Page 52 of Threads of Fate

“I have never felt so content in my life S’rella.” I run my hands up his arms and over his shoulders. I feel content but I also feel like I’m missing something. I know exactly what that something is. I’m not going to voice it right now and ruin the moment.

“What does it mean, S’rella?” I run my hands up his neck and into his hair.

“It’s from a dead language from before my time. The closest word we can relate it to is ‘beloved’.” My heart skips a little. He can’t be telling me he loves me right? It’s a little soon for that. “I can see the wheels turning Dana. I’m not professing my love. Although you make it easy.” He pulls back and picks me up, swinging me into his arms. I let out a yelp.

“Gods, Kreed, warn a woman.” He chuckles deeply and throws me onto the bed.

“I could but where is the fun in that?” He says laying down next to me. We both turn on our sides to face each other. “We should talk about earlier.”

“I know.” I trace invisible patterns on the sheets. “I should go through those letters and the journal. It’s still early enough. I think.” I look around for a clock or an open window.

“Yes, it's still early enough. Would you like me to come with you and help or do you want to do this on your own?” That is a good question.

“I don't know. I feel like I need to do this on my own.” I sit up and scoot out of bed. “Can I call for you if I need you?” I turn around waiting for an answer.

“Of course.” Kreed jumps out of bed and heads to the closet. I followed him over there to grab my shirt. Well, his shirt. Kreed comes back out still naked but holding his shirt out to me. I grab it and pull it on. Kreed helps pull the shirt down when I get it over my head. “Hmm, I don’t know if I prefer you in my shirts or naked.” I shake my head at him.

“You’re a dirty fae. You know that?” He smirks at me and then kisses my temple.

“Shout for me when and if you need me. Even just to sit there with you.” I nod and walk back to my room.

Somehow the walk to my room is ominous. A foreboding to what I’m about to find. I know deep in my gut that I am not going to like what I find.

I open the door and the walls are lightly lit. Light trickled through the walls like a steady stream. I take a moment to stare in wonder. It’s amazing. There are so many veins of light that I didn’t even notice before crawling across all the walls, high and low.

“How could you never tell me about this stuff mom?” I ask the empty room.

I grab my bags out of the closet and place them next to my rolling case. I sit down and unzip it, flinging the top back and stare at all the things I brought with me. I don’t know what to start with. Maybe the journal? I pull that out first and start flipping through it. It’s a baby book. Except instead of a store bought one it is one she bought a journal and made it her own. Pages filled with my weight, height and my hand and foot prints. What I loved to eat and what I hated. She wrote about all my firsts. The first time I crawled, rolled, walked and everything else. Every little thing I did in my early years was written in this book. I flip to the last pages and find a little stack of pictures. I look at them but the light is too low now with the sun sinking behind the horizon.

“Kreed!” I holler. I set the photos down and get up. Before I am even standing Kreed is coming through the door. “Were you just waiting right out the door?” I ask incredulously.

“No, but I do have keen hearing and I was listening for you.” He looks up at the walls and says ‘Aerdi’ and the walls brighten up significantly.

“Well, that was exactly what I needed.” I say as I sit back down. “I just went through the journal, it’s a baby book. Everything is in there down to what foods I spit out.” I say as I look through the pictures I found. They are all of me as a kid, each picture I get a little older. My mother had been meticulous about this. Making sure everything I did as a baby was preserved. I put the pictures back in the journal and set it up behind me on the bed. I look up and realize Kreed is still standing there. “Do you want to join? You can show me how to open these boxes.” I pull one out and set it next to me and then I reach in for the other.

Kreed sits down next to me and crosses his legs. He pulls one box into his lap and starts muttering in another language. I watch him, waiting to see what's going to happen. Will a lid just appear? Will it pop open with smoke? Will the top disappear? After a minute nothing happens. He looks at the box with a hint of frustration. He puts that one down and grabs the other. He starts to mutter the same words again. I pull the other into my lap and inspect it as he mutters his words and I turn the box around in my hand. As he finishes up, the box I’m holding starts to brighten. My eyes get wide as I stare at the straight beam of light shining out the sides of the box near the top. I look over at Kreed and he looks absolutely bewildered, looking between the box and me. Suddenly the box stops and where the light was shining there is now the seams for a lid.

“I uh–what the fuck was that?!” I shout, still holding onto the box like it’s a lit stick of dynamite.

“I have no idea. What in the name of Haydaire did Naomi do? The box should have just opened with the words no matter who spoke or held them. The boxes are made for anyone. Unless she had these specially made but for it to only open for you is a trickier magic. Also, where would she get these done on Earth?” He reaches over to grab the box. He sets it down and hands me the other. “Hold this, I think it’s tuned to your magic or your ties to Naomi but how can anyone just say the words?” He questions himself but starts his chant again and the box does the same thing. I am holding the box upside down though. I turn it right way up and watch the light again. I notice the lights in the room are also brightening with the box.

Is that supposed to happen?

When the light dies, the lights in the room go back to normal. I place the box down next to the other.

“Well, now I don't know if I want to open this. This seems like a moment where my life is flipped on its head again.” I wring my hands together, eyeing the boxes like they are going to bite me. I look at the box that contains all the letters. Letters I assume my mother wrote me. I look between that box and the two we just opened. I drop my head into my hands and shake my head.

“Alright, fuck, let’s do this.” I grab the box we just opened and pop the lid up. I stare at the black abyss inside. “I don’t see anything, it’s just black.” As soon as I say that though the box gets heavy. So heavy I have to put it down. Suddenly, I see metal pieces and what looks like leather starting to poke out of the top. I look over at Kreed and he shrugs, gesturing to the box. I reach over, cautious and shaky. I pull on the metal piece. As I pull it out it enlarges even more. When I get it all out and shake it out, it is a pair of leather pants. They are thick black leather with thin metal plates sewn in along the front of the thigh and back. The metal plates have a darker silver swirling through the plate itself. I lay them on the bed and pull out the other piece which is a leather top. I lay it out above the pants. Leather boots are next and plated just like the pants and top. I stand and stare at the armor. It is beautiful. The effort it took to make this had to be tedious. Between the darker swirls of silver running through all the metal armor pieces and the crushed gems that are embedded along the edges of the metal.

The gems look really familiar though. Why do they look familiar? Maybe something in the treasure trove Kreed and I found earlier? Then it dawns on me. I turn around abruptly from my bed and rifle through the case.

“When this case is empty I would like to chuck it off the nearest cliff if possible.” I comment as I grab the long thing box from the bottom of the case. I turn around with the box in hand and look at Kreed.

“I guess we could find somewhere…” He trails off with a confused look on his face.

“Good. I hate this case.”

“And throwing it off a cliff will make you happy?”

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