Only after entering the water did she realize that Upper Spring was far deeper than it had appeared from the shore. When even the top of her head was completely submerged in the pleasantly warm spring water, Stella at the bottom felt as though she were falling from a great height.
"Ah!"
She crashed onto the ice field of her homeland, a place she had dreamed of on countless nights. The Star Sea hung upside down above her, desolation stretched in every direction, and towering glaciers could be seen in the far distance.
The wind drove snow grains against her face, and they still hurt a little. Seeing such scenery again after so long away from home left Stella dazed. Then she suddenly looked down and saw a small dark-blue flower blooming from a crack in the ice field beneath her feet.
The flower hid within a crack in the ice field. Though tiny, it was also a rare sight of life upon this Ice Field.
Stella involuntarily crouched down, wanting to take a closer look at how the flower survived in such a harsh environment.
It had grown upon this Ice Field just as she had, struggling to survive amid its wind and snow just as she had. Stella felt that she and this little flower were very alike.
With that thought, she truly became the little flower in the rock crevice, viewing this Ice Field through the eyes of a flower.
The Great Ice Cap of the Far North had never known spring. The long winter gradually withered the little flower until its life came to an end. But one morning, when sunlight pierced the clouds and directly shone upon the ice cap in a rare occurrence, the slowly shifting light finally illuminated that crevice once more.
Thus,