Goddess Unravelled

3 Days, 2 Desires

For a moment Alice only stood there awkwardly. Many times over the years she’d thought about everything she’d like to ask her eccentric aunt. Questions should have been pouring out of her mouth, but instead she stood there paralyzed. She didn’t know what to say, and in fact, didn’t think she would be able to form words properly in that moment, even if she had known what to ask.

                Thankfully Aunt Ruby didn’t seem to expect her to speak. She stepped forward and reached out, clasping Alice’s hands in hers. “I am sorry I wasn’t able to tell you. I didn’t know how to convey all of this, and I’m not sure you would have believed me if I told you. But I’ve been watching over you, all this time, Alice.”

                As Emmy. Alice blinked, trying to collect her thoughts. Her aunt, who she’d thought was dead all along, had been the shop cat. Wait, perhaps she was technically dead. This was making her head spin. “I think…I think I need to sit down,” Alice said faintly.

                “Yes, of course.” Ruby guided her over to the bed, letting her sit down on the mattress before she continued. “I know you’re overwhelmed with everything, but we only have limited time.”

                Alice jerked upright, eyes growing wide with panic. “You’re leaving? Already?”

                “Not leaving so much as returning to my true form.” Ruby’s lips curved at one side. She was trying to hide a smile. “Well, my true form now. Gaia has turned me back briefly, so I can talk to you.”

                “Why a cat?” Alice hunched her shoulders and glared at the door. “Why did Gaia make you a cat?”
                “I asked her to.” Aunt Ruby sat down on the mattress beside her. “It was important that I be able to travel between worlds, and only cats can do that without magic.”

                Alice blinked, then looked around her in surprise. She had been so distracted that she hadn’t even realized that there were no threads drifting about the ceiling or looped around the pillars that held up the fireplace. The room was strangely…empty.

                “There’s no magic in the Between,” Aunt Ruby explained. “Gaia prefers it that way. She is the only one with any power here.”
                “Then why couldn’t she just help you travel between worlds?”

                “What, and have her looking over my shoulder all the time?” Aunt Ruby grinned, eyes glittering with mischief. “She knows I like my independence. I’m actually very like a cat, if you think about it. The form suites me, though it is a bit of a bother to be reduced to words like ‘meow’ I think.”

                “But why did you trade yourself here?” Alice asked, desperate to get in all her questions. “Why did you agree to this? Gaia said you sacrificed yourself.”

                “That’s what I mean to talk to you about,” Aunt Ruby said, and she was suddenly urgent, leaning forward and taking Alice by the shoulders. “After I return to my true form, Gaia is going to give you a choice…a wish. And I managed to get two of them out of her, a bonus one, if you will.” Her eyes darted towards the door. “I was very lucky.”