As soon as they boarded off the train, Terry felt a thin, almost non-existent scent, very similar to that strange scent she felt before. This time it was everywhere, though, enveloping everything around, but she quickly got used to it.
Esztergom, though, was nice by itself. Small, lovely, with a narrows streets and the castle overseeing the city. Terry quickly felt herself at home, while Edith, it seemed, was a bit nervous. Emily, on the other hand, behaved like an experienced guest, and immediately led them somewhere uphill.
"You've been here already." Terry didn't ask, it was a statement. "Many times," Emily replied, looking forward and under the feet. "It's a nice place, but today we have a goal."
Castle grew up over them, when they got closer, and a scent became more prominent, but she was still yet to identify it. At the castle, she led them to the small, hidden door at the side and knocked at it.
"Emily." The man left a formal nod.
"Janosh." She nodded in reply. "Terry, Edith."
They all went deeper into the castle by the dimly lit stone corridor, until they finally ended in the cozy, spacious room, where they sat in the armchairs; Janosh remained standing.
"Janosh, we need Alexander. Or, better, Adelhaide."
"She is not here," said he with a shrug. "I'll find Alexander."
"No need, I'm already here." A new voice came from the door, and a tall man went into the room. Oh, wow. I feel myself a dwarf.
He was tall indeed, and even Emily with her 180 was probably a head shorter. More than that, he had a deep, extremely perceptible voice. Terry noted how Emily and Alexander quickly glanced at each other, she looked at Edith and realized that she also picked it up.
"We need Adelhaide. You have my report," Emily decided to cut to the chase.
"The situation is...complex," he agreed, "but you know her. She is windy, today she is here and tomorrow she is in Mexico or wherever else." He told it with a good grace. "I already sent a signal. It will take time, though."
"How long, do you recon?"
Terry and Edith were glancing between Alexander and Emily.
"Month. Maybe more. She is in Spain, but she is deep in her," he grimaced for an instant, "retreat."
"You're not helping." She shrugged. "Whatever. Could have a call instead."
"That's rude of you, Emily." He, it seemed to Terry, became a little angry. "That's..." He stopped short. "My apologies, ladies. We got carried away. Emily, we'll talk later, if you don't mind."
"If you say so," shrugged she again.
"While we're on these rails, why it's so long for Adelhaide to return?" With the childish curiosity asked Edith, Terry endorsed. Emily and Alexander exchanged glances again. "Tell 'em, Alexander."
Adelhaide wasn't just an ordinary witch, and while it was expected, the next piece shocked them. "She is immortal. It might sound beyond belief, but it's true. She was born centuries ago. She died many times, but she is always returning." Alexander was dead serious. "On my memory, it happened twice."
"That's interesting, but still, why—"
"Because," Alexander picked her question right in the middle, "she is old. Centuries are putting pressure on her. To maintain sanity, she had to make a sort of retreat, when she is blocking her memory and just living a usual life somewhere else. When we need her, we have a way to pull her out, but it takes time."
"Miles better than insanity," said Edith slowly, "yeah. I see now."
"Good catch." Alexander told it with an approval. "Edith...right? The library at your service, if you'd like. Maybe you find something that helps you." Edith shook her head. "Tomorrow perhaps, but thanks for the offer."
"Any more questions?"
"Why y'all are here and not in Budapest?" Terry was tormented by the question for a long while until this moment. Edith stared at her, clearly surprised that it didn't occur to her herself.
"Esztergom is a place of power," simply answered Alexander. "Not Budapest. Esztergom is a fulcrum, if you will. It's a complicated topic, and I'm afraid that only Adelhaide herself understands that deep enough."
Terry shrugged. "Explanation as good as any other, that works to me."
***
Terry asked if anybody knows where mermaids are living in Esztergom, but to her surprise, everything had been even easier — Janosh casually said that he will arrange everything. "If she is here, we will find her, that's not even a complication". If it's not a complication, then what is, wondered Terry, recalling the proverb: go find a mermaid in a sea.
Until that, anyway, Terry and Edith were sitting in the room they were settled in. Janosh didn't bat an eyelid, when they said in one voice that they would like to live in one room. It seemed that he couldn't be surprised at all.
Edith was sitting on the bed, silent, deep in her thoughts. Terry was standing and looking out into the window. Daylight began to die, and the sky started firing in all the accents of red and orange, tiny threads of clouds were clogged at the horizon and above like slices of jelly. She glanced back.
Did she get what she wanted? She didn't ask a thing about...events of the past.
"What do you think to do?" Edith asked out of the blue. "You mean, today? I would like to see Clara, if it's possible. Then we will sleep, I guess. Tomorrow? I dunno, if you want to see the library, I can go with you."
"No, not today. More generally?" She stood up and moved closer, bumped shoulder to shoulder, looked into the window as well. "Do you know who you want to be?"
Terry was about to shrug, but stopped, unwilling to bother her with her movement. "I'm a fairy. It's—"
"Yeah, but it's not a life's work." Edith interrupted her with a bitter in her voice. "I'm a witch and it's a constant. I can't stop being a witch, even if I stop studying. You know what? Don't laugh." Terry nodded, glanced sideways at her. "When I was a young teen, I wanted to be a sailor. I thought, I will be the first sailor witch."
Terry couldn't hold a smile. "Well, it's a good life goal, innit?"
"Yeah. Maybe. But later I understood what I wanted in real. I wanted to be a traveler. Like, never live in one place, week here, month there, y'know." Terry understood her very well.
"But even more later — no later than a day ago — I understood another thing. I also want to have a home. Travel is interesting, but I want a place I can return to. And," she blushed, but it was almost unnoticeable in a red light of the dusk, "someone to return to."
Terry was silent. For the first time, she couldn't find a word to say. Does she talk about us? Edith sighed. "Since I started to confess, may I make another one?"
"You don't have to ask. I will listen to anything you will say, ever." Terry tried to say it with a serious tone, and, it seemed to her, succeeded.
"When I saw you in your house doing errands," started she, "I was absolutely adored. You were looking lovely already to me, but it was nothing in comparison. You were like..." she hesitated for a second, trying to find a word, "...like a centerpiece, no, not like this. Like your house is a small piece of very your world, and you're a soul of this world. Eh. I can't speak in beautiful sentences."
"No," said Terry slowly, with a smile, "I think you're doing great. It was...magnificent. Thank you. I think you need to write books." Edith thought deeply. "You think? I've never thought about that. Maybe I will try one day. Life is long when you're young."
This simple thought hit her like a baseball bat. Life is long, but it ends, or worse, ends someone's else life when you expect that the least.
Her eyes, for absolute sudden, stung. It was...not the sadness per se, more like a touch of imminent doom, so sudden and sharp that she didn't even understand why and how that just emerged. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Edith got instantly alarmed, but Terry shook her head and just snuggled up to her.
"I just thought about Adelhaide," she told a bit later, calmed down, "how sorrowful it is to live centuries over centuries, bury loved ones over and over again. No wonder that she decided to live in absolute denial." She sighed. "And on the other hand, I'm afraid that this moment will arrive again. The moment when I will have to let someone go."
Edith glanced at her seriously. "Who knows. Witches live longer than normal human beings. I mean, ordinary, and I'm definitely the ordinary one." She caught a breath. "I can't promise that I will outlive you. But at least I can promise that I will never leave you, if you don't want me to leave you."
"Do you know how fairies die?" Terry asked her suddenly, still sniffling. Edith simply stared.
"I guess it's a no. Each fairy knows when her time is over, and just disappears. I sometimes think that maybe they just went traveling and never returned or something like that. But they know, when it is close — their doom." Terry suddenly became excited, her eyes were lit. "Might be they are just become a leaves rattle and spring wind, a creek murmur, a chime of bells of the Chinese caff?"
She paused for a moment, taking her thoughts together.
"Step on, in never-ending dance, let leafs and wind to carry you forever, and only memory of thou to left behind. It's a traditional farewell for a gone fairy. I think they know something. I don't know why I'm telling you all this, maybe I just need to vent."
"I will listen to anything you will say." Edith looked into her eyes. "Ever."
***
When they got out of the room, Emily was here waiting for them, she waved her head invitingly. "Apparently, they have a freakin' meeting room for that case." Only having gone downstairs, they understood what she was about.
The room was looked just like a meeting room in the office of a sort, but only by half — the other half was made of a pool, full of river water, and in the pool, lounging on the stones, was Clara.
"Damn, girl," exclaimed she as they went into the room, "we indeed agreed to have a meet here, but not that way!"
"Clara, I'm so glad you're here!" yelled Terry, taking off her sneakers and rolling up her pants. She jumped into the water mindlessly and they hugged.
Edith was looking at that with some degree of jealousy. "I can leave you two alone," proposed she.
"Don't be silly." Terry frowned, staring at her, Clara was looking at them with curiosity. "You two have a spark between, aren't you?" Edith and Terry both embarrassed.
...
"Oh, Clara. It was only a day, and it was already a hella lot of things." Terry sat on the edge, leaving her feet in the water. "Come on," she glanced back at Edith, "come sit with us."
Clara grinned. "I'm not biting, as long as you're not the fish!"
They laughed, and the atmosphere instantly became way more friendly. A minute later, Edith was sitting on the edge, swinging legs and lively depicting their adventures along with Terry.
"Well, that's a lot packed in one day indeed," said Clara, when they finished their story. "What are you going to do now?"
"I have no idea," admitted Terry. "I think we will return to Budapest, and... I dunno, just wait? Maybe Emily will be able to find something." She didn't notice the shadow flashed across Edith's face on her words.
They chatted for an hour and could chat more, when Terry noted that Edith was yawning almost frantically. "I think we have to sail out," she said and grabbed Edith's hand, "sleepers gonna sleep. So long, hope to see you again in Budapest."
"You two, take care!"
***
Edith was laying on the bed and staring at the ceiling without a blink.
"Are you okay?" Terry looked into her face with a concern, but she didn't answer for a couple of minutes.
"Do you think we did everything we could?" she finally said, still looking upwards, "do you think we should just sit and wait?"
That's what you are concerned about.
"I don't know." Terry decided to be honest. Always be honest, it's a better strategy in the most cases. "I think we can do a quick sweep over the library tomorrow, but generally yes, we can only wait. If you don't have any more clues, of course."
"I don't. Sorry. I'm just feeling useless. I know, it's stupid, but I can't help but minding silly shit." Terry already noted that Edith was starting to curse when she was out of the balance. Oh, girl.
"I think the best idea is to take a counsel of your pillow. Really. It was a damn long day."
Edith turned on the side with a grunt, looked at her. "Tell me a tale?"
"And so the second night begins. Only nine hundred and ninety-nine nights more, and I will be free like a bird in the sky." Terry giggled. "Damn, girl. I had a long day as well."
Edith made big eyes, staring at her.
"Whatever." Terry had laid on the side as well, and now they were laying face to face in the darkness.
"Once upon a time, a one young witch lived on the top of the hill. But she would rather not be just a witch on the hill. No, she won't, but she didn't know what exactly she wants."
Edith was laying and just staring, but at the last words, something new appeared in her eyes.
"One day, she grabbed all her stuff, put on a hat and just went wherever sees an eye. Long or short, she came to the sea, and she felt in love with the sea. Now, she knew what she wanted. She wanted to be a sailor."
Edith smiled happily.
"But, she didn't know where to start. Is there a school for sailors? Will they accept witches? So many questions, so no answers."
Terry saw that Edith closed her eyes and heard that her breathing is slowing. She toned her voice down.
"And then she thought: it's an evening time, the sun is going down, maybe I just take a sleep and think about it later. That's what she did."
Terry quietly caught a breath.
"And the witch became a sailor. She sailed the far lands, she visited America and Greenland, she reached Istanbul and Japan. But finally, she returned to the hill she left a long ago because it was a time to return home."
Edith smiled through the nap, and Terry closed her eyes. The tale was almost ended anyway.
And when she returned home, she met a lovely fairy, and asked her out. And their home was the happiest place ever since.