maria had made the greatest mistake she'd ever make just a few hours ago. she'd done everything right too. she had done her duty as an alexandrian soldier. herself, terra, and rosa had ambushed four enemies of her country. a qu, a burmecian dragoon, a small black mage traitor, and what she'd thought was a monkey or something, blond with a tail. she'd been surprised by the quick movements of the enemy, her two fellow soldiers knocked off their feet. then the qu had stabbed her with the thin fork it carried. nothing that seemed dangerous, but a shock enough to make her drop her sword.

it was the last thing she ever did before she turned to stone. the fork was a needle fork, used to eat a delicacy by the upper classes. they speared toads or snails and ate the resulting petrified animals. it made little sense to her and she had been the daughter of a resteraunt owner. the forks risked turning the eater to stone too, so they had to lace their wine with soft to stop themselves pricking their tounges and petrifying theirselves.

her two comrades had fled in terror at seeing her turned to stone, thinking the mage had done it. she had stood wanting to flee too, but she was trapped. she feared they wanted to smash her apart and eat her like the snails that were supposed to be speared with the fork. she'd fell over, and had thought she was doomed, smashed into a million shards. she sat in the dark, thinking she was trapped as gravel forever. then there had been a rumble, and the darkness changed to faint light. there was smoke everywhere. it faded, and she saw the sky. cleyra had been destroyed, and it took her a while to realise how close she had actually been to being shattered.

first though, the dust-covered statue lying in the charred stump of the tree had wondered if anyone was going to help her.

***

it had been instant. the surpise prick of the fork, the clang of her sword hitting the floor and her whole body was stone, a dusty white marble statue oddly dressed in the green uniform of an alexandrian solder. that had been at least seven nights ago. she'd seen the sky grow black and the stars emerge at least seven times. she'd realised that the temperature was hard for her to guage, but that whenever she was in the heat of the sun, she grew very warm. but it wasn't unbearable. all she felt was heat. not discomfort or pain, just the warmth as her stone body, and then overnight the cooling as that heat went away.  when it rained, washing the dust away,  she could only feel herself cooling off faster, but didn't feel like she was getting wet. she just felt the raindrops bounce off her or roll off. her uniform had retained a lot of water in the rain, staying cool as the excess water it abosrbed evaporated until it was as dry as the rest of her and became the same temperature. warmth in the sun. cool at night.

she didn't know anything of what was around her except what she stared at: the sky. she had reassured herself over the seven days, telling herself that rosa and terra knew she was missing, knew the army was searching the ruins of cleyra for anything useful or any survivors. they'd find her and save her. she could hear, but it was like being underwater. the sounds echoed and were muffled. she could sometimes hear birds singing distantly.

as the sun rose for the eighth time, she though she heard soemthing. like voices and footsteps.

'hey, over here!' someone yelled. a woman. a familair voice.

'what is it?' another voice. another woman.another familiar sound.

'come see.'

the footsteps grew closer. then she saw the best thing she had seen in a week. it was terra, blonde hair a mess, helmet off and her brown eyes glimmering with glee to match her grin.

then rosa. helmet still on, blue eyes hidden by the shadows, but not her own grin.

'well, well. maria. looks like you got into a pretty little petrified pickle, eh?' terra taunted.

'pretty is right... maybe we should take her home and plonk her on a plinth. make her into a victory monument. she looks the part.' rosa teased. maria knew she was joking.

'good plan. how about we go ask sarge?' terra grinned. then the two broke out in laughter.

'just kidding.' they said redundantly.

'we'll go get something to help you, girl. we'll be back and then you'll be back too.' rosa said. the two began to walk away, but terra paused, and knelt down close to maria's petrified form. she placed hr flesh hand on maria's marble one.

'sorry for leaving you behind, maria. we're all sorry.' she said, and then left. the footsteps grew distant, but maria felt only great relief.

her mind raced with the joy. when they came back she was going to be out of here. just as soon as they were...

...she found that everything had changed. it had been after dawn a second ago, and now it was after noon. the sun had moved across the sky in seconds. she was bewildered until it hit her.

she'd dreamt it. she was still here and still would be. rosa and terra had never been here.

***

after that first time, she found that she began to dream frequently. it seemed to be every five or seven days, but she didn't know how long she dreamed for. sometimes the sun was just rising and she'd black out, only to awake from a dream in blackness.  but after that first dream she found herself torn between two different desires. at first, she spent all her time wishing she'd never go into that state of unconciousness again, a nagging voice telling her it was better than to stare at the sky and fight off what she knew she really wanted. then had come the second time she fell asleep in stone.

it was about year after she had joined the army, and met terra and rosa. the three had become firm friends and comrades, part of the same squad. part of the uniform was to dye the soldiers hair blonde unless they were high ranking, something maria had found very easy because her own hair already had been blonde to start with. but for some reason here, terra and rosa had their black and red hair respectively. even though somehow she knew that when this had really happened, the two of them had their hair as golden as any other alexandrian soldier.

she didn't think herself as ugly, but like most people, she had her self confidence issues. she was 18, only just by a week,  at the time of this memory, and she'd not had a boyfriend. not a real one anyway. she'd had a childhood crush on a friend she'd played with, and other adolescent crushes too. there were also the few occasions a boy had actually asked her out,  most of them awkward once-only occasions with a walk in a park or a nervous dinner in a restaurant. most of her peers were far more forward, many of them asking the boys out, the norm in alexandria. but she'd never had the guts to walk over, and instead acted like a lindblum girl, sitting in the corner and hoping the young man made the first moves.

but now she was a soldier, serving her country. terra hadn't much luck herself, though not from lack of effort. she seemed almost proud of the claim she'd asked 14 men for a date and only 6 had outright refused and 2 had been forced to cancel. none of the others had gone out with her a second time though. rosa had been asked out once and asked a boy out twice. all three of them had been at least three dates, and the last one she had only broken up with a year ago, after nearly two years.

the reason this memory was about her lack of luck in love was because this was when it changed.

it had been a friday, and they were in a pub, the three soldiers not alone. other soldiers were there too, and other workers of the army and alexandria. they'd arrived a few seconds late for the ''entertainment'' they remembered, eliza the barmaid with tears of laughter still streaming down her face when they had entered.

'you missed a good one, ladies. captain stiener just marched in, dragged out two of his pluto knights. of course, one of them put up a little bit of a fight and tried to grab a table. stiener kept dragging him and he only let go when he said he'd be paying for the table if he didnt! so he let go and steiner kept dragging them out, except one of the cheeky buggers took his flagon with him! that rusty loony marched the poor sod back in to return it and made him pay.'

'he dragged them off before they paid?' rosa asked. eliza had just grinned.

'nope. for the whole pub. so everyone's enjoyed a round on weimar. including you three, since he had to leave his whole pay packet behind. though at the rate the rest of the army is drinking i think his gift will be gone soo, what'll you be having?'

after they ordered and took the free (paid for by an unfortunate member of the inept royal guard, which to soldiers like them meant it was better than free) drinks to a table, they made idle chitchat, but maria's eyes kept looking off across the pub at one table, and one young man in particular

'just ask him.' rosa said when she glanced across the room, three rounds in and dozens of quick glances.

'what do you mean?' maria said, almost spluttering.

'jolen. just ask him out.' terra added. maria's face grew red.

'that's rediculous!' she lied. rosa simply grinned.

'no, it's not. you do it every friday. sit us here and there, with a good view of him and his mates from the smithy sitting at their own table. it's hard not to miss.'

maria gave in and confessed, voicing why she hadn't acted on the wish.

'what if he says no?' she murmered. terra stifled a laugh.

'look, maria. i've been watching you do this for weeks. and you know... so has he.'

maria felt the heat in her face increase tenfold. she was sure she was beetroot with embarresment.

'maria. just try, you'll never have if you never ask.' rosa added. maria calmed herself down, stood up, and started walking.

then she paused.

you're a soldier, maria! just go over there! she told herself. she moved again and she was beside the table. the four smithy workers stopped their conversation and jolen looked right at her. she was speechless for a second when she saw his green eyes. she missed the fact his cheeks were tinted red as well. she missed the man beside her and opposite jolen ask 'can i help you, private?'

'jolen...' she began, and paused, but just for a second.

soldier!! the voice yelled.

'will you go out with me?' she said, recovering. the brown-haired young man's face turned entirely red as his three friends began joke-cheering.

she thought she'd blew it when he took what seemed like hours to reply. but then it paid off.

'of... of course.' jolen stuttered.

all that had kept her from fainting was her inner soldier.

even though she knew each vision wasn't now, she wished they were. she both loved and feared the memories, wanted to not see them yet also couldn't bear shaking the thoughts away. then she realised that she no longer dreaded seeing the past. cold reality hit her. she welcomed the past. it was the future she dreaded. the past could not be changed, only remembered. and in her current state, the future would be the same as the present.

and all she would have in her current state would be the past.

***

she remembered this well.

she'd woken up, six months after that fateful night in the pub, a few hours after what had been an even better night, and realised with horror that the sun was already too high in the sky. it was saturday morning and...

'i'm late!' she cried out loud. then something occured to her. she turned to the other shape that was beside her on the bed.

'and so are you.'

the brown hair sighed.

'so we are.'

maria had already jumped up in a panic to try and get dressed. jolen rose up from the bed, blinked, and then spoke as maria struggled to get dressed fast.

'maria, that might fit you but your uniform won't fit me.' jolen grinned from the bed. she looked down and blushed as she realised she'd grabbed his clothes instead of her own.

after correcting the mistake she'd raced to the castle, only twenty minutes late. her sergeant was there, and she was sure she was for it. latrine duty for a week or longer. duty on the ferry. duty in the west tower, the coldest and draughtiest part of the whole castle.

'sorry i'm late sarge.' maria said, bracing herself for the ear-splitting scream back.

'and what's the excuse, soldier?' sarge asked, almost jovially. maria almost missed it and had reflexivley winced. then she saw the look on her sergeant's face. and the approving eyes of her squad behind.

'i was, er... caught up with... something last night. ' she said, feeling that red glow begin. sarge grinned, terra gave her the thumbs up. the glow became bright red and her cheeks felt like fire.

'yes, well try not to make a habit of it. you've got a decent reason for it this time so i'll let you off this once, maria.'

'thanks sarge. won't let it happen again sarge.' she mumbled.

'be sure it doesn't. and hope for jolen's sake that like me, smithy remembers he was young once as well and lets him off lightly, eh?'

maria had simply nodded and joined the squad before sarge was back to her usual self. as in shouting orders.

***

even though she knew this wasn't now, she wished it was. she both loved and feared this memory, wanted to not see it yet also couldn't bear shaking the thoughts away.

it had been before she had left to go back to the castle and join the rest of the army. a day before. she'd been given a day's leave. everyone had. she'd spent the morning visiting her parents and her younger sister melinda. mellie was three years younger, 16 and coming up to 17 this autumn. then she'd went to the smithy. jolen was there, hammering out a sword. she noticed a few other workers in the blacksmiths were gone already.

'maria.' jolen smiled sadly. the missing men had clearly left with their own girlfriends and word had reached the rest.

'i was with my parents. i hope you...' she began, but he silenced her.

'i know. you have a days leave before you go to war. i'm just happy you came.' he said.

she hadn't seen him since two nights ago when she had to leave him in the restaurant and head to the castle after the explosions. it had been just a normal dinner, a benefit of her parents. but the two days had been nothing but work and toil as they got ready. the princess had been kidnapped. burmecia was to blame.

jolen was allowed to leave with her, it emerged. she cursed her stupidity in thinking that smithy wouldn't let his workers go with thier girlfriends. but she saw in the blacksmiths grey eyes an obvious sorrow. she knew he had looked at each soldier who he had seen today as if that would be the last time he would ever see them. he had been here for years. he had seen hundreds leave and never come back. it didn't make it easier for anyone. smithy, her, smithy's workers, or any of the other soldiers.

that night they had another meal in the restaurant. this time they finished it. but instead of a rapid goodbye, her parents, sister, and boyfriend watched her go.

their eyes had been just like smithy's.

***

the temperature had definetly began to drop and the weather grew worse. rain became much more frequent, and she could hear the wind was getting stronger. it must have been winter.

it occurred to her she must have missed her sisters birthday. mellie would be 17 now, old enough to join the army and start training. she wondered if she had. she hoped her parents had stopped her. for a brief second she had the nightmare vision of melinda lying here, alone and petrified in the ruins of this tree. she prayed her sister wasn't a soldier too. she prayed that her dissapearance in action had led her parents to stop mellie joining.

she didn't realise it but her white marble had been slightly belmished over time. the green uniform was darkened and dirtied from the rainfall and the mud she lay in. it had shrunk a little over time, a few small tears emerging.

***

a qu, a burmecian dragoon, a small black mage traitor, and what she'd thought was a monkey or something, blond with a tail. she'd been surprised by the quick movements of the enemy, her two fellow soldiers knocked off their feet. then the qu had stabbed her with the thin fork it carried. nothing that seemed dangerous, but a shock enough to make her drop her sword. and she was stone.

the four attackers grinned.

'she looks tasty.' the black mage said.

'yeah. fit for a king.' the blonde monkey boy with a tail said.

the burmecian walked over, and licked her face. she felt flakes of marble break off. she began begging in her mind for mercy.

'mercy?' the qu said, as if it had heard. the four laughed.

'i doubt it, have you ever shown mercy to lunch yourself, snack soldier?' the burmecian taunted, putting her mouth around a stone finger. and then biting.

the sky appeared above her and she wanted to scream in horror. but she couldn't. she was mentally paralyzed with fear until she recovered her wits slowly. a dream. a nightmare. the sun had moved across the sky a little. she hadn't been out long. a few hours. she hoped she never had such a horrible blackout again.

what she didn't know was that the sun had indeed moved in the sky, but not by a few hours like she presumed. it had set and risen three times between when she had last seen it.

***

they began a few dreams later. recurring dreams. the same, but brief. by now, she realised the truth, that these dreams, however short, were lasting at least a day at a time. she guessed from the shape of the moon between this dream and her next awakening that even though it felt like mere minutes, the nightmare she had in her stone prison.

first was the fork. everything as it had been. just like the dream where they began to eat her stone body. but instead of commenting on the meal, the blond boy with the tail walked forward, with sorrow in his eyes. he stared at her.

'i'm sorry. i'm so sorry.' he said.

that dream would repeat. it eventually changed the fifth time. the burmecian apologised. then the qu. then the mage. then the boy walked forward and it was jolen. or the burmecian became terra. or the four were gone and it was just her sister, apologsing and leaving. her parents. sarge. general beatrix. princess garnet, whose kidnapping had started the war. even the queen herself.

all of them just saying sorry. a hundred times. a thousand times.

the last one, it was a blonde girl in army uniform. faceless. nameless. she stared into the mirror and heard herself say sorry.

***

those dreams stopped, and she had lost all track of time during them. the dreams then became random, not real. she knew these had never happened, that they were fiction. but still she dreamt them.

sometimes past events emerged. the first time she'd seen a moogle, aged three. the time she had climbed onto the roof of the church when dared to by friends, rembering the terror and swearing never to climb up onto this dumb roof ever again. the time she'd dared with her friends and the boy they'd dared fell off and landed on her. the time she'd climbed up with her sister when it had been melinda's turn to go through the rite of passage of their street. she'd forgotten the promised and climbed up in a few seconds to reassure melinda. and then from then on her heart was in her mouth when melinda had started climbing the spire too.

melinda still had the record in the street. she'd nearly reached halfway to the top of the spire before even the bigger kids had shouted to get her down.

then she dreamt of the pub again as snow had began to fall again. she wasn't sure how many times winter had come since she was here. she had no way of reliably knowing, her lengthening blackouts now robbing even the phases of the moon for guessing.

but it had been twenty five years. her uniform was grey and tattered, ripped to shreds and barely concealing the dignity of the petrified soldier. plants grew around her. the white marble was greyer and grimier than ever.

she dreamed twenty six years in the past. eliza's story. the tale of stiener and his drunken knights. but instead of glancing at a table of four blacksmiths drinking, she looked in a mirror surface.

marble eyes stared back from a stone face, with granite hair. was that strange? no. isn't that what she looks like?

wasn't she always stone?

***

many dreams later, she was confused to find herself flesh. by this point, even the others in dreams had started looking like her. not all, but some. there were two women at the table that stayed pink. and there was jolen, across the room. everyone else was grey stone, but these three were flesh in the dream. and now she was flesh.

she was in the middle of rubble. there was nothing for miles but emptiness. she walked over to a crater. she stared down at herself.

she was flesh again. she was there again. a dozen times. and then the statue changed.

melinda's stone eyes stared back, marble face frozen in shock. terra accused her with blank white globes. rosa's petrified face was locked in a scream, eyes closed. jolen's sorrowful grey face looked back.  the boy with the tail stared in apology. sarge had determination on her stone face. smithy stared a goodbye. her mothers stone eyes wept for her lost daughter. her father couldn't look her in the face, his stone eyes never meeting hers. general beatrix somehow seemed to acknowledge her sacrifice, that it wasn't in vain. princess garnet lay there, her own statue eyes thanking her soldier for doing her duty for queen and country.


***

the blackouts lasted months now. her uniform was rags, and the metal parts were flaking rust. her sword was long buried as it had corroded away. her helmet had gaping holes in it.

her memories were fading. she dreamt, but stopped knowing what the things in the dream were. she forgot names and times. people and places.

fifty years in stone and though her marble body showed little sign of erosion, inside her petrified mind, time wore away at her mind like the sea wore down the cliffs.


***

dreams lasted years now, but so did the gaps. each awakening, she forgot more of what she was. she forgot numbers, though she had long lost count of her dreams. she forgot she was once human, confirming to herself one morning that yes, she had always been like this. but still memories of something else were there. one was of brown hair and green eyes.

she knew that face had a name. but she forgot what it was.

and then, she forgot the face, and remembered she was just a statue.

***

she sat where she always had. she had been here for as long as she remembered. she didn't know it but by now, she was half buried in sand and dirt, the plants almost concealing her entirely. her once white marble appearance was now a dirty, grimy grey.  her uniform was all but gone, only rusty metal still there, staining her marble body red below the grasses and plants growing around her.  

she had been a statue now for a century and a half, but to her, she was always what she was. she just didn't remember. the word statue was forgotten too. she stared at the blue above. she knew that once that blue had a name. but again she couldn't remember. she'd only dreamt one time in half a century. nearly 9 years of a dream that felt like a moment. her mind was almost empty.

then it had screamed past. roaring, sleek, grey. gone in moments. but she remembered what it was.

airship

then she dreamt of airships. she knew no numbers, nor what a year was, but it was nearly nine before she awoke again.

***

she awoke with the plants gone and the skies grey. it was cold. she knew this had a name. but she could not remember the name for this cold season. she heard noises. and somehow she remembered enough to guess. footsteps.

but she never had any idea it meant anything until the burmecian soldier tripped over her. her empty mind filled with that recollection for a second, and then hearing. she heard the burmecian. it felt new. but somehow, though, it felt like she had not done it for a long time. but it was new too. how could it be new, but from a long time ago?

'what the? a statue?' the rat-like humanoid frowned.

that was her. she was the statue. she remembered that.

'yeah, and if you don't stop gawking at it you'll be a corpse! the celans aren't going to stop the war so you can appreciate art.' another said, jumping beside the other.

there was a bang. the two bumecians ducked, and raised the wooden sticks they carried. she had never seen a rifle but for some reason the noises reminded her of cannons.

if only she remembered what a cannon was. because whatever they were they were loud, and the noise didn't stop for many sunrises and sunsets. six full moons came and went, and the noise never stopped. it grew quiet, it grew louder, but it never stopped.


***

185 years since cleyra had been destroyed, and 5 since the war had ended, burmecia was united again. the years since the day odin had destroyed the tree-city had been nothing but hardship, what remained of cleyra and burmecia breaking into smaller countries. countires that squabbled over everything imaginable. land, food, resources. then they had all wanted the ruins of cleyra. and they had all fought. a long and violent war. and the faction that had held the old city of burmecia had won.

and now for the first time, people had came to the ruins to search not for loot as a scarce handful had, before the memory of the destruction spooked them away even though it was centuries past. these searchers were not deterred by the ghosts of cleyra, but emboldened by them to recover what was left of cleyra's history that lay here. assuming that the fact the biggest battle of the war having lasted for months around it hadn't annihalted everything left.

she sat there, flowers starting to grow around her again. a puzzled face, a burmecian face, saw her.

'professor!' the burmecian girl shouted, grinning.

'yes, terra?'

for some reason the name was familiar. but the statue had no more thoughts as it was carefully removed from the dirt and plants. it had no thoughts as it was taken into a place away from the sky, where the horizon was very close and where the light was on the sky mere feet away. it had no thoughts until someone spoke

'she's a rather unusual piece. what's the history? do we know?'

she remembered she was a she. not an it. but she wondered what her history was too.


***

she heard them speak. she was a copy of another statue, ''the warrior queen.'' she had been a gift. many centuries ago, alexandria (somehow familar) gave her to cleyra (also familiar). the original had been lost, but this copy fit the style. she fit the style. she was a nude, the classical alexandrian style. she had been cleaned up and restored. they'd said that in terms of damage it was light, a few minor cracks and some slight erosion, but apart from that once cleaned up she was pristene.

a few burmecians stared at her. the lights went off and on many times. then one day, many burmecians came. and many humans. and many human-like creatures with tails. something seemed strangely familiar about the last group, yet also somehow alien.

then she blacked out again, as memories began to linger at the back of her stone mind.

***

it was a decade later. she awoke just in time. the light came on.

'it's a big day.' a burmecian said. the statue remembered this was terra. the burmecian who had found her.

terra looked her in the eye.

'i got fond of you, warrior queen. you made my career. but you were a gift from alexandria. only right you go back home, old girl.'

home

the memories charge. names, faces, words. a jumble. a mess. no sense of them.

'you're lucky you know. not many soldiers get an audience with a royal princess.' terra said, reaching over and brushing dust away from her.

princess?

more memories. more order. a  name. garnet. was that the princess?

'hope it's not too big a shock. when you were made it was brahne the 5th on the throne. princess mira's her descendant, though she looks a little different from most queens and princesses you'd have seen i bet. she's part-genome.' terra said, seemingly content to talk with the statue as she fussed around the room

mira. it sounded familar. more memories and yet more order to them and it surface. maria. maria was a name.

maria was her name.

she stood, the resurfaced memories floating in her mind as terra worked. then terra left.

she returned. a human-looking young woman with very light, flowing brown hair entered with her, flanked by two women who looked to be soldiers or bodyguards. she remembered that she was a soldier once. the human woman had a silver tiara and a beautiful dress. her brown hair was so fair it was almost blonde. she looked about 17, maybe a little older

and she had a tail. a monkey-like tail. protrouding from the back of her dress.

a blond haired face emerged from her memory. blue eyes. a monkey tail

i'm sorry. i'm so sorry

if she was not stone, maria would have felt dizzy. she would have been hyperventilating as the past came back to her. she found herself recovering quickly from this shock, but had missed much of the conversation in front of her as a result. the princess had shook the burmecians hand

'...it'll be done properly at the more formal event of course, but i want to thank you for offering to return this, on behalf of my queen and country.' the princess said.

it all came back. along with realisation it was all gone too.

she blacked out.

***

she awoke. was it a dream?

there were no lights. she tried to move. she couldn't.

she was still a statue. but she had her mind back now. she was still in a museum somewhere. maybe that slight human interaction would keep her mind around this time. she tried not to think about what she had realised when she last blacked out.

the lights came on. a woman she'd never seen checked the room, including her.

the woman left. then maria saw it.

across from her. a clock. small, and mounted on a wall. just a clock face. she remembered the grandfather clock in the restaurant. it had been huge compared to this. this modern clock claimed the time was 8:34. presumably am.

two women entered. she remembered one was princess mira, now a little older, but only about five years or so. a younger woman was with her, about 20 with dark blue hair. and a horn on her forehead. the younger woman walked straight over to her, and looked at her with a puzzled expression.

'i've never got why you find that one so intresting, little cousin lindblum.' mira said. as she did, a look of surprise crossed the blue-haired womans face.

'i think i have. mira, is the library open just now?'

upon seeing the look on her cousins face mira nodded.

'if it's not it soon will be.'

the two left, leaving maria wondering what had caused the younger woman, probably a princess since mira called her cousin, to be so surprised. they then returned.

'how did no one notice before?' mira asked.

'i'm not sure. maybe she wasn't awake, or maybe it was just that she's been stone so long it was faint, but she's definetly a petrified woman, and i think she's the soldier mentioned in prince consort zidanes journal.'

'and you're sure, hilda?'

'yes, positive. the warrior queen isn't the warrior queen at all. from what the journal says, she was a soldier petrified by one of the prince consorts companions during the battle in cleyra. it all fits. and i know there is some kind of conciousness coming from the statue just now.' the lindblum princess said.

if marias heart wasn't stone, it would have stopped. they knew who she was. they knew she was once flesh and blood.

'so what do we do?' mira asked.

'first we tell aunt beatrix and uncle rupert. then we need to make some copy of her. we can tell burmecia the truth of course, but i think they'd prefer it too if there was still a statue to display. once we have a copy, we swap them and turn her back. if we use supersoft it'll repair any damage too, restore any memory she lost as well. '

'so we have to leave her like this for a few more days? we can't restore her now?'

'no. supersoft is needed. she's been stone for at least 200 years and it's known that even after a few months normal soft or esuna sometimes doesn't always work.'

mira nodded, then looked at maria

'can she hear us?'

'maybe. it depends. she might not be truly concious as such. i don't think theres ever been such a long period of petrification for a living thing. in fact i don't even know if supersoft will work. we might need to really experiment.' hilda confessed

maria didn't care though. she wanted to say she could hear, and that they could try anything to free her, for she had waited for hundreds of years now. yet now she knew it could be mere days from being restored, she only felt one thing. impatience. it had to work.she could hardly wait for them to return and finish the copy. but wait would be all she could do. and for the first time in centuries, she felt optimisic about the future.