"Momma... oh, Momma! I missed you so much! Why did you? Where did you? Oh, it doesn't matter, there's so much I want to tell you! I'm so glad I found y--"

Alina clings to her Momma and holds her tight, like she's afraid that if she lets go she'll lose her all over again. There's so many things to say, so many questions to ask, so much hugging that needs catching up on. Years and years and years of it! But that chiming is so loud and so awful that it rattles her soul and cuts off her words even with Gold softening the impact of the bells.

She wants to cry. Why is it always like this? Why is it [i]always[/i] like this? Don't they understand how hard this has been? With Jessamine she barely got a moment before everything tried to crumble on her and she had to fight and claw just to stop from losing her twice in the same day, and then the hurt ran so deep it got them both kidnapped. Freesia had been so cold to her at first, and then there had been so much stuff that needed doing that they never got to sit together and just try being sisters by themselves again. She barely got a day with Mommy after they'd worked so hard to save her! There was always something, something, something, some emergency or desperate mission Hyperborea never asked for or deserved and she [i]knows[/i] it's for her and she [i]knows[/i] she needs to fix it and she'd [i]never[/i] leave her friends to fend for themselves with Oberon still looming over everything but couldn't she just once, just once, just [i]once[/i] could she please find someone special and then be given the kind of time she needs to have a proper reunion? 

Momma still has those same long arms that are even better for hugging than Mommy's are. She still feels so firm and solid, like she doesn't need a magic like Gold to be your shield at night, like you could always cling to her in a storm and everything would turn out ok. She still smells... warm, and safe, like a willow tree on a sunny day. And the way that she's holding Alina is life itself. But the bells are shaking them apart. This is just another moment Alina doesn't get to have. She turns her head and looks to the sky. She doesn't let go.

Be brave, Alina. This is the job Ourania gave [i]you[/i]. But when she opens her mouth to speak, she can't keep her voice from shaking:

"W-will you... stay with me?"