“I showed her,” said Alison. “My memories of you and what you’d told me about her, what happened to us with the vine. Nolwynn showed me how.”
Alison felt around using that extra sense, but she couldn’t find the door anymore. “I don’t think I can do it on my own, or I’d show you myself.”
“That’s alright,” he said. “I don’t need to see into your private thoughts. I’ll go and meet her, this woman who claims to be my sister. And then I guess I’ll know.”
Charlotte wasn’t there yet when they arrived at Keir’s house. Alison privately began to worry she wouldn’t show at all as she fetched the water and put the kettle on.
It had just begun to boil when there was a knock at the door.
Alison hurried into the front room in time to see Keir standing there, deciding whether or not to open it.
She gave him a moment.
He shook his head and reached for the handle.
On the other side, with a small golden bag draped over her shoulder, stood Charlotte.
“Keir?” she asked, her voice high and strained with emotion.
Alison held her breath as she waited for Keir’s response.
He said nothing.
Instead, he took Charlotte into his arms, clutching her to him, his body heaving with sobs.
Alison felt the tears start again.
“Charlotte,” she heard him whisper. “You’re home.”
After a nice—if somewhat awkward—tea, Alison left Keir and Charlotte to catch up on their own, returning to her cottage to get some chores done before heading back into Fossholm for the royal arrival the next day.
She tried once more to wield her magic around the house. And it worked, sort of. She couldn’t manage to remove the moldfrom the strawberry cake in the icebox—a devastating loss—and she couldn’t get the dust she swept up to disappear, but she was able to get the broom to move around the floor on its own.
A little.
She sighed. Knowing where her power came from was a step forward, but she was still a long way from being able to consistently control it, at least without Keir around for the connection between them and his guidance on how the old magic worked.
And without the pressure of a life-or-death situation to motivate her.
After tending to the vegetable garden the next morning, unfortunately without the aid of magic, she stopped by Keir’s on the way to Fossholm. She knew he had little interest in seeing the royals arrive, not when his father would be among their entourage.
“Charlotte’s still asleep,” he told her when he met her at the door. “We stayed up late talking. I think she’s going to stay here for a while. With our father around much more than usual this summer, she wants to steer clear so he doesn’t see her.”
“Of course,” said Alison. “Are you still coming to the festival tomorrow?”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.
He hugged Alison tightly when it was time for her to leave. “Thank you for bringing her back to me.”
He looked so content as she left it brought tears to her eyes once more. To finally know peace after all that time—it was everything she’d ever wanted for him.
Alison headed next to Gwenla’s house so that they could walk over together. She found her in an argument with Willow over Willow’s attendance.
“Gwenla thinks I need to stay here because dragons eat cats,” said Willow. “You’ve met a dragon. Did he eat any cats in your presence?”
“Not that I can remember,” said Alison, not wanting to pick a side. “It’s a long way to walk down to Fossholm though. Are you sure you want to go down there?”
“Oh, fine,” said Willow. “I’ll just stay here and nap then.”
