The Last Queen of Lemuria (27 page)

Nastia, dumbstruck, raised her eyes.

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"What? What?”  Everyone asked with anticipation.

She kept reading.

"... If I had stayed with you, we would have endlessly repeated what happened in Lemuria. I no longer want to be governed by my passions. I know now what love is. That which transcends time and death. I wish you happiness.  I'm leaving forever. By the way, 'forever,' what a dumb word! I'm sure we'll see each other again. We have eternity ahead of us...."

Nastia set down the letter and stared into the distance. Her tears dried up. Her eyes grew dark. Boris and Andrei exchanged glances.

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“Nastia!”  Called Marina, "What's over there?"

Nastia looked at her, at a loss.

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“We were sisters. It all really happened... Lemuria, Shambhala...”

Andrei walked over to Nastia and pressed her to his heart so strong that she stopped breathing. Marina and Boris also embraced.

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“Andrei! She left because of us.”

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“Do you remember Guria in Lemuria...” Margo said... “there is no death.”

He nodded.

They loaded their things into the helicopter. It took off. Andrei, not breaking his glance, stared at his beloved. The Nastia that he met on the first day of the trip was gone now. And in her place was a new one. With eyes full of confidence. She had a royal air about every turn of her head. Now, no one would dare say that Nastia was plain or ugly. Andrei hugged his Queen.

   The noise of the motors was too loud for the passengers to talk. But they didn't need to. They were overflowing with too many feelings. When the helicopter had gone higher, Nastia looked out the window. She wanted to look one last time at the place where she'd last seen her friend.

- "Look!"  She exclaimed. Everyone threw themselves to the window.

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"What?  Shouted the first responder.  "Who?”

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“There!"  Said Nastia, pointing to a white cliff.

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"There's a cloud... Never mind."

Nastia looked at Andrei. He nodded in silence. He had also been able to make out the high tower through the thick clouds. And he also saw there, on the peak, hair fluttering, smiling, and squinting into the sky with her mermaid eyes, the girl who had left bare footprints on the wet sand. Footprints that went to  the mysterious Olmolungring.

Down below the tower, the eternally young Katun carried its mountain waters over any obstacle in its path.  It flowed there a thousand years ago, and it will be there forever
- strong, deep, and ambivalent to the fates of all those who touch its banks. And when people learn how to understand the language of rivers, it will tell them about this forgotten episode from its life. Its thunderous waters carry the legend of the young sorceress who learned the power of love, and gave her life for it.  And some day, the Katun will reveal the path to the mysterious city to all. The same one where the young Queen Yuma, lost to the centuries found her happiness. The last Queen of Lemuria.