Sitara sat in the clearing near where her family lived. Family, what a strange word. Or not strange, quite, but long since grown unfamiliar. All the deaths, all the rebirths... She grimaced. Enough of that. She wasn't here to reflect on the past; no, it was time to think about the future. To think about her job, the job of a Guardian Ghost. And her father's job, one ten-fold as important. She turned ever so slightly to face the cave, but stayed where she was. He would come. They would talk.
Old Silverback padded out of the cave where he'd been all alone since early that morning. The first thing he saw was his daughter, and it was too late to run back into the cave from her. "Good afternoon, Sitara," he said bleakly.
"Hello father," Sitara said pleasantly. "We need to talk. Preferably somewhere a bit further... I wouldn't want to upset my daughter." She laughed bleakly and headed off. What was wrong with her? She really needed to learn to let the past be. The present, the present. The present was what was important.
Old Silverback worlessly followed his beloved and deceased daughter, as usual sealing off the past from his mind, unwilling to think about it.
Sitara whirled suddenly and stopped, judging they had gone far enough. She needed to get this off her chest. "You're the Guardian," she said bluntly, "and you need to start acting like it. Father... father, I..." She turned away. She was an adult, she didn't need to feel like this. Weak. Helpless. But she was hurting her father, and she couldn't bear it. Even with everything that had gone before, she couldn't bear it. But he needed this, needed a slap in the face. If only he didn't look so old. It made her sad.
Old Silverback avoided Sitara's eyes. "I am sure that I am no longer a Guardian, Sitara. Not after your mother...." The grief in Old Silverback's soul choked him, silencing him.
Had she been alive, had she still the warmth of her body, she would have nuzzled him, she would have curled around his feet as she had as a child and she would comfort him. But those times were long past. She was dead. "It isn't so simple," she said gently. "You're forgetting the bargain. Please, father. You're the only mountain Guardian, these lands need you. Think about it. Think about all the eggs you hatched. You could have not done that if you did not have that power, the power of a Guardian. The power we, I, the Guardian Ghosts granted you. A chance to prove yourself after mother's... mother's death. A chance to heal. Not just the land, but also yourself. Fix what was broken, father! Tell them, tell the dragons. Tell them you are the Guardian, that they might come to you for aid. Unless the burden is too heavy? Only tell me, and give me time. I will find new candidates. I can not bear... I can not bear... with all that has gone past, I can not bear to see you so sad!" she said.
Old Silverback shed silvery tears. "Even if I have the power, I'm not worthy. I caused the Plague by trying to save your mother, and nearly destroyed our kind. I will do what I can, as per our bargain, but..." he heaved a sorrowful sigh of loneliness and weariness. "I am old, and lonely, and tired. I want nothing better than to follow your mother and find her again in the hereafter." Sobs racked his aged body. "I want my Asha back!"
Sitara watched her father cry, but made no move to stop him. He needed this. He needed to let loose. Holding back, holding back... yes, that had been the problem. She grimaced, remembering the plague. It was true: Old Silverback had caused it, all for love of his dying Asha. His Asha, dying of grief. He couldn't take it, he just couldn't. So he had used his Guardian Powers to bring her back after she died, and that had brought back all the ghosts. What a mess! It had taken all of the ghost seers, all the Guardian Ghosts, everybody to fix it. And everybody blamed her father. But she had defended him because deep down... deep down she thought it was her fault. If she hadn't left, never to return, her mother wouldn't have died, none of it would have happened! Of course, she never would have left if Old Silverback had only accepted Gathii. She sighed. What a mess.
She turned away, wishing she could tell him where Asha was. But she was forbidden even that. Hinting at Gathii's fate, his rebirth, had been pushing it. She sighed. Time to set things straight. She turned to Old Silverback and looked him in the eye. "One last bargain. Take on your full duties as a Guardian, give children to couples that can not conceive, maintain balance in the land, and I... I will find replacements. And when I am satisfied with my choices, I will come to you, and I will take the power of Guardian from you. And then you may do as you wish. You may live, stay with Khala, or... or you may come to me. You can die," she said gently, "and be reborn into a new life. But only if that is what you truly want. I beg of you to think it over carefully."
Old Silverback nodded through his tears, hoping in his still heartbroken state that Sitara would find the new ones soon so he could die and seek out Asha. "I will complete my duty, until you find the new Guardians. Once you do...I will go to where Asha is. Asha and I are bound together far deeper than any other couple, my dear Sitara."
"I know," she said. "Mother told me after she died." She leaned forward and kissed her father on the forehead, right in the middle of his star, the kiss of a ghost. "I love you dad," she said softly, "and I wish you didn't have to die to be happy. But I respect your wishes and hope your next life is better." And with that she nuzzled him and turned to go. She would start now, she decided. She'd find candidates and she'd free her father. The past was gone, it was time for the future!
