by Nancy Gaskin
Revelations
After the evening meal, it was a simple affair, which Dagmar ate in the company of Falcon, who brought to her room. The girl followed by Falcon went to Titanias private rooms. The big oak doors looked ominous to her, as she stood in front of it. Timidly she knocked. “Enter” was the immediate response, as the girl reached for the door handle she saw that her hand was trembling slightly and Falcon gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. She took a deep breath to steady herself and opened the door. Dagmar saw that Titania was not alone, Ragnar was also there sitting on a large cushion on the floor, Oberon standing a few steps away leaning against the mantle of a very large fireplace chatting to Beriothien and Titania standing near the door which led into the garden. Titania walked towards the girl holding her arms open “Ah Dagmar, my darling little one, I am glad you are here. Come let us all go out into the garden.” everybody followed Titania and the girl out into the garden which was lit by thousands of little fire flies that were scattered all through the large hedge and the big tree, twinkling like stars lighting the area with a gentle light.
There were chairs and small tables at their sides which were arranged in a circle. Titania indicated to a seat for Dagmar on the left of a chair that was a twin of another which Oberon chose and a little more decorative than the others. Ragnar was directed to the seat to the right of that same chair and Beriothien sat next to Oberon. Falcon chose the seat next to the boy and Rhiannon sat between him and Beriothien. As everyone settled Titania walked around and offered to fill the goblets which were already on the small tables with fruit juice and then sat sown between the two children.
“Thank you all for joining us here this fine evening” said Oberon, turning slightly he looked at the girl “Dagmar” looking deep into her eyes “there has been an incredible mystery with your arrival here. Your appearance has brought many questions to our minds and we have searched for answers. These answers have to be told in order, so please be patient with us” he said with a gentle smile and a pleading look in his eyes. Titania cleared her throat and then reached for her goblet and took a sip “Darling sweetling I must give you a little history lesson, I suppose it would be about my children and theirs. I am the proud mother of two daughters, twins actually. Now twins are very, very rare in our races, Lillianna and Tittianna. You have met Lillianna and her lovely husband Randolph and they are the proud parents of Niamh whom you have also met. Tittianna had a child as well her name was Earwin. Now Earwin fell in love with an Elf and they went and live in the human realm because the father of the elven prince, at that time had a feud of sorts with us fae, a miss understanding actually.” she stopped and took another mouthful of fruit juice.
“They lived in the human realm under a glamor which caused the humans to not see the pointed ears and they could also make themselves gradually age, they moved around so no human became suspicious of their long life. Tittianna and her husband Walker decided to spend some time also in the human realm and lived also near the village. Earwin fell pregnant with twins but she went to the Summerlands shortly after the birth, the prince was out hunting at the time and was actually gored by a large bear and was seriously injured and near death. Before Earwin went into labour with the twins eleven soldiers had arrived and had a message for the elven prince and it was while they were waiting for the prince to return that Earwin began labouring. They assisted her with the birthing and as she was preparing to go to the Summerlands they also made an oath to take one of the twins to Tittianna and Walker to take care of and the other was to be returned to our realm to be raised by us.” she stopped and took another mouthful.
Oberon began to speak “The prince was not killed as everyone assumed from the injuries they could see and the lifeless body was still guarded by the massive bear. They crept away and waited for a while, watching all that evening and night to see if the prince moved or the bear would leave, neither happened though, so they returned to their comrades. The bear left sometime during the night, as dawn was breaking an old woman who was out gathering herbs stumbled across him. She went and got her son and they carried him back to their home. She cleaned and stitched the princes’ wounds and set his broken leg and shoulder. He spent many weeks sleeping and at times wrestling with high fevers as the old woman nursed him slowly to health. Eventually he woke up and after she explained to him what had happened and how long he had been ill it took the womans son and her slight weight to stop the prince from trying to get out of bed. They calmed him and explained his injuries to him and asked him what the urgency was. The prince explained and the son offered to travel to their home and let his wife know that he was well and explain what happened. The young fellow took off immediately and returned late that night with a sad face. He described how he arrived and the house was deserted and so he went looking in the garden and there he found a mound which looked like a grave, a flat stone that had strange symbols was at one end as were flowers. He took the stone and put it in a small flour sack he found in the kitchen and went to the village to ask where the occupants of the house were. That’s where he heard the sad news of our granddaughter and that the babe was with the mother’s family. He returned to his home and reported his findings to the prince and showed him the stone. The prince looked at the symbols and began to cry, it was a grave marker ‘here rests Earwin of the Fae’.” Oberon stopped and took a deep breath, reaching for his goblet and drained it in one gulp.
Dagmar was spell bound and as she dragged her eyes away from Oberon and looked around she could see that everyone was in a similar state. She leaned forward and looked in the boys’ direction and saw that he was also leaning forward looking in her direction; they smiled and leaned back in their seats. Oberon continued “The prince was heartbroken. He slowly began to regain his strength, with the help of the young man he began to walk again once his leg started to heal. Soon he was walking with the aid of a sturdy stick. Once he was fully recovered he stayed for the winter and helped hunt and trap what little game there was for food. The next spring he bade them farewell and left to walk the forests as he told the old woman he was planning to do so until the pain in his heart eased.” Oberon stopped and glanced at Beriothien “he returned three weeks ago.”
There was a commotion at the double doors, all heads turned, in walked the only two people that Dagmar had never expected to see there, her Om and Opa. “Tittianna! Walker! Oh it is SO GOOD to see you again. I am so happy that you managed to get here in time.” cried Titania as she walked over to them, reaching for one and then the other giving them both big hugs. Dagmar had leapt out of her chair and reached them moments after Titania finished hugging them but stopped dead in her tracks, whilst she was looking at them their features blurred and became much younger, their hair remained the same it was only their faces. The girls jaw dropped. Oma looked at the girl with sad eyes “I am so sorry my little sweetling.” Began Tittianna but Titania put her hand on her granddaughters arm, stopping her. “Let us go and sit down. Everything will be explained. Please be patient.” said Titania steering people back to the circle of chairs. Oberon had found two more seats and had placed then into the group. Slowly everybody settled in their seats again and order was regained. Dagmar was feeling angry at the deception and confused as to what this all meant.
Titania sat down and turned to look at the girl “Sweetling, you are the little babe who was left with the princess’s parents” “Where is the other abbe then?” asked the girl. Ragnar got up and knelt in front of Dagmar “I am that babe. I was only informed about it all a few days ago after Beriothien came back. I did not notice it until it was pointed out to me and neither have you. come and have a look in the mirror, just you and me.” The boy took her hand and led her inside to a large mirror. They both stood in front of it and Dagmars eyes grew as round as saucers. Their reflections were nearly identical except that she was a girl and he was a boy. “We are the twins in the story that the story teller told? Why did
this happen?” she turned and went to confront her Oma and Opa. “Why did you not come back here and raise me with Ragnar? Why did you hide me?” she asked.
“Until recently we still thought that Tud was having his little temper tantrum, because the fae live a very long time these things could last hundreds of years. We did not know that you were a twin, the soldiers only handed this tiny little bundle to me and said that my only child had died giving you life.” replied Tittianna as her voice broke. Opa put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side, saying nothing. “We protected your identity with a glamour which since your gifting has dissolved. Your true form is what you see now and what a human would also see.” said Opa with a broken voice. Dagmar ran to them and hugged them both tight “I love you and I forgive you. You did what you thought was the right thing. Keeping me safe was all that mattered to you, I KNOW that.” said the girl in a muffled voice with her face buried in her grandparents clothes.
Ragnar walked over to them and stood shyly to one side, waiting. Walker looked up and reached his free arm out to the boy and enveloped him in the group hug. Dagmar pulled away and turned to Titania “Who is my father?” with that Beriothien stepped forward looking shyly her way “I believe that is my honour.” he said in a voice that echoed with longing and pain. The girl turned to the boy and took him by the hand and led him back inside to the mirror. She positioned them in front of it and scrutinised both their features. She shook her head “I have not spent much time in front of a mirror and have not actually LOOKED at you to notice. Did you notice anything?” she asked the boy looking into his sky blue eyes with hers via the mirror. “No I didn’t until I was told a few days ago. I paid more attention then and did notice that you have the same shape eyes as me and the same colour eyes. The white tattoo you have on your face I have the exact same on my shoulder. Here I will show you.” the boy took off his shirt and turned to show Dagmar his right shoulder. She looked at it and then compared it with her mirror image and nodded. “I have always felt that there was a part of me missing. A sort of hollowness, that can’t be filled. A sort of emptiness that is too deep to share.” As Ragnar was saying those words Dagmar was slowly nodding her head. She had felt the same pain and loneliness but put it down to living in such an isolated place and when she did get to the village she always played with the other children.
The rest of the group had wandered into the room and were quietly watching the scene at the mirror. Beriothien stood in front of the whole group and as the two children looked up via the mirror it seemed that three identical sets of eyes were looking at each other. He walked towards them and it was the first time the girl noticed that he walked with a slight limp favouring his right leg. “I am so sorry it has taken so long for the pain in my heart to ease and for me to return. The joy when I found that I did not lose all of Earwin, she lives on in my two beautiful miracles.” tears were rolling down his cheeks he made no move to wipe them away. Both children reached over simultaneously and hugged the weeping man. The group slowly drifted out and went to their own quarters for the night leaving the twins and their father alone. Titania, Oberon, Walker and Tittianna went and chatted quietly in the garden for a while.
The three finally stepped back slightly and were all looking a little sheepishly at each other. Dagmar looked at the elven prince who was her father, trying to digest everything which had occurred. She then turned to the boy and looked at him and she thought ‘It DOES feel like the hole in me has finally been filled.’ Ragnars eye brows shot up and he stared at the girl “Did you just say something? I didn’t see your lips move though.” “I was thinking” replied Dagmar. “Did you just think ‘it does feel like the hole in me has finally been filled’?” asked Ragnar. It was then the girls turn to look surprised “Yes I did. Oh does this mean when I am sure I heard you when we met up at the waterfall I actually DID hear you?” she stated.