Lady of the Forest

Many New Faces

"I can pour the tea if it's too-"

"It is warm."

Deirdre could see the lilac-haired man's face now, and he'd spoken, so she now knew his voice. He was sitting at a small table, a flower crown with many colors of daisies resting on his head. He was young, perhaps even younger than her, though the pallid cast of his face and dark circles beneath his pained lilac eyes made it difficult to tell.

Standing near the table was a woman whose beauty looked timeless, dressed in a simple silk purple dress with gold trim that was falling off of her shoulders. Her long, pale pink hair fell over those bare shoulders, preserving the small hiccup in modesty. She had oddly pointed ears, and she was staring at the teapot in her hands with a childlike curiosity.

Deirdre giggled softly, and both of them looked up at her. She saw that the woman had mismatched eyes- one red and one green. "Tea does tend to be warm," she said in way of greeting, sitting down in front of a teacup that was apparently her own.

"It surprised me again," the woman informed her, pouring tea into the three cups with careful poise. Everything about the woman seemed careful- her words, her movements, even her expressions. "It is good to see you, Deirdre."

"It is good to see both of you." She was dreaming, she realized. But perhaps it wasn't just a dream- it was too vivid, her movements flowed too easily, and she now knew that this was exactly what the lilac-haired stranger looked like. A memory? Was her mind finally giving her a memory? "How are you doing?"

"I'm well," the man replied with a small, wry smile before picking up his tea. Despite the pain in his eyes. "Research is going well on most fronts. Brady has been teaching Idunn about flowers and, well-" He gestured to the flower crown on his head, his smile becoming fond, the pain in his eyes actually lessening. "I'm sure this isn't the only example of her handiwork you've seen."

"Flowers are pretty," the woman commented, holding the cup of tea gingerly in her hands.

"They are," Deirdre agreed easily, smile warming as she sipped at her tea. It was a taste she didn't recognize. "Julius and Julia have been wearing the flowers you braided into their hair all day. You've done excellent work."

The woman, who was evidently Idunn, smiled. The expression was still a little cautious, but bright. It made Deirdre happy even though she had no idea who this mysterious woman who seemed more like a girl was. Perhaps she saw a little of herself in the careful movements. "I am glad. Julius told me you taught him to make flower crowns." She looked at the man's crown. "They are more difficult than braids, but I tried after he taught me."

"I'm glad that he still remembers those days." Deirdre sighed, and there was nostalgia in her voice she didn't understand. "He's so caught up in plans for the future and discovering a far different past that I still struggle to reconcile as his that it... makes me happy when he recalls the mostly carefree childhood that he did have." She smiled sadly at an unreadable look on the man's face. "I know I must sound ridiculous. He's..."

"You don't sound ridiculous. It's only natural for you to worry, and Julia has told you much of their shared childhood," the man assured her, a gentle smile overtaking his own features. "He worries for you, too, and that is why he is so focused on the future. The crafting is going well, by the way. We're still in the stages of figuring out how to battle the effects of the spell. It's tricky." His smile faded. "Messing with a god's blessing is always tricky, even if we do have an alternate version of the god here trying to help."

Deirdre was about to give up on understanding the situation entirely, but words came out of her mouth. "Is Jewel helping at all? It is... different, but the same spell, if I understand correctly."