Soon All the Suns Will Rise

The Landslide Brought Me Down

Chapter title from "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac
___________

"Where are your thoughts?"

"What do you mean?" Rhiannon's fingers traced the curves of Severus's chest in a pattern— slow, deliberate, repeated— feeling the warm, smooth skin transition every so often into the roughness of a scar or a small scattering of black hair. His strong arm cradled her securely against his side. She stared into the flame of the candle on which she'd carved the "Memory" rune before they'd fallen into bed.

"You were trying to conjure something the entire time. It seemed painful."

Rhiannon knew Severus could easily invade her mind and answer his own question without even bringing it up. But he obviously wanted to give her the chance to talk through it. She wasn't even sure what it was she needed to talk through; that was the reason she'd chosen that particular rune in the first place.

"I just...I was trying to remember if I ever saw signs, with my mother. Or felt her pain."

Severus was silent. She could hear his heartbeat in the stillness of their bedroom, a steady rhythm that made her grateful and helped to still her mind.

"I'm sure you saw signs," Severus finally said. "And equally sure that you purposely don't remember them. Believe me, the fewer you remember, the better."

"I wish you had known her," Rhiannon sighed. "I know it's impossible to ever think of my father falling for someone, even for one night. But if you met her you'd understand."

"I don't have to meet her," Severus replied. "I've met you, and that tells me enough."

"She was really beautiful," Rhiannon continued. "Thick, beautiful golden curls. Truly ethereal eyes— blue green. Almost like if my eyes melded with Colleen's. They shimmered like a mermaid's tail. She was curvier than me— more womanly, stronger. And she could run— like a horse. She just charged when she took off. So graceful and sure of herself."

"How did she die?" Severus asked quietly. She was surprised he'd never asked her before or attempted to take the answer from her.

"Uterine cancer. It hit quickly. There was hardly any time after we found out. She was younger than you are now when she died."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too. But I like to think she had a happy life, overall. She loved helping everyone that came seeking a spell or a blessing of good fortune. Loved asking about where they were from, learning about all the places they'd been and why they were visiting New Orleans. She never left, you know. Born and raised there. But she met so many people that she told their stories to others as if they were her own. It's a game she would play. I know that sounds awful, lying like that. But she and I would laugh about it and talk every morning about who we would pretend to be that day." Rhiannon felt a bit of excitement as a memory finally began to firm up in her mind.

"She'd say, 'I think I'll be Sara from Sedona today.' And then Sara from Sedona would talk about the dry desert air and the lonesome gas stations with their rusted old tanks on a dusty dirt road. Cacti, painted sunsets...things she'd never seen, only heard about from visitors. Then Sara from Sedona would sell a woman a charm or a massage oil guaranteed to rekindle her marriage and send the smiling woman on her way. Later that night, the woman's husband might come back, having watched the whole exchange while perusing the shelves of voodoo knickknacks. And that's of course when 'Sara' would use her real magic. And that's how we survived— terrible as it sounds." Rhiannon paused. "I wonder who she was...when she was with him?"

Severus gently lifted her aside and reached for his wand. He bid a drawer open and sent a few papers flying until he found what he wanted, then allowed it to flutter onto the bed. He intercepted it before she could.