Welcome to Gaia! ::

"That's very kind of you to offer you to help me ask this Valleldia of yours. I'm afraid I need to drop my wares off at the stores I supply. I could meet you somewhere?"

Jal took a drink of his ale as he smiled at what Alt had ordered, "Notta ligh' weight I take it. I li' that in a woman." He said to her. He looked down at Sindri. "What happened thar? Did she get into a scuffle within the other'n she don' like?" He asked regarding Sindri's bandage.

"clocks and toys eh... sounds like a very entertaining line of work" she patted her flute fondly "its always wonderful to love what you do." Tamlin spoke as she carefully cleaned her flute and placed it back in its case, looped it through her belt and securely tied it in place. she held out her hand once more.

"shall we be off then? which direction are the shops you supply?"

Valelldia narrowed her eyes- more a thoughtful gesture than anything else- and stood a moment, probing into something that was unseen. When finally she moved again, she nodded- the briefest whisper of a nod.

"You and I. We will have things to discuss after the wagon ordering ceremony. Until then, I think it's time you get back to the caravan. Something is being delivered." How she knew about Illyana being carried back to the wagon by the White Sect Priests... that she would not tell. She put a comforting, dark hand on DeArca's shoulder, and gave Ash one more sweet glance, and then disappeared into the crowd.

"Oh, well, the baby stage is the most darling of them all, y'know- before you know it, this one will be a bounding teenager. And oi," she said, setting her foot on the top of the small box after it was grounded, "you don't want to know- not about raising the teens. It's like... trying to grab hold of a swamp eel. Damn hard to do... and you don't quite know why you try in the first place!" She laughed, amused by herself in true Fermer fashion. Then she responded to the tug on her skirt, and laughed down at the little one.

"Well 'hwoo' back to you, fuzzy. ...Would you like to see what Aunty's got in the box? Wellll, I'll show you," she said, her baby-talk voice rounded with an exaggerated sweetness. The woman rustled down in a flurry of skirts, not minding the dirty ground beneath her bended knees, and pulled the lid off the tiny crate.

Inside, a fanciful Newt sat, its eyes a dark pair of blinking coals amidst a sea of color.

With Vanna going back home with Leax, Lorelei drifted away from everybody and into shadows, pulling her hood up and letting her blindfold drop around her neck. Her body was trembling as she walked the familiar paths, weaving into the rich quarters, up stone-paved roads and down garden-lined avenues. At last, she came to the house she'd been locked in for so long. It looked... innocent, now. It still inspired emotion, but it wasn't as strong. Not as strong at all.

She paused for a moment, looking up at it, the window of her room. It had been so long... and to think, she was visiting of her own free will.

After another minute of careful thought, Lorelei approached the house and wove through the garden. She came to a window, an open window. Her mother's room, the one she played music in and tended to flowers in. Lorelei leaned her back against the cool stone.

Her mother was there, and she had heard the footsteps. She came to the window, looking around. "Hello?" Her voice was soft and sweet and subdued. Down-trodden. But she hadn't run to get her husband, or the few guards they had.

"Mother?" Lorelei whispered, voice cracking. Her mother paused, then looked around frantically. Lorelei pressed herself into the shadows even further. "No, mother. Please don't look. Please. I just need to... I need to ask you something. Please don't tell father I was here..."

"Are you okay?" Her mother sounded on the verge of tears.

"Yes, mom, I- Yes. Yes... I have a home, and a loving family... a daughter."

"A daughter? By who?!"

Oh. Uh.

"It's a long story, mother... but I... I'm having issues with her. I need your advice. I need you to listen, and not to judge."

Silence.

Lorelei began to wonder if her mother was so disgusted that she had left. But then, quiet and wary, "Of course, dear."

She took a deep breath. "I... she was cursed. Or more, I was. I can't see her without going blind with pain. I don't... I don't know if I can handle not being able to see her. And even if I can, emotionally, how can I be a mother to her?"

"You said... you have a loving family?"

"Yes."

"They will help. I'm sure they will."

"But... how will I-"

"She will understand." Her mother took a shaky breath. "You did, after all. I wasn't the best mother, and yet... you came back to me, just for these few moments. For advice."

"Mother-"

"Have faith, and do all you can to solve it. She will hate you, possibly, for a time. Feel ignored, deprived. But make sure that you're there for her, still - she will come back. Trust me."

Lorelei smiled faintly.

"Thank you."

"... Lor..."

"Yes?"

"Can I-" She paused, trying to think. "Can I see you? One last time?"

Lorelei shook her head. "I- No, mother. You wouldn't want to. It would... it would hurt."

"Oh."

Silence, sad and thick in the air. Lorelei fought back tears. Then, she broke it with a quiet, "I have to go now. Goodbye. Don't tell father I was here."

"Of course not."

And then Lorelei was off, rushing back home, rushing to Leax and the daughter she couldn't see, trying not to think of the tears her mother was crying , trying not to turn back.

She'd made it through Tempranillo.

Caroline calms her daughter as best she's able. Everything had happened in such a rush! First the horrible curse on Lorelei and Vanna, then Rojiza taking off in a craft that was slipshod at best with a candle in her lap and stoic silence in her face. And then the joy of Kale's return as a boy! Yet Rojiza seemed so upset. "Let's go home, love," she says, threading her fingers through Rojiza's thick hair. "I'll make it right, I promise."

Imagine her mother's confusion when she finds out that Rojiza herself doesn't even know exactly what's wrong with her. She knows she is upset because she was unable to tell Kale's savior what needed to be done, what was wrong with her friend. She feels like merely a pawn instead of an instrument. She sighs and takes her mother's hand, drawing comfort from Caroline's solid, steady gait as they wind their way back through the city, past the debris from the festivals, and back to the familiarity of the wagon circle camped outside town.

Cornelius brays joyfully as they approach, and Rojiza rubs her cheek against his haunch. She is home. She would put the whole thing away from her mind for now.