The Forest of the Forgotten

Ellie woke to the sound of gentle rain pattering against Amnity's cottage windows, a soft rhythm that felt like Nova welcoming her back to consciousness. She was still wearing her festival dress from the night before, though someone—Amnity—had draped a quilt over her where she'd fallen asleep on the small couch.

The events of the previous evening came back in fragments: the overwhelming brightness of the festival, her own brittle distance, the way Amnity's face had crumpled when she finally called her out. And then, later, sitting together at the edge of the meadow while Ellie had finally let some of her fears spill out into the darkness between them.

She could hear Amnity moving around in the kitchen, the familiar sounds of morning preparations—the soft clink of ceramic mugs, the whistle of the kettle, the rustle of dried herbs being measured. Safe, domestic sounds that made something tight in Ellie's chest loosen slightly.

"You're awake," Amnity said softly when Ellie appeared in the kitchen doorway, still wrapped in the quilt. There was no judgment in her voice, no lingering hurt from the difficult evening. Just quiet observation and the offer of a steaming mug of tea that smelled like chamomile and honey.

"I'm sorry I fell asleep on your couch," Ellie said, accepting the tea gratefully. The warmth seeped through the ceramic into her hands, grounding her in the present moment.

"You looked peaceful. I didn't want to wake you." Amnity settled into the chair across from her, cradling her own mug. "How are you feeling this morning?"

Ellie considered the question seriously, taking inventory of her internal state the way she might check for injuries after a fall. "Less like I'm going to shatter if someone touches me wrong," she said finally. "Thank you. For last night. For not giving up on me when I was being impossible."

"You weren't being impossible. You were being human." Amnity's smile was soft, understanding. "We all process difficult things differently. I just needed to understand what you were processing so I could figure out how to be helpful instead of accidentally making things worse."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, listening to the rain and sipping their tea. Through the kitchen window, Ellie could see the remnants of the festival in the distance—vendors packing up their wares, the fairy lights looking somehow forlorn in the gray morning light. It felt like looking at the aftermath of someone else's celebration, something she'd observed rather than truly participated in.

"I keep thinking about names," Ellie said suddenly, surprising herself with the admission. "About what mine might have been. Before."

Amnity set down her mug carefully. "Have you remembered anything specific?"

"Not remembered exactly. But sometimes, when I'm not trying to think about it, I hear something that feels familiar. Like an echo of someone calling for me." Ellie traced the rim of her mug with one finger, the motion soothing and repetitive. "In the city, when we were in that coffee shop, I heard teenagers talking about school and suddenly I could almost taste the word 'chemistry.' Not because I knew what it meant, but because someone had said it to me before. In a context that mattered."

"That must be confusing," Amnity said gently.

"It's like having a song stuck in your head, but you can only remember two notes." Ellie looked up from her tea, meeting Amnity's eyes directly. "I know this isn't fair to you."

Amnity reached across the small table and covered Ellie's free hand with her own. "What if we tried looking into it together?"

Ellie's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You want to help me investigate my past?"

"You're not dealing with this alone anymore, remember? We decided that last night."

"But what if what we find changes everything? What if I discover I have family out there who've been looking for me for fifteen years? What if I decide I want to go back to them?"

The question hung in the air between them, honest and frightening. Amnity was quiet for a long moment, and Ellie could see her working through the implications, the possibilities, the very real chance that this investigation could lead to losing each other.

"Then that's a decision we'll face when we come to it," Amnity said finally. "But hiding from the truth won't make it go away, and it won't make you feel better. If anything, not knowing is eating you alive."

Ellie felt something shift inside her chest, a loosening of tension she hadn't even realized she was carrying. The relief of not having to face this alone was overwhelming.

"Where would we even start?" she asked.

"Well," Amnity said, settling back in her chair with the air of someone preparing for a long conversation. "We know you came from that world, and we know roughly how old you were when you arrived here. We know Eleazar has ways of traveling between worlds that don't rely on random weather portals. And we know he's been less than truthful about the circumstances of your arrival."

"So we go back to him and demand the full story."

"Or," Amnity said slowly, "we go back to that world and see if we can find the story ourselves. Without him controlling what we learn or how we learn it."

Ellie stared at her. "You want to go back to the city?"

The offer was so generous, so completely unexpected, that Ellie felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. After her behavior the night before, after shutting Amnity out and treating her like a stranger, Amnity was still here. Still willing to walk into an overwhelming, unfamiliar world because it might help Ellie find what she was looking for.

"You don't know what you're offering," Ellie said quietly. "That place, it's not like Nova. It's harsh and fast and full of people who would step over you if you fell down in front of them. It's not safe or gentle or kind."

Outside, the rain was beginning to ease, the gray clouds lifting to reveal patches of blue sky. The festival grounds were nearly cleared now, returned to ordinary meadow, but something had shifted in the small kitchen. A decision had been made, a path chosen.

And for the first time since learning the truth about her origins, Ellie felt like maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay.