The Seelie Curse

Chapter 12

Kyma isn't sure that she should be telling Ro this, but Astrila and her magic seem to think its okay, and Ro is kind of Kyma's sister now, if she understood the concept of being a cridhe right, so she'll have to find out eventually. Besides, isn't there a chance she could help them?

"I was ordered to go north."

Ro leans forward, curiosity glimmering in her eyes. "By whom? Why?"

Kyma shakes her head. She keeps getting distracted by Ro's accent, it's so lovely. "By one of my ancestors."

"Still alive? Do merrows have different lifespans than humans? I thought they were similar."

Kyma files that information away for later. It's good to know and no one explicitly told her that before. "She's dead. We have a place where we can view memories and when I was watching them, she somehow broke out and spoke to me."

Ro frowns. "Are merrows able to do that?"

"No, but she was part Unseelie and there is also a magical connection between us."

"What kind of connection?

Kyma reaches into her bag and pulls the dagger out. "This was created with magic. Because of that, it is sentient. My ancestor was the dagger's first owner and I am its owner now. We are connected by blood, the dagger's magic, and her own."

"Hmm. So ghosts are real?"

Kyma shrugs. "I have no idea. I'm not sure she would fit the description of a ghost, however. I only saw her in a mind-space, so to speak."

Ro nods. "Interesting." She straightens in her seat, blinking several times. "We got completely distracted from the original topic just talking about your ancestor. I suppose it's in part because I don't know about half my own family."

Kyma leans forward to place her hand over Ro's. The red-haired girl jerks slightly, her other hand sliding toward her pockets. Kyma smiles slightly. "Both myself and Star have been in the same position you are now. My father died when I was a baby and I didn't know my mother until about a year and a half ago. Star didn't know her father until a couple months ago."

Ro nods and sniffs before she shakes her head slightly. Her eyes are slightly red, but no one would notice if they weren't specifically looking. "So, what did your ancestor tell you to do up north?"

"I'm not going to recite her exact words, but I can tell you the essence of them. She told me to go north and do something there, then find Star and come here, to the Old Land."

Rowan blinks a couple times, confused. "She told you to find Star specifically? And Old Land? Scotland isn't old."

Kyma laughs. "No, she didn't tell me to find Star, but what she did tell me to find was something we later found meant Star herself. I didn't know I was sent for a person until then. We call Scotland the Old Land because the Aos Sí originated here, it is our homeland. So the Aos Sí communities who no longer live here call it such."

"Oh. That makes sense. But why did you come here specifically? Why did you have to come to Scotland? Or do you not know yet?"

Kyma and Astrila share a glance. Astrila nods slightly and Kyma continues. "When I was with the selkies, we found a prophecy." Ro's eyes shutter and her face hardens. Kyma frowns. "Ro? Do you know something?"

Ro's jaw works for a moment as she mulls over something. After a moment, she sighs. "I don't know, exactly. Not yet. What was the prophecy?"

Kyma reaches to the pouch at her side and pulls her book out. She flips to the back page and looks down at the words written there, speaking into the air. "Starry snow and flower blue, cross the sea and return home. Find the waiting berries red of lost and forgotten magic. Once the three are bound, right the wrong of ancestors long unknown."

Ro's hands curl. Tightly. Kyma leans forward to take her hand, trying to stop the redhead from ripping her palm to shreds with her own nails. She pulls her hand back with a hiss, wincing.

"Ro! Your hand burns!"

Ro looks down and uncurls her fingers. Kyma gasps. Ro's hand is glowing from the inside, her skin a translucent cherry red. It looks like your hand does when you shine a flashlight behind it, but there's no flashlight here. The glow fades and Ro curls her hands inward, wrapping them around herself.

"Sorry."

Kyma just frowns. "Ro, ignoring the fact that I think you just set yourself on fire and I kind of want to know how, what upset you so much?"

Ro sighs. "There's another prophecy here and I was trying so hard to deny that I was part of it. I didn't want to be part of it, I still don't. My life is still so messed up right now as it is."

Australia leans forward, her voice soft. "Hey, we don't know if you're part of it or not. We don't have any reason to believe you're part of our prophecy right now, so don't worry just yet. And if there is something we can help you with, just ask us."

Ro mutters under her breath, something that sounds to Kyma like, "There's no way I'm not part of it, not with my luck and what it says."

Astrila just continues speaking. "Tell us, what was the prophecy you heard?"

Ro sighs, a grumbling, angry sound. "A curse of old must be broken, before the balance of all is lost. Three are bound to break it, yet unknown. A lost flower blue, a hidden snowflake made of stars, and a berry of twinning red. All must come or all is lost."

Kyma winces and glances at Astrila. "That definitely sounds like us. But Ro, why do you think it's about you as well?"

Ro reaches beneath her shirt to reveal a necklace made of red berries, with a pendant made of a crystal-encased four-leaf clover. "Besides this, I have been called the Child of Two Peoples, I'm a redhead, and my name means a type of red berry. It's hard to deny it."

Kyma slumps back against the couch. "So if all the players are here, I guess it's time to figure out what the prophecy wants from us and what it means."
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What do you think the prophecy means? Are they missing something? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.