♫ Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you
That is how I know you go on. ♫

I still see her in my dreams. When I close my eyes, when I strum this old guitar. I feel her presence.

Some say they watch over us, those we have lost.

Some say they live on in our heart. That they are never far away from us.

She was my muse, Vida. The life to my song of death, and together we wrote upon the manuscript of La Musica. But that’s the thing about the song of life, it has its end. And the price we pay for love is grief.

I feel that grief, and I live on for her.

Imperfectly. I’ve staggered and stumbled. I’ve found myself wanting to do right by Vida, and failing at every turn.

The choices I’ve made in her honour, the lessons I’ve made.

I’ve endlessly found myself wondering if my efforts have been enough, or if I’ve tarnished her memory.

♫ Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on…♫

You know how I feel, Night.

The memory of a loved one, your mother. Lost in tragedy. Her song ended before you were ready for it, but she lives on in your heart. You carry her presence around with you every day, mi amigo.

You fight for her. Even now in the midst of this war over Arcadia’s future, you seek not a door to be opened, but a way to live on for her. Answers to the single question that’s been driving you.

Only, it’s been driving you in circles.

The grief you feel is your only fuel. I’ve been where you are, amigo, I know how your heart feels.

My strings have played that song before.

But then I found a way forward.

♫ Once more, you open the door
You’re here in my heart
and my heart will go on and on ♫

When your choices are dictated by the love your heart feels for those that you’ve lost, you believe you are living for them. That your actions will somehow bring them back, or bring peace to them.

But all you really are doing is living in the past, reaching out for something you can never attain.

Because tu madre is never coming back. When you accept that, you can step out from her shadow. Until then your heart will go on and on, stuck in the past instead of looking forward.

An endless cycle of heartbreak. Crippled by the memory of that fateful day and doomed to repeat the pain over and over again.

Look forward, Night, your song is not finished yet. You’ve been repeating the slow, mournful verse when the joy-filled chorus awaits.

Sing the song that Vida taught me. The song of life, not of endless mourning.

For until you learn to sing a new song, that song of loss plays on repeat. A song that Gemini and myself have heard enough now.

It’s our turn to teach you a new way to Have Loved and Lost.