Eve watched anxiously as Cassandra worked on her spell to send her and Carsen back to where they came from. Or rather to the loom of fate for her to fix things. And if it didn't work…she didn't want to think about what surprises the next parallel universe held. But it wasn't that thought that made her anxious. What made her anxious was the question gnawing at the back of her mind – and the uncertainty of whether or not she should ask.

She looked around the work area, which looked less like a librarian's office and more like a medieval apothecary. Half of the shelves which lined the walls were filled with jars of various plants and animals – or parts of animals, and the other half were filled with various spell books. The room itself was dimly lit, and was largely empty except for two tables: One where Cassandra was pouring over a spell book and one where she had been in the middle of a potion of some kind

"If you don't ask the question, I cannot answer you," Cassandra said, not looking up.

Eve froze. "You…you could read my mind?"

"No. I can just sense that you have questions. Not an entirely surprising notion given your current situation." She finally turned. "I can't guarantee that you will like the answers I give you, but I can't give them if you don't ask the questions."

Eve gave a slow nod. "I…I just have one question." She took a deep breath. "Earlier…when we first saw you, I asked if you thought of me as your mother, and you said that we were more than that…I guess I was just wondering what you meant by that."

Cassandra nodded. "Understandable. Well, the best way to answer the question would be to find a word that describes the relationship. Something akin to siblings or a paternal-child is inaccurate as I already said. We were also more than friends, as you can probably guess."

"So what's left?" Eve asked. "Lovers?" She meant it as a small joke but when Cassandra didn't respond right away, the chuckle that was coming died in her throat. "Wait…were we lovers?"

"I'm not sure I would use that word," Cassandra said. "'Lovers' implies a relationship where the intimacy is almost entirely physical. Our relationship was…deeper than that. You…my Eve was…a confidant. When my hallucinations got really bad – and for a while, before I healed myself, they were really bad – she was an anchor. We…we had moments of physical intimacy, but largely, it was a more spiritual or emotional intimacy."

Eve looked at her in silence, unable to form a response. Cassandra regarded her with a small smile. "I know that you're not her. My Eve is gone, and I've learned to accept that. And, more to the point, I understand that you don't feel the same way to me as she did." She put a hand on Eve's shoulder. "The point is to me you…the Eve from this timeline…she was someone that I hated to lose. And I suspect that the same is probably true for the Cassandra from your timeline."

Eve frowned. "You think?"

Cassandra nodded. "I do," she said, turning and walking back to her spell book. "But that's a hypothesis based on my experience in this timeline, so I could be completely wrong. When things are set right, perhaps you will be able to find out."

Eve gave a small nod. "Right...I'm…I'm going to check on Flynn. Make sure he hasn't gotten eaten by a dragon or anything."

Cassandra nodded. "I will find you when the spell is ready."

Eve started toward the door, pausing there to take one last look back Cassandra before walking out to find Flynn.