your private matters, but it appears that you and your father have some kind of conflict going on. While I don’t know its nature nor its reason, I would like to point out that conflict between parent and children is bound to happen.

Recently, I and my son had a fallout when he and I disagreed on certain things. Still, it was only his behaviour in disagreeing with me that I had an issue with, but not with him as a person. How can I come to hate my own son, madam? It’s unthinkable even though my son thinks otherwise.

So, please consider the sir’s serious intentions of helping you and your companions succeed in your quest to enter the forest. To a loving parent such as him, his children are all they have to live for. That is all I can suggest to you as a third party.”

He glanced at her and appeared to be pleading with her without appearing to sound so in his speech. Then he turned back to face the front as the carriage continued to trundle along the road. For several seconds, silence ensued within the carriage before Luna broke it.

“Miss,” she began in a beseeching voice, “please think this through.”

There was a moment of pause, in which Lucia turned to face her with a strange look on her face. It appeared as though she was trying to make up her mind, and Alex watched his teacher in silence before she finally addressed them both.

“I don’t hate my father. It’s just that… I wish he didn’t treat me so… so… childishly,” she said finally, and chuckled bitterly. “Thinking over the words we just heard, maybe that is how loving parents feel towards their children. I wouldn’t know since I’m still single, but… well… maybe my stance in this had been a little too… serious.”

As she looked ashamed at herself, Alex smiled and said, “It doesn’t matter anymore, miss, and your father doesn’t seem to hold anything against you other than the utmost love.”

She nodded and replied, “You’re right, Alex. There’s more to this than what meets the eyes. Perhaps, I’ve just been looking at the surface and never bothered to look beneath the depths. When we return from all this, I want to get to the bottom of this and, possibly, help father out.”

Alex nodded in approval while Luna said excitedly, “That sounds wonderful!”

Lucia smiled at the two kids and said, “It is.”

After seeing her smiling, Alex looked towards the road ahead and smiled in happiness. He believed this journey was exactly what they needed to experience more than the things they had seen, heard, and felt while at their familiar grounds. As such, he became very excited as the carriage trundled along the road towards the rising sun over the horizon.