Page 87 of Fae Tithe

“That would be wonderful, thank you.” Helena gave his hand a tight squeeze. “Weren’t you supposed to be back by now?”

“Yes,” Lance replied. “But please, don’t worry about that right now. I will deal with it when I get back. I’ll have to return to Nautilus quite soon after we get to Majora, but I’ll come back to you quickly.”

“I know you will,” she said, “I had a similar idea, by the way, with research. I want to read more, learn more. See if I can help El and Atlas. I’ll start at the library on the island.”

They lay back, hand in hand, fingers intertwined. They stared up at the stars together, as Eleanor still slept a short distance away, snoring lightly next to her horse.

Len! Oh, Len. The stars are beautiful. I do not remember there being so many before. I have missed spreading my wings beneath them. Atlas looked excitedly through Helena’s eye. She felt a flower of his delight blooming in her chest, peering up at the shimmering constellations above them in the inky black sky.

Over the next four days, the family soon fell into an easy routine of travel and camping. Helena was more wakeful, and she found she could not stay the whole day in the back of the bumpy cart. By each mid-afternoon, painful spasms would plague her, her skin writhing with burns. Lance, ignoring Helena’s irritable protests at being able to continue, would stop them for the day. He would take charge, making sure the three of them were washed and fed, before turning his healing touch to Helena.

By the fifth day, excitement bloomed within her, as she smelt the salt tang of the coast and raised her eyes to the fat gulls squawking overhead.

“Look!” Lance called over his shoulder from the driver’s seat. “Portson!” A wide grin split his face.

Helena and Eleanor, snuggled in the back of the cart amongst their belongings, gave a unified cheer.

They avoided going through the city, instead following the fork in the road that took them away from the beige behemoth. Portson had not changed in the family’s absence. It still stood proudly on the estuary of the Sol, the blue provincial banners billowing on the ramparts.

Eleanor had been quizzing Atlas on all the questions she could think of as she sat next to her mother. Helena felt him preen under all the attention. The more her daughter and the Dragon spoke, Atlas speaking through Helena, the more she realised that great swathes of his memory were gone. She understood Atlas even more at that realisation. Helena’s memories of her later teenage years and early twenties were fragmented at best. She knew that to protect his mind from breaking, Atlas had instead forgotten.

“What do you know about Changelings?” Eleanor asked him, after firing off multiple questions in a row.

Tell your daughter that what has happened to her is not in the scope of my experience, Atlas replied, and Helena repeated aloud. I am very sorry for her though.

Eleanor’s lips tugged downwards, but she moved on to another question. “Tell me about the land you flew from, before you got lost? I always knew there was something beyond the Faerie Isles. There had to be.”

“His home is called Tierra. It is a continent, and much like the land that makes up Carnglaze in size. It is hotter there and the vegetation is thicker. He says the trees are taller than mountains and it rains every day,” Helena answered for the Dragon.

“Carnglaze?” Eleanor asked.

“The true name of this continent, before it was divided into Seelieland and Unseelieland,” she relayed for Atlas.

“I didn’t know that.” A dreamy look passed over the Changeling’s face. “Maybe I could map it,” she said brightly. “Map Tierra… we could find it, Mum! Maybe find Atlas’s family?”

Helena closed her eyes, and plucked at the fractured pieces of the Dragon’s memory as he opened them up to her. She grasped at the information she sought. “Dragons do live a very, very long time, but Atlas was in Muspelheim for tens of thousands of years. His family probably died a long time ago,” she explained gently.

Helena reached with her scaled fingers to try to comfort Eleanor. She squeezed the grey scar she had accidentally left on her daughter’s wrist. She felt a stab of guilt in her chest at leaving that mark in her last moments, before Lance had brought her back. Helena had no idea what it was, and neither did Atlas.

“Oh…” Eleanor said, and her shoulders dropped.

“That doesn’t mean you still couldn’t go—”

Helena grunted as she braced against a large bump of the cart, a grimace passing over her face.

“Sorry!” Lance called out brightly from the front. “I’m not as good at this as El.”

Helena rolled her eyes at the back of his head before turning her attention back to her daughter. She removed her hand from Eleanor’s wrist and cupped her chin, tilting her face upwards. She was very careful not to scratch Eleanor with her claws. Helena inwardly cursed herself. Of course she had to be left-handed, and it was her left arm that was marked with scales!

“You could still go. Even if it doesn’t help someone, all I ever wanted for you was for you to be able to follow your dreams,” Helena said softly, her gaze meeting her daughter’s. “You can do anything you want.”

“How, Mum?” Eleanor sniffed, tears silvering in the corner of her eyes. “Look at me.” She gestured to herself.

Helena nodded, tapping a finger just beneath her fiery eye with her free hand. “I understand, believe me. We will figure it out. A way to turn you back, and if there’s not a way, I’ll help any way I can, so you feel more comfortable in your body. I’m here for you, and so is Lance. Once we are home, Rose and the boys, especially, will understand.”

More tears ran down her daughter’s cheeks. Helena leant forward and tugged Eleanor into a hug as she shuddered out a sob. Helena knew she had been so brave. She was glad her daughter was finally letting it all out. Tears soaked through Helena’s sweaty shirt as Eleanor wept into it.

Eventually, the Changeling pulled back from her mother’s hug and sniffled, red-faced. Helena awkwardly shifted in the cart, hissing through her teeth as she pulled at her tender, healing skin. She leant over to haul out a water bag, handing it to Eleanor, who uncorked it and guzzled some water.