Once again being summoned to the shrine, Wyng entered cautiously. Even though she was beginning to regain what she believed to be her memories, she still could not remember what had happened the past two times she had entered this place. She did not know what to expect.
From nowhere she heard:
"Yet, you are still so little."Turning around quickly, Wyng was startled to see
Longing standing there in front of her. Not remembering seeing any of the goddesses off of their pedestals, Wyng threw caution to the wind as curiosity took over and approached the goddess.
As soon as the goddess saw her approach, she started smiling larger than she had before.
"Oh! Um, hello. Make yourself at Home." she said while she fidgeted a bit, seeming like she was trying to find a spot to place the tray she was holding. Then she offered Wyng some of the contents of the tray.
"Cookie?", she offers. Surprised, Wyng
can actually remember the last time she had a cookie. If these were anything like the ones she remembered, they'd be delicious. Once she had taken a cookie, the goddess smiled.
"I'm glad you could make it! Those others they weren't meanies to you right? I love you most. You love me too right?" What did she mean by asking if the others were meanies? Wyng could not remember having directly met any of the goddesses except for the time she had received her first blessing from
Ruin.
"Oh, I know! I have a great idea. How about experiencing what love feels like? Love, joy, happiness, despair, hatred, they are all important emotions! We can make the most beautiful tea party together."Tea party? Wyng could not remember ever being invited to a tea party before, either in her memories or in her flashbacks. This would be a completely new experience.
Following
Longing to where she beckoned, Wyng is led through a gate into a clearing surrounded by an arc of round grey hedges. At the far end of the clearing stood an empty long rectangular table. Unsure as to what she was expected to do, Wyng stood at the gate, until
Longing noticed her hesitation.
"Go on," she urged,
"Oh, I'm so curious to see what beautiful emotions you will make!"Walking towards the table, Wyng was startled to hear ambient music playing in the background. It was like nothing she had ever heard before. It chimed with the whispers of voices and bells, and felt like nostalgia unexplainable. Odd, white flakes began to fall from the heavy grey sky, soft and powdery. She heard the light crunch of something strange, more delicate white on the ground. Unlike the fog, it was oddly solid, and yielded tiny imprints of her feet after each step behind her. This was snow, she remembered, drawing from a flashback she had seen earlier. Then she was overcome with confusion. Didn't cold usually come with snow? Wyng tried to figure out what was going on as she walked up to the table.
As soon as she got to the table, she noticed something she had not before. It was not as empty as she had thought. Prominently in the center of the table were two jars, one pink and one blue. The pink jar exuded a happy feeling, one of fondness and kindness. The blue jar emitted one of sadness and a little bit of unresolved tension, as if waiting for something or someone.
Realising she was supposed to take one of the jars, Wyng reached for the
blue jar, because it seemed to match her current feeling the most. Looking at it, she noticed it had a tag on it saying
Drink Me. As this was something a goddess had asked of her, Wyng obeyed after hesitating a little. Downing the entire contents of the jar, Wyng felt the effects of it immediately. She felt a mild concern and a dissatisfaction. She knew there was something important she was forgetting, something she couldn't forget. The agitation began to overflow as the table suddenly started to spin.
Startled at first, Wyng then realized it was only the top of the table that was spinning, and changing! As she watched, the table top spilled over with, first, cloth and then an assortment of snacks. All of the snacks could be divided into one of three groups: the cupcakes looked fragile, tiny and lost, while the candies seemed slightly withered at best. There was also a large slab of chocolate seated far away from the other two snacks. Wyng noticed that it seemed to smoke maliciously.
Extremely cautious of the chocolate, Wyng decided to choose from one of the other two sweets. Though the cupcakes looked small, the candies looked too withered to eat. Not wanting to upset the goddess, Wyng knew she had to eat something, so she settled for the
cupcakes.
As she took a bite of the cupcake, she analyzed the taste in her head. It was as its looks promised, unsatisfactory, but as she ate it, her heart seemed to beat a little faster in trepidation and anticipation. Not expecting the sudden surge of feelings, Wyng swallowed, and got the cupcake lodged in her throat. Coughing, she looked for something to drink, to help her break up the clog. Looking around, she laid eyes on two teacups: one was a pale white tea cup and the other was a pale black one. Reaching for the closer teacup, she grabbed the
white teacup. Drinking from it did cause her to stop coughing, as she expected, but something unexpected also happened.
She suddenly remembered a day that she knew had haunted her for a long time and had caused her to both want to meet others and to not let them get to close.
She was small, still a young ghoul and her mother was there with her next to her lake. Her mother had just told her something unbelievable. She was going to look for Wyng's father, who had disappeared long before Wyng had been born. Her mother had been the only other being in her world, excluding the fish in the lake, which she had never really counted as sentient.
Crying, the young Wyng, wrapped her arms around her mother's legs.
"Why? Why do ye hav tae go?" she screamed at her mother.
"Come now lassie, dinnae girn." her mother said, kneeling down and wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Ah hav tae find yer faither, because Ah love him."Pushing away from her mother, she pleaded,
"Dinnae ye love me? Why cannae ye stay?"Sighing, her mother picked her up, hugging her close
"Michty me! O course Ah love ye ma lassie, but Ah love yer faither too."Then her mother tried to explain,
"Wan day ye wull meet somewan wham ye cannae live wi' oot an' ye will feel like yer hert will break wi' oot them. Yer faither is thae somewan fur me."Then she gently sat Wyng down and told her to stay well and left. For years afterwards, Wyng was wrought with confusion. Why had her mother left her for someone who had left her so long ago? Why did she not care about her more? Why did she not take her along if she had to go? Why? Why?
