"Miracles happen to those who believe in them."

Bernard Berenson

Somewhere else in the endless desert of ashes, someone was still fighting for someone else’s life. She wasn’t sure if the person she had carried until here was still alive, if the lifeless body in her arms was in a temporary or eternal rest. However, she still deemed to be worth trying because everything will always be worth it for that person. She will always find the force to do even the impossible when it comes to that person. That explained why it was easier to disregard her own body signal of exhaustion, her hunger and above all the immense pain after having witnessed her own kingdom vanish with her own eyes. Because now all that mattered was to save her.   

Soon something as bright as the sun welcomed her. Yes, it was definitively a city made with gold and as much as she didn’t want to believe it, she just hoped that this time it was real. Hopefully, it wasn’t a mirage. The city, one would easily name it the city of light as it was sparkling in the incandescent sun. Then she spotted something which blew her away. That castle it was just like in her memory. It hadn’t change a bit. And finally water … a sea after what it seemed to be an eternal plain of sand felt like a miracle. The castle was surrounding by a huge lake. Around the lake, there was a green frontier which was itself encircled by the desert. On one of the castle’s side, there was a dam. Waterfalls were escaping from the dam’s entrances. One would have easily be intrigued by the lake down the dam which was staying at the same level despite the incessant waterfalls feeding it with water. This whole area felt like a paradise comparing to the desert. It was an island of green blue in that ocean of sand. Or maybe it was just an oasis, a really huge and unique one. 

However, even this astonishing place wasn’t miraculously enough to awake the person still in her arms. Maybe the water will, she thought. She approached the liquid expanse as she entered the green area. The sun’s heat had remained powerful so much that viewing an area this green was almost magical: how was all this vegetation resisting to the hot temperature ? Only a miracle could do such thing. And now she wished for a miracle which would trigger the girl awakening. She put her hands in the water before splashing it on her own face. Then she did the same but on the girl she just had put on the green floor. In vain. She made her drink from her hand and again there was no reaction at all. Suddenly it started to rain on the lifeless girl’s face. She looked up at the sky but it was still as dry as the sand. Therefore, she realized that she was the owner of those water pearls as they were coming from her own eyes. How was her body still managing to produce water when it felt like age since she last hydrated herself ? Again it was maybe a miracle but no … it wasn’t. It was unconditional  love. 

Suddenly she looked up at the dam and she swore she saw someone watching her from the gate. So she decided to go there while not forgetting to carry the girl in her arms. 

…

Umji just couldn’t believe her eyes. The capital was really magnificent even from afar. What was even more flabbergasting was that huge lake and the green reliefs surrounding it. The nomads didn’t appear to be as impressed as Umji and Yuju. On the contrary, they were even pretty anxious. Umji noticed how they were walking while looking at the floor. They didn’t want to show their face but why ? It wasn’t like they were easily recognizable, was it ? Umji wanted to know the answer but just like when she asked about the reason the nomads hated the capital, she felt like it was a taboo question … again. However, she wasn’t the only one who was biting her tongue, Kittu seemed eager to speak too but he was forcing himself not to do so. Plus, it was almost cute how he was trying to approach Umji. The latter already knew why: he surely wanted her to tell him the rest of Calm Snow story. So Umji started to think that even if the nomads hated the Sun Kingdom queen, they had their own queen  … It was the Silence. Indeed no one dared to break that almost sacral hush. She looked at Yuju and the latter immediately landed her eyes on hers, as a reflex. The smile drawing on Yuju’s face was as bright as the Sun even though Yuju wasn’t smiling ear to ear. That little half-smile was enough for Umji to go on. However it wasn’t enough to stop her thoughts about SinB. Umji unconsciously started to imagine how it would have been to discover the Sun Kingdom with SinB. What would have been her reactions if she were here ? She was imagining her sparkling eyes under brightness of the Sun and her hair streaming in the hot wind. How her hand would feel against hers. How her lips would taste under that dry atmosphere. Wait. Why was she thinking of that suddenly ? Maybe because deep down she hadn’t still internalize the sad truth that she would maybe never see SinB again. 

Only one thing made Umji forgot SinB for a moment: it is the beauty welcoming them when they arrived at the city gates. Indeed, the architecture of the city could be summed up in two words: the material stone and the color gold. To those words, Umji would also add the greenery as the palms and other unknown plants were omnipresent. Concerning the sense of smell, the air was filled up with spice s