Page 7 of Fated
Lachesis, “Don’t forget the brood.”
They poof again leaving Eris alone in the silence of the hovel.
REPAIR
“They said I had the map, what did that mean, Ribs?” Eris inspects her hands.
“Heck if I know, jussst fix it before they return or you’ll loose my perch. Rather inconvenient.”
Eris turns her hands, the bled color twisting and twining, demanding attention, capturing her gaze.
“So beautiful,” she whispered.
She relaxes back into the well, her feet dangling once more as she pulls the fabric to her lap, inspecting the knots. There’s something about the rainbows— like they aren’t moving properly, the pulse is off, the color isn’t blending properly.
She compares it to her hands and sees the same sorts of patterns, only whole, complete. “The map!”
She holds her hand against the fabric searching for the first matching threads, struggling to concentrate against the soft pull of the threads that wants her to nestle in and rest.
“Look Ribbon, like tiny snakes looking for their soulmates!”
“Asss if.”
She’d thought it would be easier than this but the fabric seems alive— and she supposes, in a way, it is. It healed itself around the knots, reforming into the whole instead of being blatantly out of place. All that’s left as proof of her damage is a small callus on the thread where the knot had been.
Eris freezes in her inspection, finding two threads that match her patterns. She smooths a finger the length of the damage, then holds that thread as she searches for its match.
Her fingers touch the spaces between the separated threads, lifting them and inspecting them for the color pattern and pulse that belongs with the other end until she finds it, not far away.
“Okay, okay. I can do this! I’ve found the first and?—”
“But how do you know?” Ribbon asked.
“I mean all signs point to this being the proper match, I’m not sure what else I should do.”
“I sssuppose trial and error is the only way forward.”
“Thanks for the confidence.”
She holds the two threads in her hands, feeling the dims pulse along their length, wishing for the best. When she closes her eyes two lives spring into her visions, alive and whole.
A woman so lovely yet troubled— running a fire escape. And a man so handsome her heart aches— preparing his chattel for a ride. Before Eris realizes what she’s doing she’s lost in the story of their life, her fingers slowly sliding the thread as she watches. They’re destined for each other, she can feel it— she sees it— she knows it. It sends a smile through her body to know them and watch as they barrel straight for each other?—
But then her fingers hit the callouses, and everything stops, their worlds darken. She stayed where she was, her life not at all what it should have been, what it was before Eris had intervened and tore them apart.
She drops the fabric, losing the threads.
“Oh, Ribbon, I know what I’ve done and… and it’s awful. It’s truly terrible. I…” a tear streaks her face and Ribbon slithers down to inspect it, then whispers in her ear.
“Erissss my love, we will repair the threads, every single one.”
Eris wipes her eyes then searches the room, and finally stands. “I need some snips and… there’s no way to repair the thread without tying it I suppose, there’ll always be a mark denoting what was and what could have been.”
She goes to the workroom and finds a pair of sharp golden snips hanging from a blue velvet ribbon, she looks around the workroom to be sure there aren’t any encroachers and checks the door to the hovel to be sure it’s secure. The light beneath is still daylight so their creature cats will be fine for a while longer.
She searches the shelves for a ball of simple twine to protect the blood of life while she performs the procedure then returns to the well.
“Okay Ribbon, here we go.”
