Days 328 - 333
Andstella and I work together on some new magic. Using the grove wood she has had an open-air structure built where the wind carries through and around it with ease. Together we divine a working that will let anyone connect to the songs here if they stand within the structure. It's complicated and it take a few days but at the end of it we have a beautiful pagoda whose structure is almost reminiscent of the ancient Imperial structures. It has an elvish style, naturally, but aided by the dwarves from Drognar it has the same sturdy geometry as some of the ruins I've seen before.
But most notably - it is fae. This sort of combination didn't exist in the days of the old Empire. I find myself thinking of that time more easily as a time that has passed. It's a part of the history but if I were a historian responsible for dividing our time into eras that would certainly be one that has closed.
We share a moment in the pagoda once the work is done, surrounded by shimmering curtains of magic that drift as though caught in a breeze straight from the Dreaming. Andstella reflects on the home she's built here and how the time is coming to think of the Northern Grove and how we will coexist with them. Where the Vanguard was once the youngest and least-experienced group amongst the Fae of Seasons, now the Fae of Day and Night have decades of memories and experiences that the Fae of Seasons lack. They'll almost certainly be hard to interact with.
But for now it is a problem for Andstella, not me. This has become her home and while it'll surely be a special place for me as well, it's not Home home. I have too many other places, too many other people.
After working together for a few days Andstella can see that I'm still sort of at loose ends. Like a good sister she tells me to retire to my cottage and not come out until I've created some fanciful new magic or finished a book for my own enjoyment, promising to take care of everyone else while I am in seclusion.
You have a hard time seeing yourself
Day 351
And so I spend the next 18 days in my cottage tinkering with a piece of musical magic that has been on my mind. I had intended to craft a spell to harmonize with my playing but, as often happens with research, I found the work pulling me in a different direction. Miriam leaves food for me and sometimes I feel Magdalena's presence around the outskirts of the cottage though she never stops to talk. I suspect her magic has touched my creation or at least prodded me in a particular direction once or twice.
At the end I have a spell that examines my heart and plays alongside it: My heartsong harmonizer.
I am alarmed to learn that in the duration of my seclusion they have had to fight off an incursion of ice giants over the course of four days. Despite Hella and Mystery assuring me that they would have come to fetch me if need be, I know they can all handle themselves well enough and would have been embarrassed to interrupt me.
Over the course of my seclusion I also received word from Amytri that Solace has survived the storm. They weren't able to protect the outlying people but their home has survived and that in itself is an accomplishment. He also invites me to to travel the Desolation with him sometime in the coming summer when we might have a moment from our responsibilities. He has noticed a change in it that he is curious to investigate, perhaps to write a paper on.
Day 352
As the storm dissipates and the air warms, Camellia grabs me for a moment. Spring is fast approaching and she and the other Spring fae will need to return to our tree soon. Perhaps it will have borne fruit even in the dead of winter and we might be able to turn Dreamfall into our own grove.
But before she leaves she shows me the tiniest sprouts that are poking out of the snow. Soft and rounded with purple-blue leaves and silky silver undersides, the tiny leaves feel every so slightly magical and not just for growing in the snow.
We sit with them for a while, simply enjoying the pleasure of new growth and the close of winter. Tomorrow she will leave and the version of her that returns will be different in a way neither of us can predict but no matter what she'll be with me again. For years and years and the rest of her lifetime she'll return. It's so much more than I thought we could have.
I'd like to celebrate her return in the next season by swearing oaths, but that'll be a question for her when she wakes.
Day 353
Alder takes the Spring fae back to our tree, leaving Dreamfall quite a bit emptier once again. Before he left, Alder and Miriam seemed to be doing better. I think she has resolved to live with him for as long as she has.
Dawn and Andstella are playing at affection still, to Dawn's frustration. She chases and chases and Andstella laughs and will not be chased. It is like watching a kitten try to play with an adult cat who knows who she is and what she wants.
Hella and Mystery have grown close as well, finding each other at a similar level of growth. It is good for Hella to have someone between the junior apprentices and her teachers.
But it is Kadia who comes to see me for advice when Hella is not present.
As Hella has grown she has needed less and less of Kadia's strength and guidance and Kadia has needed more of her own life and space. They've worked together a bit - Kadia is certainly more present than she has been in the past, but it's still not enough. She feels so greedy and selfish for asking for more, as though she isn't her own person trying to share a single life. I remind her that people who sacrifice thousands of years to protect others get a little leeway when it comes to being 'selfish' and wanting a normal life and ability to grow.
The future dawns before me as I recall the Empress' instruction to return Hella and Kadia to her as soon as it is possible. I had thought this safely delayed for quite some time but with Haze and Tira now approaching it might be possible without impacting our future with the trolls.
Kadia nods as I propose it. And perhaps she might finally meet brother Alwen and bring him back as well?
Comments