Chapter Text
Cassandra was so tired.
It was probably months since her auntie’s disappearance.
There was no more supplies in her cottage at this point. After she ate the last slice of stale bread left in cupboard, she was going hungry for a few days, desperate not to break promise given to her auntie. But then she couldn't stop herself, and she slowly ate everything that was left in the pantry.
She knew that auntie will be so mad and disappointed with her when she eventually returns home, but she was just so hungry! She knew she was too weak, she understood she should do better to work on herself, but it was just too much. She was just four-years-old, after all, and she needed food to grow and be a strong, brave girl she was supposed to be.
But then there was no food left in the cottage. Cassandra knew that there were some vegetables in auntie’s garden and that trees outside had very tasty fruits, but she wasn’t allowed to go outside alone, ever. She would rather starve herself then break the promise given to her auntie. But she knew that would not to happen. She wasn’t like any other person that could die from lack of food in a month or so. She was magic, and her power was enough to keep her alive without food, even if she was very weak and hungry.
She was very tempted to leave the cottage. Maybe her auntie wasn’t that far, after all? Maybe she could find her? Maybe she could help to stop the bad people she was fighting and prove to her auntie that she was actually strong and brave, as she was supposed to be. Maybe then and auntie would finally really appreciate her?
But she knew this was all impossible, of course. She was just a little girl and she wasn’t able to control her powers and her emotions yet, and her auntie was very experienced and powerful, with all of her knowledge and potions. The thought that Cassandra could do something to save her was just laughable. But then, daydreaming like this let Cassandra survive here alone, so she let thoughts like that into her mind. It was nice and gave her some confidence she knew she was lacking.
So she waited, day after day after day, trying to distract herself with training her powers and reading and playing and exercising. Most of the time she was almost able to forgot how hungry and tired and alone she was.
But at night she had strange dreams, ones that made Cassandra wake up in the middle of the night, frightened and surrounded by a bunch of red rocks. She dreamed about a castle made entirely from black rocks. In her dreams she was so scared, and all of the castle was turning glowing red because of her fear, and every person around her got scared, too, and everyone hated her so much.
And then some gentle hands patted her head, and a voice said something like Don’t be afraid, my dear. I’m with you. And when she leaned into this gentle touch, someone was taking her away from this person and the voice, and then she was closed in a cage made of her own rocks, left alone, forever.
Or sometimes the dreams were more simple. She saw the face of a woman with long, dark hair, crying and desperate. Or the Kingdom made out entirely of rocks, and all the houses were glowing blue, and all the people were crying. Or sometimes she saw a little stone, shining with silver light, and she wanted to take it, but it was so far away, and she cried, cause she couldn't reach it.
When auntie was home, she gave Cassandra potions that would keep the dreams away. But now auntie wasn’t here and there was no way for Cass to avoid them.
She tried her best to keep this dreams away. There were many nights when she didn’t sleep at all. She was able to do that, her magic kept her awake the same way it kept her alive without food.
But all of this didn’t mean she didn’t feel hunger and fatigue. She was alive, sure, and she was able to do many tasks around the cottage to distract herself, but she still was so scared and hungry and tired, and she just wanted for this nightmare to end.
“What are you doing, aunt Ulla?” Lance curiously looked at his adoptive mother. He didn’t quite understand what was going on with all the potions she was constantly preparing, but the colourful vials were very interesting for him.
Ulla, who was just sorting out all of her supplies at the moment, suppressed an exasperated sigh. In the past few months she grew to love this curious, energetic little boy. Though at first her decision to take him in was caused mostly by sense of obligation, as his situation was incredibly difficult and her conscience didn’t let her leave him in the hands of Queen Gothel, she soon found out that he was really lovable person.
First few weeks were difficult, of course. Lance at first didn’t want to believe that it wasn’t some kind of a trick, and that he won’t be, in fact, threw in the dungeon for his crimes. He made a few unsuccessful attempts of escape, he stole food from the kitchen in fear that they won’t feed him, and he didn’t want to listen to anyone ensuring him that he can have an actual home and family.
But Ulla was never the one to give up easily. It took a lot of time and effort to make Lance feel comfortable in the palace, of course, but she was more than willing to do everything in her might to help him. She was allowing him to watch her when she was making her potions, she was reading books to him and she was playing any games he wanted. She felt reassured by support from her fiance and Royal Family themselves. When Quirin wasn’t the best with kids, he really tried to connect with Lance. Ulla was convinced that he was doing it for her sake, but it was a good thing nonetheless. He started to teach Lance fencing with wooden swords and they were talking about adventure books together, which was all a good start.
And Royal Family started to warm up to their new adoptive son, too. Queen Gothel and Prince Edmund weren’t interacting with him much, but when they saw him, they were both very polite, which was good enough. But Princess Alexis seemed delighted that there was another boy Horace’s age at the palace now, and she insisted that playing together would do both of them good. Predictably, at first the two boys didn’t get along at all. Horace was murmuring something about “petty little thieves”, and Lance was both scared and angry after what happened in the garden. After few weeks, however, boys warmed up to each other, and now they were sharing books and training sword fighting together like they were best friends.
Looking at her fiance and their new son, Ulla for the first time in long time felt happy. The wedding was getting close, servants were preparing celebration at the palace and soon their bond as a family will be officially confirmed. Everything will be all right.
But that didn’t mean that her problems suddenly disappeared. She still wasn’t able to reverse Arianna’s memory charm. Without a sample of her potion, her attempts were little more than shots in the dark. The Keeper of the Spire didn’t remember anything, just like the day he arrived to the Dark Kingdom.
And with stressing out about the wedding and taking care of Lance, Ulla had considerably less time to try to create an antidote. She was frustrated and angry. As much as she grew to love her son, his endless curiosity that led him to asking a hundred questions per minute was really distracting sometimes.
“I’m just sorting my supplies, Lance,” she answered with a bit forced kindness. “Could you go play somewhere else for now, please? I’m really busy.”
“Can I help you?” Lance asked excitedly, ignoring her request.
“No!” she said a little too roughly. Lance stepped back immediately, fear in his eyes. Ulla instantly regretted her harsh tone. “I’m sorry, my dear,” she said, this time with honest kindness. “I shouldn’t scream at you. You know you don’t have to be afraid here, right?”
Lance nodded, but he didn’t get close again.
“You have to be very careful with this boy, my dear,” Keeper of the Spire said in his old, gentle, wise voice. Ulla shuddered. She didn’t notice him opening the door of her lab and quietly stepping inside. “I am certain that he remembers things that he would very much like to forget. But our memories are a part of who we are, and he is very great, but also very scared little boy. You have to remember that.”
Ulla just stared at him for a brief moment, but then she smiled and nodded.
“You know, Lance, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to touch this vials,” she started with a genuine smile. “There’s some really dangerous stuff in some of them and I don’t want you to get hurt. But if you want, you can sit here with me, and I will tell you about some of my potions as I sort them. What do you think?”
“Okay!” Lance seemed content with this compromise. He instantly jumped over to Ulla and sat at the little stool close to her. “What is this yellow thing?”
Ulla smiled, gesturing for the Keeper to sit with them on the couch. He gladly accepted her invitation.
“Well, this is marigold extract”, she explained. “It’s used mainly for problems with your belly, but it can also help with some wounds to heal faster.”
“And what it that pink thing?”
“That is elixir made of pink lotus flowers,” Ulla said patiently. “You can use it to…”
For the next couple of hours the Keeper was just sitting there, watching the interaction between the woman and her son. Little Lance was asking question after question, and Ulla answered them without annoyance. It was nice to see them like that, and the old man found himself smiling at the pair.
The Keeper still didn’t remember anything. This people told him all about him being the Keeper of the Spire, and about missing princess kidnapped by the madwoman, and about how he would be their only hope of finding her, if only he remembered what was in the scrolls about the Sundrop and the Moonstone. Their obvious despair, especially the woman with black hair who they all called the Queen, inclined the Keeper to believe their story. He felt guilty that he wasn’t able to help them.
But now, as he was looking at mother and her son just spending time together, he felt hopeful that there’s still some normal, everyday joy and kindness in this world after all.