by CKent45 » Thu Sep 08, 2022 3:52 am
Upon reemerging from the forge, Maceo stood and took in the view of his former home, his eyes betraying the nostalgia in his heart while he awaited his wife. This place was still familiar, and yet so different from the home he had once made here. By all rights, Maceo was a man completely out of time, and he belonged there about as much as one of the giant lizards Astravia had shown him from this world’s distant prehistoric past that had gone extinct well before Maceo’s most distant ancestors ever took their first steps. Then while he pondered this world and the place he had once had in it, there was a weak voice that he could hear, though it was a little too difficult to make out what it was saying until he heard it repeat, “Maceo?”
Maceo perked upright as soon as he heard his name, which was enough for the frail voice to add, “No!”
Maceo turned and looked, thoroughly embarrassed at having so easily been flushed out and discovered by this relic of decades gone by. There before him stood a frail, withered elderly woman with thin white, wiry hair that clung unsteadily to a cane for stability. She was hunched over, and deep crevices around her face had long replaced wrinkles from years before.
“It can’t be,” she whispered in disbelief, stumbling slowly and feebly nearer while Maceo now could do little more than stand and decline to affirm her suspicions. “Maceo?” she asked again as if begging for him to confirm her suspicions. “But you haven’t aged a day!”
“Hello Elaheh,” Astravia greeted politely, approaching from her flank and entering into view. The old woman turned instantly as if pulled by a voice she could never forget and she faltered, nearly falling over and forcing Maceo to lunge in and catch her before the old woman could fall over.
“Avia?” she asked as her arms shook with uncertainty. Astravia merely smiled and approached her, touching her cheek gently.
“I had not expected to see you today,” Astravia greeted warmly.
“No,” she gasped, wavering again despite Maceo’s assistance. “Not Avia… you’re Astravia! There’s no one else you could be!”
“Come, sit with us,” Astravia urged her softly. “Be more careful. You are not as sturdy as you once were.” Both of them took her arms and guided her to a nearby bench where Astravia could sit with her and hold her hands. Even now, despite the many years and wear and tear on her body, as well as the severe degradation of her spine, Elaheh still stood taller than Astravia, but by nowhere near the same discrepancy she once had. “Please do not raise your voice. We would prefer to not draw undo attention to ourselves.”
“You are Astravia, aren’t you?’ Elaheh pressed. “How else could you… who else could you be?”
Astravia smiled sympathetically to her and caressed her cheek and drew a deep breath. Then her eyes shifted to bright shining stars on midnight black, confirming Elaheh’s suspicions once and for all and nearly causing her to tumble from her seat. “It is you!”
“And now you know the ultimate truth for why we had to leave you behind,” Astravia said to her patiently. “Our timelessness among you had become too conspicuous.”
“But why? Why? If you came back to us all those years ago, why hide? We need you so badly!”
“We shall discuss that,” Astravia promised her. “I have missed you,” she told her, immediately causing Elaheh to break down into tears. “But what about you? Why are you here, my dear Elaheh? Your body was not built to journey this world for this long. What have you been clinging to that has tethered you to this world? I am certain your loved ones are eagerly awaiting you already.”
Elaheh was still speechless and fixated on Astravia’s telltale eyes; eyes that she had only read about a lifetime before when she was young and beautiful. Astravia touched her fingertip to Elaheh’s forehead and drew the information she desired, nodding with understanding before turning to Maceo and allowing her eyes to shift back to their emerald green.
“It was a promise,” she informed Maceo. “A promise you made her.”
“Me?” Maceo asked, both shocked and awash with guilt.
“Yes, my dearest Maceo, you. You promised her subconscious before we parted we would find her again and we would be reunited. She has held on to that promise for all this time because she cherished it so.” Astravia then turned back to Elaheh and caressed her cheek. “Oh my dear Elaheh. He was referring to finding you in the next world,” she explained compassionately.
Elaheh struggled to fully comprehend, but found herself entirely overwhelmed, so Astravia petted her shoulder and simply sat with her to allow her the time she needed to process the world-shattering event in her life. Given her advanced age and withered body, it was more than a simple struggle. Elaheh clutched her chest in order to attempt to steady her pounding heart that was suddenly on the verge of failing. Astravia then reached forward and pressed against that hand, causing a soft, warm glow that soothed and calmed her.
Once Elaheh was steady again, Maceo crouched in front of her and petted her shriveled hands, then covered them given how cold they were. Of course he was overjoyed to see her again, but he was also saddened to see the state that had befallen her and how unrecognizable she was to when compared with the lovely woman they had left behind a lifetime ago.
“Grandma?” a voice called out. Both Astravia and Maceo turned to see a late middle-aged woman rushing out to meet her ancient relative. “Grandma, what are you doing out here?” she scolded. “You could catch your death of cold!” her tone was filled with concern, but also with disdain for the inconvenience she’d been handed.
“I’d appreciate you treat your elders with more respect than that,” Maceo answered her as she ran up and stared down at the frail ancient woman that was now Elaheh. Elaheh lowered her head as if in shame, which caused Astravia to frown. Even when they had last seen her, Elaheh was a pillar of this community, and now it was painfully evident that she was treated now as nothing but a burden.
“Oh that’s rich,” the woman mocked Maceo, placing her hands on her hips and intentionally talking down to him as he crouched beside his old friend. “Getting lectured on respecting my elders from a child? My own children are older than you.”
“The truth is the truth, regardless of where it comes from,” Maceo countered, hardly even acknowledging her. “I certainly hope your descendants treat you more kindly when you are struggling and your body begins to fail.”
“Who do you think you are talking to me like that?” she demanded, bending at the hips and shoving on his shoulder. “You don’t belong here. I’ve never seen you before and I know this entire town like the back of my hand.”
Maceo now stood and took his turn to look down on this older woman, towering over and staring coldly back at her in order to allow her the opportunity to feel the reversal of her perceptions in their entirety.
“We are Elaheh’s friends,” Maceo informed her. The woman stepped backward and was apparently surprised that Maceo was able to speak with such familiarity regarding her grandmother. “The last time I saw her, she wasn’t just the most kindhearted, compassionate woman I had ever met, she was also proud and self-assured. Seeing her afraid of her own progeny like this is sickening,” Maceo lectured her.
“And when did you ever have the chance to meet her, child?” she accused. She’s been all but bedridden for years.”
“Beloved, be gentle,” Astravia intervened softly, instantly diverting both of their attentions. “Sadly, this is sometimes how it goes in life. Our dear Elaheh is quite tired after so long seeding the future and this rapscallion is still in the midst of her labors. She has much to accomplish yet and she is merely lending voice to her frustrations. That does nothing to change that she is the fruit of our dear Elaheh’s toils and something that she cannot help but take immense pride in.”
Elaheh stared at Astravia, quickly moved to tears again, while leaning on her for support. Meanwhile, Elaheh’s granddaughter was flummoxed and jarred by the patience and wisdom displayed for her by a woman whose age she couldn’t quite place by looking at her, but certainly was in the flower of her youth.
“I’ll give her some grace,” Maceo reluctantly granted, “but my patience has its limits. I don’t tolerate people treating our friends like that. You should be thankful you can even count her as related to you,” he lectured.
“I’m fine, Tecmessa,” Elaheh spoke up, smiling with a refreshed grin at Astravia. “Can’t you let me catch up with my friends for a bit?”
“You’ll catch your death of cold!” she insisted.
“Oh hush,” Astravia dismissed the middle-aged woman. “She could not be in safer hands. Now run along,” she urged with a flick of her hand. “We have much to discuss.” The woman was thoroughly frustrated, but she did as requested, walking down the street to Elaheh’s childhood home, which was within view of their resting place where they could enjoy their dear old friend’s company. “She has her grandfather’s fire,” Astravia laughed.
“I thought you were gone forever,” Elaheh told Astravia with a begging voice.
“Of course not!” Astravia assured her. “You have given me so much, I certainly would have come to see you in the next world. I have simply been busy.”
“So if you’re Astravia, then you must really be…” Elaheh began to reason while looking toward Maceo, but Astravia cut her off before she could complete her thought.
“No, he is precisely who he has always said he was,” Astravia corrected.
“But… your husband… has always been… Your texts say…”
“It is a long story,” Astravia assured her. “Do you remember the first time we spoke so long ago? That day when you stumbled across me in the woods?” Elaheh nodded emphatically in response. “I held on to that marriage with everything I could. I remember when you asked why I was so faithful to Zantharan, and the answer was quite simple. I loved him. I loved him with all my heart and I would have done anything to bring him back, but by the time you and I had met that day, I had already long been forced to face the reality that he would never return to me and I would never be able to stand by his side again. I visited you that day because you were torn between my beloved Maceo and the man who would become your husband. I was struggling with something that I had never thought would happen to me, which was a new love that rivaled my love for the god whom I had thought I had married once eons ago. Regardless of whether I claimed a divorce or not, my marriage to that god was and is over. There is no going back, however, I found someone whom I could go forward with and you helped me see that.”
“But everything written about what you’ve said about faithfulness…”
“I will tell you the story in its entirety, however for now can you simply accept what I have just said to be true?”
“Of course!” Elaheh declared without hesitation. She then took a long, quivering breath and smiled to herself. “I didn’t have long left, I’m sure. It was wonderful to see you both again.”
“Hmm,” Astravia practically sang, “your soul is still not at rest. There is something else yet that your heart yearns to be fulfilled. Perhaps we can explore that together.”
“Rhona always said you both were happy and that I should be happy for you. She never questioned that. She seemed so sure of it, but I’ve worried for so long.”
“You have been selfish,” Astravia teased. “Rhona’s insight was genuine. Both Maceo and I took great care in assisting her in her recovery from the torture of her time in the guild of sorcery. As a result, she had a small piece of each of us within her and she visited each of us through her dreams until the day she died. We were not there in person when she passed, however we were indeed with her as she stepped from this world into the next and her conscious finally merged entirely with her subconscious. I am sad that she is gone, however it was a beautiful goodbye.”
“Why couldn’t I have had that too?” Elaheh asked her in a whining tone.
“Because your perception is too keen, Elaheh,” Astravia laughed. “I was not quite ready yet to reveal myself to this world. In fact, given the current state of events, I am uncertain revealing myself now would even be wise. Had I given to you what we gave to Rhona, you would have seen through our ruse, I am certain of it.”
“Well, we might as well have,” Maceo joked with Astravia. “She found us out in the end regardless.”
“You have always been such a tricky girl,” Astravia teased her. “I remember my bachelorette celebration where you very nearly saw through me then and there even while drunk as everyone around us remained completely oblivious. How do you feel getting one over on a goddess?” she asked with a bright smile. “I am only aware of one other of this world who has accomplished such a feat. You have always been such a special child.”
Elaheh stared and stared into Astravia’s eyes, overjoyed and practically speechless. The reality around her dreams finally being fulfilled at this twilight stage in her life was more than she could bare and all she could do was sit and listen to Astravia while Maceo retrieved something to drink for her.
They passed hours away like this with more members of Elaheh’s family checking in on her repeatedly, but each time Elaheh seemed to gain a touch of her former confidence and authority as a matriarch back until she was the one that was sending her descendants that doted on her back empty handed. It wasn’t until her grandson in law returned from a hard day’s work that he stopped in and watched from a distance that he stepped in, sharply warning his wife that given her age, they were likely never going to see her in such spirits again so they had better take advantage of it. He demanded they gather whatever they had and prepare a feast, then set out to speak with Elaheh himself and these previously unknown friends of hers that seemed to impossibly know her.
Now that they were finally met with a friendly and non-confrontational face, he was immediately accepted into the conversation, which now diverted away from the talk of Elaheh’s youth and toward the current generations of her family.
They feasted that night, though Elaheh found herself thoroughly exhausted at a significantly earlier hour than the last time they had celebrated each others’ company. However, as Maceo and Astravia personally escorted Elaheh to her bed and helped her settle in themselves, Astravia leaned in, petting the weathered and tattered remains of her once beautiful locks.
“Would you like to see it?” Astravia asked her softly.
“See what, Avia?” Elaheh asked. She was still calling her friend as she had been asked to for so many decades, but now knowing the truth, she was struggling with guilt, knowing she was using a mere nickname for the queen of the gods.
“The temple, my dear,” Astravia explained patiently. Once again, Elaheh was overcome with emotion and struggled to even speak at all. “It is your choice. Give he word, and we will bring you back with us. You will see all of the wonders you have read about, heard rumors regarding and those you never dreamed of. There is much there, and it has all been fully restored to a pristine condition.”
Elaheh trembled and shook, but she did manage a tearful and uneven nod accompanied with an enthusiastic “yes.”
With that decided, Maceo called out for a relative to attend to them and when her granddaughter and grandson in law arrived, Maceo informed them, “Elaheh has something to say to you.” they looked to her, and the overjoyed woman strained to sit up.
“I am going on a trip,” she explained.
“What? NO!” her granddaughter exclaimed. “That’s completely out of the question!” Astravia now stood and took her hand, causing it to glow warmly and against her will she began to relax and settle, sitting down facing her grandmother. Her husband watched with shock and turned to see Maceo standing immediately before him.
“You’re magic users?” he asked them, to which Maceo nodded.
“She will be more safe with us than she has been throughout her entire life,” Astravia promised them both. “I give you my word that she will return to you safe and sound with more than enough time to share her goodbyes with your family. If you resist, however, the opportunity which she wishes to see fulfilled will not be able to come to her again. She is our dear friend and we know more than any how she treasures her family above all else. She has dedicated more than nine decades sacrificing for and giving to her own blood. I am asking that now you give her the freedom to explore her own desires in this world just for once while there is still time.”
“She’s too frail,” the grandson in law cautioned.
“We’ll see to it,” Maceo promised them both. “We’ll return her to you when she’s ready with more than enough time to enjoy her family before she steps from this world into the next.” This man looked to the grandmother of his wife and watched her nod emphatically to him, then turned to his wife.
“When was the last time you saw her so full of life?” he asked her. “We have to let her.”
The next day, Elaheh’s family watched with trepidation as Maceo lifted the frail wisp of a woman up and set her in his cart surrounded by blankets and atop bails of hay for her to rest on and soften the ride. They waved goodbye as they rode out, departing the town, their eyes filled with worried tears despite the warm, overjoyed smile Elaheh herself wore. Once they were on the road and alone together, Astravia sat facing her old friend holding her hands.
“We will get to all of your questions soon enough,” she promised. “Now tell me everything. Share with me all the details of your life. All of the curses, blessings, laughter, tears and everything else that has touched you since we last met. We will have as much time as you require,” she promised.
Elaheh then spun her tale; starting from the day they last saw each other, surprisingly recalling it as if it were all fresh in her memory. She told them of the sad days where she struggled with the departure of two of her most valued friends and her frustration with her family, who seemed to brush it all off as if it were nothing important at all. She discussed her many conversations with Rhona over the matters that weighed on her soul and the many ways that Rhona tried to explain exactly what Astravia had come to tell her so many years later.
Elaheh’s family grew strong in the days following their last meeting together. Her grandmother died in the arms of her and her mother with a smile on her face one evening after attending a well-attended service in Astravia’s honor that she herself had helped officiate as much as her frail condition would allow.
Her mother then began to fill the shoes left empty and before long was appointed an elder of the town herself, gladly guiding the town back toward a golden age not seen since the days before the temple’s abandonment. Her children grew around her and they partially merged with Rhona’s own family as Rhona came to be as devout a follower as Elaheh over the years. When Elaheh’s mother passed away, Elaheh found herself in the same role that her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother before her held as an elder, though Elaheh herself held the role for longer than any of her predecessors. Elaheh’s husband was always faithful to her, though she was constantly frustrated by the near supernatural pull he held over women up until the day he died at the age of seventy-one.
It was a good life where she was never wanting. Her husband was never granted the same role as Elaheh was despite his success, but he did serve to lead the town very much in his own way. The difficulty only really seemed to come when Rhona died not long after her husband. After that, the loneliness from losing all those that had accompanied her up to that point weighed more and more heavily on her as she slowed down further and further in her old age until nine years before the current day, Elaheh was finally forced to step down as an elder.
From that time forward, her family cared for her more and more and she became less and less independent as she watched even her own children pass on from old age. Still, though, Elaheh continued to strive forward with the feeling that she still needed something more in her life, though she couldn’t quite articulate what it was. In the intermittent years, her role as a matriarch in her own family even waned and she watched as she became less and less relevant to her vast array of progeny.
Of course she was happy for them all. There was nothing that made her more filled with joy than to see how wide the family she had fostered had grown and how successful and loving they had all become, each in their own way. However, she described a sense of belonging that had slipped away from her and an emptiness as though she were merely a spirit lingering too long in a world that had long since moved on from her.
She shared her story both in words and in thought as Astravia took everything in and shared it with Maceo, documenting an entire life within them both for all time now. When they finally arrived at the temple, Elaheh gasped as she watched the tall and broad gates and the light tower, which was actually shining brightly for her as she approached in the afternoon sun. She hadn’t gone even this far since before her children had fully grown, and she was now proceeding further than she had ever dared to go.
A moment later, the gates opened of their own accord, revealing a beautiful, shining city with what could only be the sanctuary in the distance in the center rising up above the rest. There was life here as she watched familiar creatures fritter to and fro looking to see the strange newcomer before skittering off and at a pasture near the main gate there were horses that trotted out to observe this strange new visitor and observe her as well as greet their sisters who were returning to them.
The moment she passed through the gates Elaheh actually broke out into tears as she watched the walls approach and then fall behind her. She clutched her chest and made pathetic noises of joy and then looked ahead as she watched golems marching in any given direction, moving ahead on instructions from nothing more than Astravia’s will as they saw to the last portions of reconstruction and renovation of the temple.
Now fully surrounded by the temple itself, Astravia stood and hopped down from their horse drawn cart. “Would you care to walk with me?” Astravia asked politely. Elaheh grinned numbly at her, then reached forward.
“Of course, goddess. Would you give me a hand?” she asked.
“Oh, you still have not noticed?” Astravia asked her, neatly folding her hands in front of her hips. “The entire trip home your youth has been gradually restored to you,” she informed her. “You no longer require my hand.”
Elaheh was of course shaken and she looked at her hands, which seemed foreign to her. For so long, she was used to bony, frail hands, but these hands were soft and supple with skin that nearly glowed with youth. She sat up, very carefully at first, but when there was no pain in her joints and no creaking of her bones, she moved much less circumspectly. She slid off of the cart, still quite wary of her frail body, but none of her concerns held any warrant any longer. Elaheh was exactly as she had been the day that Maceo first met her, filled with vigor and beauty aside from how ill fitting her current clothes were on her fully restored tall, slender body.
She moved almost as if learning to walk again. She was disoriented from the complete removal of all of her physical limitations and she even stumbled on occasion as she wavered compensating for ailments that no longer were there.
“Come,” Astravia bid her. “Let us fit you something more comfortable to wear. Beloved, would you meet us at home when you are finished with the horses?”
“Of course,” Maceo called back to her, then set off to see to their transportation now that it was no longer needed.
Elaheh was even more flabbergasted by the building that Astravia and Maceo called home. The mansion they had left behind was already much more elaborate than any other in their community, but this one dwarfed that comparatively cozy spot. Not only that, but the level of miraculously elaborate features made even the airship she had once ridden aboard seem primitive.
The entire home was filled with natural lighting, but each room they walked into naturally lit all on its own as soon as she would enter. There was a beautiful fountain at the entrance with small streams that flowed out to other rooms of their home where the water could be enjoyed there as well in a variety of different ways from waterfalls that poured down the walls to elaborate and ornate patterns lined with jewels and gemstones that sparkled underneath the light. Despite the fact that it was a warm day out, the entire home was filled with a cool, gentle breeze, and these were merely the things she first noticed upon entering. Astravia led Elaheh up a spiral staircase to a bedroom that made her previous one back in town almost look like a closet. There they walked into a closet that was lined with hundreds of dresses all perfectly tailored for the petite goddess and Astravia turned and faced her guest.
“Pick any you like,” Astravia offered. “My home, is your home.”
Elaheh stepped forward and selected a dress that caught her eye, then pulled it from it’s hangar, noting how tight and small it was for a woman of her stature. “It’s too small for me,” she remarked, then snapped to look at Astravia when she could only laugh.
“Nearly all of these are made with the same fibers that comprise the clothes that all gods wear,” she told her jovially. “If you like it, put it on. It will reshape itself to fit you,” she promised.
Elaheh could hardly argue with the queen of the gods, so she took the dress and walked over to a mirror in the closet and stared at the familiar, yet unfamiliar face and body that stared back at her, one that had left her decades before. It was almost as if she were staring at someone else, despite it being someone viewing back at her that she was of course intimately familiar with, albeit distantly removed from this well known figure by many decades.
She stripped naked and blushed while looking at herself. She couldn’t believe her eyes- everything was exactly where she wanted it to be and none of the flaws time had deposited on her were present any longer. She reached out and touched the reflection in order to ensure what she was staring at was real, and then touched her own body, examining it carefully and reacquainting herself with it. She then took the borrowed dress and slipped it on only to find that to her amazement that Astravia had been entirely truthful and as she slipped it on it reformed to fit her nearly as perfectlyas Elaheh could imagine.
“A little off,” Astravia mused, “but then it was fitted for me and not for you. Regardless, you look lovely,” she complimented.
They found Maceo on the main level putting away some food items they had procured in town and he whistled suggestively to Elaheh as she entered, causing her to blush deeply.
“Behave yourself husband!” she scolded him with a giggle.
“I don’t mean to push,” Elaheh said apologetically, and Astravia stopped her dead in tracks, choosing to answer for her.
“Ah yes. I promised you answers to your questions. Would you care to start at my return to your world and events leading up to our first meeting?” Astravia asked. Elaheh agreed with a nod and Astravia took both her hand and Maceo’s and began walking toward the entrance of the house while the world around them began to take on a dull and faded tone.
“Do not take your hand from me,” Astravia explained to her. “We have moved outside of time. I ask that you stay close as you will be damaged seriously if you break contact with me in this state. I shall begin with the moments that led me to my decision to come here,” she explained and all around them an illusion began to take form as they walked, following behind a fifteen foot tall goddess Astravia who had her close friend and attendant Elphinsis in tow as she spirited away down a massive corridor in the most perturbed of states.
In front of her eyes, she watched as a domestic squabble between gods and goddesses unfolded and she watched with horror as Astravia was humiliated repeatedly and they traded blows both magical and physical. She watched as her attendant attempted to console her and she watched as Astravia made a random choice to visit this distant world to relax for a single weekend before facing the end of her existence head on. This illusion played out around her until they found themselves at the lobby area of her quarters there in the temple and she emerged, still giant and fifteen feet tall and confused and disturbed at finding a temple entirely deserted.
Astravia walked them through events, showing them to Elaheh first hand for the very first time and guided them on a walk after showing her solo adventures gallivanting about the temple fully nude and reveling in her freedom. Astravia walked them along the path she followed those many years ago throughout the temple frozen in time and out the side entrance and into the woods where Elaheh watched first hand her introduction to Maceo for the very first time.
Elaheh couldn’t help but laugh and almost cry at the sweetness of their initial meeting, especially in contrast with the horrific and brutal scene that had played out prior to Astravia’s arrival on this world and then she walked along following the giant goddess back to the temple where they had their first meal together.
Years passed here in this zone where time didn’t exist, though Elaheh found herself not hungry or thirsty, nor did she age so much as a millisecond and she enjoyed every last moment no matter how intimate that Maceo and Astravia had shared together, including her intensely embarrassing journey from tickled by this little mortal’s demeanor to full romantic attraction that came to a head with no less than Elaheh’s pursuit of Maceo herself.
She laughed and hugged Astravia over and over at the many touching and sometimes comical moments over the years and she cringed and hid behind Astravia when she watched her beat Maceo senseless when she first discovered she was shrinking.
Ultimately, Astravia shared with her nearly their entire life together, even their most private and intimate moments, leaving no stone unturned and no detail lost to her when time finally began moving again around them and she found herself standing near the main gate as the birds began chirping again and the horses in the distance began frolicking and playing together once more. She was speechless as she sat there, having now watched two other lives unfold in front of her, giving her the equivalent of three lifetimes of experience. Maceo and Astravia stood holding hands and waited for her to gather her thoughts and fully absorb all that had been shared with her without even a fraction of a second passing in the interim.
She was still neck deep in the flood of memories and emotions when she heard a chipper voice scream, “AVIA!” from a distance. Elaheh turned and chirped as suddenly a tiny winged woman burst forward, leaned forward and bent at the hips with her toes pointed groundward and her outstretched fingers pointed behind her. “You said you would be back yesterday!” she complained, despite her bright and welcoming smile.
“It was a single evening,” Astravia gently lectured her. “I am certain you were fine here with the others.”
“But I missed you!”
“And I missed you. However, we found something quite important while we were away and needed extra time.”
“What did you find?” Dela asked, bouncing mid air. Astravia then smirked and waved her arm to Elaheh, pointing out the new guest, the first to arrive since the fairies had. “You do remember her, yes? I know how flighty a fairy’s memory can be.”
Dela suddenly zipped over to directly in front of Elaheh’s face and she inspected her, fluttering left and right and up and down until the pieces finally locked into place in her fickle little mind. “ELAHEH!!” she screamed in a sudden burst of fairy dust and then she fell forward, hugging the giant woman’s face. “Where’s Rhona?” she asked enthusiastically as her wings fluttered uncontrollably.
“Rhona is gone,” Astravia explained gently. “Elaheh is all that is left of our friends from that time.”
“Awwww!” Dela complained, kicking her foot out into mid air as though she were stomping it. “But I loved her! Even if she was grumpy!”
“Well, this leaves all the more chance for you to dedicate to learning to know Elaheh,” Astravia suggested, which made Dela cheer exuberantly.
“She’s so precious,” Elaheh complimented as she cupped the little fairy in her hands.
“YOU’RE SO BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE YOUR PRETTY EYES!” Dela blurted back from Elaheh’s palms in an explosion of bashful fairy positivity.
“Would you like to introduce her to the others?” Astravia asked, but rather than answer, Dela zipped upward and began dancing in circles in the air.
“I have some work to see to,” Maceo informed Astravia, who nodded and took Elaheh’s hand.
“Well? Are you joining me, or did you wish to tag along with Maceo for a while?”
“With you!” Elaheh answered effortlessly.
“Brace yourself,” Astravia whispered tantalizingly and then Elaheh screamed as she suddenly felt the entire world growing and expanding out in all directions around her. Elaheh staggered and stumbled, then reached out to Maceo for support only to find that reaching out to her side for him, she was met with his hip, which was continuing to rise up higher and higher steadily above her as his legs became like tree trunks and further and further until she was standing at Maceo’s feet only a few inches tall staring down into the eyes of a fairy version of Astravia.
She looked behind her and was shocked to see delicate butterfly wings that spread out beyond her shoulders and that surprisingly moved whenever she willed them to. The fairy version of Elaheh was roughly five and three quarters of an inch tall, sporting shoulder length turqoise hair and bright golden eyes with soft, fair skin.
Elaheh looked over her transformed body, stunned and comparing it to the now gargantuan world around her and then Dela squealed with delight and zipped down, wrapping the little fairy Elaheh in her arms and squeezing her, carrying her into the air and hugging her with all her might as they twirled together and then crashed to the ground, bumping their heads together. Dela giggled profusely and pulled back just in time for Astravia to arrive and take her hand, helping her to her feet.
“Well?” Astravia coaxed. “I know that you’ve always dreamed of being smaller.”
As disoriented as Elaheh had been with her body when it had been restored to youth, this tiny fairy body was entirely foreign to her and she stumbled and struggled to even remain upright. Elaheh found herself unwittingly trying to fly and walk at the same time as her mind exerted itself to operate a body whose primary form of transportation was through the air using wings she’d never even dreamed of before.
Elaheh swooned and stumbled, then she actually fell over with both Astravia watching from the ground and Dela hovering from just above her and she screamed as she tumbled over only to find herself lying comfortably in Maceo’s palm and staring up at an impossibly large giant man that smiled down at her while she grasped worriedly onto fingers that were well over half as long as her body was suddenly. She blushed up at him, lost in his gaze until suddenly Dela was fluttering down between her and the giant and grinning ear to ear and pulling on both of Elaheh’s tiny hands and pulling her up to her feet.
Astravia then stepped up to them both and took one of Elaheh’s hands while Dela held on to the other and Elaheh finally managed to stand upright with both of their help while looking over her shoulder at her new wings, which were fluttering similarly to how her own legs would when she would adjust her stance.
Before she knew it, Elaheh was being dragged off into the air by both Dela and Astravia and zipping off into the distance as she received a crash course in flying, with an added emphasis on the crash.
Upon reemerging from the forge, Maceo stood and took in the view of his former home, his eyes betraying the nostalgia in his heart while he awaited his wife. This place was still familiar, and yet so different from the home he had once made here. By all rights, Maceo was a man completely out of time, and he belonged there about as much as one of the giant lizards Astravia had shown him from this world’s distant prehistoric past that had gone extinct well before Maceo’s most distant ancestors ever took their first steps. Then while he pondered this world and the place he had once had in it, there was a weak voice that he could hear, though it was a little too difficult to make out what it was saying until he heard it repeat, “Maceo?”
Maceo perked upright as soon as he heard his name, which was enough for the frail voice to add, “No!”
Maceo turned and looked, thoroughly embarrassed at having so easily been flushed out and discovered by this relic of decades gone by. There before him stood a frail, withered elderly woman with thin white, wiry hair that clung unsteadily to a cane for stability. She was hunched over, and deep crevices around her face had long replaced wrinkles from years before.
“It can’t be,” she whispered in disbelief, stumbling slowly and feebly nearer while Maceo now could do little more than stand and decline to affirm her suspicions. “Maceo?” she asked again as if begging for him to confirm her suspicions. “But you haven’t aged a day!”
“Hello Elaheh,” Astravia greeted politely, approaching from her flank and entering into view. The old woman turned instantly as if pulled by a voice she could never forget and she faltered, nearly falling over and forcing Maceo to lunge in and catch her before the old woman could fall over.
“Avia?” she asked as her arms shook with uncertainty. Astravia merely smiled and approached her, touching her cheek gently.
“I had not expected to see you today,” Astravia greeted warmly.
“No,” she gasped, wavering again despite Maceo’s assistance. “Not Avia… you’re Astravia! There’s no one else you could be!”
“Come, sit with us,” Astravia urged her softly. “Be more careful. You are not as sturdy as you once were.” Both of them took her arms and guided her to a nearby bench where Astravia could sit with her and hold her hands. Even now, despite the many years and wear and tear on her body, as well as the severe degradation of her spine, Elaheh still stood taller than Astravia, but by nowhere near the same discrepancy she once had. “Please do not raise your voice. We would prefer to not draw undo attention to ourselves.”
“You are Astravia, aren’t you?’ Elaheh pressed. “How else could you… who else could you be?”
Astravia smiled sympathetically to her and caressed her cheek and drew a deep breath. Then her eyes shifted to bright shining stars on midnight black, confirming Elaheh’s suspicions once and for all and nearly causing her to tumble from her seat. “It is you!”
“And now you know the ultimate truth for why we had to leave you behind,” Astravia said to her patiently. “Our timelessness among you had become too conspicuous.”
“But why? Why? If you came back to us all those years ago, why hide? We need you so badly!”
“We shall discuss that,” Astravia promised her. “I have missed you,” she told her, immediately causing Elaheh to break down into tears. “But what about you? Why are you here, my dear Elaheh? Your body was not built to journey this world for this long. What have you been clinging to that has tethered you to this world? I am certain your loved ones are eagerly awaiting you already.”
Elaheh was still speechless and fixated on Astravia’s telltale eyes; eyes that she had only read about a lifetime before when she was young and beautiful. Astravia touched her fingertip to Elaheh’s forehead and drew the information she desired, nodding with understanding before turning to Maceo and allowing her eyes to shift back to their emerald green.
“It was a promise,” she informed Maceo. “A promise you made her.”
“Me?” Maceo asked, both shocked and awash with guilt.
“Yes, my dearest Maceo, you. You promised her subconscious before we parted we would find her again and we would be reunited. She has held on to that promise for all this time because she cherished it so.” Astravia then turned back to Elaheh and caressed her cheek. “Oh my dear Elaheh. He was referring to finding you in the next world,” she explained compassionately.
Elaheh struggled to fully comprehend, but found herself entirely overwhelmed, so Astravia petted her shoulder and simply sat with her to allow her the time she needed to process the world-shattering event in her life. Given her advanced age and withered body, it was more than a simple struggle. Elaheh clutched her chest in order to attempt to steady her pounding heart that was suddenly on the verge of failing. Astravia then reached forward and pressed against that hand, causing a soft, warm glow that soothed and calmed her.
Once Elaheh was steady again, Maceo crouched in front of her and petted her shriveled hands, then covered them given how cold they were. Of course he was overjoyed to see her again, but he was also saddened to see the state that had befallen her and how unrecognizable she was to when compared with the lovely woman they had left behind a lifetime ago.
“Grandma?” a voice called out. Both Astravia and Maceo turned to see a late middle-aged woman rushing out to meet her ancient relative. “Grandma, what are you doing out here?” she scolded. “You could catch your death of cold!” her tone was filled with concern, but also with disdain for the inconvenience she’d been handed.
“I’d appreciate you treat your elders with more respect than that,” Maceo answered her as she ran up and stared down at the frail ancient woman that was now Elaheh. Elaheh lowered her head as if in shame, which caused Astravia to frown. Even when they had last seen her, Elaheh was a pillar of this community, and now it was painfully evident that she was treated now as nothing but a burden.
“Oh that’s rich,” the woman mocked Maceo, placing her hands on her hips and intentionally talking down to him as he crouched beside his old friend. “Getting lectured on respecting my elders from a child? My own children are older than you.”
“The truth is the truth, regardless of where it comes from,” Maceo countered, hardly even acknowledging her. “I certainly hope your descendants treat you more kindly when you are struggling and your body begins to fail.”
“Who do you think you are talking to me like that?” she demanded, bending at the hips and shoving on his shoulder. “You don’t belong here. I’ve never seen you before and I know this entire town like the back of my hand.”
Maceo now stood and took his turn to look down on this older woman, towering over and staring coldly back at her in order to allow her the opportunity to feel the reversal of her perceptions in their entirety.
“We are Elaheh’s friends,” Maceo informed her. The woman stepped backward and was apparently surprised that Maceo was able to speak with such familiarity regarding her grandmother. “The last time I saw her, she wasn’t just the most kindhearted, compassionate woman I had ever met, she was also proud and self-assured. Seeing her afraid of her own progeny like this is sickening,” Maceo lectured her.
“And when did you ever have the chance to meet her, child?” she accused. She’s been all but bedridden for years.”
“Beloved, be gentle,” Astravia intervened softly, instantly diverting both of their attentions. “Sadly, this is sometimes how it goes in life. Our dear Elaheh is quite tired after so long seeding the future and this rapscallion is still in the midst of her labors. She has much to accomplish yet and she is merely lending voice to her frustrations. That does nothing to change that she is the fruit of our dear Elaheh’s toils and something that she cannot help but take immense pride in.”
Elaheh stared at Astravia, quickly moved to tears again, while leaning on her for support. Meanwhile, Elaheh’s granddaughter was flummoxed and jarred by the patience and wisdom displayed for her by a woman whose age she couldn’t quite place by looking at her, but certainly was in the flower of her youth.
“I’ll give her some grace,” Maceo reluctantly granted, “but my patience has its limits. I don’t tolerate people treating our friends like that. You should be thankful you can even count her as related to you,” he lectured.
“I’m fine, Tecmessa,” Elaheh spoke up, smiling with a refreshed grin at Astravia. “Can’t you let me catch up with my friends for a bit?”
“You’ll catch your death of cold!” she insisted.
“Oh hush,” Astravia dismissed the middle-aged woman. “She could not be in safer hands. Now run along,” she urged with a flick of her hand. “We have much to discuss.” The woman was thoroughly frustrated, but she did as requested, walking down the street to Elaheh’s childhood home, which was within view of their resting place where they could enjoy their dear old friend’s company. “She has her grandfather’s fire,” Astravia laughed.
“I thought you were gone forever,” Elaheh told Astravia with a begging voice.
“Of course not!” Astravia assured her. “You have given me so much, I certainly would have come to see you in the next world. I have simply been busy.”
“So if you’re Astravia, then you must really be…” Elaheh began to reason while looking toward Maceo, but Astravia cut her off before she could complete her thought.
“No, he is precisely who he has always said he was,” Astravia corrected.
“But… your husband… has always been… Your texts say…”
“It is a long story,” Astravia assured her. “Do you remember the first time we spoke so long ago? That day when you stumbled across me in the woods?” Elaheh nodded emphatically in response. “I held on to that marriage with everything I could. I remember when you asked why I was so faithful to Zantharan, and the answer was quite simple. I loved him. I loved him with all my heart and I would have done anything to bring him back, but by the time you and I had met that day, I had already long been forced to face the reality that he would never return to me and I would never be able to stand by his side again. I visited you that day because you were torn between my beloved Maceo and the man who would become your husband. I was struggling with something that I had never thought would happen to me, which was a new love that rivaled my love for the god whom I had thought I had married once eons ago. Regardless of whether I claimed a divorce or not, my marriage to that god was and is over. There is no going back, however, I found someone whom I could go forward with and you helped me see that.”
“But everything written about what you’ve said about faithfulness…”
“I will tell you the story in its entirety, however for now can you simply accept what I have just said to be true?”
“Of course!” Elaheh declared without hesitation. She then took a long, quivering breath and smiled to herself. “I didn’t have long left, I’m sure. It was wonderful to see you both again.”
“Hmm,” Astravia practically sang, “your soul is still not at rest. There is something else yet that your heart yearns to be fulfilled. Perhaps we can explore that together.”
“Rhona always said you both were happy and that I should be happy for you. She never questioned that. She seemed so sure of it, but I’ve worried for so long.”
“You have been selfish,” Astravia teased. “Rhona’s insight was genuine. Both Maceo and I took great care in assisting her in her recovery from the torture of her time in the guild of sorcery. As a result, she had a small piece of each of us within her and she visited each of us through her dreams until the day she died. We were not there in person when she passed, however we were indeed with her as she stepped from this world into the next and her conscious finally merged entirely with her subconscious. I am sad that she is gone, however it was a beautiful goodbye.”
“Why couldn’t I have had that too?” Elaheh asked her in a whining tone.
“Because your perception is too keen, Elaheh,” Astravia laughed. “I was not quite ready yet to reveal myself to this world. In fact, given the current state of events, I am uncertain revealing myself now would even be wise. Had I given to you what we gave to Rhona, you would have seen through our ruse, I am certain of it.”
“Well, we might as well have,” Maceo joked with Astravia. “She found us out in the end regardless.”
“You have always been such a tricky girl,” Astravia teased her. “I remember my bachelorette celebration where you very nearly saw through me then and there even while drunk as everyone around us remained completely oblivious. How do you feel getting one over on a goddess?” she asked with a bright smile. “I am only aware of one other of this world who has accomplished such a feat. You have always been such a special child.”
Elaheh stared and stared into Astravia’s eyes, overjoyed and practically speechless. The reality around her dreams finally being fulfilled at this twilight stage in her life was more than she could bare and all she could do was sit and listen to Astravia while Maceo retrieved something to drink for her.
They passed hours away like this with more members of Elaheh’s family checking in on her repeatedly, but each time Elaheh seemed to gain a touch of her former confidence and authority as a matriarch back until she was the one that was sending her descendants that doted on her back empty handed. It wasn’t until her grandson in law returned from a hard day’s work that he stopped in and watched from a distance that he stepped in, sharply warning his wife that given her age, they were likely never going to see her in such spirits again so they had better take advantage of it. He demanded they gather whatever they had and prepare a feast, then set out to speak with Elaheh himself and these previously unknown friends of hers that seemed to impossibly know her.
Now that they were finally met with a friendly and non-confrontational face, he was immediately accepted into the conversation, which now diverted away from the talk of Elaheh’s youth and toward the current generations of her family.
They feasted that night, though Elaheh found herself thoroughly exhausted at a significantly earlier hour than the last time they had celebrated each others’ company. However, as Maceo and Astravia personally escorted Elaheh to her bed and helped her settle in themselves, Astravia leaned in, petting the weathered and tattered remains of her once beautiful locks.
“Would you like to see it?” Astravia asked her softly.
“See what, Avia?” Elaheh asked. She was still calling her friend as she had been asked to for so many decades, but now knowing the truth, she was struggling with guilt, knowing she was using a mere nickname for the queen of the gods.
“The temple, my dear,” Astravia explained patiently. Once again, Elaheh was overcome with emotion and struggled to even speak at all. “It is your choice. Give he word, and we will bring you back with us. You will see all of the wonders you have read about, heard rumors regarding and those you never dreamed of. There is much there, and it has all been fully restored to a pristine condition.”
Elaheh trembled and shook, but she did manage a tearful and uneven nod accompanied with an enthusiastic “yes.”
With that decided, Maceo called out for a relative to attend to them and when her granddaughter and grandson in law arrived, Maceo informed them, “Elaheh has something to say to you.” they looked to her, and the overjoyed woman strained to sit up.
“I am going on a trip,” she explained.
“What? NO!” her granddaughter exclaimed. “That’s completely out of the question!” Astravia now stood and took her hand, causing it to glow warmly and against her will she began to relax and settle, sitting down facing her grandmother. Her husband watched with shock and turned to see Maceo standing immediately before him.
“You’re magic users?” he asked them, to which Maceo nodded.
“She will be more safe with us than she has been throughout her entire life,” Astravia promised them both. “I give you my word that she will return to you safe and sound with more than enough time to share her goodbyes with your family. If you resist, however, the opportunity which she wishes to see fulfilled will not be able to come to her again. She is our dear friend and we know more than any how she treasures her family above all else. She has dedicated more than nine decades sacrificing for and giving to her own blood. I am asking that now you give her the freedom to explore her own desires in this world just for once while there is still time.”
“She’s too frail,” the grandson in law cautioned.
“We’ll see to it,” Maceo promised them both. “We’ll return her to you when she’s ready with more than enough time to enjoy her family before she steps from this world into the next.” This man looked to the grandmother of his wife and watched her nod emphatically to him, then turned to his wife.
“When was the last time you saw her so full of life?” he asked her. “We have to let her.”
The next day, Elaheh’s family watched with trepidation as Maceo lifted the frail wisp of a woman up and set her in his cart surrounded by blankets and atop bails of hay for her to rest on and soften the ride. They waved goodbye as they rode out, departing the town, their eyes filled with worried tears despite the warm, overjoyed smile Elaheh herself wore. Once they were on the road and alone together, Astravia sat facing her old friend holding her hands.
“We will get to all of your questions soon enough,” she promised. “Now tell me everything. Share with me all the details of your life. All of the curses, blessings, laughter, tears and everything else that has touched you since we last met. We will have as much time as you require,” she promised.
Elaheh then spun her tale; starting from the day they last saw each other, surprisingly recalling it as if it were all fresh in her memory. She told them of the sad days where she struggled with the departure of two of her most valued friends and her frustration with her family, who seemed to brush it all off as if it were nothing important at all. She discussed her many conversations with Rhona over the matters that weighed on her soul and the many ways that Rhona tried to explain exactly what Astravia had come to tell her so many years later.
Elaheh’s family grew strong in the days following their last meeting together. Her grandmother died in the arms of her and her mother with a smile on her face one evening after attending a well-attended service in Astravia’s honor that she herself had helped officiate as much as her frail condition would allow.
Her mother then began to fill the shoes left empty and before long was appointed an elder of the town herself, gladly guiding the town back toward a golden age not seen since the days before the temple’s abandonment. Her children grew around her and they partially merged with Rhona’s own family as Rhona came to be as devout a follower as Elaheh over the years. When Elaheh’s mother passed away, Elaheh found herself in the same role that her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother before her held as an elder, though Elaheh herself held the role for longer than any of her predecessors. Elaheh’s husband was always faithful to her, though she was constantly frustrated by the near supernatural pull he held over women up until the day he died at the age of seventy-one.
It was a good life where she was never wanting. Her husband was never granted the same role as Elaheh was despite his success, but he did serve to lead the town very much in his own way. The difficulty only really seemed to come when Rhona died not long after her husband. After that, the loneliness from losing all those that had accompanied her up to that point weighed more and more heavily on her as she slowed down further and further in her old age until nine years before the current day, Elaheh was finally forced to step down as an elder.
From that time forward, her family cared for her more and more and she became less and less independent as she watched even her own children pass on from old age. Still, though, Elaheh continued to strive forward with the feeling that she still needed something more in her life, though she couldn’t quite articulate what it was. In the intermittent years, her role as a matriarch in her own family even waned and she watched as she became less and less relevant to her vast array of progeny.
Of course she was happy for them all. There was nothing that made her more filled with joy than to see how wide the family she had fostered had grown and how successful and loving they had all become, each in their own way. However, she described a sense of belonging that had slipped away from her and an emptiness as though she were merely a spirit lingering too long in a world that had long since moved on from her.
She shared her story both in words and in thought as Astravia took everything in and shared it with Maceo, documenting an entire life within them both for all time now. When they finally arrived at the temple, Elaheh gasped as she watched the tall and broad gates and the light tower, which was actually shining brightly for her as she approached in the afternoon sun. She hadn’t gone even this far since before her children had fully grown, and she was now proceeding further than she had ever dared to go.
A moment later, the gates opened of their own accord, revealing a beautiful, shining city with what could only be the sanctuary in the distance in the center rising up above the rest. There was life here as she watched familiar creatures fritter to and fro looking to see the strange newcomer before skittering off and at a pasture near the main gate there were horses that trotted out to observe this strange new visitor and observe her as well as greet their sisters who were returning to them.
The moment she passed through the gates Elaheh actually broke out into tears as she watched the walls approach and then fall behind her. She clutched her chest and made pathetic noises of joy and then looked ahead as she watched golems marching in any given direction, moving ahead on instructions from nothing more than Astravia’s will as they saw to the last portions of reconstruction and renovation of the temple.
Now fully surrounded by the temple itself, Astravia stood and hopped down from their horse drawn cart. “Would you care to walk with me?” Astravia asked politely. Elaheh grinned numbly at her, then reached forward.
“Of course, goddess. Would you give me a hand?” she asked.
“Oh, you still have not noticed?” Astravia asked her, neatly folding her hands in front of her hips. “The entire trip home your youth has been gradually restored to you,” she informed her. “You no longer require my hand.”
Elaheh was of course shaken and she looked at her hands, which seemed foreign to her. For so long, she was used to bony, frail hands, but these hands were soft and supple with skin that nearly glowed with youth. She sat up, very carefully at first, but when there was no pain in her joints and no creaking of her bones, she moved much less circumspectly. She slid off of the cart, still quite wary of her frail body, but none of her concerns held any warrant any longer. Elaheh was exactly as she had been the day that Maceo first met her, filled with vigor and beauty aside from how ill fitting her current clothes were on her fully restored tall, slender body.
She moved almost as if learning to walk again. She was disoriented from the complete removal of all of her physical limitations and she even stumbled on occasion as she wavered compensating for ailments that no longer were there.
“Come,” Astravia bid her. “Let us fit you something more comfortable to wear. Beloved, would you meet us at home when you are finished with the horses?”
“Of course,” Maceo called back to her, then set off to see to their transportation now that it was no longer needed.
Elaheh was even more flabbergasted by the building that Astravia and Maceo called home. The mansion they had left behind was already much more elaborate than any other in their community, but this one dwarfed that comparatively cozy spot. Not only that, but the level of miraculously elaborate features made even the airship she had once ridden aboard seem primitive.
The entire home was filled with natural lighting, but each room they walked into naturally lit all on its own as soon as she would enter. There was a beautiful fountain at the entrance with small streams that flowed out to other rooms of their home where the water could be enjoyed there as well in a variety of different ways from waterfalls that poured down the walls to elaborate and ornate patterns lined with jewels and gemstones that sparkled underneath the light. Despite the fact that it was a warm day out, the entire home was filled with a cool, gentle breeze, and these were merely the things she first noticed upon entering. Astravia led Elaheh up a spiral staircase to a bedroom that made her previous one back in town almost look like a closet. There they walked into a closet that was lined with hundreds of dresses all perfectly tailored for the petite goddess and Astravia turned and faced her guest.
“Pick any you like,” Astravia offered. “My home, is your home.”
Elaheh stepped forward and selected a dress that caught her eye, then pulled it from it’s hangar, noting how tight and small it was for a woman of her stature. “It’s too small for me,” she remarked, then snapped to look at Astravia when she could only laugh.
“Nearly all of these are made with the same fibers that comprise the clothes that all gods wear,” she told her jovially. “If you like it, put it on. It will reshape itself to fit you,” she promised.
Elaheh could hardly argue with the queen of the gods, so she took the dress and walked over to a mirror in the closet and stared at the familiar, yet unfamiliar face and body that stared back at her, one that had left her decades before. It was almost as if she were staring at someone else, despite it being someone viewing back at her that she was of course intimately familiar with, albeit distantly removed from this well known figure by many decades.
She stripped naked and blushed while looking at herself. She couldn’t believe her eyes- everything was exactly where she wanted it to be and none of the flaws time had deposited on her were present any longer. She reached out and touched the reflection in order to ensure what she was staring at was real, and then touched her own body, examining it carefully and reacquainting herself with it. She then took the borrowed dress and slipped it on only to find that to her amazement that Astravia had been entirely truthful and as she slipped it on it reformed to fit her nearly as perfectlyas Elaheh could imagine.
“A little off,” Astravia mused, “but then it was fitted for me and not for you. Regardless, you look lovely,” she complimented.
They found Maceo on the main level putting away some food items they had procured in town and he whistled suggestively to Elaheh as she entered, causing her to blush deeply.
“Behave yourself husband!” she scolded him with a giggle.
“I don’t mean to push,” Elaheh said apologetically, and Astravia stopped her dead in tracks, choosing to answer for her.
“Ah yes. I promised you answers to your questions. Would you care to start at my return to your world and events leading up to our first meeting?” Astravia asked. Elaheh agreed with a nod and Astravia took both her hand and Maceo’s and began walking toward the entrance of the house while the world around them began to take on a dull and faded tone.
“Do not take your hand from me,” Astravia explained to her. “We have moved outside of time. I ask that you stay close as you will be damaged seriously if you break contact with me in this state. I shall begin with the moments that led me to my decision to come here,” she explained and all around them an illusion began to take form as they walked, following behind a fifteen foot tall goddess Astravia who had her close friend and attendant Elphinsis in tow as she spirited away down a massive corridor in the most perturbed of states.
In front of her eyes, she watched as a domestic squabble between gods and goddesses unfolded and she watched with horror as Astravia was humiliated repeatedly and they traded blows both magical and physical. She watched as her attendant attempted to console her and she watched as Astravia made a random choice to visit this distant world to relax for a single weekend before facing the end of her existence head on. This illusion played out around her until they found themselves at the lobby area of her quarters there in the temple and she emerged, still giant and fifteen feet tall and confused and disturbed at finding a temple entirely deserted.
Astravia walked them through events, showing them to Elaheh first hand for the very first time and guided them on a walk after showing her solo adventures gallivanting about the temple fully nude and reveling in her freedom. Astravia walked them along the path she followed those many years ago throughout the temple frozen in time and out the side entrance and into the woods where Elaheh watched first hand her introduction to Maceo for the very first time.
Elaheh couldn’t help but laugh and almost cry at the sweetness of their initial meeting, especially in contrast with the horrific and brutal scene that had played out prior to Astravia’s arrival on this world and then she walked along following the giant goddess back to the temple where they had their first meal together.
Years passed here in this zone where time didn’t exist, though Elaheh found herself not hungry or thirsty, nor did she age so much as a millisecond and she enjoyed every last moment no matter how intimate that Maceo and Astravia had shared together, including her intensely embarrassing journey from tickled by this little mortal’s demeanor to full romantic attraction that came to a head with no less than Elaheh’s pursuit of Maceo herself.
She laughed and hugged Astravia over and over at the many touching and sometimes comical moments over the years and she cringed and hid behind Astravia when she watched her beat Maceo senseless when she first discovered she was shrinking.
Ultimately, Astravia shared with her nearly their entire life together, even their most private and intimate moments, leaving no stone unturned and no detail lost to her when time finally began moving again around them and she found herself standing near the main gate as the birds began chirping again and the horses in the distance began frolicking and playing together once more. She was speechless as she sat there, having now watched two other lives unfold in front of her, giving her the equivalent of three lifetimes of experience. Maceo and Astravia stood holding hands and waited for her to gather her thoughts and fully absorb all that had been shared with her without even a fraction of a second passing in the interim.
She was still neck deep in the flood of memories and emotions when she heard a chipper voice scream, “AVIA!” from a distance. Elaheh turned and chirped as suddenly a tiny winged woman burst forward, leaned forward and bent at the hips with her toes pointed groundward and her outstretched fingers pointed behind her. “You said you would be back yesterday!” she complained, despite her bright and welcoming smile.
“It was a single evening,” Astravia gently lectured her. “I am certain you were fine here with the others.”
“But I missed you!”
“And I missed you. However, we found something quite important while we were away and needed extra time.”
“What did you find?” Dela asked, bouncing mid air. Astravia then smirked and waved her arm to Elaheh, pointing out the new guest, the first to arrive since the fairies had. “You do remember her, yes? I know how flighty a fairy’s memory can be.”
Dela suddenly zipped over to directly in front of Elaheh’s face and she inspected her, fluttering left and right and up and down until the pieces finally locked into place in her fickle little mind. “ELAHEH!!” she screamed in a sudden burst of fairy dust and then she fell forward, hugging the giant woman’s face. “Where’s Rhona?” she asked enthusiastically as her wings fluttered uncontrollably.
“Rhona is gone,” Astravia explained gently. “Elaheh is all that is left of our friends from that time.”
“Awwww!” Dela complained, kicking her foot out into mid air as though she were stomping it. “But I loved her! Even if she was grumpy!”
“Well, this leaves all the more chance for you to dedicate to learning to know Elaheh,” Astravia suggested, which made Dela cheer exuberantly.
“She’s so precious,” Elaheh complimented as she cupped the little fairy in her hands.
“YOU’RE SO BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE YOUR PRETTY EYES!” Dela blurted back from Elaheh’s palms in an explosion of bashful fairy positivity.
“Would you like to introduce her to the others?” Astravia asked, but rather than answer, Dela zipped upward and began dancing in circles in the air.
“I have some work to see to,” Maceo informed Astravia, who nodded and took Elaheh’s hand.
“Well? Are you joining me, or did you wish to tag along with Maceo for a while?”
“With you!” Elaheh answered effortlessly.
“Brace yourself,” Astravia whispered tantalizingly and then Elaheh screamed as she suddenly felt the entire world growing and expanding out in all directions around her. Elaheh staggered and stumbled, then reached out to Maceo for support only to find that reaching out to her side for him, she was met with his hip, which was continuing to rise up higher and higher steadily above her as his legs became like tree trunks and further and further until she was standing at Maceo’s feet only a few inches tall staring down into the eyes of a fairy version of Astravia.
She looked behind her and was shocked to see delicate butterfly wings that spread out beyond her shoulders and that surprisingly moved whenever she willed them to. The fairy version of Elaheh was roughly five and three quarters of an inch tall, sporting shoulder length turqoise hair and bright golden eyes with soft, fair skin.
Elaheh looked over her transformed body, stunned and comparing it to the now gargantuan world around her and then Dela squealed with delight and zipped down, wrapping the little fairy Elaheh in her arms and squeezing her, carrying her into the air and hugging her with all her might as they twirled together and then crashed to the ground, bumping their heads together. Dela giggled profusely and pulled back just in time for Astravia to arrive and take her hand, helping her to her feet.
“Well?” Astravia coaxed. “I know that you’ve always dreamed of being smaller.”
As disoriented as Elaheh had been with her body when it had been restored to youth, this tiny fairy body was entirely foreign to her and she stumbled and struggled to even remain upright. Elaheh found herself unwittingly trying to fly and walk at the same time as her mind exerted itself to operate a body whose primary form of transportation was through the air using wings she’d never even dreamed of before.
Elaheh swooned and stumbled, then she actually fell over with both Astravia watching from the ground and Dela hovering from just above her and she screamed as she tumbled over only to find herself lying comfortably in Maceo’s palm and staring up at an impossibly large giant man that smiled down at her while she grasped worriedly onto fingers that were well over half as long as her body was suddenly. She blushed up at him, lost in his gaze until suddenly Dela was fluttering down between her and the giant and grinning ear to ear and pulling on both of Elaheh’s tiny hands and pulling her up to her feet.
Astravia then stepped up to them both and took one of Elaheh’s hands while Dela held on to the other and Elaheh finally managed to stand upright with both of their help while looking over her shoulder at her new wings, which were fluttering similarly to how her own legs would when she would adjust her stance.
Before she knew it, Elaheh was being dragged off into the air by both Dela and Astravia and zipping off into the distance as she received a crash course in flying, with an added emphasis on the crash.