[She never recovers from the miscarriage. Never recovers from the pregnancies. Ram may be her husband and her twin, but she cannot stand him in her bed. There is no one to stop her from these wanderings, only children to come toddling after her. Eden does not always notice them immediately, but she has children that understand and do not hold that against her.
[Mother... yes, that's right, she does eventually become a mother. No matter what her nightmares say, it had not all ended in tears and death. Kandake is but one of many little ones... Eden considers her question before she answers quietly,]
Nowhere. [Sometimes she goes to visit Christopher, most nights she goes nowhere, if she leaves the hill at all.
She looks around herself, taking stock of just where Nowhere has taken itself to be. Not down to the city, farther into the woods instead, the mist that they all know so well swirls at their ankles, the black dirt that holds their bloodline sucking at her feet.]
[Kandake smiles at her, loops her arm with hers and fits into her side like the good daughter she is. She doesn't say anything for a little while, listening to the trees around them, the nocturnal animals and the dirt beneath their feet.]
How long do you think we'll have to stay at the house?
[It's only been a few days since she and Qetzi'ah fell back into this time, but they both miss their father, it's very strange to be so actively kept from him.]
[There is some evidence of thought behind her dark eyes, hear her question and the little things under it, feels the arm looped into hers.]
I don't know.
[Othniel is very confused by the girls, Kandake most especially. He finds it very difficult to imagine he would ever ask his sister to bear a child for him. Qetzi'ah is more easy to understand, a consequence he and Eden have both considered in helping Kelly be free of his current demons.
Neither imagine their friends reaction to this to be very understanding. Eden curls her hands over Sapphira inside of her.]
[She's trying not to sulk over it, really she is. She still has her mother and her dad, even though they are much younger, Eden pregnant with Sapphira, Othniel very confused by her existence and where he fit in her and her sister's lives. It hurts, but she'll try to pretend it doesn't, everyone she has grown to rely on seeming much more fragile here.]
[She murmurs it quietly, staring off amongst the dark shapes of the forest boles. She doesn't know what else to say, Kelly has already refused her offer once, he does not like to hear a word of their magic, wants nothing to do with their family. She understands: he will not.]
[She doesn't really understand how that could be so different here, now. But all three of her parents have always been reluctant to tell her or her sister about the past, about this time that she's fallen back into. She knows her mother's fragility and she knows her father's scars, her dad's quiet fear, but how everything came into place has only been touched on, never fully explained.]
[Love. Kelly's idea of love and the Morrison idea of love are two very different things. Eden honestly has no idea how they're meant to cross paths, but for all her own uncertainty and hurt, she is this girl's mother and she says:]
Of course he does. But... he does not know of Sapphira, or of the twins. He will not understand that you have fallen out of place.
[It was much to accept on its own without the implication of how deeply he would find himself wound into their family.]
[Eden stares at her. Of course Kelly is smart. Of course Kelly loves his daughters. Of course they could explain... but she can't. There is already too much heaviness in their world. Sad and uncertain and unhappy. Eden had always been promised that weight, she accepts it, she accepts children and the responsibilities that come with it. It isn't the same for him.]
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She pauses, eventually, to look at the girl.]
Hello, little one.
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Hello, mother. Where are you wandering tonight?
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Nowhere. [Sometimes she goes to visit Christopher, most nights she goes nowhere, if she leaves the hill at all.
She looks around herself, taking stock of just where Nowhere has taken itself to be. Not down to the city, farther into the woods instead, the mist that they all know so well swirls at their ankles, the black dirt that holds their bloodline sucking at her feet.]
Maybe to the stream.
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[Very happy and willing to spend time with her mother, feels very aimless and useless within the home a lot, worse now she's kept there.]
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Of course.
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How long do you think we'll have to stay at the house?
[It's only been a few days since she and Qetzi'ah fell back into this time, but they both miss their father, it's very strange to be so actively kept from him.]
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I don't know.
[Othniel is very confused by the girls, Kandake most especially. He finds it very difficult to imagine he would ever ask his sister to bear a child for him. Qetzi'ah is more easy to understand, a consequence he and Eden have both considered in helping Kelly be free of his current demons.
Neither imagine their friends reaction to this to be very understanding. Eden curls her hands over Sapphira inside of her.]
But you musn't go to him.
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[She's trying not to sulk over it, really she is. She still has her mother and her dad, even though they are much younger, Eden pregnant with Sapphira, Othniel very confused by her existence and where he fit in her and her sister's lives. It hurts, but she'll try to pretend it doesn't, everyone she has grown to rely on seeming much more fragile here.]
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[She murmurs it quietly, staring off amongst the dark shapes of the forest boles. She doesn't know what else to say, Kelly has already refused her offer once, he does not like to hear a word of their magic, wants nothing to do with their family. She understands: he will not.]
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[She doesn't really understand how that could be so different here, now. But all three of her parents have always been reluctant to tell her or her sister about the past, about this time that she's fallen back into. She knows her mother's fragility and she knows her father's scars, her dad's quiet fear, but how everything came into place has only been touched on, never fully explained.]
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Of course he does. But... he does not know of Sapphira, or of the twins. He will not understand that you have fallen out of place.
[It was much to accept on its own without the implication of how deeply he would find himself wound into their family.]
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[Can never fully understand their magic, but he listens and remembers and offers suggestions, helps as much as he's able.]
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No. He must choose our family for himself.
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