The Cycle of the Year has been broken, but time between the world of mortals and that of Mirari is not yet fully in sync. In Ainigton, it's nearly mid-summer, while spring is still making up for its long absence in Mirari. The royal sages claim that every time a Siege is opened, the worlds come a little closer together, but they also predict that the flow of time will not be balanced until the winter solstice, which should happen simultaneously in both realms.
For those that travel the Sieges in the meantime, it is still possible to pass many days in Mirari and yet return to Ainigton as if only a day or two had passed. So long as nobody else uses the Sieges in the meantime, one has certain flexibility with scheduling. And so it is that while Agatha Cunningham returned to spend the weekend in Ainigton, she is able to return to Mirari as if the same amount of time had passed. Generally, the girl doesn't think to much about such things.
With a flash of light, the redheaded girl appears in the archway, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt (although still wearing her Mirari-tailored boots). On her back is a heavy-looking rail-supported backpack, with several things strapped to its frame - such as Redmane's swords. With each step away from the arch, Agatha seems to gain a year in build and height; transforming from a 13-year-old to someone of 17 or more years.
"It's a good thing the whole aging bit stops where it does. I would really hate to drag around some wrinkled crone through the lands," quips the famous (or is it infamous), Lord Explorer Thomas from where he leans leisurely against a nearby tree. His trademark wry grin curls across his lips as he chews on a sprig of hay. "And I do have to wonder ... does the whole chest thing throw your balance off?"
"Are you saying my chest is too big?" Redmane asks. She smirks at the Explorer, but also glances around as if looking for somebody else.
"Maybe. You have been packing away a lot of cookies lately," Thomas quips and uses one foot to push himself off the tree trunk. "Expecting someone else?" he asks.
"Ahearn always meets me here," Redmane notes, giving her lower lip a quick bite. "No matter. He's probably still in a snit about my going off somewhere without him. Do you have your supplies for the trip all ready?"
"Well, he just knows who the real alpha male is, is all," Thomas remarks and thrusts out his chest. "And yes, I do. It's not like we'll need much; we can make due off what we find and construct shelter as needed. So, I just brought some fishing line, rope, knife, sword, few changes of clothing, some dried meat and fruit and a bedroll," he answers as he motions towards a pack hanging from a nearby tree. True enough, it has a sword and bedroll strapped to it and seems to be moderately stocked, given its size.
"I brought a pup-tent, just in case," Redmane notes, gesturing to the sky. "It rains in the springtime after all. There's a spot I want to see on the way to Elysia too that's a bit off the road. So grab your stuff and we can get started! I made some stuff for a picnic lunch when we get there."
Thomas walks by Redmane, musses up her hair, then heads to his hanging back and hefts it off the branch and slips it onto his shoulders. "You know, a pup tent is rather appropriate given where we're going. Missing the old times on all fours?" he says and just grins.
"Hardly!" Redmane claims. "It didn't happen to me, really. Oh.. just realized; with Hannah off on a mission and you on vacation, who's left in charge of the Hawks?" she asks, as she tucks her tousled hairs back into the hairband for her ponytail.
"It happened to part of you, so that counts. But for that, I won't share the dog biscuits with you," Thomas quips. "As for the Hawks, Rachel is managing them for the short time I'll be gone. If anything really major comes up, she has a way of reaching me, so I'm not worried."
Once they reach the road, Redmane asks, "Have you asked her to the Fourth of July picnic back in Ainigton yet?"
"No. I had completely forgotten about that picnic to be honest," Thomas answers as he thrusts his hands into the pockets of his work long coat. "Why do you ask?"
"I think she'd like it, even as 'Elinor'," Redmane notes. "Plus, there's supposed to be a party at the Manor afterwards. So she probably knows about it."
"I'll think about it," Thomas says, "Who are you going with?"
"Me?" Redmane asks, suddenly sounding more like Agatha. "I'll probably take Ahearn over instead of, you know, a date."
"And here I thought you might be trying a round-about way of asking me if I hadn't asked anyone yet," Thomas notes with an amused smile. "But I suppose Ahearn is safe."
"I can probably keep him out of trouble," the girl claims. "And I figured Rachel could do the same for you this year. I still remember how mushy you got around her when she first arrived!" she notes, and then laughs a little.
"You act like that is a bad thing! And why do you presume I will always get into trouble? You're far worse than I am," Thomas points out.
"I never got into trouble.. before," Redmane - or definitely Agatha now - claims. "I was the responsible girl everyone could depend on. The Number One babysitter!"
"You never got caught. There's a difference," Thomas feels compelled to point out. He turns around so he can look at Redmane ... and now seems to be content to walk backwards for a bit. "And are you trying to say I can't e depended on?"
The land on the side of the road opposite the woods are becoming more cultivated looking now, and figures can be seen working in the distance. Spring planting is underway.
"I'm saying that I was seen as responsible," Agatha points out. "That's not saying anything about you, Tommy. Fourteen-year-old boys are expected to be wild and reckless."
"Yes, but girls are well known for implying other things with the statements they make!" Thomas claims.
"Oh, girls just have a more sophisticated nature when it comes to communication," Agatha claims, tilting her chin up.
"Yes. You're better at being full of it," Thomas counters. He spins back around and resumes walking normally.
"That's not-" Agatha starts to say, and then stops and stares at some trees in the distance, a half-mile or so further down the road.
Thomas mmms? He follows Agatha's eyes towards the trees in the distance.
Without a word, Agatha turns off the road and starts walking through the tall grass.
"Why are you avoiding the road?" Thomas asks as he leaves the road, following Agatha.
"I'm not avoiding it," Agatha says, pausing to look at the distant trees again to check her bearings. Another hundred or so feet into the grass and she stops. "I think.. this is the spot."
"What spot?" Thomas has to ask as he peers around the terrain for anything remotely familiar.
"This is where the Siege of Wind opened, when Tristan first brought me to Mirari," Agatha says, wrapping her arms around herself as if remembering the cold. She recovers and points toward the trees in the distance, saying, "The leaf-golems of October were there, where the road branches, blocking the way to the Palace."
"Ooooh, right. Your elf date," Thomas comments as he peers around the area again. "That seems like quite a while ago. Why did you want to come back to this spot?"
"Because.. I don't know," Agatha says, shaking her head a bit. "It's a landmark I guess. We need to turn off the road a little ways ahead." She heads back to the road, and asks, "Don't you ever get a weird feeling when you come across some spot that was important in your past?"
"Often," Thomas admits, "Sometimes I have flashes of memory. Fragments that make little sense. Others, nothing more than a feeling." He squats down and taps the soil. "Maybe this was where you fought the dragon," he suggests, "That would be a major link point in your past. Or maybe we had a huge fight here. Who knows? You might remember eventually, if you let yourself. You just have to quit being afraid of who you were, you know?"
"I'm not afraid!" Agatha claims, with a hint of anger. "I got over that before, back in Caer Sidi with that stupid kiss."
"Stupid?" Thomas asks, brow arched. "And now you sound like you're mad at me again."
"Because.. because!" Agatha says, throwing her arms up helplessly. "Some stuff is just infuriating for me to think about, okay?"
"Like what?" Thomas presses, "Look, we're going to have a couple really long weeks if you spend the entire time mad at me."
"Like trying to make me be more like Muirenn, okay?" Agatha finally says. "I get enough of that from Ahearn. What's wrong with me just being me as I am right now?"
"I'm not trying to make you like anyone," Thomas notes, "And there's nothing wrong with who you are right now."
"Darn straight there isn't," Agatha declares, and then stops to brush some overgrowth off of a stone road marker. "Okay, I think this is it," she says. The side path either hasn't been used in a long time, or else things get overgrown quickly in Mirari.
Standing, Thomas asks, "Side path to where?"
"Someplace I want to see," Agatha replies, heading along the barely-seen path back towards the woods.
"And you call me obnoxious," Thomas remarks as he follows along, grinning in his usual Cheshire way.
Agatha puts her hands on her hips and surveys the scenery once they reach the end of the path. "Ahh," she says, sounding cheery again. "I love waterfalls."
"That explains why you liked the valley, then," Thomas notes as he walks up to the edge to look out over the flowing water. "The sound is peaceful. Drowns out all the chaos of negative thoughts," he adds as he waves his hands for dramatic effect.
After setting down her big pack, Agatha removes a rolled up blanket from it and spreads it out on the grass. "Yes.. I know Muirenn liked them too," she says, without any heat this time.
"You're a lot like her, whether you like it or not," Thomas comments as he follows the falls for a few feet, then squats down to stick his hand in the flowing water. "So you really shouldn't get mad when people compare you to her. Heck, even she changed a lot over the Years before she disappeared, you know."
The water is surprisingly warm - or at least not snow-melt cold. "Everyone changes, Tommy. Except maybe you!" Agatha calls back with a laugh, then asks, "Coke or Root Beer?"
"Hah! Even I change," Thomas notes with a grin, "I just don't let people see that. Ruins the legend. And root beer would be fine."
Selecting two bottles from her stash, Agatha comes over to the water and finds a spot to chill them. "Hey, it's not that cold. I'm gonna do a little swimming before lunch!" she announces, and heads back to the blanket.
"I hope you brought your bathing suit! Otherwise the fish are in for a shock!" Thomas barks with a laugh. He stands again and stretches upward.
Sitting on the blanket, Agatha unlaces her boots. "Never mind the fish, how would you react!" she calls.
"Like a perfect gentleman! I would put the blanket over my head to avoid turning to stone! Or ... was that when facing Medusa?" Thomas muses and makes a point of rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Well, better turn away then," Agatha warns as she starts lifting up her t-shirt... only to show that she's wearing a green bikini top underneath.
"Argh, my eyes!" Thomas howls and covers his face. He topples over into the grass and lies still.
"Ham it up, why don't you?" Agatha says as she sets her jeans aside and walks to the water. The shore where the grass slopes down is mostly gravel, so she starts wading in from there. "Going to join me?" she asks.
"What would your father say?" Thomas asks from where he lies. "You sound like you want me to join you."
"He'd be in here with me already!" Agatha claims. "We always swim in the lake back home when we go camping. Toby and I even swam all the way to the island once." She gets belly-deep, and then dives in the rest of the way.
"I suppose I should join you to keep you safe," Thomas says a bit begrudgingly. He strips down to nothing more than simple boxer shorts. Instead of folding his clothing, he tosses them into a pile on the blanket, then follows Agatha into the water.
Agatha is already out to the middle of the pond, and calls back, "Underwear? Not up to going skinny, eh, oh fearless one?" It's only a half-hearted taunt though.
"Well, if you'd rather," Thomas threatens and reaches for his shorts...
"Hah, I dare you!" Agatha says with a laugh, thinking she's called Tom's bluff.
So ... Thomas slips off his shorts and dangles them from his forefinger. It's a good thing he's already waist deep and the water movement makes it hard to see anything. "Done," he retorts smugly.
"I can't believe you did that!" Agatha says, blushing despite there not being anything to see.
"Why can't you believe it?" Thomas calls back, "Do you think I'd let you win?" He grins.
"Wait, you think this means you win?" Agatha challenges.
"You bet!" Thomas laughs.
"You're.. crazy!" Agatha says, throwing her arms up in a spray of water. "I'm going to see how deep it goes," she say next, takes a deep breath, and then vanishes under the surface near the waterfall.
Thomas slips his shorts back on and grins smugly. "There's probably a cave behind that waterfall," he mutters to himself. He's currently content to just lazily swim around the pool.
Agatha is down for some time. It's thirty seconds or more before her head pops back up to the surface, her hair now loose and floating around her shoulders. She gives Thomas an odd, almost predatory grin.
"Problem, oh' piranha of the pond?" Thomas asks from where he floats on the pool's surface.
The girl's right arm raises up out of the water, dangling the two pieces of her bikini. She flings them towards the shore, and then dives down out of sight again.
"And she claims she's not Muirien," Thomas laughs. He dives under the surface now as he tries to find out just where she went.
This close to the waterfall the turbulence makes everything cloudy. But Thomas is able to see Redmane rising up to meet him from below.
Thomas continues towards the woman, intent on not letting her 'win'. Well, whatever that means.
Redmane reaches and actually squeezes Thomas'.. Thomas! Then she's trying to embrace him.
"Blurp!" goes a rise of bubbles as Thomas' gets one of the few shocks of his life! In a bit of a flail, he tries to surface with her.
The pair breaks the surface, and instead of gasping for air the girl tries to kiss Thomas.
Thomas doesn't have much time to prevent the kiss ... though he does manage to pry himself away after a few seconds. "What are you doing?" he gasps, waterlogged.
"It's spring," Redmane says, and renews the kiss - only this time she holds the back of Thomas's head so he can't easily break away. And with the kiss comes a sort of euphoric rush, like having one's breath taken away.
Or like drowning.
"Bloody snot, a Rusalka," Thomas suddenly thinks. Survival instinct kicks in and Thomas drops his arms down, then surges them upward between himself and her trying to wedge-break her grip on him.
The hand is pulled away from Thomas' head, and then he's able to push away before his lungs can be filled with water! There's a lot of thrashing, as now there are two Redmanes. The one that still has a ponytail has the other's wrist gripped in one hand, and her arm around its neck.
"You would pick a pool with a Rusalka," Thomas calls out after spitting out several mouthfuls of water! He rears back and throws one heck of a hard punch square at the one without a ponytail.
SMACK The struck creature's features begin to shift, taking on a green, almost amphibian skin tone. It pulls free from Agatha and dives down into the water. The remaining girl is looking blue and choking, having trouble treading water now.
Coughing himself, Thomas swims over and puts his arm around Agatha's waist and starts trying to swim the both of them to shore. "Just keep paddling with your feet," he says, sounding disturbingly calm about the whole thing, "Talk to me. Tell me your name, when you were born, and what day it is."
All Agatha can do is gurgle and cough up water in reply, but does manage to kick her legs to help them both reach the gravelly shore.
Thomas heaves her up onto the shore and collapses next to her. He lays on his back, looking skyward and just taking several deep breaths. Maybe it's lack of oxygen just messing with her eyesight, it Agatha can see numerous shimmering and faint scars trailing all along Thomas' body. That is except for one really bad looking one on his stomach, angled slightly to his left. But when she blinks, they're all gone. When his breath is recovered, he tries to sit up and just pat her back to get the remainder of the water out of her.
Turning on her side, Agatha vomits up pond-water for awhile, until her breathing isn't so labored. "Ughh," she moans. "Worse.. possible.. way.. to.. see.. me.. naked," she finally manages.
"What, you were kissing yourself under there?" Thomas jokes weakly as he continues to lightly thump her on the back to help get water out.
"Knocked the breath out of me and.. stole my bikini," Agatha growls. "I want it back cough"
"Well, I do drive women to do wild things," Thomas jokes. He takes a minute or two and finally locates the bits of the bikini. He returns them to Redmane, nothing, "Well, it did also answer a mystery, come to think of it."
"What?" Agatha asks, looking to Tom. She's got an arm across her chest and her legs crossed now, but as she's sitting and Tom is standing she can't help but stare into his midriff. She goes from blue to red in an instant.
"Your hair color is consistent," Thomas answers simply as he sits down on the shore, facing away from Agatha.
"You.. You.." Agatha fumes, and then lets out a long breath. "Thanks for pulling me to shore. And.. why did you let it kiss you?"
"I didn't let it. It was insistent," Thomas claims with a small shrug. "Can't say it was bad though. Well, up to the point it tried to drown me. But then, that's their trick. Lure the young into water and drown them as revenge for being drowned when they were young."
"Let's go dry off, away from the water," Agatha says. She stands and heads for the blanket, wringing out her bikini. "Grab the bottles?" she then asks.
Thomas grabs the bottles from the pool and carries them back towards the blanket. "So, if it had impersonated me, would you have kissed it?" he asks as he reaches the blanket.
"I'd have kneed it in the groin," Agatha says. She drops to the blanket and lies on her back, not bothering to cover up at this point (but keeping her own eyes closed). It's noon, and the sun should dry them off quickly enough. "I'd have known it wasn't you right away. You wouldn't force yourself on someone."
"True enough, that," Thomas agrees as he drapes part of the blanket over Redmane anyway. "My first thought was you were just trying to one up me after the whole shorts bit," he says as he sits close by, "But that idea vanished pretty quick when it didn't just start laughing and say 'gotcha'. When it grabbed me the second time I realized just what it was."
"The second time?" Agatha asks, eyes still closed. "And... I think I saw the ghosts of Old Thomas' scars on you back there. Did you see anything like that on me?"
"Well, it kissed me very briefly once and I stopped it. Then it grabbed me harder," Thomas comments as he looks skyward again, "I should have realized immediately that it wasn't you. It wouldn't have been the first time ... eh, not for you to worry over. Scars? No, I didn't see anything on you, but really, I wasn't looking. More worried about just getting you out of the water."
"Is it safe to open my eyes?" Agatha asks next. "I mean.. it's not.. doing anything is it?"
"What are you talking about?" Thomas has to ask.
Agatha opens her eyes and looks Thomas up and down. "Never mind," she says, and sits up. "I haven't decided if I should feel.. upset or not." She pulls away the blanket, blushes, and says, "Anyway, you can look now. Get it out of your system or whatever."
Thomas brow goes up at that and he looks over at Agatha. "Is that really what you think I think about?" he finally has to ask.
Agatha looks up at the sky and says, "That's not what I meant! I mean the jokes. How I look like a horse or something. Get them out so I don't have to hear them later."
"Not exactly appropriate after nearing dying," Thomas points out and taps Agatha's nose with a fingertip. "I was more worried about you living than looking at you and thinking about some way to make fun of you. And really, if I had said you looked like a horse, it would have to be one heck of a horse." He rolls his eyes and falls back on the blanket, then rolls to his side so that he's looking away. "Give me some credit."
"I still want to hear it from you: am I worth looking at?" Agatha demands.
"What does it matter what I think?" Thomas asks.
"It just does!" the girl insists.
A long-suffering-sigh comes from Thomas. "You were beautiful then, you still are now. It just ... brings up some mixed, and some uncomfortable, memories, okay?" he finally says.
"Aha!" Agatha crows, whipping her head around to face Tommy so fast that water arcs away from her ponytail. She presses her finger to his chest and says, "You admit it! You can't ever take it back or make jokes about my appearance again! I WIN!" she declares.
"Yeeah, this was a mistake," Thomas remarks as he pushes himself back upright. He reaches over, grabs his pants, and starts dressing while still a bit wet.
Agatha is on her feet, hopping up and down and striking various victory poses! "Immunity from teasing!" she cheers, before finally calming down and getting dressed herself. "I brought bread and deli meats and some spreads," she says. "Ready for lunch?"
"I think I should take my own path to December. You'll need whatever food you brought to see you through the trip by yourself," Thomas says as he's packing up his gear. "So, I think I'll pass on the offer of lunch."
"Hey!" Agatha says. "Look.. I didn't mean to go off like that, but it was important. Muirenn... Well, she started to get old eventually, and she wondered if that was why you left."
"It had nothing to do with her aging," Thomas says as he pulls his boots back on.
"I know, but.. it's hard not to feel that way," Agatha says, sitting back down again. "You don't know what it's like. I mean, I shouldn't have encouraged you either, trading insults like a guy. I'm not a guy, Thomas, and they hurt. I've had to deal with that sort of teasing ever since I shot up taller than everyone else my age."
"You could have simply said so," Thomas points out rather matter-of-factly. "I was just treating you as my best friend. Because, well, I thought you were."
"That's why I couldn't say anything," Agatha whispers. "I don't exactly have a lot of friends, and if I made you start treating me like a girl, I was afraid you'd set me aside."
"I would look terrible in a dress ... or a bikini. I wouldn't be able to tease you like a girl," Thomas comments.
Agatha has a quick laugh at that. "You can tease me, okay? Just.. have a care about it. The reason I don't fully embrace Muirenn is that I don't want the affection people felt for her without ever earning any of my own, if that makes sense."
"No matter what may say, when it came down to it, there are precious few people I would trust with absolutely anything. You are the top of that list," Thomas remarks as he looks back towards the pond. "Do you really want to know why he? Or I, I guess depending on how you look at it, left?"
"I can guess," Agatha says. "You don't want them to be hurt if something happens to you, right?"
"Not with her. It was different," Thomas comments quietly.
"You didn't want her to risk herself then?" Agatha asks.
"No," Thomas answers. "He was terrified she would turn on him like the Court did; call him crazy for wanting to hunt down Jack ... to stop the Years End before a new war began. He could take the mocking of the court. He somehow took it when the Hawks didn't believe him. But if she had said she didn't believe in him, well ... out of all the people in his life, what she thought of him mattered the most to him."
Agatha looks.. shocked. "That.. is the last thing I would have expected," she says. "I really thought.. well, I thought it would be like the dwarves, if something happened to her while she was with you."
"It's one thing to lose a person; time has a tendency to take them eventually. It's another to have someone quit believing in you. The latter cuts far, far deeper, especially when it was someone that meant the world to him," Thomas says with a slight shrug. "Sat all night on the hill overlooking her old home the night before I went west. Wanted more than anything to come down and say goodbye at least, say anything. But, I couldn't face the thought of being rejected. Not by her."
"So, like a coward I left at dawn's light for the West," Thomas concludes.
"I.. well, you must have had reason to think she might," Agatha says. "But if you'd gone down, she'd have gone with you. Wether she doubted you or not, she wouldn't have let you go without someone at your back. Not that I imagine it would have mattered in the end. So, I can't really judge your decision."
"She loved you," Agatha says simply.
"He loved her and wanted her to have the life she had dreamed of. He also knew that if the Destroyer wasn't stopped, she wouldn't have that," Thomas says with a sigh, "He wanted to keep the promise she would have a life, even if it meant he lost his."
"She was worth the sacrifice," He adds quietly.
"Her life wasn't exactly what she expected," Agatha admits. "Even her love for Thomas.. well, it wasn't exactly poetry and butterflies, she just wasn't that type. And I don't know that it really kicked in until after she'd fulfilled her geas. Don't feel guilty though, Tom. I forgive you and I think she would, if she knew. You two were a lot alike."
"Then she would have done something Lyne never did," Thomas comments quietly, then shrugs, "But really, enough of that. You don't need to hear all these old and depressing stories. You were making lunch."
"Got your appetite back then?" Agatha asks. "I brought chips too."
"Be careful with those," Thomas warns, "Or that bikini won't fit for long..."
Agatha laughs, and gets out the food. She also produces a bottle opener, cracks the root beers and hands one to Tom. "How about a toast?" she asks.
"To what?" he asks as he accepts the bottle.
The girl holds up her bottle, and says, "To friendship and butterflies! May one never exclude the other!"
"But it can exclude strange green women lurking in ponds and trying to snog innocent people to death," Thomas adds to the toast and holds up his bottle.
"Well, yeah, that's a given," Agatha says, clinking her bottle to Tom's.