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Home.Images of Runavík flashed through my mind. No doubt it was different now, but this was how I remembered it to be. And how strange that it invoked a longing in me similar to when I left this place. It seemed, with my soul filling in with more memories, it wanted more than it had in a long time.
A house on a lake island appeared in my memories, and an even more intense homesickness washed over me.That place…My and Tyr’s home. We lived there with…
I glanced around, feeling as though I was missing something… or someone. My eyes fell to a small woman hiding just behind those gathered around me. Large gossamer wings hung limply on her back, draping on the ground behind her, drawing my gaze to her ethereal tail lazily swishing back and forth.
I took a step closer to her, the Berserkers surrounding me backing away and making a path. Instead of rounding at the tips, the woman’s ears had a pointed edge, and she blinked up at me with large, multi-colored eyes. “Ùna?”
The woman’s eyes lit up, and her wings shimmered and then tried to flutter. “Astrid!”
Energy welled up in me as vibrant memories came with the uttering of her name and the sound of her lilted accent. I rushed to the fae, scooping her up in my arms and holding her close.
She wrapped her dainty arms around me and cried. “You’re back! You came back.”
“Yes, I’m here.” I did everything that I could to hold back the tears that threatened to leak from my face. I embraced the joy this brought me. I loved the memories I was recovering of her. This tiny, important fae was one of my most precious memories.
Ùna finally pulled away, and I flinched when she smacked me on the head. “Don’t you ever do that again. You promised.”
I chuckled, smiling at her. “And I didn’t break my promise. I came back, just as I said.”
“Yes, you’re right.” She hugged me around the neck again. “And you’d better not go anywhere again.”
I laughed. “I can’t make promises, but I will do my best.”
After a moment longer of embracing, we let each other go, though she didn’t leave my side, grabbing my dress with a small hand.
I noticed how intently Diego watched the scene in front of him. I winced, smiling at him apologetically. “You probably want some introductions.”
He chuckled. “I knew if I was patient, I’d be looped in, eventually.”
I introduced everyone one by one. “Ùna is an elf, and everyone else but Siobhán are Berserkers.”
Diego looked at the stocky, dark-skinned woman with curly black hair and amber eyes, wearing a green dress different from the other women gathered. A gold torc and natural jewelry decorated her neck, wrists, and hair. “What are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
She smiled and spoke in soft tones wrapped in a lilted accent. “I am a druid.”
He tilted his head. “You’ll have to explain to me what that is. I’m still new to all this.”
Siobhán continued to smile. “We are descendants of elf and human breeding. Diluted our blood may be, we retain our ability to touch nature, and our lives are extended over our pure human counterparts, should we not unlock immortality in our souls, which we have a higher chance of achieving.”
“How did a druid get mixed up with a bunch of temperamental werebeasts?”
His comment received a rumble of amused chuckles.
Siobhán’s sharp gaze darted to Hilda, a burly woman who looked like she bench-pressed Siobhán on the regular. Hilda smirked. “One might say, their wildness was appealing for a free spirit like me.”
She then refocused on Diego. “What are you?”
He shrugged. “Your everyday mortal man.”
Siobhán cocked her head, her eyes contemplative. “Are you sure? The energies surrounding you are much different than that of a typical mortal.”
I pursed my lips. That was quite strange. I didn’t sense anything different about Diego, though to be fair to myself, my magic wasn’t the same as Siobhán, and I still wasn’t nearly as skilled as I once was. “Have you seen this energy before?”
She nodded slowly. “Once, yes. But…” She shook her head. “It couldn’t be possible. Never mind me.”
I looked to Ùna. “Are you able to see this, too?”
The small fae nodded. “Yes, though I don’t know this energy Siobhán means. I’ve never met anyone with it. Perhaps nature favors him similarly to the being Siobhán means.”
