Chapter 4.1 - The Vow to the Land

“Daydreaming, bebelle?” Grandmother teased her.

“Not really, maman. Just enjoying the sunshine.” She took a deep breath to fill her lungs with the scent of the water lilies and a gust of wind rustled the trees to accompany it.

“There are some things you need to know about this place,” Grandmother started, in a tentative tone.

“Ah, finally,” Claire thought, but said nothing.

“This house,” Grandmother spoke softly, “this land, it wasn’t always ours.”

“No?”

“It was acquired by marriage, several generations ago. The house too. And the mirrors.”

Claire’s attention came in full focus.

“Was it a forced marriage?”

“Considering the parties I doubt that would even be possible. Arranged, more likely, to some degree. Different times. The bride was…different too. Not like us at all.”

“What do you mean, she was not from here?”

“Oh, she was very much from here, just not as much…human.”

“You can’t possibly be serious!” Claire jumped in her chair, upset that Grandmother decided to pull a prank on her.

“I wish I weren’t, bebelle, but you have to listen to me very carefully. This world she was from, they have different rules. They don’t understand us and we don’t understand them. Whom they like, they take.”

“What do you mean, kidnap?”

“I wish it were that easy, child, because then I’d just send you away from here. No. They just make you see things the way they do, beguile you and show you their ways, and none of us mere mortals can resist the lure of their world, which is filled with so much beauty and power and youth. You end up begging them to take you with them.”

“Take me where?”

“Wherever they’re from, that’s just the thing, I don’t know. What I do know is that nobody who left with them ever came back. Nobody, including your mother.”

“What makes you think they’re coming for me?”

“Because they already have. I can see a lot more than you think, bebelle. I saw it since you were only a child. I saw it on your fifth birthday. I guess it was unreasonable for me to think that things would turn out differently, considering. We try our very best to live in peace, and have, for many generations, but we’re no match for them if the time has come…”

“For what?”

“For them to collect you.”

“I’m not live stock!” Claire protested outraged.

“As I said, their world has different rules. You’re blood.”

“Ah.” Claire pondered quietly for a moment, and then gathered herself. “So what? I’m a grown woman, they can’t just take me.”

“Do you remember your dream? You didn’t put up much of a fight, did you?” Grandmother whispered softly.

“That was just a dream!” Claire retorted.

“Nothing ever is just anything around here, I told you before. That marriage I was talking about, the man who married this land, we’re all part of this now. Over the centuries there have been…other instances.”

“I gathered that much. Is he my father?”

“Who?”

“The tall man in my dream.”

“Probably, I don’t know. They look so much alike and they never get old. That’s one of the reasons people are so tempted to join them. Your grandfather never forgave them, and I’m breaking my promise by telling you these things but it’s already too late, child, and if you are to go with them, you’re better off knowing the truth.”

“And the mirrors?”

“They only work for people like you. I can’t explain how.”

“Thank you for telling me this, maman, but you shouldn’t be worried about it, I’m not planning on going anywhere.”

“It may not be up to you,” Grandmother replied, so softly Claire could barely hear her.