Chapter 7: A Trip to Arcadia: Chapter 4-1
The morning bliss came after the clouds subsided once again to shine a new day for Divinia. Golden Pheasant birds fly along with the current of the wind, perching up the branches of the golden tree in the garden behind Gracewood Mansion. One bird — more golden but smaller than the others — perched up outside a window of the second floor, looking through it as it moves and flaps its feathers. The bird starts to poke at the window repeatedly as it keeps looking through until the very curtains at the other side suddenly open up; revealing a bed with a long bump. Stunned was the bird as it tilts its head, gazing at the large bump on the white bed. Then it flew, for the large bump disappeared as the blanket opened up; revealing the very one who was laying on it, Holley himself.
"Ah, another beautiful morning!" said Holley as he sits up stretching; he is now a bit taller than before, and his hair was a little longer but was still the same neat golden fringe hair. Wearing his casual white pajamas with brown stripes
He gets up from his bed and into his closet, coming out with his pajamas replaced with his black pants and white button-up shirt; and his locket dangling from his neck. He walks out of his room while he closes the door behind him, but something stopped it from opening. He looks down to see what stopped it, but he didn't see anything. He thinks for a moment while he touches his chin, then he looks up; only to see one tiny shoe blocking the door from closing, but it wasn't all that; someone was wearing the shoe.
"Good morning Jeram! How are you today?" said Holley as gives him a wide morning smile.
"I'm swell! Thank you for asking Mr. Holley!" said Jeram while he takes out his foot away from the doorway as he flaps his tiny wings, "If you don't mind Mr. Holley, I'm going to pack up a few of your clothing for the trip today."
"You can go ahead Jeram. Besides, I forgot to pack any formal clothing yesterday hehe." He scratches his head in embarrassment.
"It is expected Mr. Holley since this will be your first time traveling somewhere other than the garden and the forests around here," said Jeram flying into Holley's room, but before he closes the door, "Oh, and Mr. Holley. Miss Anna is waiting for you downstairs; she is in the new music room."
"Thank you Jeram, I will see you later today"
Holley waves Jeram a slight goodbye before he walks down the hallway towards the mansion's stairs, passing by the same paintings and the same statue of Cyril in the middle along the way. Holley stops in front of the statue as he faces it, putting his hands together and bowing his head to touch them, "I pray to you all mighty Cyril. I pray to the all-knowing and all-seeing. I pray to you for a wonderful day and a fun trip for my family to enjoy as one. Cyril, I pray to you."
Holley puts down his hands and looks at the statue's face, bowing to it one last time before turning around to continue his path. He steps down the staircase of his home, touching the yellow handrail as he does so. After he presses his foot on the first white linoleum tile on the first floor, he turns right to continue walking forward. He sees the living room in front of him as he turns, he starts to walk towards it, entering it but something was a little off. As he steps foot on the wooden floor of the living room, he hears something strange — strange… but soothing. He perks up his ears to listen to the sound more clearly, listening to the tinging but soft tunes of an instrument. He slowly moves his body towards the source of the sound, touching the walls and entryways as he goes closer to the ringing tone.
One minute after, he steps foot in a room unfamiliar to him. The birch wood floor and the plain white walls with yellow seams. He looks around only to see that there was nothing else but emptiness until he delves into the side of the room where another entryway was built. He touches the sides of the entrance, looking through the way, and to his surprise, it was where the sound tuned. The room was a smaller room compared to the one he was in, a foyer he thought. He stares at where the musical tunes were made, the white instrument that was particularly large that sat upon the middle of the room on a fur mat. And the one playing it was none other than Anna, his beloved mother; pressing the keys gracefully while anna taps her feet to the sound of the soft tune; she was making a beautiful melody for the mansion and birds to hear.
For the moment, Holley left Anna alone with her singing tunes, listening to every key play as he closes his eyes to daydream about flower meadows, but it was only for a short time. Accidentally hitting his toe on the wall after one tune made his feet slightly dance, giving one grunt of pain, but it was enough to alarm Anna. Before her finger touched down one black key, she stops and turns around to see Holley. He was afraid that his mother would scold him for interrupting, but instead, she gives him a smile and signal him to come over.
"Come, dear! Check out our new piano that I got from the auditorium," said Anna as she makes room for Holley to sit.
Holley walks towards Anna and the piano, slowly sitting beside her, "Now, did you read about this instrument?" asks Anna.
"I did mother, I found it the most fascinating out of all the instruments; well, for the exception of the violin." He runs his fingers on the piano keys, feeling its cold surface.
"Hehe, I can't say that it was not expected, dear. The Vivienne family has always loved this magnificent instrument," said Anna cheerfully, "Do you want me to teach you, dear?"
Holley's eye quickly widened and sparkled as he turns his head in haste at Anna, nodding repeatedly. Anna giggled and ruffled his hair, "Excited, are you? Hehe."
"I will only teach you the basic keys for today dear, we don't want your Uncle Jared and Aunt Alaysha to wait for us."
The two mingled with their new piano keys for only an hour, but the time they spent felt like it was years. Anna gladly taught Holley the basic keys and basic tunes for him to practice, tutoring him to play while listening; waving her finger to the sound of Holley's first keys. When Holley makes a mistake, Anna laughs and gives him a ruffle on his hair, telling him that practice will make him play perfectly. Both of them enjoyed the time they had together dearly, seeing Holley smile while he plays, made Anna smile as well, but they knew It was time to stop.
"That is enough piano lessons for today dear. We must wait for the carriage to arrive at the gates." She gets up from the small chair and pats her dress, "I've already packed the things I need for the trip; I hope Jeram packed the clothing that you forgot to get yesterday dear."
"Go get your luggage dear, I'll wait for you at the entrance hall"
"Okay, mother." Holley jumps out of the small chair and runs upstairs to his room, gently opening his bedroom door as he enters.
As he steps foot into the room, he sees Jeram flying around carrying some of his clothes to put in one brown luggage bag, jumping on top of it to make sure the luggage back stayed shut. Jeram rubs his hands together to get rid of the small cotton and strings he got from the clothes, then when he finishes, he takes a deep breath and turns his head to see Holley, "Your luggage is now fully packed sir! Should I carry them downstairs?"
"It's fine, you have already done enough Jeram, I'll carry the luggage downstairs myself." Holley walks to the side of his room where two luggage bags were on top of each other.
"Are you certain Mr. Holley?? I can still carry them all down if you wish it, Sir."
"It is fine Jeram, I don't want you getting too worked up for a day; besides, it is good exercise for me hehe!" Holley grabs both the luggage and tries to lift them up, failing at the first try but lifting them up the second.
"I'll be back for that one Jeram, you can go to mother to see if she needs anything."
"As you wish Mr. Holley. Be careful not to strain yourself while carrying your luggage, I do not wish for you to stumble on the staircase steps!" Jeram flies out of the room, leaving Holley carrying the luggage all by himself.
Although he had small arms and a child's strength, Holley managed to get the two luggage bags downstairs without falling or breaking something. He mustered all his strength to not fall whilst he carried the luggage, taking small steps and breaks as he passes through the hallway and down to the first-floor main hall. After he places the first two luggage bags on the linoleum floor, he quickly takes a sit and breathes; immediately standing up after, then went back to his room to get the last luggage which Jeram packed for him. In his relief, it was not as heavy as the previous two, making him carry it with ease down the staircase, or so he thought. Since it was easy to carry, Holley zoomed out of his room and onto the staircase, not knowing that something wasn't holding tight; the zipper of the luggage bag. When he took his first step on the staircase, the luggage bag flew open, throwing out all the clothes inside while it took Holley by surprise, making him stumble and fall on his back.
He fell on the first floor, vision becoming blurry as he opens his eyes slowly; he thought he broke something in him, a bone or a limb. Luckily, he landed on a small pile of clothes from the opened luggage back. Realizing his mistake, he quickly snaps out of his daze and hurriedly collects the scattered clothes. He packed them neatly in the luggage bag as he tries to search for any more clothes still laying on the floor and, on the furniture; but instead, he saw something else. Beside the two luggage bags that he first brought down, he saw not one of his clothes, but a book — a book that had the title, Blessia Academy: textbook number 4.
"Blessia Academy? I wonder…"
"Madam Vivienne! The carriage has arrived!" shouted Jeram from the living room.
Holley quickly hides the book in the luggage bag, instantly closing it tightly like the others in order to avoid the mishap again. He continued to escort his luggage to the mansion gates where a brown carriage was waiting. While he waited for his mother, Holley opened one of the luggage suitcases to get a small white sweater for him to wear during the trip; casual, unlike his mother, which wore a white floral dress with sunflowers sewed on, and a hat that covered the top of blonde hair. Holley first took the luggage on board, trying his hardest to lift them high enough to place it inside, but as he was about to lose grip of one.
Somebody quickly grabs the bottom of the bag, lifting it up, "Be careful young lad, you might end up picking up your clothes from dirt!" said a man wearing a blue suit with a hat that matched.
"O-oh, s-sorry. T-thank you, by the way, f-for saving the suitcase!" said Holley shyly.
"No worries lad! You must be Anna Vivienne's son, a pleasure to finally meet you!" He extends his hand for him to shake.
Holley looks at it for a second before shaking it, "Nice to meet you too!"
"My name is Simon Skeen! I am one of the carriage drivers that monitor and regulate travel among the floating islands, and fortunately, I was assigned to transport you and your mother to Arcadia! Breathtaking City I tell, you will grow to love it, lad," said the Driver showing his teeth with his wide smile.
"Now, I need to prepare the unicorns for the trip. I will see you later when we land Holley." The man turns around and goes to the front of the carriage, disappearing from Holley's sight.
Holley waves him a happy goodbye before placing all his luggage on the carriage, but one thing he found strange about the driver though, is what does he mean about floating islands? He thought before Anna called him over. He walks towards Anna while she was talking to Jeram, "Everything ready dear?" she asks.
"Everything is ready mother; we are good to go!" said Holley enthusiastically
"Hehe, ok dear; Jeram I will leave the house to your care while we're gone, be sure to water the garden!"
"It will be done, Miss Vivienne. I wish you a great trip to Arcadia!" said Jeram cheerfully.
"Goodbye, Jeram! I will see you in a few days!" said Holley before he follows Anna to the carriage, waving Jeram goodbye as he enters.
Holley and Anna sit on seats opposite to each other, making themselves comfortable before signaling to go, "Everything okay now dear?" asks Anna.
"Yes, mother!"
"Good. Simon, we are ready to depart!" shouted Anna through the small carriage window leading to the front.
"As you wish Mam! Yaaaa!" Simon signals the unicorns to gallop, making the carriage move.
The carriage starts to move forward as the unicorns galloped in unison, controlled by Simon in the front seat, the only difference is that he did not hold any straps. Holley and Anna sat in the carriage quietly as the bumps from the rocks made them focus on grabbing onto it, well, at least Holley was. He looked through the window as the carriage moved, excited for the journey that lay before them because this was his very first time traveling to somewhere else other than what surrounded his home. Holley noticed something though; at the far distance, there was something unusual on the ground, or to put it simply, there was no ground, he thought to himself. As the carriage neared the end, Holley grabbed his seat tightly, thinking that the carriage would fall; making his legs flay like leaves on the wind. But it did not. As the carriage reached the end, it did not fall; instead, the carriage flew from the ground and into the sky, similar to how Uncle Jared's carriage from last year's birthday.
Holley slowly looks through the window again, only to see their home from above, now realizing that it was a floating island all this time, "So… this was what Asher meant from floating islands"
"Hehe, I thought you knew dear, seeing that you have spent a lot of time with Asher exploring; I figured that he might have told you that our home is a floating blessing above the sky!" said Anna as he grabs a sewing kit and starts to sew.
"Well, he did mention it, but it would be followed by him running around so it quickly gets away from my mind." Holley gazed at the clouds as the carriage flew above it.
"Hehe, sounds like you two are getting along so well! Get comfortable dear, Arcadia is a long way from our home."
Holley moves closer to the side window, laying his head on the carriage wall. As they traveled, Holley contemplated to himself: that the world is so much bigger from the view back home. His heartbeats from the unknown, but his lips smiled from the new possibilities. He was excited, yet terrified, but it didn't stop him from admiring the view from above.
"Arcadia… Here we go"
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