Ring of Mushrooms

15

You wondered what to do now. Walking into your home knowing that your old was ash and rubble. You knew what you would have found if you had gone upstairs in that house. Anyone could have guessed how the guilt of starting a war would affect someone. Playing the letter on repeat in your head was driving you insane.

You sat by the fireplace. Lilia's collection of charms all made sense now. A part of you knew it, but to be faced with the truth you've been ignoring still hurts. In a way, this letter made you glad. Still, you wondered if tossing yourself into flames would be better. To have anger lick at your feet, demanding retribution, but you couldn't do what the fire wanted.

"My father still smelled like my seaweed ink?"

Lilia sat down in the corner of your eye. His hands reached out gently pulling you to his chest.

"I can't make it better, I won't pretend to be able to, but I swear on my life that I was doing my job."

"I know," you sighed, pulling him down so he was laying on top of you. "A part of me wants to be mad but I don't think I can be. It feels like this would have happened eventually."

Nothing made sense but it all kind of made sense at the same time. You knew that a minority of people blamed the fae for that missing kid. You knew that they couldn't be convinced otherwise, but no one ever tried to make amends because of it. Well, it didn't matter anymore, and your whole world had been scrambled too many times.

You laid there, running your fingers through Lilia's hair. You were tired. The stress, the anxiety, and then what happened to your old village on top of it, it was hitting you all at once. Lilia held you gently and you clung to him like a small child scared of the dark.

You pressed your lips against his. Your arms intertwined with each other. A knot tied your insides together, and you grabbed with a starved virtuosity. You panted, your warm breath spilling across his neck, pooling across his collar bone. You dug your nails into his hip, fighting to stay awake. He scooped you up, and carried you to your room, letting you fall asleep with a kiss on the cheek.

Sleeping was the worst of it. You were left dreaming of walking through the woods. Stumbling as your legs wanted to give out. Your eyes burning because you still wanted to go back and cry in your mother's arms. You walked and walked until Maleficent pulled you by the wrist, you turned for only a second to look back on what you were leaving. You saw Lilia snapping a man's neck watching him join the body already on the ground. Your father stood there, his eyes glossy as the others in the party ran away, abandoning him. Lilia turned away from your father laughing.

You snapped back to beg Maleficent to let go to let you see your father, to see what happened next. You looked up at her hair falling over her shoulders brushing against your cheek as you pant to catch your breath. Her hand trails across your bare skin and you are sucked back into the warmth of her sheets.

Your hand is pulled by one much smaller. You look down at the floor, into little Sliver's smiling face. He pulls you along leading the way, back into his room where he rearranged his pillows and cushions. They sit in a circle around a small little box. He lets you go pulling out wooden cups and plates. You sit in between an empty pillow and with his bunny atop the other. You turn to look at Silver and the room is dark, and Silver is gone.

You panic standing up the cups teeter and topple over, crimson mulberry juice spilling out across the floor staining your socks. You spin around gasping, searching for your son. Behind you, you find Lilia standing sword in hand, little baby Silver sleeping in his arms. You stagger towards him, pressing your hand to the boy's cheek and grabbing Lilia's arm. You see the pile of corpses below him.

You wake up quickly. Your eyes snap open but you aren't gasping for air. You're not shaking and sweating. You just look out your window and see Lilia pulling weeds out of the garden bed. You crawl out of bed not caring to change out of your wrinkled and messy clothes. You press the door to Silver's room open and see him trying to crawl out of his bed and run over to you, but his little feet are all tangled up.

You walk in offering to help him which he greatly accepts with a frantic little nod. You peel away the sheets and untie his little feet, helping him climb down. He pulls out his outfit and you tidy up the bed slightly. You turn around to a small little squeal of panic. In all fairness, he attempted to put his shirt on by himself, which is impressive, he is however a baby and failed horribly. So you untangle him a second time. Once the issue is fixed he waddles off across the room at lightning speed only possessed by a newly able-to-run boy. You scoop him up with ease and hold him in front of you.

"Your pants?"

He shakes his head loudly screaming, "No pants!"

You laugh and set him down. "Fine, no pants. You have to be careful though."

You follow his happy waddle-run out into the kitchen. Lilia places his new mini harvest on the table, freshly washed off. He scoops little Sliver up and helps keep him entertained as you take over the job of making breakfast. Lilia at one point whines about not being allowed to cook, but you toss one of Silver's toys at his head to shut him up.

You have breakfast outside, Silver runs away to chase a bug after he's done eating. You laugh because he still has food covering his face that he would not let you wipe off. He splashes in some puddles, covering his feet with mud and dirt. Thankfully it's Lilia's turn to bathe him so you got to see him chase around the young boy.