Sarabande: River of Falcons Book 4

52. Old Friends

When Drift came out of the time-bubble and fell on her knees on the path in front of Revenio's house, she was startled to hear a woman's laughter ringing around the garden. She jumped up and stared down the path. Instead of the ruins she had just left, she saw a neat house with graceful stained-glass windows and a high roof covered in green moss. Flowers, herbs and vegetables grew in raised beds on either side of the path, forming an attractive foreground. Drift took all of this in with a quick sweep of the eye. It was not all that surprising, since she had expected to go back in time to wherever Revenio was, and she assumed he would not be living in a tumble-down old ruin. However, what Drift was unprepared for, what left her speechless with surprise, was the sight of a familiar face. Corey was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, a pile of knitting on her lap and a big grin on her face.

"Welcome to our home!" she said. "Care for a cup of tea?"

Drift stared at her in consternation. "Um, Corey, is that really you?"

The woman stood up. "Of course it's me!" she said. "Will you come up here and give me a hug? It's been a long time!"

"Nearly a thousand years," Drift pointed out. She jogged up the path and took the porch steps two at a time. "What are you doing here?"

Corey gave her a big hug. "It's so good to see you!" she said. "When you left us in such a hurry that night, I thought I'd never see you again. I really did."

"Me too," Drift said. She took a step back and examined Corey critically. "You've, um, put on a little weight, I think?"

Corey laughed. "Of course I have! I'm a lot older than when you last saw me. Note the wrinkles! I earned them, and I'm quite proud of them." She smiled and Drift saw that when she did, lines radiated from her eyes and creased her face. "And I've grown my hair," Corey added, swinging a long braid around from behind her. "It's down to the ground when its not braided. Do you like it?"

Drift gaped at her. "But, but, how could you be so much older? What happened to you?"

Corey laughed again. "First you didn't believe that I'd lived a thousand years, now you don't believe I could have aged a little?"

Drift smiled. "Okay, I admit, I'm kind of confused by all this time stuff. Still, you were only two years older than me when we last met. How could you be ten years older than me now?"

"Closer to twenty years, I'm afraid," Corey said with a rueful smile. "And there's been some hard living in those years, I promise you! We spent ten years hiding in the Northern Wastes, camping out and living in caves. If the Sable Clan hadn't finally accepted us and taken us in, I don't think we would have survived. Then we fought on and off with the Governor and his band of sorcerers for a half-dozen more years. That was terrible. Many of us died."

"What! How about Spring and Vine? Did they survive?"

"Oh yes, they're fine. Or they were. Of course, they passed away a long time ago now, if you know what I mean."

"Passed away? Are they dead?" Drift looked horrified.

Corey gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Only in the normal course of things. They both lived to a ripe old age in their own time. I suppose you realized that Vine would become the first queen?"

Drift nodded. "I thought so. Her magic seemed to resonate with mine."

"Yes. You're connected to her in the Spirit Realm. Anyway, they chose to stay in their own time, and that was long ago, so of course they've perished by now. But don't worry about them, everything worked out well. They retired to a huge garden they planted down near the bottom of the river. Spring spent her old age tending it while Vine meditated every day in the center of it beside a little well that she really loved. Her grandchildren come, I mean came, to visit her there. I can tell you all about it if you like. I'll just put the kettle on and we can talk over tea. Revenio should be back in a moment. He went out to look for the boys. They do tend to wander and I wanted to make sure they got home before sunset."