“We tried, Jade. To keep you safe. We knew we had to try harder. But in the next life in Scotland, he gave you that ring. Now, no matter how hard we tried to keep an eye on you, you found your way to each other. But at least this time we had something to bury.” And as she mentions it, I feel overwhelmingly conscious of the circle around my finger. Of the power he forged into it.
I turn my head, and close my eyes tight. Tears stinging at the corners. Not wanting to think about the last part she mentioned.
“So, you were there?” I ask,even though I know what her answer will be.
“Yes, Jade, I was. I was always there along with your mother. We tried harder each time to keep him from finding you. Sometimes it worked, but others…well, you were eventually lost to us,” Lollie says.
“There are details I’ve lost…” I stammer. There is so much I don’t understand. I remember the events of my past lives, but what exactly the others are seems just out of grasp.
“Let me explain more. In another life, we found you in France…the Romantic era. I could tell you were fond of this time. You lived fully and unapologetically.” Lollie smiles at this.
I remember dancing with friends under the careful watch of the glowing moon. Some warm memories come to me, but I realize they were forever fleeting.
“We became very good at finding you at the start of each of your lives. Your birth mother never survived—for your soul was never fully anchored to her. Your true mother always found you, with me by her side. It's one giftof being us. And being you.”
“So why did she leave me? If she is so gifted as you say…” I feel betrayed and, even worse, I feel deserted.
“Willows can’t survive long away from water, love.” She looks at me then, knowing exactly what comes to mind. Our late-night drives to the countryside. The memory warms me, but what does it have to do with my mother leaving?
Lollie continues, reminding me of all the memories that surfaced on Ry’s townhouse floor.
“In that life you lived a life of privilege, so we could always have our eye on you. But through the war, he found you. This time as a soldier. We did our best to watch your every waking moment, but in the end—we failed again. Even worse than before. They both found you then.” Lollie’s face grows dim.
She speaks of Ry and Que, in a time when they were friends.
“They turned you into something you were not, Jade. I thought Carya cared for you more than what he let happen. Quercus found Jimsonweed on one of his travels abroad.” Lollie’s eyes water at the memory, as she absentmindedly spins a creamy iridescent stone ring around on her right finger.
I quickly remembered my vision of the room full of art. The two men with me and another woman. The white moonflowers creeping up the windows, and the feeling of hallucinating. This must be the life she speaks of.
My head throbs. To know these visions I’ve had all my life were not straying me from reality, but actually were my reality.
“So, Quercus must be Que, but why do you call Ry that? Carya. That is my cat’s name.” I ask, still trying to grasp onto bits and pieces and linking them to my memories, visions and what Lollie is laying out in front of me.
“Why do you think you named your cat that, Jade? The subconscious can do a number on our tangible lives. Carya is Ry’s full name.” She pauses, causing my mind to go back, trying to remember.WhydidI name my cat Carya? It was just an odd name that just popped into my head, but perhaps it was more than that. A link.
She continues, “It is also another name forHickory.”
Hickory?The book I read at the estate comes to mind. Why didn’t I see it before? I can tell Lollie is deciding whether she should continue, but she does.
“This is where things will get a little weird, so bear with me. Try to remember. Carya is not of this world, but of a world beneath the roots.” Yes, I know. She goes on, “The Rooted Realm. He rules the realm below…”
“The hickory tree,” I interrupt her in a whisper. I had felt it all along.
“Yes, good. He is an ancient being with more power than any human could fathom—and you were his way to have more.” My heart wrenches at her statement.
At this point, not much can shock me, but this does. I’ve seen so much play out in the fabric of my being since putting the ring on. I know what she says is true, but why couldn’t I access his name before? I must say this aloud, because Lollie responds.
“Since you are in a mortal body, not all memories are available to you about your past lives. The Beings have authority that way, and the curse put on you has restrictions we could not change because of your being rooted in the realms beneath.”
“But what about you? Who are you? My mother. She is connected to the willow. I know this.” I think of the small magnolia tree Lollie planted next to her house. The one in front of the estate. It clicks.
“My true name is Magnolia, but I’ve grown used to Lollie by now. Your mother Sal, short for Salix, another name for Willow, which is what your soul recognizes her as. We are both lesser tree beings,” Lollie says and smiles softly.
My universe stops. A flood to my system.I knew this in my bones all along. My mother and the tree I hold dear with all my heart are one and the same.
“But then why did my mother die, yet you are still here?” She must read the confusion on my face.
“We need to be near our trees to survive on this land, and there aren’t many willows in Detroit. The one by the cemetery was our closest, but even that was too far. And that last time we paid it a visit, her life force was just too low already.” I think of how my mother faded every year.
