Tristram’s hand guided me over the dark ground and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t need him to. Every blade of grass spoke to me, the trees swayed and whispered ahead of our path proclaiming that their goddess had returned.
“Remember.” I turned to tell him one last thing, one last idea, an instruction that could keep them safe for a little longer while he helped the girls, helped Mae know who she was before it was too late. He was close, so close I bumped into his chest. His arms wrapped around me tight.
“Is it wrong I know I’m going to miss you, even though she will be back?”
I’d wrestled with this for the last few of nights as we laid together, our bed a blanket of wildflowers and springy moss that had grown especially for us.
“No. I am her. You won’t notice any difference.”
“Will she remember this?”
“I think so.” I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
His lips lingered over mine and a heavy sob laboured my chest. “I have to go. I don’t want to be seen. I’m trusting you to fulfil what we need done.”
“You can trust me with your last breath.”
Reaching onto tiptoes, I pressed a kiss at the edge of his nose. “I do. Tristram, stay here, let me leave by myself.”
“Mae…”
“Please. Let me go. I need to go.”
My hand itched to feel the stones while my feet wanted to stay on the ground next to his.
He nodded just once and then without a second look I ran through the woodland to the clearing my father created when he rolled in the stones. The tree I’d grown when I hadn’t known who I was waved at me under the moon. It was taller than I expected, and I sent it a silent plea. Look after them.
The stones stood proud as though they were waiting for me and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I was going back with more questions than I’d arrived with, but one thing had changed. I was Maia. Goddess of fertility and abundance, and I would heal the world of its pain and suffering.
I reached for the stone just as fingers caught my other hand.
I turned, lips crashed into mine, hard and fast. “I have to go.”
“I know. But just once more, in case she doesn’t remember, and I have to start all over again.”
He was going to make this harder. It was hard enough.
I reached my hand for the stone feeling it warm and tingle with my approach. With one hand on the stone and Tristram still holding my other I was for one defining moment the girl out of time. Past and future. Me and her.
I let go of his fingers and stepped closer.
He had to be on the other side still waiting for me.
He had to be.
With that last thought, I stepped through and the world cracked and splintered around me and all I knew was black.
Epilogue
It had been weeks. Months possibly. He’d given up counting. Given up believing. If it hadn’t been for the others arriving, he would have given up. He’d have taken his own life on the stones just for it all to be over.
Not being near her was like being flayed alive.
It was like being eaten by the wild wolves he’d seen circle the forest.
The newcomers, they brought with them a changing feel. The old castle had shifted into a barracks as though it had been waiting all this time for its true purpose.
The newcomers they spoke of her. Legends passed down, family memories.
But still he waited.
“You can’t sit out here for much longer.”
He glanced up at the conduit. He’d learned a lot about magic these last months. He’d learned about lots of things he’d never expected.
“You know she’s coming back. Everyone says she’s coming back.”
“So why is time doing this to me? Why is it taking so long? Every single minute feels like an age.”
The old woman shrugged. Disrobed of her earthly guise she resembled the Heather of his dreams.
If only he could dream.
They’d stopped when she’d walked through.
“I’ll wait a bit longer just in case.”
The old woman shook her head. “You can’t protect her like this.”
He glanced at the bones. They were still there, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever been able to protect her at all. Maybe it was his role to fail her.
He shook his head as the old woman dematerialised. No. It was his job to protect her, down to her last breath, he’d sacrifice everything for her.
Placing his head in his hands, he stared at the dead blades of grass at his feet. The earth here was worse than normal, like it missed her, too.
So lost in his thoughts was he that he didn’t notice the small purple flower at first, nor the second. It was only when the third sprouted right by the sole of his trainer that he glanced up.
There she was. Like a vision he’d long given up hope of seeing.
Tears ran down her face and her body shook. Despite the deep ache in his stiff bones he leapt up and grabbed her as she began to swoon. She was startlingly thin, her skin tanned and stretched across her bones. It was still her though, the most beautiful vision he’d ever seen.
“I love you.” She fell into his hold and he grabbed her close. Her eyes were closed, her lips whispering silent words, moving with whispers he couldn’t hear.
“God, Mae. I love you.” He held her tight, his lips in her hair.
“I love you, Tristram,” she repeated.
His heart squeezed, his chest catching with an unbreathable breath.
“No, Mae. It’s me, your Tristan, you are back with me now.”
She blinked up, her eyes glazed over, tears leaking from the corners, and for a long moment he knew the truth. Her heart was in the past, with him.
He kissed her anyway, ignoring the banging in
