Chloe At Worlds' End

With yet another celebration under their belts, it was now late after-noon. Everyone was still gathered in the attic, either sitting upon Mr. Carpet or around him. They had been talking for a while in revisiting the miraculous events of the past couple months, some of which were either very sad, or very positive indeed. Onri asked

“Well, do we think that there is enough time left today to take a trip to Sanctum to see if our help is needed?” Chloe answered

“I think we can start to work towards that goal, I just wonder if some of us here would like to first be brought to where their immediate future calls them… Sissy, Grog, Ms. Aggie, would you like us to first bring you back to the Zoo District?”

“Sss… yes, that would be nice. Thank you for thinking of me” And Grog agreed as well

“Oh yes, I miss my family, and I am a worried if they are okay after that huge storm”

“Okay, then maybe we should set out at once before it gets any later. Mr. Carpet, are you game to come along as well?”

“Oh please, I think that it would be good for me to go for a jaunt just now”

“All right then, all of us shall go now… excluding our enchanted furniture friends of course.

When the mist cleared, they were all standing upon the black sandy shore of the Zoo District. They looked across the vastness of it… and were quite shocked at its disheveled appearance. It had always been a marvel to look upon its ever unchanging beauty … but now it was just a plain mess. Grog said

“Well, there are a lot of downed trees, but aside from that I guess it’s not such a big deal… they will grow back” Onri countered

“I should think the animal populations of this place will be moving soon anyhow. It’s now apparent that the time for repopulating the planets’ surface is at hand.” Chloe responded

“Oh yes, you are certainly right. We will check with the authorities at home later and see if they need our help with this, for I think our government may be lacking in any means to carry it out. We had relied for so long upon the grid for everything in that self-contained environment that we probably have no means yet to substantially affect anything outside of it. So now it seems it is time to say good bye for now, we will come to visit you soon, won’t we Onri?”

“Oh yes, definitely. Good bye Grog, Sissy”

Hugs were shared all around, and the rest of them watched as Grog and Sissy disappeared into the foliage. Then suddenly they heard the excited barking of Ms. Aggies’ pups behind them, and they turned to see all of them paddling into the bay. Ms. Aggie said

“Well, it is now my turn to say farewell for now” More good byes were said, and they watched as Ms. Aggie and her pups swam off. Chloe then said

“Well, shall we?” Alessandro replied

“Yes, I can’t wait to see how everyone is faring… and we all have such a bright future ahead of us!” Chloe opened a misty portal above the bay and said

“I have an idea where we should visit first… Mr. Carpet, if you please…”

Up they flew, passed through it, and when they came out the other side Mr. Carpet halted their advance as they hovered in the bright sunshine over the outside exit doors of Sanctum. The last time they had been near here, some folks had made it out onto these hills before Rajeem had sabotaged it. But as Chloe had hoped, they were now rewarded with the sight of progress. The rubble was cleared, and thousands of people could be seen streaming out in a line that meandered off into the distant hills, farther than they could see. Chloe said

“I am so happy to see this, and I am truly filled with hope for our future… in many ways” Charlie then said

“I am very excited about this and I want to be a part of it, please take me down!”

“Me Too!” shouted Alessandro

They landed out of sight for fear of causing a stir. Charlie continued

“We will leave you now, but please come and find us for a visit soon. I don’t want to lose contact with you, my dear friends” More hugs and farewells were bid, and once in the sky again, they waved to Charlie and Alessandro as they joined the march. It was fun to watch all the many peoples of the line sequentially notice them and then excitedly wave and jump for joy while cheering loudly. It was infectious and they also cheered and waved down in return. Colin was still with them there upon Mr. Carpet, and he said

“I hope that you don’t mind me still being here and tagging along… but I feel part of your family. I’ve been with you so long now that I wouldn’t know where else to go…”

Chloe answered

“Oh, but you are part of our family now… I couldn’t bear to part with you Colin!”

“Oh thank you Chloe, Onri…” Chloe then looked to Onri and said

“Onri, I have had a wonderful surprise for you and it’s hard for me to keep it a secret from you any longer”

“Really, I love surprises… what is it, what is it!?”

Chloe once again opened their portal and they flew into it, and the other side they flew through the open French doors of the attic and landed upon the floor. Chloe said

“The other day, immediately after I made the changes in restoring Rajeem’s DNA to its’ original form, I remembered the old story of how our ancestor Chloe had located and reunited herself with her parents’ reincarnations as fish” Onri listened in wide eyed silence

“It took some searching, but as luck would have it, their bodies were also consumed by fish as Chloe’s parents were, and I was able to locate the small offspring of them” Onri’s hand covered his open mouth and asked

“Where are they now… did you bring them here!?”

“Yes I did, just before I rejoined you three in Sanctum… and there they are!”

Chloe pointed to a large glass bowl of water, which was partially visible around the corner of Mr. Piano against the wall, and sitting upon a small table. Onri ran over and kneeled in front of it. Sure enough, there were two small fish swimming around in it. He then asked her

“Oh Chloe… I can’t believe it… we’re going to have mom and dad back to us!?” “Have you awoken them yet!?”

“No not yet, I was waiting for us to share in this as I did it… are we ready?”

“YES… YES… YES!”

Chloe touched the jewel of her staff to the bowl and closed her eyes. As an illumination from the jewel lit the bowl, Chloe let her minds’ consciousness move into those of the fishes. As she had seen before when she located them, their recessed genetic memories were fairly easily accessible… they only needed be set free within their mind with a little push since they were so recent. She simultaneously did this and awakened them into human consciousness as well. Chloe opened her eyes. She and Onri looked excitedly upon each other while grasping hands. They looked closely into the bowl at the little faces of the small fish. They were swimming around excitedly, nervously… then suddenly they stopped and faced each other… seemingly in recognition. Chloe and Onri gasped as the hairs pricked upon their necks, they couldn’t peel their eyes away from the fish as they stuck their noses against the glass. The two little fish then turned and swam up against the glass and peered out at them. Onri said

“Oh my gosh… do you think they recognize us yet?” Then certainly in purposeful answer… one of the fish looked directly at Chloe, then up at her messy hair… and rolled its eyes!

Chloe and Onri burst into loud giddy laughter and called out to them “MOM…. DAD!” They both excitedly hugged one another and rolled round and round on the floor.