Healing Hearts | Keelin

Chapter Five

 Margret did not see Keelin again before she left, which disappointed her. She would have liked to have given her a proper farewell, but what can you do? Keelin had to get going, and she had only just met Margret a few weeks earlier. Besides, they were already going to write each other while Keelin was away, and that was good enough for Margret. Nothing more was going to happen for them anyway, and pen pals would have to be good enough for her. 

 A week after Keelin left, Margret decided to go pay Freya a visit. The Mikaelson witch had been very kind to her the few times they had spoken. It would be nice to see her and see if she knew anything about where Keelin was. 

 Margret walked into the open courtyard of the Mikaelson compound, and said, "Hello? Um, is anyone home?" 

 "Coming!" she heard Freya call. "Who's that?" 

 "It's Margret Janssen," Margret called back. 

 "I thought so." Freya came down the staircase and gave her a smile. "Hi, Margret. What brings you by?" 

 She shrugged. "I don't know. Just thought maybe I'd stop by and say hello. If you're not busy, that is," she added. "If you are, I could come by some other time."

 "No, that's okay. As a matter of fact, I do have a little time. Come on. I was going to make some tea, anyway." 

 She led Margret to the same parlor where they had had their first conversation, when Margret was getting over consuming a very large amount of alcohol the night before. She felt a little awkward sitting down on the sofa again as Freya went off to make tea. 

 Margret looked around the room, looked out at the hallway, and then strained to listen. It was a very quiet household. Josh had told her that the Mikaelson vampires had all left town some years ago due to a curse, but he hadn't been any more specific than that. Was Freya living alone now that Keelin was away? 

 When Freya returned with two mugs, Margret smiled and accepted one of them. 

 "I noticed the house is very quiet," Margret remarked. "Do you live alone now that Keelin is gone?" 

 "No, it isn't just us," Freya answered. "My niece Hope is away at school right now, but she's here in the summer. And her mother Hayley lives here with us, too. That makes things a little less lonely here. Plus I do have a few friends around the city." 

 Margret smiled and nodded. "That's nice." 

 Freya placed her mug on the table. "Have you heard about my family?" 

 "Well, I have," Margret admitted. "But I haven't heard much. One of the times I was in Rousseau's, Josh told me that your siblings are the world's oldest vampires and that they left New Orleans years ago because of some curse. I haven't been trying to poke around in the family history, if that's what you were concerned about."

 "Okay." Freya sighed. "Oh, it's been hard since then. I can't believe it's actually been six years. Um, there was a being called the Hollow that came to New Orleans. She possessed my niece Hope, and was going to use her powers. To save Hope, the Hollow's soul had be divided into four pieces and placed into four close family members. And they had to be immortal, or else they probably couldn't have handled it. That was my siblings: Klaus, Hope's father; and Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol. They're all in different parts of the world now, doing different things. They can't be around each other anymore, or come anywhere near Hope. It's too dangerous." 

 Hearing this story, Margret felt sorry for Freya. All the family Margret had were long dead, and she had dealt with that grief a very long time ago. Freya still had hers, but they could never be together again because of this dark magic dividing them. It was obvious it was eating away at Freya from the way she spoke. 

 "Is there any way to bring everyone back together?" Margret asked. "I don't think I've ever heard so tragic a family story before." 

 Freya sighed again. "I have no idea. I've tried looking for some way, but I haven't found anything." 

 The conversation was a bit of an eye-opener for Margret. She had grown a little jealous of Freya for having Keelin's heart, but now she felt guilty for that. Maybe the thing to do would be to try befriending Freya, too. Given her current family life, it sounded like she might need another friend on her side.