I woke up early the following morning, and somehow felt entirely refreshed despite how tired I had been and how little sleep I had gotten. Letting my instincts guide me again, I began getting the house ready for the day. It was a bit difficult to do so while trying at the same time not to wake up ada and Ral. We had discussed getting Ral a dog bed when we moved to Riverview, but we had decided against it. One had been bought for him in Twinbrook, but he never used it. He would always end up on someone's bed. That night he had apparently been drawn to the spare cushion ada wasn't taking up. Besides not wanting to wake ada up for he surely had to be tired from all the work he had done, it was fun to sneak peeks at those two resting as they looked so cute.
That day went on as normal as it could have ever possibly could. We all got used to adjusting ourselves further to our new surroundings. Ranna, Aewen, Alcarien, Delerith, and Delindir explored the town a bit more. They met a few others who would be their classmates in the upcoming school year. From what I heard, those other children were ecstatic to discover new students would be coming in. Hardly anyone new moved to Riverview. My children would be accepted with eagerness. It was relieving to learn.
I was woken up by Eloril's hand on my forehead the next morning. He had brushed my hair out of my face before giving me a slight shake. I had known we were going to leave early, but that morning I did not wake up feeling entirely refreshed. I could have slept all day had I been given the chance. Eloril kept shaking me until I was forced to rise though. Nana, who had been woken up due to the mild commotion, groggily wished us a good trip before she rolled over and went back to sleep.
I managed to get a decent amount of sleep on the plane we took to wherever we were going. I would have been more excited about the ride had an old familiar feeling crept up to tell me that I had been on a plane many times before. The novelty of the experience had been lost. Eloril got us a taxi when we arrived at our destination, and so began our short drive over to the town we soon came upon.
"I used to live here, didn't I?" I asked my brother.
"You remember this place?" he asked back with excitement.
"No. Logic made me realize just now what this plan of yours and ada's is."
"Well, by logic or memory, at least you figured it out on your own. This is indeed a town you used to live in. The very first one indeed. Almost all of your firsts happened here."
"So you're hoping being back will strike a chord with me?"
"That is the general idea, yes."
I relaxed against the seat and stared at the scenery passing me by as we fully entered the town. I tried not to feel pressure. I had been able to tell before that ada and Eloril were fully convinced my memory would come back. They were certain the signs of the old me were a guarantee of that and not simply the few dregs left from the person that would never return. I admired their optimism, but I wished they didn't expect so much. I made sure I kept my gaze looking away from Eloril as the taxi kept on driving. He glanced over at me now and again with anticipation. He wanted to see if I recognized or remembered anything. I didn't want to disappoint him by revealing that all there was in me was the same old distant pang of familiarity and nothing more.
We were dropped off at the hotel we would be staying in. Eloril and I quickly checked in before Eloril dragged me back into the taxi. We were taken across town and dropped off at the end of a street this time. My brother prompted me to lead the way.
"Which of these houses looks familiar?" he asked.
"What's that thing in the sky?!"
"Don't go ignoring me now."
"Sorry, but I've never seen anything like that before."
"It's a hot-air balloon," Eloril explained with an amused sigh, "It basically uses a small fire to fill that giant balloon with hot air, which makes the whole thing float. I'm pretty sure you've been in one before. One place you used to live in had them all over the place."
"Do you think we can try to take a ride?"
"We're here to see if you can recognize any of these houses, 'Lo."
"Sorry." I apologized again.
We walked down the street a little further. I was even more nervous. I didn't want to pick wrong.
My instincts, or whatever suppressed memories I did have, were there to help me. My heart raced as I found myself being pulled towards the last house on the right side of the street. I took a few cautious step into the yard. This was the right one, wasn't it? I turned back to Eloril, who gave me a smile.
"Congratulations," he said with pomp, "You picked the right house. So, see? I knew you knew more than you thought you did. You just need to relax and let it come to you instead of being so worried about forcing it back."
"You could tell?"
"I've known you for over eight-hundred years now. You're an open book."
"Fair enough. Did I really live here though? This house is..."
"Ugly?"
"Uh, let's go with tiny."
"The order was given to ada and nana rather quickly," Eloril explained, "There wasn't a lot of time to prepare. They also didn't have access to much human money, so this was all they could get you. Believe you me, when I returned home after you first left they felt horrible about it. It was hard enough on them to have forcibly sent you away from home, but they hadn't even been able to give you suitable home."
"I'm sure it wasn't all that bad to live here." I said, trying to change my attitude as I felt guilty being told how awful my parents had felt.
"You made the house into home, that's for sure. It might not have been perfect, but you provided a place your children didn't mind coming back to. Now you get to come back to it one last time."
"What exactly do you mean?" I asked. There had been something in his voice that told me he had one of his surprises in store.
"Ada and I got in contact with the current owners of all the houses you used to live in. The owners of this one, who are currently on vacation, graciously agreed to temporarily give us a spare key so we could get in. Unfortunately, this is the only one we'll get to go in. The other houses you called home were much more expensive than this. I believe those current owners felt more threatened by us random elves calling them asking to be let inside. These people I don't think really have that much to lose so they weren't as worried. We also might have given them a bit of money."
"So you bribed them?"
"We did pay for them to have one more day of vacation."
"If it works..." I said with a giggle.
Eloril took a key out of his pocket, and unlocked the front door. I stepped inside, and was almost swept away by the emotions that hit me. There was a strange sort of reverence to the house. It was if I had entered a sanctuary. I felt as if I shouldn't even speak. Eloril let me wander about while he kept quiet. I tried not to touch too much as everything I saw belonged to someone else, but I couldn't help but to feel some sort of possessiveness as well. This place had been mine at some point after all.
"There had been a fire." I spoke quietly while staring at the kitchen.
"Really? I wasn't here when you lived in this particular house, so you're going to have to be the one to tell me if that is true or not." Eloril pointed out.
"It was," I confirmed, "We were celebrating a birthday. Something went wrong with the cake."
"A cake caused a fire? That must have been a exciting birthday indeed."
The bedroom was the last room we went into. I had been avoiding it for some reason, and I discovered that reason after sitting down on the bed. The thoughts that came to my mind were the ones the child in me had been dreading to face. I had given birth to almost one hundred children. According to what I had been told, the vast majority had been conceived through normal means. There had only been a few that had been conceived through alternate methods. That meant I had slept with a whole lot of men. I shuddered at the idea, but also because of what further feelings that bed made me feel. I knew very well that bed was not the one I had used, but I was both subtly turned off and aroused. I had experienced the worst of encounters and pleasurable ones. After a few seconds, the little child that was in me couldn't stand it anymore and focused on something else.
"I can hear a baby crying." I said.
Eloril stood still and listened for a few seconds.
"Can you? Is it coming from the next house over or something?"
"No, the crying is coming from this room. That corner," I pointed over to the corner near the dresser, "It's giving me a headache."
"This is good."
"I fail to see how." I mumbled in irritation.
"Oh, it's not good that you're getting a headache. You gave birth to many of your first children in this room. That corner is probably where you had the crib. It's a bit strange that you can hear crying, but I think it means what's hidden within you is being drawn out by you being back in the room." Eloril noted.
"Well, I would prefer to not have my head feeling as if it's being hit with a bag of bricks."
"Let's go to the next place then. There really isn't anything else to see here anyway."
We walked across town this time to reach another house. It was much larger this time. Eloril stared it with nostalgia.
"This was the house you were in when I came to visit you. It's the first human house I stayed at, and because of that it's my favorite. Unfortunately, these owners were the most adamant about us not coming by. We shouldn't stay too long even though it looks like no one is home."
"Hmm," I gave as a quiet response before I had to address the surge of confusing emotion that suddenly emerged in my chest, "Why do I feel angry with you all of a sudden?"
"What?"
"I don't know. I just feel really angry at you when I look at this house."
Eloril was silent for a moment. He then laughed really loudly.
"We had a really massive argument not long after I arrived. You were doing what you had to do, but I had gotten in your way because I didn't like what what you had to do. I said some nasty things, and you pretty much kicked me out. You gave me the choice to stay or leave. I left because I was upset at myself for causing so many problems for you. I came back before too long because..."
"Because what?" I asked curiously.
Eloril stopped staring at the house and stared at me instead. He appeared rather nervous and shifty, and I could sense what he was going to tell me was something he didn't want to say. I quickly found out his hesitation was because he knew how I might respond.
"I came back because I found an abandoned baby on my journey home. An alien baby." he said quietly.
"Alien? Like it was from a different country?"
"No. It was from a different world. Well, half from a different world. You and I always suspected a human woman had been impregnated with it."
"This is a really stupid joke. It's not even funny."
"It's not a joke, 'Lo," Eloril implored as he took out his leather wallet, "See this picture here? Look. He has green skin. His eyes are entirely black. He's clearly not a being from around here."
My brother sighed when I had only silence to give him. He then continued.
"Remember how I told you I would tell you about three named Anondil, Melui, and Navinai at a later date? I'll tell you about them now. Anondil is this child I've shown you. Melui and Navinai are your own half-alien daughters. Melui was conceived by choice when some alien revealed to you that elven women were going to be taken if you didn't volunteer freely. Navinai...was conceived by force. You loved both greatly though. I can show you pictures you took of them when we get back home. We didn't want to say anything about them until we were sure you could handle it, and telling you in this moment seemed to be the most opportune moment I would get."
I didn't say anything. I couldn't say anything. Eloril decided it was better to give the news time to sink in, and suggested that we explore the town more.
He led the way for a little while, but prompted me to take charge after that. I was mildly annoyed for I was still struggling massively to wrap my head around what I had just been told and didn't feel like being the one to make all of the decisions. However, me being the leader led to a strange moment that neither Eloril or I knew quite sure what to make of. I had found the horse park, and was stunned when I saw a person walk out of the stable.
"Eloril," I whispered quietly but furiously to my brother, "That man there- I talked to him centuries ago when I lived here! How on earth can he still be alive?!"
"Man? You mean that teenager with the glasses?"
"No. The one with the long hair and brown vest following the woman with the umbrella."
"Uh...'Lo, there's no one like that there."
"Of course there is! I can quite clearly see..."
But when I looked over again towards the direction where the man had been, he was no longer there. There was only the teenager and the woman. My head began to hurt again. I had no idea how to handle everything that was going on.
"I think we should call it a day," Eloril suggested, "It's been a while since you've had a blackout now, but I definitely think we're pushing your limits."
"Yes. I need a rest." I agreed.
I was surprised when Eloril told me later on that day after we had some sleep that we would be on another flight the next morning. Appaloosa Plains wasn't the only place we were going to visit. No. We were going to go to every place that I had been to in my time on the human wall. Well, every place save for Twinbrook. We had just been there, and as such there was no reason to go back. The next destination had us flying to different country. Eloril explained he had taken me and three of my children to France for a vacation.
The two of us dropped our bags off at the house for travelers before heading off to the winery.
"Are you sure we didn't just come here so you could get some wine?" I asked Eloril suspiciously.
"Though that might have been much of my intention in bringing you here the first time around," he began with a cheeky smile, "The truth of it is is that the winery was the first place we visited on the initial trip. I'm hoping starting off with the same itinerary will help you recall everything more. Of course, you went off to sleep with some local not long after we came here so we obviously can't follow the exact same schedule..."
"I would never do such a thing!"
"But you did do it. You had a baby with him and everything." he told me with a teasing smile, "You seemed as if you had a great time with him as well."
"Ugh, Eloril!"
"Just telling it like it is, sis."
The next part on our itinerary was a deviation to fill in the time that I had spent with the man Eloril told me had been named Yves. Eloril had called ahead to see if it was possible to make wine of our own. It was more than possible. The winery had extra machines set up in the back for visitors to trying making drinks on their own. They even had a whole field dedicated to spare grapes that the visitors could make use of. Eloril and I had a fun time picking out several different varieties. We also picked some other fruits from the fruit trees behind the building.
What I didn't expect was how the wine was going to actually get made. Eloril had mentioned the machines being in the back, but I had assumed we would simply give the fruits to the winery staff and they would make the wine for us. Never did I anticipate Eloril and I changing so that we could squish our harvest the old fashioned way. It was a bit gross, but much more fun. There was a wall separating Eloril and I from where we were working. There was the definite sound of Eloril falling into his batch, but he claimed that since the wall had prevented me from seeing him there was no way I could say for sure that he had slipped.
When the fruits were properly liquified, the concoction was placed into the machine so the wine could be properly made. That left Eloril and I with a few hours with which to do whatever we wanted. Eloril pulled out a picnic basket from seemingly nowhere. The two of us sat out back and enjoyed a nice lunch. Eloril thought it was an appropriate time to tell once again the story of the time he had gotten me drunk.
"I didn't even know getting drunk was a thing," he started with a laugh, "Though I did sneak the wine often it never affected me to the point where I became intoxicated. All I knew was that it made me feel lighthearted, and it tasted great. I thought the reason ada and nana were so insistent on keeping the stores locked was so that they could have everything to themselves. They never made any sort of mention that wine was most inappropriate for children."
"So you saw nothing wrong with sharing some with me." I noted with a smile.
"I thought I was being nice letting your have some of the stuff that made me feel wonderful. It's not like you could have said 'No' back then. Heavens, at that time I don't even think you could drink anything yourself without getting half of it onto you anyway."
Eloril paused before continuing with a wider smile than before.
"Honestly, I have no idea how ada and nana were able to determine that you had become intoxicated. You were walking about messily babbling about nonsense like you always were. I think the only thing that gave me away was the tint of redness on your face."
"And the open bottle not ten feet away."
"That might have been a stronger clue, I suppose." Eloril agreed with a chuckle.
We finished our lunch, walked around for a while, and did some sightseeing before returning back to the winery. We received each a bottle of our wine for our efforts. Of course, we got to sit down and taste them right there.
"How is yours?" I asked Eloril.
"...Absolutely horrible." he said as he took another sip, looking both disgusted and highly amused as he did.
"Mine isn't all that great either."
"I had a feeling it wasn't when you stopped drinking."
"I don't think wine-making is in our future."
"Yeah. Let's leave it to those who know what they're doing," Eloril proposed, "But you know, at least no one will go getting drunk off this stuff. They're more likely to gag and swear off alcohol forever."
"Maybe we should market it then. Cure alcoholism and whatnot."
"Maybe." Eloril laughed.
The next day after a long flight we were in a place called Monte Vista. I was in a rather grumpy and exhausted mood at that point. Flying was quickly becoming dull and draining. The only reason I tried to cheer up was because I had been brought to yet another beautiful place. I had to think that the physical appeal of what I had seen so far had been half the reason I chose to move to the particular towns in the first place. However, what little optimism I had gained quickly left. Eloril showed me the house I had lived in. I gazed at it for a moment, and then sat down on the ground.
"What do you think you are doing?" Eloril asked, being hurriedly panicked, "You can't sit there you umann! We have no idea if the people who live here are home or not."
"It's fine. We're on the sidewalk."
"That's not what I meant!"
"I lost something."
"What? You mean you dropped something? What does that have to do with you sitting down?" Eloril was thoroughly confused.
"No, I mean I lost something here in this house. I feel really depressed all of a sudden. My legs have become so weak. That's why I'm sitting," I explained before looking up at my brother, "What did I lose?"
"You tell me."
Those were three words I was beginning to hate. Eloril said them to me each time I asked for clarification. I knew he was trying to really pull whatever information was in my head out, but mostly what it accomplished was making my head hurt and my attitude poor. Given that I already felt so down, I just wanted him to say directly what I wanted to know for once instead of making me grasp for the answer. Eloril continued to refuse to say anything though. The answer did come to me eventually.
"I had to give my sons away."
"Do you remember why?"
"I can't right now..."
"If you just think a little-"
"Eloril, I'm exhausted and irritable. Just tell me the answer." I growled.
"Ninnor was the first second child you had had with the same man," Eloril relented with a sigh, "After his birth, you met with the father's parents. They disapproved of you once you told them of the task and what you had to do. They thought you were just using their son. They essentially forced Ninnor and his older brother, Londuil, away from you due to their inability to look farther than their own noses."
"Sounds about right."
"You really should get off the ground. We'll go get some proper rest before doing anything else."
And so we went to relax once more.
When I wasn't so cranky, the two of us explored the main villa area. Eloril gave me a strange look when during our time in the art museum I suddenly laughed.
"What's that all about?"
"I just remembered. I went into labor here."
"Did you now?"
"But I was so used to giving birth, I wasn't in that much pain. I knew I had plenty of time left before I had to go home. I stayed and looked at the paintings instead."
"You were about to push a baby out, but you thought it wasn't that big of a deal? 'Lo, you are a little crazy."
"Have you ever thought otherwise?"
"Hardly."
I had just enough energy to get me through dinner at the cafe Eloril and I went to. I must admit it was rather relaxing sitting out under the open stars while sipping at a nice mug of coffee. My exhaustion hit me when Eloril and I stood up to return to our hotel.
"How much longer is this going to go on?" I asked.
"The traveling and seeing places?"
"Yes."
"We've got four more destinations. Tomorrow we'll be in China."
"China?!"
"You've surprisingly seen a lot of the world."
"I don't think I can keep this up."
"Don't tell me you're not having fun."
"I am, but..."
"And if this does help to bring your memory back, won't the exhaustion be worth it?"
I studied my brother. Most of our time had been spent being tourists, but all this traveling did have a higher purpose. More than my physical weariness, I was exhausted of the hole of nothingness where my memories were supposed to be. I sighed.
"You're right....."
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