CHAPTER#157

"Uh, yeah, sure." Yuki picked up the paperback and looked at it. "You sure do like to read, don't you?"

"I don't get around much." Amymone stood and stretched, her dark limbs cracking. "Though holding the processed carcasses of my siblings is still a little disturbing."

"Processed... carcasses..." Yuki looked at the book in her hand.

"She's just fucking with you," Naia told her. "Not every tree has a dryad."

"Not anymore," Amymone grumped.

The nymph rolled her eyes. "She's being dramatic on purpose. It's a bad habit she picked up from her books, I'm sure." She splashed her sister. "Her job is to help maintain the plant life. Did you know she helped grow some of the stuff in the greenhouse?"

"Really?" Yuki asked. The greenhouse had fascinated her, but Emily had made it off-limits to the others. Apparently some of the flora was dangerous, not least of all the Mandragora. Even while docile, the tendrils of the plants liked to grab at Yuki's feet when she wasn't paying attention.

"Yeah. Sometime after the house was built, but..." Amymone went blank for a second. "Apparently that's all I'm allowed to remember on the subject."

"Is it weird? Forgetting things you've known forever?"

Naia nodded. "It is, but it makes it that much more fun when you get to remember them!"

"Okay, Pollyanna, settle down." Amymone put a hand on her hip, cocking her head impatiently.. "If you don't mind? A new book?"

"Oh, right." Yuki held the old book to her chest. "Do you care which one?"

"Nah. Put that one in the box by the door and just grab one out of another box. Emily keeps plenty of spares in there for me to read, so as long as it isn't part two in a series or whatever, it's fine."

"Sure, okay." Yuki walked into the garage, following Amymone's instructions. She picked a book at random with a strange ship on the front and returned it to the dryad. Yuki sat on the edge of the fountain.

"Thanks," Amymone said, then walked back to her tree and sat at the base. Within a few minutes, the ground near the dryad had sprouted clumps of wildflowers.

"Ooh, you picked her a good one," Naia told her. "My sister is a sucker for science fiction, by the way. She likes reading about the stars and other planets and stuff. Helps make her feel like the world is a lot bigger than it really is. She never did take to being stuck in one place very well.."

"I see. So Emily brings her books?"

"That's Emily's job. To take care of us, meet our needs, maybe even make us happy." Naia patted Yuki between the ears. "Has anyone ever told you how soft your fur is right here?"

"No. No they haven't." Yuki watched the dryad for several more minutes, contemplating. How many other creatures were like her, hiding yet hoping? When brought here, would they see the love and care that the others had? It was a lot to think about, but now she wondered if it was something she wanted to help others find, too. "Maybe I will travel with Emily. Help keep her safe. That's something I could do."

"Only if you wish it." Naia planted a kiss on her forehead, the first of many. How many days and nights had Yuki sat out here, lying on the grass between the two of them? Amymone spent several hours helping Yuki learn to read english, and even do some basic earth magic. Naia had been her confidante, with Amymone always willing to toss in her two cents worth. Did Naia feel that loss? Was she even aware of what it was she was missing?

What would it have been like if Yuki could forget Emily? Back in the present, she held up one of her tarot cards, wiping away the tears that blurred her vision.

It was the Lovers card. Depicting a couple standing across from each other with eyes locked, it was a card containing enough magic to make two people fall in love, or at least think they were. After she had created the Death card, Yuki had spent months working on this one. At the time, she didn't know which one she was planning to use, but that desperate part of her had wanted Emily back so badly that she felt it had been a worthwhile investment, an opportunity to reclaim what had been lost.

Naia seemed blissfully ignorant of her loss. Yuki wondered what her life would be like if Emily could be erased in such a manner from her own mind, a mysterious gap between then and now that her brain filled in with fiction and anecdotes.

Tucking the card away in her sleeve, Yuki rubbed the tears from her eyes once more and looked into the sky. Distant clouds had built into dark thunderheads, and a storm threatened to break in a couple of hours. Maybe she would climb the house later and watch it from the roof, if Abella was willing to share some space.

In a lot of ways, she wished she could forget about Emily, but she knew that doing so would change who she had become. And while it was likely that Naia would be happy to continue on with no knowledge of her lost sister, she owed it to the nymph to make certain that she remembered.

"Naia." Yuki poked her finger in the fountain. The water moved sluggishly, slowly forming into the nymph. Her hair was disheveled, and she let out a large yawn.

"Sorry, I'm not quite myself quite yet." Smacking her lips, she leaned over the water to see her reflection. "Gods damn it." She shook her head a few times, her hair shifting into different styles before tumbling down her back in a smooth cascade. Looking at her reflection again, she gave a nod of approval, and then turned her attention to Yuki. "Yes?"

The kitsune sat on the edge of the wall and told her everything, starting from the beginning. Several tears were shed, and by the time she was done, Naia cried too, her entire body covered in tiny streams of water that ran into the fountain. The distant storm had now broken overhead, and Naia held Yuki in her arms, letting the rain wash over them both.