"You wanted to see me, Faragonda?"
Bloom stepped nervously into the headmistress' office. Absentmindedly, her finger went up to a lock of fiery red hair and began to twist. There was a tense, unpleasant feeling in the normally cheerful room today.
"Yes, Princess Bloom." Faragonda's voice was hoarser than usual.
"Uh..." Bloom had no clue what to say. "Did আপনি want to ask me something?"
"Of the sort." Faragonda turned around in her chair. Her hair was much whiter than it used to be, and the deep wrinkles in her face were আরো prominent than ever.
"Bloom, I must ask of আপনি something of great importance," she continued. "This requires a great deal of responsibility, courage, and other important qualities of a great fairy."
"What is it?"
"My time in this universe is decreasing rapidly," she said, pushing her glasses up her nose. "My days are numbered, Bloom. Soon, I will be laid to rest and taken elsewhere."
Bloom's breath caught in her throat. "You mean..."
"Yes. আপনি must understand, it's been a terribly long time since I began teaching here at Alfea. My time to leave is coming soon, and I will leave gladly."
"You mean আপনি don't like it here?" Bloom burst out.
"No, of course not. But everyone must die at some point. My time to die is rapidly approaching. You...are aware that one has to die at some point, right?"
"Well, yes, of course I am. But isn't there a way to have আপনি stay longer? Alfea needs you, Faragonda, I need you!"
"Death is one thing I can't battle," she replied quietly. "We've employed many new teachers now, including আপনি and your friends. So I believe Alfea will be fine. And we've our strong allies from মেঘ Tower and Red Fountain. As for you, I think that আপনি are strong and responsible enough to take it from here without my guidance."
Bloom froze. Chills ran up and down her body. Faragonda wanted her to take over her duties? There was no way she was prepared for that.
As though Faragonda sensed her thoughts, she said,"However, there's something আপনি must do. I want to both test আপনি and keep our universe safe."
Bloom's voice was shaky when she replied. "And that is...?"
"You have a choice. Either আপনি can take over my duties from here without any preparation whatsoever and rely solely on your own skill to protect Alfea and influence all the other realms."
"And...the other?"
"Or, I will stay for one আরো বছর and আপনি and your বন্ধু shall acquire your new stage of fairy transformation. Then, আপনি must go to the very center of the universe, where all the energy of the realms, positive and negative, is extremely concentrated. আপনি must successfully fight off any threats. Then only will I know you're prepared."
Both sounded absolutely impossible to Bloom. There was no way whatsoever for her to take over Faragonda's duties and run Alfea smoothly AND influence other realms' magic at the same time. But the সেকেন্ড choice sounded dangerous to her.
"I called in your বন্ধু as a group earlier this morning without আপনি and talked to them about it. They ব্যক্ত they would like to leave the decision to you."
Bloom turned away from the bright window and pondered for a while. She knew that she was too naive, too powerless to take over Alfea. But there was no way she could travel to an extremely magic-high area and ward off any dangers. Too much magic, positive অথবা negative, was not good.
But...would governing Alfea really help the rest of the universe? She had no clue how to influence magic use in the other realms and what not. Whatever was in the center of the universe was the very focus of all of the universe's magic. Protecting it meant protecting magic altogether.
Bloom turned around. "I'll acquire my পরবর্তি stage of fairy transformation and go to the center of the universe, but I can't do it alone." Her voice was surprisingly firm.
Faragonda smiled and nodded. "Then so it shall be."