Author's Note: As I started this work over two years ago, it is hard to believe that Castlevania received a slight 'rebirth' with the Netflix series. In any case, let me conclude the story.

Fragments of Memories

Chapter XV

The end of Lent brings Easter, or Pascha, and Romanians often greet each other with the statement, 'Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!' And with Easter, comes the return of Spring and warmer temperatures.

The last Saturday in April was a warm day in the Village of Warakiya, and the Tepes family decided to spend it with an afternoon walk in the meadow near their home. Lysander led the way, while his parents walked behind him, and his mother carried his little brother. But Alcander wanted the free play of his elder brother.

Adrian smiled, and ran some fingers through his younger son's strawberry blonde hair. "He's a big boy. Let him run with his big brother."

Maria returned the smile, and placed Alcander on the ground. Free of his mother's grasp, Alcander ran/toddled to his elder brother.

"Sander," began Maria, "keep an eye on your little brother."

Adrian maintained his smile, while he watched his sons. "Makes me wonder what things Cander will be bringing home from the forest, when he gets older?"

"Hard to say," replied Maria, as she wrapped her arm around her husband's. "He and Sidra play a lot, and she's a bit of a tomboy."

Adrian chuckled.

"By the way, I never got the chance to ask you, but where did you and Richter end up burying Lyudmil?"

"In a meadow, near the Village of Borgo. It was just coming alive with Spring. At the edge of the meadow, there was a tree. The tree was still barren, but I thought that it would be a nice play to bury Lyudmil."

"Did you encounter any problems?"

Adrian shook his head. "No. As you are aware, we secured the services of Slade, the blacksmith. He had assisted with grave digging at Resurrection Cemetery, and he didn't ask too many questions."

Maria nodded.

"With the grave secure, the body was removed from the convent's receiving vault, and taken to its permanent location. Richter recited a prayer for the dead, and the casket was lowered into the earth." Adrian turned to the sky and added, "Of course, I don't know what Lyudmil would have thought of the location."

Maria smiled, and patted her husband's hand. "Well, your heart was in the right place."

As Adrian and Maria continued to walk behind their children, their eldest climbed a tree branch. Alcander tried to follow his big brother, but he was still too small.

"Can't get up here, can you, Cander?" Lysander asked with a smirk.

Alcander began to whine.

"Sander!" began Maria. "Don't tease him. He's still smaller than you."

Lysander kept his smirk. "But Daddy says he's a big boy."

Adrian smiled.

"Yes," continued Maria, while she placed her youngest on the tree branch next to his elder brother. "He is a big boy, but there are still a lot of things that you can do, and that he can't do just yet."

Lysander turned to his younger brother and grinned. A grin, which seemed to show a sense of superiority.

Adrian, seizing on the moment, approached his two sons. "I wouldn't think that way, Sander. You might be bigger than Alcander now, but he might one day surpass you."

Maria smiled, while Lysander looked at his little brother stunned. The notion that Alcander could surpass him at anything was beyond his comprehension.

Once again, with their sons leading the way, Adrian and Maria turned to the direction of home. "Maria?" said Adrian

"Yes?"

"Did you ever ask your sister about the statement your grandmother was supposed to have made?"

"You mean about my birth?"

Adrian nodded.

"Ann told me that it came from Grandma Renard, but she didn't know what Grandma was referring to. Obviously, I cannot ask Grandma, so I wrote a letter to my father. Daddy replied about how around the time of my birth, which is near the feast day for the birth of the Virgin, that Grandma mentioned how the stars in the sky seemed to resemble a flower."

"One of the symbols of the Virgin."

Maria nodded. "Correct."

"Maybe you received a gift from the Virgin?"

"Perhaps."

"Maybe others received it as well?"

Adrian's question made Maria turn to her sons, who seemed to find some type of interest at the base of a tree. She smiled. "Perhaps."

Lysander's and Alcander's interest soon took on a sibling rivalry. Each brother claimed to have 'seen the object first,' and each brother wanted to 'give the object to Mommy.'

The scene made Maria chuckle, as she approached her sons. "What are you two fighting over? You don't need to fight. You can both give 'it' to me."

"Fower," answered Alcander, as he and Lysander held a white flower.

"Yeah, and I saw it first," added Lysander.

"Oh, Sander," Maria said with a chuckle. She took the flower from her sons, and gave each one a kiss on the forehead. Then, she showed the flower to Adrian. "Look, Adrian, isn't it beautiful? It's not something that I would expect so early at this time of year."

Adrian smiled, as he took the flower. "I think that you've received two blessings."

Maria returned the smile. "You mean the boys?"

Adrian chuckled. "No, not just them. I think that you've received two blessings—one from the Virgin and one from my mother. When I was young, Mother used to plant flowers in the castle courtyard. They would always be white. Father used to put them in Mother's hair."

Again, Maria smiled.

Adrian returned the smile, while he placed the flower in his wife's hair. And with a kiss, he added, "There."

The End