There were times, Liliana thought, where she was extremely grateful to have her parents out of the house. Not that she disliked them or thought that they were terrible. Nothing like that! She just liked the quiet sometimes. And to not have to try and explain herself. Not that her parents ever demanded much of that from her either.

No, for the most part, they understood her silences and her shyness. Still.

Humming tunelessly under her breath, she set the oven to preheat before going back to her cake batter. She wanted to make cupcakes, but she was tired of the usual flavors. Besides, it was almost Christmas! The situation called for something a little more festive. And since her mother had outright forbidden her to bake anything that involved alcohol, she’d had to get… creative.

Lining the tin with pretty little foil cups, Liliana began to spoon batter into each carefully. Hopefully the ground up candy canes wouldn’t ruin the batter while it baked. She already had a bowl of peppermint buttercream frosting chilling in the refrigerator. And if the Vanilla Candy Cane cupcakes came out well, maybe she could make a chocolate version as well. Or there was always Chocolate Orange cupcakes with a walnut buttercream. Topping off the last of the foil cups, she nodded to herself. Yes, she’d do that once this batch was done.

She popped the baking tins into the oven and set the timer. Well. Now she just had to wait. And in the meantime, she could think. Sitting at the kitchen table, where she could keep an eye on things, she pulled out a notepad and began to write down the snippets she could remember seeing while visiting her planet. Within the margins were notes and questions she’d jotted down, hoping that they might trigger an epiphany. Thus far, they hadn’t.

But she did have quite a lot of food for thought as it were. She knew there had been gardens and at least one fountain surrounded by beautiful statuary. And she had the memory of that soft voice calling for help in dealing with a wounded person. Her instincts insisted that Cruithne, the planet, was a place for healing. Her own magic was of a healing sort, after all. And those plants she’d glimpsed in a vision had strongly resembled herbs she recognized as remedies for various ailments.

She sat for a few minutes longer, trying to puzzle it out before throwing her hands into the air and huffing in frustration. She simply needed more information. An attempt had been made the night before to go to her planet, only to fail. Liliana supposed that she hadn’t waited long enough. So she’d try again in a few days. Surely as determined as she was to learn the truth, she’d be able to manage, right?

After all, it wasn’t as if she was aiming for the impossible! Why, wasn’t she walking proof that magic and reincarnation truly existed? As far as Liliana was concerned, there was no such thing as a true impossibility in the face of those facts.