Thoughts of the Past, Dreams of the Future

Ada & Eve [♡ pt. 5]

“I have an idea.” Lilith turned to Jane.
“What for?”
“What we should do next - in our search for answers.” Lilith wrung her hands, nervous. She stood up from the armchair she sat upon, facing the other from above. “I think we should go back to The Valley.”
“And what will this give us?” Jane sipped at her tea, eyes regarding Lilith cautiously.
“I will play the violin,” Lilith started explaining, “with the intention of peering into the past. Perhaps The Valley can tell us how I found myself there?”
“It sounds dangerous.” Jane sighed, placing her cup on the crowded coffee table. “But it’s a place to start. Let us go, then. Best to do this before dark.” Jane got up from the couch and the two left Lilith’s apartment, Lilith with her violin on her back and Jane with a satchel thrown over her body, containing within it all those things that Lilith would usually take with her to The Valley - things that reminded her of the world outside the forest.

They entered The Valley all too soon - it was exactly as they left it. Jane placed the satchel cautiously under the hawthorn and began unpacking it - she took out a blanket, a copy of crime and punishment, and a small analogue radio. She raised two thumbs at Lilith, who nodded and started playing her elegy.

The music filled the air, and stayed within it long after Lilith had finished playing. Those gentle notes - they hung in the air like an unfinished symphony. Lilith looked around herself, and found The Valley had been changed. The grasses were much taller - the clearing itself much larger, full of rolling hills. The babbling brook was more so a river - and the old hawthorn was nowhere to be seen. Lilith turned to Jane, violin hanging limply at her side. She smiled at Jane. “I’m alright”, she seemed to say. “It worked”. Jane nodded, smiling back at Lilith. She stood up from the blanket and walked up to Lilith. She placed a finger to her lips, and pointed at the hills in the distance, where two figures were visible, walking up the hill. The closer they came, the more evident their nature was. Therein walked two women, hand in hand - and with a sudden realisation Lilith recognised the striking resemblance to herself in one of them - she saw a mother - possibly her own - walking with her upon her arm. Lilith felt warm tears sprout to her eyes - she never estimated just how moved she would be to see the woman who had raised her, a woman she had no memory of. And yet - this woman was not her blood mother, Lilith was certain of it. Why then, was the woman so incredibly similar to Lilith - so much so, that standing next to her, Lilith would look akin to a younger version of the woman. The woman was soothing the child - the young Lilith. Beside her was another woman - one with flowing blonde hair, similar to that of Caterina. She was pregnant - and within a moment Lilith realised - the child within her womb was the friend of her childhood days. The blonde woman turned to the other.

“What shall you name this child, Eve?” She asked.
“I shall name her Lilith,” Eve replied, “for she came to me within the night. Here she shall be safe - she will grow alongside the child you carry under your heart, and they shall care for each other.” Here she grew sad. “I only wish I could witness her grow. I have only known her for a moon - but I love her as though my own kin.”
“Do not lose hope, Eve.” The other woman smiled. “Perhaps we will find a way to stay beside our children.”
“Perhaps, Ada. Perhaps…” Eve looked wistfully at the clouds.

In a moment, the world was changed. The Valley appeared the same - but Lilith and Jane could feel the shift in time. The two women sat on the grass, the blonde holding in her arms a baby girl.
“What shall you call her, Ada?”
“Caterina.” Ada replied. The young version of Lilith cooed, crawling over to the young Caterina.
“Catty.” the little Lilith smiled , placing her little hands on the shoulders of Caterina, eyes large and loving. Ada and Eve laughed, and the scene changed once more.

It was now night. Ada and Eve stood over the two girls as they slept - they couldn’t have been older than five. Ada cried silently.
“Oh, must we truly leave them?” Ada asked. Eve hugged her companion.
"I understand your misery, Ada.” She soothed the woman, stroking her hair. “Alas, we both knew this day would come. They will be safe here, I promise.”
“I cannot leave them… I cannot…” Ada held back a hiccup. Eve looked over at the young Lilith, tears glinting in her eyes. All at once, an idea flashed in them, and she turned to her companion.
“I think…” she looked around herself, as though scared. She returned her gaze to Ada. “I think I have an idea. But know this - if we choose to stay this way, you will never again speak to your Caterina. You will only be able to watch her from afar.”
“It is better, I think, than not being able to watch her at all.” Ada said, feverishly. “Let us do it.” Eve nodded.

The two women shared one last hug, and went their separate ways. Lilith saw Ada walk into the river - the babbling brook, her River of Sorrows - and become one with it, dissolving into its waves. She saw Eve climb the little hill, stand firmly at its peak and whisper a gentle spell - she saw the valley grow small, into the clearing she remembered from my youth, the hills grow flat, the river grow small. After she was certain she did well, Eve closed her eyes, and became surrounded by a mysterious glow. She grew taller, her hair grew longer. Lilith realised with a gasp, that Eve had become that old Hawthorn - her closest companion through all those years of grief. As the dawn began to settle on the clearing from her youth, and Lilith blinked back the tears that threatened to form in her eyes, all became as it was in the present, and the past became memory once more.

Lilith turned to Jane. Jane nodded, taking Lilith’s hand. They took all they brought with themselves, and left quietly, as though unwanted visitors. Jane took the violin case from Lilith, feeling that it might be a burden now.
“I’m sorry,” Lilith said quietly.
“What for?” Jane tilted her head.
“I brought you out here, and we aren’t even closer to understanding anything.”
“That’s not true.” Jane smiled softly. “We know your mom is a tree.” Lilith laughed.
“Yeah, well.” She dried off her eyes on her hand. “We also know she isn’t my mother.”
“True.” Jane sighed. “You really are a conundrum, you know that?”
“I know.” Lilith smiled at Jane. They left the forest behind, turning back to the town they had come to call home.