I turn back, following the sound of the voice that I have been dreaming of and missing for months. Kellar stands before me dressed like he has come from a long journey. His cloak looks like it’s in tatters and covered in dirt while he is carrying a duffle bag with one arm. His hair has grown so long that he can even tie it into a high ponytail. There are signs of fatigue under his eyes, but you couldn’t even tell it because of the way that he is smiling at me now.
Kellar raises a brow when I just continue to stand there and gawk at him. “Stella, don’t you recognize me? It’s Kellar. Sure, my hair has grown and I may have a stubble but—” Kellar seems dedicated to explaining himself, but I interrupted him when I ran and jumped at him. He stumbles back, but quickly regains his balance and quietly returns my embrace. “You’re hugging me. Does this mean that you’re not mad?”
“How can I be mad when you did nothing wrong? I miss you so much.”
“I miss you too…so much that you can’t understand.” Kellar’s gaze softens, and his brows are drawn together with unknown guilt. “I’m sorry. I made you wait.” I feel his embrace getting tighter. He’s shaking. I want to comfort him, but I don’t even know what the reason is for him to be acting this way. I just stayed silent and allowed him to embrace me. “Everything will be fine now. I have gotten it all figured out through my travels.”
I move back a bit so I can look at him. “Figured out what?” I tilt my head to the side when his smile just gets wider. “Wait a minute, WHERE did you go?” 
“Just places.”
“What places?”
“Places all over this realm. I visited other islands.”
“Other islands? In this realm?” The idea of the existence of other kingdoms outside of Thalia never occurred to me before. Seeing Kellar nod brings out a pang of jealousy and curiosity in me. 
“It’s new, that’s for sure.” His vague answer only flames my interest.
“Were you alone with Javi?” At the mention of her name, Javi comes between us, stealing my attention away from Kellar as she affectionately forces me to rub her head.
Kellar can’t help but laugh at her behavior, but he soon makes her back off when he notices that my attention is completely on Javi. “Seems like she missed you so much that she's gotten sick of me during our travels. I guess that answers that.” He snickers before looking at me. “As for the reason why I left without telling you, well, I was searching for something, and I didn’t want to get your hopes up.” From under his cloak, he brings back a piece of parchment paper, which he hands to me.
It looks so old and worn out. The edge even seemed to be falling apart, and I was afraid that it would crumple under my touch. I carefully unroll the paper, hoping to read something interesting, but what greets me are some ancient letters that I can’t even read. Looking up, I see that Kellar is on the verge of laughing. If the paper was old and worn out, I might have hit him with it out of irritation.
“Are you messing with me right now? You know that I can’t read this, right?”
“No, no. Well, probably a little.” He snickers but quickly apologizes and points at the symbol at the very bottom of the paper. “Look at this. Isn’t this the mark of the guardian?”
I turn to the image at which he’s pointing. There’s a symbol of a tree with curling roots that form staves surrounding it. I have only seen images of it because I could not see it clearly as it is embedded at the back of my neck. 
“It seems like it is.” I stare at the paper as if the longer I gaze upon it, the more the ancient letters would make sense to me. “Where did you find this?”
“At the royal library is King Nate’s palace.” He answers. “I stayed there during one of the summits. As I was snooping around, I found that page on one of the books.”
“Oh my goodness. Kellar, did you tear this from the books in the royal archives!?”
“I asked Nate for permission!” He said it quickly, as I was starting to look at him with accusing eyes. “Also, it’s because of my snooping around that I found out that it isn’t as ancient a language as we thought. This is one of the native tongues of another country. When I showed it to your sister, I was immediately granted permission to serve as an envoy.” There’s a look of pride in his eyes, like he is boasting. “Although establishing a connection with the other nation is important, your sister and I have another purpose. I learned the language and found out more about the guardians and their rules. Stella, it appears that there are three enchanted forest in this realm, which means that you are not the only guardian.”
“I’m not?” The words come close to a whisper when I say it. “This is the first time that I am hearing this. Serena didn’t even tell me about it.”
“Probably because she must not have known. I don’t think that she’s ever left the country yet.” Kellar shrugs, like that part does not concern him, before fixing his gaze on me once more. “Stella, from what I learned from the other guardians, as long as you manage to meet certain conditions, you would be able to leave from time to time. I mean, you’re still the guardian so you have to return—”
“What did you say?” I fear I am hearing things because it just sounds like he is saying the impossible. I can only imagine myself gaping at him with an expectant gaze. “What conditions are we talking about?”
Kellar smiles softly. “Listen well, young fairy, because I will only say the conditions once. First condition is that you have to be a guardian!” He’s clearly messing around with that first one, but I hold off on reaching out to hit him. “Second, you have to live in the enchanted forest for more than a year.” My heart pounds, and I can feel my hands trembling in nervousness. I stayed in the forest for a year. I would be almost viable on the condition of leaving this place, even just for a while. Gosh. The thought of leaving sounds really nice. I never thought that I would be able to have hope of leaving again. In fact, I never dared to imagine that I would until today. “Third,” Kellar seems to be speaking slower, like he wants to build up the tension. Suddenly, he extends his hand towards me. “Is to go out on a date with me.” He beams.
“Did you hit your head on the way here or something? Come on and tell me the last condition!” I lost my composure and let out the words impatiently like a child—as embarrassing as this sounds. 
“Dinner date first!” He says stubbornly, clearly not taking a no or a rain check for an answer. “I want to make up for lost time. I even set up a picnic already.” And here I thought I was the one being childish, but here is Kellar proving me wrong as he pouts. 
“Fine.” I resigned. I don’t think I am even in a position to make demands here since he is the one holding the information. Also, I don’t think spending time with Kellar is a waste since it’s him and I miss him—though I wouldn’t say it out loud.
“Ouch.” I feigned hurt before getting a handkerchief from his pocket. “Because of that, I will have to blindfold you.”
“Why?”
“For a surprise.”
“You already said that you would take me to a picnic.”
“Stella, get with the program, please?” I sometimes forget that he is still Leo, which makes me surprised that he knows slang from the human world.
“Alright.” I decided to play along with him. I closed my eyes, and he started to tie the blindfold in place. I feel him taking my hands and gently pulling me forward. I can feel Javi nudging my feet as a warning if she sees something that could cause me to trip. The walk probably lasted for a couple of minutes, considering how slow and careful our pace was. 
“We’re here.” Kellar announces it and takes off the blindfold.
I squinted my eyes, trying to allow my eyes to adjust to the scenery. As soon as they do, I see a neat picnic arrangement before me. I was wondering what the surprise was all about when I started to notice WHERE I was standing. I start to panic at first, but when I look back, I am already way off the boundary of the Enchanted Forest. I turn to my hands before touching my body. It is said that I would die if I left the boarders along with the forest if I ever stepped foot outside of the boundary, but looking at how far I am and seeing as how I am still alive, that means that I am free, right?
While still looking at my hands, I notice that there’s a black ring on my middle finger.
“The third condition is that you need to have two obsidian stones carved from the same dragon flame. One will be left near the great tree, while the other will stay with the guardian. Just for context, I took the liberty of taking the other one to the great tree.” Kellar grins and winks.
I could not hold back the tears streaming down my cheeks, even as I pressed my lips together. They just trickle down uncontrollably. “I’m…I’m free?”
Kellar carefully pulls me to his chest. One hand wraps around my waist while the other caresses my head. “You are.” He says that, and that’s the cue for me to start bawling my eyes out.
I could not believe it. This seems like a dream, but it does not feel like one. 
“So…?” Kellar says after a while, and I look up to him to see him have a very arrogant smirk on his face. “Did I plan the perfect date or what?”
How he manages to come up with a joke at this time sent me into laughter. “I’ll have to give it to you. You plan the best date.”