Day 325
As we settle into Dreamfall again, I see neither hide nor hair of either Andstella nor Dawn and no one will give me a straight answer about where they've gone. I am left to conclude that they are up to benevolent mischief and I should just let it happen.
I also notice Miriam and Mystery getting along well, which will be good for both of them.
Day 327
When Andstella and Dawn do show up they have indeed been up to mischief! Alongside the Ziggurat they have constructed a small cottage dug into the ground. It is warm and cozy with a few bedrooms an a large communal sitting and eating area. It is so clearly a home for me and my family, a place where I get to escape the bonds of leadership and have some privacy and quiet, just like my favourite places in the Empire. I love it.
Alder joins me for tea and baking in preparation for a small housewarming party this evening. Over a steaming mug of tea (I find my tea cabinet has already been well-supplied) we talk about the growing family, especially Mystery. He took some time training with her and learning how she fights and simply observing her. He can tell that she's hurting but can't bring herself to show it yet. All we can do is be present for when she feels ready.
And with that in mind I leave Alder baking and go find Mystery on my own. I have a box to give her and I think it's a conversation best had at the place in the Grove where no one ever comes to bother me unless it's an emergency.
At the top of the Ziggurat I tell her a little bit about how it came to be and what it was before. It was an unfriendly place before we found it and I spoke with the shard of the Empress who was left here. It is also the place where my sense of self really solidified on this side of the Barrier. Even though I'd already spent many months attuned to my memories it wasn't until I spoke with the Empress here that I fit it all together in a way that felt secure.
I want to lend her the strength of that conviction here as I give her Void's last message. She says that maybe one day the river will take her to a place like this for herself, or it might not.
Inside the box are three things:
- A carved steel pendant enchanted with protective magic and engraved with Doraal's crest. On the other side are hand-carved runes: Stay safe, my treasure.
- A knife that I recognize well. Simple and unadorned, one that Mistress has carried for centuries and that I have sharpened for her hundreds of times.
- A ring engraved with scales in a dark iridescent stone. This, I do not recognize.
"When I hold the ring my heart wants to tear in two..." she says before wrapping it carefully and stowing it away. The pendant and knife I explain to her as gifts from her parents. I think Doraal would have made the pendant with some help but the runes he almost certainly carved himself. He is so gentle, and the contrast between this and the thing that Mistress offered is very funny to me. Her trusted knife with no frills or adornments, simply a faithful tool to keep her daughter safe.
We really are family, and Mystery leans into me.
"I almost expect to find something of yours too..."
I would tend to agree but for one thing: It's not unlikely that some twist of fate knew that we would meet again and that she wouldn't need something from me because she would find me herself.
Despite what Void had said, these are still answers of a sort.
Finally Alder comes to fetch us for the housewarming party and we spend the evening amongst him, Camellia, Hella, Andstella, Dawn, and Miriam. Dawn and Miriam seem to be on good terms again, thankfully. And Dawn and Andstella are positively laughable in their affection for one another.
Camellia comes to talk to me as the evening progresses. Soon it will be Spring and both she and Theaceae will sleep under the Tree of Day and Night. She's not ready to use the permanent magic on herself yet but we laugh and she decides she might hope to come back as a scoundrel now that all of our youngsters seem to have grown up a bit. I'm somewhat horrified at the prospect of two fae scoundrels amongst us!
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