I'm back, Baby!

Sorry it's been so long. Real life has been crazy lately. From getting a new, busier job to preparing for my brother's major surgery (getting a hip replaced in his thirties), and then this pandemic (which coincidentally got my brother's surgery postponed making all that prep worthless), things haven't slowed down enough for me to get much done. It took much longer than I intended to get on a new chapter and then I kept changing it, never quite satisfied.

Ah, I missed writing. Seems all I do lately is make phone calls. My job has me contacting our 700+ clients and explaining our new telehealth functions so that no one has to physically come into the office. It's a LOT of work. But I count myself fortunate that I was able to keep my job during all the shut downs and stay at home orders. My heart goes out the essential workers and their families. You weren't giving a choice in the sacrifices you are making for everyone and I worry deeply about your safety. I also am keeping all those out of work in my thoughts; I hope things improve for you soon.

So hopefully everyone hasn't forgotten where we stand in the current plot after my long absence. Basically Severus and Lupin were given a hint by the Room of Requirement to look for Nagini, that job was given to Sim and Thea much to the former's frustration, there was plotless sexy times between Sev and Lily and...that's what we have so far. So here's a continuation of the plot.

If Someone Cared Enough

Chapter 140: Into the Woods

Albania wouldn't have been Simone's first choice of location to search for Severus and Dumbledore's snake woman. It was cold and bleak in the winter months, and the locals were far from friendly to visitors after a recent run in with a werewolf. Apparently prone to dastardly predilections even in human form; he'd come to the local villages under the guise of a traveling handyman in order to gain access to people's homes for odd jobs. Wagging tongues at the local pub alleged that he'd acquired intimate knowledge of his targets' homes, the easiest ways in, and then 'marked' them with his urine.

On the night of the full moon, his transformed self would be lured back to his targets by his scent, oftentimes left just outside a door that didn't latch, or a window never locked. By morning, there would be cries of anguish echoing through the town as neighbors would stumble across the bloody scene. It took five full moons before the villagers finally pieced together the connection between the drifter and the murders and did away with him.

So Simone would have rather been elsewhere instead of sitting in a run down, smoky bar being given the stink eye by suspicious locals. Unfortunately, Thea's powers sort of overruled her preferences.

The first time Thea had dropped a geographical book during their research and it opened to a page on Albania, they two of them had been more than ready to brush it off as nothing significant. To be fair, it was far less dramatic or flashy as sign than Thea's Serendipity had sent them before. They were used to wands going off unprompted and blowing open secret passages, a domino effect of falling objects creating a path to an overlook book of spells or a painting falling off the wall to reveal a treasure map hidden in the frame. A book falling open to a random page was hardy an obvious and undeniable sign from the beyond.

But then further signs compounded on each other. The trinket Thea became enamored with at the market was hand signed by the maker as being made in Albania. A letter meant for their goblin neighbor and delivered to them by mistake had an Albanian town in the return address. An antique globe Thea bumped off the bookshelf of their study shattered to a multitude of bits and yet the segment Albania was on remained miraculously intact. Even Thea's scrabble pieces on game night spelled out Albania, for Merlin's sake!

When the wine glass Thea accidentally spilled across a map Simone had out ended up staining only an Albanian forest and mountain ranges, they couldn't ignore it anymore.

"We couldn't have stayed in a nicer inn?" Simone asked—she'd deny it with her final breath if anyone accused her of whining, "I can't say I feel very welcome here."

"Can you blame them?" Thea asked, trying to show her petulant wife some patience, "At least thirteen different families were mauled to death in their sleep over the past few months. They're wary of strangers."

Simone huffed, "If they're so worried, I'll stripped down and show them there isn't a bite mark on my entire body. Would that make them feel less ill at ease?" She spared one distrustful old man a harsh glare.

Thea sighed, "I know how prejudice bothers you, but it isn't really their fault that a magical being's actions left them traumatized. He's the one who used his curse to intentionally do bad things."

She reached across the table and took Simone's hand in her own, "It's a mostly muggle village. They've been pretty easy going with magical happenings in the past, but you can't blame them for losing trust after what happened. They saw friends and neighbors—entire families—torn to shreds. Once bitten; twice shy as the saying goes. It will take some time for them to warm up to us."

Simone pursed her lips, staring sulkily down into her beer mug. She never saw herself as being one of those stuck up rich brats who demanded the finest in life but come on! The wizened bartender was practically serving swill.

"Doesn't mean they need to stare so much," she muttered, managing to swallow down a mouthful with without pulling a face.

Thea caressed Simone's hand with her own, "This isn't Johannesburg. No one's going to do anything to you."

"Besides, I see some welcoming faces," she continued brightly, gesturing to a figure approaching their table with a broad smile on their face.

The woman was young and unusually short, with big hands and even bigger feet concealed within ornate leather boots. Her rather pointed face was spread into a smile that was all teeth; surprisingly pointed teeth at that. Her ears could pass for average, human ears if not for the subtle point at the ends and their overall large size, her lobes stretched by the weight of heavy gold bauble earrings and earcuffs. Her eyes, deep set in her head and inky black, crinkled at the edges as her grin broadened.

Despite Simone's long acquaintance with Goblins, she rarely saw those of mixed Goblin lineage—Flitwork being the exception—so it still caught her off guard every time, especially when it was clear the strong genetics of Goblin blood had been diluted after several generations of humans being through in the mix.

"My friends!" the woman crowed, sweeping her arms out wide. The bangles around her thin, bony wrists jangled loudly beneath the colorful embroidered shawl draped over her shoulders, "So good to see you! How was your travel through the storm?"

Simone accepted the woman's enthusiastic embrace with a hesitant glance at Thea for reassurance. Their contact had set them up with a distant relative of old Gritstone, the clan leader who took them in as his own. His great, great, great niece purportedly had a granddaughter from her half goblin son's union to an Albania witch and Travler.

"I'm Rooknell," the woman greeted softly, releasing Simone.

Simone nodded, "Granddaughter of Gritstone's thrice great niece, I take it?"

Rooknell chuckled, "Close, I'm the granddaughter's daughter. Not even a third goblin in me. It's why I'm so tall!" She swept her hands out with a flourish, as though finding her four foot stature to be statuesque.

"My mother is with cart outside," Rooknell said after hugging Thea, "You will stay with us tonight. The ritual is best done away from muggle eyes.

It made sense why Rooknell was sent to fetch them. In a village familiar with, but still not quite welcoming to magic, an obvious Goblin woman would probably raise a few brows if not a few suspicions. Rooknell, while bearing some odd features for human standards still blended in easily enough, allowing her the privilege to come and go as she pleases as one of their own. Clearly she had been sent to welcome Simone and Thea as friends so as not to rouse the villagers suspicion.

"I'm still not entirely sure the purpose of this 'ritual'," Simone confessed quietly as they sidled out of the pub after throwing a handful of coins on the table.

Rooknell turned to Simone, her brightly colored patchwork skirt swishing. She took Simone gently by the arm, "You're venturing into cursed woods, Sister-kin; you'll need more than your wand to protect you out there."

Sister-kin was a title Simone had taken some getting used to when she and Thea were first inducted into the Gritstone Clan. Most Goblins within the community where they lived called them by name quite freely. But their clan all addressed each other by titles of familiar bonds. Sister-kin, Brother-kin, your elders were Father-kin and Mother-kin. The children of your siblings were Sister-son, Brother-son and so on and so forth. It stated to others that you were a valued member of the clan, that a slight against you was a slight against all and would be dealt with without impunity.

It matter not how distant the relation to one another was, nor if you were related by blood at all. Clan bonds were all encompassing; ever lasting.

It would explain the warmth with which the tiny, old woman waiting in the snow outside greeted them.

"On behalf of my Gritstone kin, I happily receive you," the old woman said with an aged wheeze, reaching up to clasp Simone by the forearms.

She barely came up to Simone's stomach; this must be the child born to the half-goblin Gristone spoke of, mothered by a witch of this lonesome village. It made sense why Rooknell was only two heads shorter than Simone; she was of far less Goblin blood than her mum. Though only a third Goblin, the aged woman featured prominent Goblin features in her appearance, from her sharp remaining teeth and her oversized hands and dagger like fingernails.

"I am Brodna," the old woman greeted, "My family has been expecting you. Come, it will be dark soon and it is not wise to travel at night."

She waved them onto the cart, Simone and Thea taking refuge from the cold within the cover back. It was reminiscent of a caravan cart used by travels, leading Simone to wonder if this sect of Gristone's claim was formerly nomadic.

Brodna was helped up into the front seat by Rooknell, the latter taking up the reigns and clicking her tongue to rouse the two sets of small Albanian Horses who'd been lazily grazing on some sparse tufts of grass peaking through the snow. With a short gruff command in Gobbledegook from Rooknell, the horses set off at a brisk pace through the snow and frost.

Simone was more than a little surprised when tiny, frail Brodna reach into a compartment just behind her seat and produced a small crossbow.

"Wolves have been spotted 'round here recently," Rooknell explained with a grin of amusement at Simone's evident shock, "Albanian horses are smaller than other breeds; easy prey for the packs. Best to be wary when traveling at sunset."

Thea and Simone continued to stare in open mouthed shock as petite, old Brodna skillfully loaded a bolt into the crossbow and pointed it watchfully into the surrounding woods. As if magically glued to the seat, she stayed impeccably still despite the bumpy, uneven ride.

"Does she know how to use that thing?" Simone asked warily, ignoring the disapproving shush from Thea at her rude question. She stood by it; Brodna was hardly the type she'd expect to wield a weapon with any sort of know how. She looked the grandmotherly type often found knitting a sweater or cozy blanket.

Rooknell let out a bark of laughter and smiled, all teeth, "She's the best at it there is. Who do you think fought off the Shtriga in 1899?"

"She's been around that long?" Simone hissed in a whisper to Thea, eyes wide in amazement.

Thea rolled her eyes, bemused, "Well her father is a Goblin."

"Only half," Rooknell said with an impish grin, "But you only need a drop of Goblin blood to make a fighter out of you, as the saying goes."

A howl sounded somewhere off in the distance. With marksman precision, Brodna fired into the woods to their left. The bolt whistled through the air into the twilight, growing fainter until nothing could be heard at all. Then a yelp split the air; not one of pain, just fright.

Rooknell laughed again, "Mother avoids killing them if she can help it; they are useful for keeping the deer population balanced. She just knicks them; let's 'em know we mean business."

Simone and Thea could on gape at each other.

The rest of the ride was rather uneventful, the density of the forest thinning as they overtook a bridge running over a mostly frozen river. The reprieve from the woodsy darkness short lived before they left the bank of the river and the forest consumed them once again.

They eventually came into a small clearing, just wide enough to contain a quaint cottage and a set of caravan carts much like they one in which they rode. Firelight spilled out from the windows, illuminating the snow in large patches and smoke billowed out of the chimney.

Shadows moved about inside the house, one pausing in the front window. The shadow moved away all too soon and then the front door opening, letting more light flood out into the darkening clearing.

An old Goblin man stood in the doorway, clad in a thick woolen sweater and patchwork pants. A sheepskin vest hung off his shoulders and in his arms he held a baby swaddled in a blanket.

A smile creased his wrinkled face, "Just in time. Angott was getting fussy."

Rooknell tutted as she slid from the rider's seat, "Only because she knows she can get away with it with you lot spoiling her."

She helped her mother out of the cart and gestured to Simone and Thea before walking up the cottage steps. Taking the wriggling infant from the man's arms, she kissed him on his wrinkled cheek, "Thanks for watching her."

"Happy to do it," the old man replied back before turning his attention to their guests.

He was shorter than even Brodna, far more similar to the Goblin's Simone knew and met in life. While baring a kind smile, he carried the strong traits half- Goblins like Professor Flitwick bore; the diminutive status complete with almost elven-like features, pointed ears and sharp, astute eyes.

"Adnott," he introduced himself, holding out his hand, "My great, great, great, great granduncle arranged this meet up."

Thea nodded, shaking Adnott's hand cordially, "Yes, Gritstone. He's a good man. Glad to call him kin."

"And I see you've already met my daughter and granddaughter," Adnott stated, gesturing to Brodna and Rooknell in turn.

Simone took in Brodna and Adnott's equally aged features, "Sort of hard to believe."

Adnott chuckled, sensing Simone's confusion, "Half Goblin's age a tad slower than those who are a third Goblin, child. My daughter chased after me into her golden years, I'm afraid, and she'll look far older than me by the end of the next twenty years."

Brodna sniffed, "Still capable of boxing your ears, old man."

Rooknell chortled, "Then she had me later in life so that she wouldn't outlive me. Now, let's get inside, before we freeze."

She jostled the infant in her arms as she ushered everyone in, the tiny being scrunching her face up and gurgling her displeasure.

Once inside, Adnott and headed off to another room, saying something about fetching his mother while Brodna took their visitors' cloaks.

Simone took the time to look around. The cottage was well furnished inside, with brightly colored and richly patterned blankets and tapestries over nearly every surface. Ornamental weapons hung from the walls alongside framed needlepoint and every shelf laden with books or trinkets that shined and shimmered. Shells and colored glass hung as wind chimes from random corners or in front of window panes, most likely to catch the wind and sun and bathed the abode in tranquil lights and colors in the warmer seasons.

The hearth was lit and glowing with a crackling fire, chasing the chill out of Simone's bones. Hanging from a hook within the fireplace, a cast iron pot bubbled quietly, filling the room wit a fragrant, flower scent for some reason.

Just through the doorway on the far side of the room, Simone could see a pot simmering on the stove, the faint scent of stew wafting in under the flowery aroma in the main room.

A burble caught Simone's attention drawing her eyes to the child in Rooknell's arms.

Angott stared up at Simone in infantile curiosity, large wide eyes a stunning, unblinking periwinkle blue. Her little nose was delicate and small, almost nonexistent. Her fae-like, porcelain features enchanted Simone, like looking at an expensive doll she once had as a little girl.

Rooknell smiled proudly when she caught Simone's gaze.

"Father's a water nymph," she explained with pride, "Met him during my travels in Ireland not too long ago. A sailor that one; probably half way to Timbuktu by now with his latest journey."

"You're not together?" Simone questioned.

Rooknell shook her head with a careless shrug, "Not really the settling down type. Angott was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. Might have a few more young ones somewhere down the line, but I doubt you'll ever catch me going down the aisle to any kind of altar."

"Your mother never married either," Adnott said with fond bemusement as he strode back into the room, "Ragnok only knows who's your father."

Brodna huffed, "Just be glad I gave you a grandchild at all."

"Believe me I am," Adnott admitted, "Lord only knows how much your mother and I worried you wouldn't give us any."

He sighed, wistful, "She went too soon, human's lives are so fleeting."

Adnott coughed, changing the subject before he got too morose, "Anyway, I should probably go find-"

A small cough sounded somewhere near Simone's elbow. She looked down and nearly had a heart attack to find a tiny, frail old woman standing beside her.

"Merlin's fishnet stockings!" Simone exclaimed, clutching her chest.

"Ah, there you are, Mother," Adnott said happily, "allow me to introduce my mother, Brunraff."

If Adnott and Brodna were old, Brunraff was ancient. Face wrinkled and lined so heavily, weathered so much by the years, she looked like she could turn to dust at a moments notice. The shortest of anyone in the room—sans the infant—her lack of height was the combined mix of being full blooded Goblin and her old bones making her hunch in on herself, her fragile frame held up only by the crooked, carved walking stick she held.

Brunraff regarded Simone and Thea with small, squinted eyes, the misty film over them making Simone wondering if the woman could actually see them at all.

After a moment of quiet, intense scrutiny, Brunraff huffed out something in hoarse, raspy Gobbledegook.

"She welcomes you to our home," Rooknell translated helpfully.

Simone appreciated the assistance. While she was technically considered a member of Gritstone's clan, she'd yet to learn much in their language besides the most basic of phrases for greetings and idle market chit chat. It still felt like an invasion of her friends' culture to learn a language they kept so close to heart and secret. They generally only offered to teach it to those who married Goblins. There were wizards outside of marriage ties that knew it, many for work in banking and other such Goblin-run establishments, but it wasn't something they had been readily invited to learn so much as something they took upon themselves to be taught.

Thea had far more mastery at this point in Gobbledegook than Simone, having had an easier time accepting Gritstone's assurance that what was his was theirs, including words.

Brunraff uttered something else in her gruff, clipped manner.

"Oh," Rooknell exclaimed clapping her hands once, "She wants to get started now. Guess you'll all have to wait on supper."

"I'm still not clear on what it is we're doing," Simone said as she allowed herself to be ushered along with Thea further into the cottage.

Rooknell cocked a brow in amusement, "Ancient Uncle Gritstone didn't tell you? Pfft, the man always did like to be cryptic."

Passing Angott off to Adnott once again with instructions to put the little one to bed, Rooknell fixed Simone with stern look.

"You two are going into the Cursed Forest," she said seriously, pointing at the pair of witches, "There's a reason everyone sticks to the path; few who stray ever return. And if they do, they're no longer who they were before; they change, and it isn't a change for the better."

"The one you seek live deep within the forest," Rooknell went on, "None of the visitors know she's out there; any who were around when she first arrived have long since passed or forgotten and her existence has been lost to legend."

Rooknell came to a darkened room, stopping just outside the door to look at Simone and Thea as Brunraff walked inside.

"There's a darkness in theses woods," Rooknell stated, "It warps, it taints. Whatever doubt or dark lies within your hearts must be dealt with now before you enter, else it will be used to consume you."

Brunraff peered out of the room's inky blackness, her eyes somehow almost glowing in the darkness.

"Okkalomesi," she spoke lowly and suddenly the room flickered into light cast from dozens of candles.

The center of the room sunk into a large stone tub, several floating candles in it causing ripples on and off in the water. Nearby sat a small, low table containing an odd assortment of items, among them a set of several little crystal bowls, no bigger than a votive holder.

Brunraff directed Rooknell and Brodna to separate ends of the table besides which sat two incense burners. Moving in unison, the two women snappped their fingers, a flame flickering to life on the tip of their thumbs.

As if not feeling the burn they slowly and still in unison brought their lit fingers to the tips of several sticks protruding from the burners. They held their hands there for a moment or two until the sticks glowed hot and red at the ends, before pulling their hands away and bending down to blow the flame out. A wisp of smoke danced up into the air from both burners as they did.

An earthy, slightly fruity smell filled the air, laced with a hint of spice, and all at once Simone found herself relaxing.

"Dquemjomcimri," Brunraff told them, speaking a series of consonants and vowels that should have been near impossible to pronounce in that order.

"Frankincense," Rooknell clarified for the two witches.

Brodna shushed her, "Do not interrupt, get them into the water."

Without another word, Brodna grabbed hold of Simone's arm and pulled her over to the tub, already working on sliding Simone's outer shirt off her shoulders.

If Simone had not already experienced a ceremonial anointment prior to her wedding to Thea, she would have been far more alarmed and shocked by the Goblin woman's actions. As it were she was only mildly surprised.

"I guess we have to take a bath?" she hazard a guess to Thea, side eyeing her wife as the other was also undressed.

This time it was she who was shushed by Brodna.

"Hush," the older woman said, "Get into the robes."

What constituted as robes was really a set of nearly see through, floor length shawls that clasped around their collarbones and then hung open down the front, providing very little modesty. As soon as both girls clad in the sheer material, they were shepherded into the warm water.

"Come sit," Rooknell instructed, walking around to the opposite side of the tub and kneeling down to pat the rim, "Your backs against the wall of the tub, please."

Sim and Thea did as they were told, sinking into the water with their backs to Brodna and Rooknell. They had no sooner sunk into the water up to their shoulders when their heads were gently grabbed from behind and pulled and tipped up so they were looking at the ceiling.

Brunraff picked up two large quartz shards from the table, almost the size of her hands, and placed one on either side of the two, set into deep circular grooves in the stone. Then she looked at Brodna and Rooknell in turn and nodded.

"This is water drawn from a lake struck by lightning," Rooknell said, presenting an urn containing flowery smelling liquids, "Mixed with oil made from graveyard lavendar and a phoenix's ashes. Very powerful stuff."

"But what does it do?" Simone tried to ask, turning towards Rooknell. Instead of an answer she was pulled back into position at the edge of the tub by Brodna as Rooknell poured the concoction into the water.

Carefully, the two goblin women gathered the girls' hair up at the nape of their necks and fanned it out over the rim of the sunken tub. Lathering so oil on their hands, they delicately carding their fingers through the girls' hair and trailed up to their scalps, massaging the pads of their fingers into the skin. For a few minutes the only sound was the soft scritching of their fingers through silky locks.

Simone almost felt herself falling asleep, but a rustling pulled her from her near slumber. She opened her eyes to find Brunraff standing over the far end of the tub, staring at them.

"Siequr ud sgi vokkuv squii..." she incanted, dangling a branch of something over the water and letting it drip sap into the water, "dekkim um i dakk luum, naquodx sgiri tirrikr..."

Crossing over to Simone, she brushed the branch over the girl's face. She reached into the water and pulled out one of Simone's arms, then the other, trailing the branch over each of them. After touching the branch to Simone's chest, she rubbed the sap into every part she had touched, "emuoms sgil om xuaqu irrimci..."

She went over to Thea and repeated her movements and chants.

"Emuoms sgil," she barked at her grandchild and great grandchild.

Rooknell and Brodna withdrew their hands from the hair their were cleaning and each picked up a vase. Echoing Brunraff's words in barely more than a whisper, they poured oil over Sim and Thea's heads.

"Deep breath," Rooknell said quietly. That was the only warning either girl got before hands clamped down on their shoulders and pushed them down below the water.

It was over as soon as it began, both witches being dragged back to the surface.

Brunraff looked over the sputtering girls approvingly before gesturing two her family.

"Ckiemri sgil" she said.

Trading places with Rooknell and Brodna, Brunraff took up position by Sim and Thea's heads while the goblin women came to the steps leading into the tub. Unmindful of their clothes, the pair toed off their shoes and walked into the water, staying in the shallow end where they could kneel.

Grabbing each girl by a foot, Rooknell and Brodna began massaging and scrubbing at the legs first, rubbing the oils into the skin firmly, working the muscles with their thumbs. It was a soothing process, the quiet of the room and the light lapping of the water relaxing every bone in their body.

"So what exactly is this for?" Simone asked sleepily, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"We're drawing out the impurities," Rooknell explained, quietly so as not to disturb Brunraff's trance like chanting, "We take on much darkness in our lives, even if we live as good people. Negative thoughts, bad experiences, they cling to us like sludge and seep into our souls. It's what the forest preys on, why it's so good at claiming innocent souls; everyone carries some dark within them."

Brodna produced a clay pot and a wide bristled brush like the ones used for painting a room. Dipping the brush into the pot, she moved closer to Simone and Thea, showing them that it contained a thick, oily black substance.

"This oil represents the negative energy inside you," she explained as she unceremoniously began coating the girl's heads and shoulders in the substance, painting it on like tar, "As it clings to you, envision it drawing out all the tainted dark from your skin, your very bones."

Simone eyes fluttered as the warm, sludge-like oil slide across her skin, oozing over her face and down her neck. Besides her, Thea was feeling the same tired, sleepy sensation.

"Now, we pulled the negative from your body," Brodna said, as she followed Rooknell out of the tub and back to kneel behind the girls again, now sitting on either side of Brunraff. Brodna brought both hands over Simone's left shoulder and placed them over the girl's oil covered chest. Slowly dragging her hands upward, she scraped the black oil off Simone's skin, sliding her hands up the shoulder and along the side of Simone's neck. When she finally pulled her hands away, she shook her hands to the sides, shaking off the black gooey oil. Then she returned to pulling more off Simone, all the while Rooknell doing the same to Thea.

"We draw it up from the heart," Rooknell said, her hands over Thea's heart and sliding upwards, "Up through the throat," her fingers scraped along Thea's neck and then went up the side of Thea's face, "Through the head….and release it into the ether."

As they carried on, Brunraff picked up a small brass stick and lightly rapped it on the inside of a bowl, the hollow, low ringing it made vibrating through the room like a hypnotic hum.

This went on for several moments, Brodna and Rooknell working in silence as the tranquil vibrato of the singing bowl lulled Simone and Thea into a state of utter calm. At some point, Brunraff began a soft, whisper-like muttering, her voice mingling with the steady hum of the bowl.

Finally the two women stopped, withdrawing their hands from the two witches.

"Now we flick on positive energy," Brodna explained, producing a smaller brush. As she began brushing it over Simone in gentle, quick, downward strokes, Simone noted how soft and silky it felt, "We imbue you with light, like a shield."

She brushed over Simone's face, across her cheeks and down the bridge of her nose.

"Your warrior's stripes," Brodna said proudly.

Brunraff continued her mutterings, the words indiscernible in Goblin tongue to Simone. As she listened, not truly understanding, she started to feel even sleepier than before.

"Now that your mind is clear, search yourself. What holds you back?" Rooknell questioned softly, "What regrets dwell within you?"

The room was spinning, Simone's vision going blurry, "...wha…?"

"What do you regret most?" came Rooknell's voice through the haze, and then everything went dark.

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She was standing in a room, the light from the chandelier behind her, casting her face in shadow. In her hand she clutched her wand, but it felt heavy, burdensome.

A clatter in front of her, something large falling onto it's side.

Simone gasped, reeling back in horror from the prone man at her feet, his eyed rolling in his skull and staring listlessly at her. The woman beside him lolled her head back like a puppet whose strings had just been cut.

There was no recognition in their gazes as they looked at her...only hollowness.

{page break}

Simone snapped back into her body with a choked gasp, nearly slipping below the surface of the water again if not for Brunraff's vice-like grip on her shoulder.

"W-what?!" Simone stuttered, looking around her wildly. She felt a wetness running down her cheeks, stunned to realize she was crying, "H-how?"

"Hold onto those thoughts," Rooknell encouraged, "Let them come unbidden to the surface."

Simone panted, looking around her. It took her a second to realize her position had changed, her arms now out of the water and resting along the rim of the tub. Brodna was rubbing a perfumed liquid into Simone's hands, being sure to get in between the fingers.

A sniffle drew Simone's attention. Next to her, Thea looked just as shaken, tears dribbling down her face. Simone couldn't help but wonder if Thea had seen the same haunting image.

Simone looked down into the water and gasped. Something dark and inky was seeping from her legs and stomach, twisting and churning through the water.

"Do not fear," Rooknell soothed, "It is just malevolence leaving you. Don't fight it; be at peace and let us take away your grief."

Sure enough, the ink trailed off from Simone's limbs and drifted to the sides of the tub as if pulled by an invisible current. Simone watched, stunned as it was dragged up into the quartz crystal shards sticking into the sides of the tub, the white crystals steadily turning black.

"These must be put out under the moon to be purified," Rooknell said, rising up to take the crystals out of the room, leaving Sim and Thea with the two other Goblin women.

"We must release you of the guilt that burdens you," Brodna stated, "So that the forest cannot feed off it and drag you into despair."

She scooted over to allow Brunraff closer to Simone. The elder woman held in her hands a bundle of Rosemary sprigs, Lavender, Hibiscus, a single rose, and a large slice of ginger. She raised a candle to the bundle and set the lot ablaze.

"Bquev uas sgi ceb," she murmured, picking up one of the crystal cups from the table. Simone notice she now had all of those bowls gather by the tub's edge.

Brunraff held the cup upside down and brought the burning bundle under it, letting it heat up. Then, in one quick motion, she slapped the cup face side down onto Simone's arm, trapping the heat inside. "Kis fquoid emb ruququuv bquods evex koji rluji."

Simone watched mesmerized as a dark smoke seeped out of her skin and floated trapped within the bowl. As she sat there, Brunraff repeated the motion with several more cups down one arm, and then the other. She let them rest there for a minute before carefully plucking them one by one from Simone's skin. With every cup removed, Simone felt lighter, as if a great weight was being pulled from her.

"Your cleansing is complete," Brodna announce as Brunraff moved onto Thea. Brodna helped Simone from the tub, stripping her of the sheer robe and wrapping some furs around her, "You're soul is clean, your mind clear."

"I'm not entierly sure what you did?" Simone admitted, "You made me think about my regrets, but we didn't really talk about it. How can you take the guilt away from me when you don't even know what I saw."

"We've opened you're mind to hard truths you locked away," Brodna informed her, "By keeping it inside and refusing to feel, you were letting your guilt fester. You must acknowledge that which plagues your thoughts in order to truly be open to forgiving, both yourself and those who hurt you...those who hurt her." She jerked her head towards Thea.

Simone stepped back, startled, "How did you—"

Brodna shushed her with a comforting hand on her arm as she looked up into the taller girl's eyes, "Forgiveness is not for them, but for yourself. Hate takes so much out of us. You can forgive without forgetting. You can heal while holding them accountable."

Before Simone could respond, Thea left the tub and Brodna turned her attention to her. They exchanged a few hushed whispers as Thea was wrapped in a thick wolf pelt, Thea's eyes bright and clear, happiness radiating within her.

"It is late," Brunraff announcing, shocking Simone that the old woman actual could speak in human tongues, "You must eat and rest. You leave early tomorrow and need your strength. Come."

She hobbled out of the room, leaving Thea and Simone looking questioningly at each other in confusion. Rooknell snickers as she ushers them from the room.

{page break}

Morning comes cold and early, the first glimpses of dawn barely peeking out on the horizon when Simone and Thea wrap themselves in thick woolen vests, and heavy, fur trimmed cloaks. The dragon hide boots on their feet are doubled lined and enchanted to keep out the cold, their gloves charmed the same.

"Here," Rooknell hands the pair some satchels, the contents feeling blessedly hot in the early morning chill as the family helps strap the bags to their backs, "Roast chicken and dried deer meat with some bread. Warming charms should keep it from getting cold for some time."

"And we've spelled it to block the smell," Brodna adds, "Can't have the wolves sniffing it out, now can we?"

Adnott stands to the side, gently rocking Rooknell's baby, "You be careful out there."

"You have a rough journey ahead," Rooknell warned, "No one has seen the one you seek in ages. We don't know what she's like, nor what your in for. Just...keep on your toes, alright."

Brodna clasps Simone's arms, "Take care, Sister-kin."

Brunraff said nothing, her momentary bout of English the night before have been seemingly a one time thing. She stood stoically by the door, leaning on her cane.

"Thank you for all your help," Thea said sincerely, giving a slight bow.

Brunraff grunted, nodding once and patting Thea's hand.

Simone took one last glance at everyone gathered before looking out towards the woods, "We...should probably get going."

"Stay safe," Adnott called out.

"Don't let your guard down!" Rooknell added.

Thea and Simone waved goodbye and with a glance at one another, they each took a deep breath and stepped off the charted path and into the treeline, the woods swallowing them up in darkness until they could see the merry light of the cottage behind them no more.

Was this a decent chapter to come back to after my hiatus? I'm genuinely asking, I would hate to have you guys return to a dud.

When writing the Goblin magical rituals, I wanted to steer away from Rowling's cultural appropriation methods as she did with Native Americans for her American witchcraft lore. I sort of drew bits and abstract pieces from meditation and massage videos from all over the world and added magical elements to it. Several of the things being done in this chapter were actually inspired by ASMR videos that I watch to help me sleep.

I couldn't see Nagini settling down somewhere that is easy to find, seeing as she probably would not want to become a side show to a circus or something like the last time someone exploited her curse. So she'd probably hide somewhere hard to access, maybe even dangerous for humans and other magical sentient beings, a place only beast dare to tread. So Simone and Thea would be wandering into a very evil place, protected by centuries old dark magic and steeped in mystery and unknown. So they need extra protection besides their wands.

The Gobbledygook was taken from a fan made English to Gobbledygook translator I found online because I lack the finesse to invent my own version of the fictional language. If you want to know what Brunraff is saying, feel free to check out the translator at Lingojam, but frankly I feel leaving it unexplained makes the scene more interesting and adds to the ambiance.

Hope to have another chapter written as soon as I am able, this time focusing on our main characters Sev and Lily.

Review, Please :)