Our boat landed with a jolt, waking me from the fitful sleep I had been dozing in and out of for the past several hours. Zoey was across the room, pulling her long white hair back into a plait. "I'm sure you know we're here." I nodded, yawning and pulling myself out of my cot. I started changing, pulling the strings of the black corset tight around my stomach, covering the plain green tunic I wore over brown leggings.
A week ago, Zoey and I had set out together to Yggdrasil Forest, along with a few sailors we had hired in Phoenix Drop. Zoey, while searching through the books she had taken from me, had found reference to another artifact that may be able to help our search. She didn't believe that the elves would let her take yet another artifact, especially since it had only been a few years since she had taken the last one. But she hoped that by finding out what the artifact was, she could learn more about what we needed to succeed in opening the Irene Dimension one more time.
"Remember, we don't want to stay very long. And the second the elves start getting wary or accusatory, we are leaving. I... I'm not exactly on the best of terms with them." I smiled, reaching out to pat her knee.
"I'll follow your lead Zoey. They're your people, not mine." Then it was her turn to smile as she pushed herself off the cot.
"Not anymore. Phoenix Drop, you and your kids? That is my people now." Together we left the cramped room, heading towards the top of the vessel. The ship was small, just enough room for Zoey and I to have a room separate from the sailors and the provisions we had brought. Normally, our small cabin would have been the captain's quarters, but I think the fact that we were women led to him offering up his quarters (Zoey was convinced it also stemmed from who my previous incarnation was).
The three sailors were above deck, tying up some final lines and pulling down the sail. I nodded at them, earning myself a wave from one of them, Kent, I thought. Zoey began speaking to them briefly, telling them of our plans for the day. I stepped to the edge of the boat, leaning my stomach against the railing and looking at the waves we had just left. The wind tried to tear my hair from the braid I had slept in, but I didn't feel like trying to fix it. I don't think I've cut my hair in years, and it was well past my hips by now. Maybe when we get back, I'll find someone to cut it for me. I'll probably be rubbish if I try to do it myself.
"Aphmau?" I turned to Zoey, seeing her standing by the gangplank and waiting for me to join her. I smiled, leaving the rail to join her before we stepped onto the dock. Zoey was one of the few people who never called me "Lady" or "Milady" or those annoying titles. I think that came from her basically being a part of my family; she had raised my sons for heaven's sake. Of course, she had wanted to when I first revealed my past, but I quickly changed her mind. Any outsider could tell who my close friends were, or even if someone actually knew me, by the way they addressed me.
As we walked down a long stone path towards the elven village, I could help but marvel at the forest around us. The Yggdrasil Tree in Phoenix Drop was massive, but it was only twenty years old. Here, in the actual Yggdrasil Forest, the trees were centuries old and three times as big as the tree that had started as a tree house for Malachi and Levin and had quickly turned into the base of operations for Phoenix Drop. There was so much history here, I couldn't even process it. That's when my thoughts began to drift.
Zoey was born when Lady Irene was still around as Lady Irene, not me. And she's not the old by elf standards, right? So could there be elves here who were alive who really knew me? Could they be able to tell me more about the Divine Six? Maybe Zoey's right. Maybe all of our answers are right here.
"They might not want to talk to you," Zoey warned, interrupting my stream of thought. I glanced over at her, knowing the confusion I felt washed over my face. She sighed, crossing her arms like she was cold. "If they know that you are Lady Irene, no matter if you remember none of being her, they'll treat you differently. With respect, sure, but... humans never come to the Yggdrasil Forest. Only ones in recent memory have been Levin and Malachi, and that was only because I was desperate."
"But we're desperate now," I retaliated, trying to learn what it was that was bothering her.
"We are," She agreed, but she only seemed to look even more worried. "Listen, Aphmau... they might see you as trying to steal their secrets or magick or healing spells or anything under the sun. Elves are proud. And their knowledge is the most closely guarded secret in Ru'aun. We'll be lucky if we can even find anything about the artifact I'm looking for. I'm sorry Aphmau, I... I know you were hoping to find out more about your past. But we might not want an entire city of elves thinking that Lady Irene has come to rob them of their secrets."
I nodded, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "I understand Zoey, trust me. I'm sorry, I can't help wanting to learn more about who I used to be. Actually, you and I should go and visit Hyria soon. She said she was close friends with Irene, didn't she?" Zoey and I kept up our conversation all the way down the path, right up until the village came into sight.
"Zoey," A voice called out, turning both of our attentions towards a man, well, elf, approaching us from the village. Zoey raised her hand in greeting, and so began our search into the libraries of the elves.
YOU ARE READING
Love Can Save {An Aphmau Fanfiction}
Fanfiction"I held on tightly to Garroth, knowing that although there was nothing to fear in the forest around us, it was the demons running loose in my head that scared me." It has been a year since everything happened. A year since Zane Ro'Meave died. A year...
