Archive of Our Own ^beta

One day, Eyvel remembers. Remembers that her name used to be Brigid, and that she used to have a younger sister, and that she used to fight with a bow rather than a sword. She used to have two children, Febail and Patty. She has to find them again. 

She sets out to Yngvi, the lands that had once been her birthright. There, she learns that the lands are under the direct control of the crown, as there is no known heir. Her nephew Lester is king of Verdane, and her niece Lana is engaged to King Seliph. There is no mention of her own children, and a cold fear grips Brigid's heart. 

Luckily, she learns, both of her sister's children are visiting Yngvi, and are willing to meet with her. 

"You must be Edain's children," she says, drinking in their appearance. She can see Jamke in the shape of Lester's face, and Edain in his gentle smile. Lana has Jamke's eyes, but Edain's bearing. They are truly her niece and nephew. 

"Where are--" Brigid's voice breaks. She clears her throat. "Where are Patty and Febail?" she asks. Her children. Their cousins. Brigid watches as Lester looks down at his feet, and her heart sinks. No. Febail was strong. He had Yewfelle. Patty was resourceful. They couldn't be--

"Dead," Lester says, and Brigid can see the tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Auntie Brigid. I'm sorry."

Brigid doesn't say anything, she just nods, with tears glistening in her eyes. Lana hugs her, and then Lester, too. Brigid hugs them back. 

"And Edain?" she asks. 

"Mother is well," Lester tells her, and Brigid feels relieved; her family is not all dead. No, they wouldn't all be dead, even if Edain had departed this world, she remembers. She has Mareeta, and now, Lester and Lana. 

"Where is she?"

"She's still living in Isaach," Lana says quietly, speaking for the first time since Brigid had met her. "She didn't want to come back to Yngvi. Too many memories, she said. Too lonely." 

Brigid nods. She understands. 

Lester tries to give her Yewfelle, but Brigid refuses. She has her sword, now, and she's not even sure that she can still wield the Holy Bow. Whatever had happened to her when she lost her memory, she had also lost the mark on her body of the Crusader Ullr, and likely her holy blood with it. 

When she meets Edain again, Edain embraces Brigid, and holds her.

"I was so sorry to hear about Patty and Febail," she says. "I hadn't seen them since they were babes, but they were all I had left of you. And now you're here, and they aren't. I'm sorry." 

Brigid cries, and Edain cries with her. Together, they weep for Patty and Febail. Edain also cries with relief that Brigid isn't dead. 

"How did you survive?" Edain asks her. "You were at Belhalla that fateful day, weren't you?"

Brigid doesn't remember. Everything from after the desert to when she wakes up on the shore of Ith is fuzzy in her mind. 

"I can not recall," she says. "My survival is as much a mystery to me as it is to you."

"Then let us thank the gods," Edain says, and Brigid can't help but smile. Edain always had been the more devout one between the two of them. 

"Perhaps," Brigid says, but Edain just smiles through her tears at her. 

"Come inside," Edain says, gesturing in towards her home. "I can fix you up something to drink. How long was your journey? Where have you been all these years?"

Brigid steps inside, and prepares to tell her sister all about her years as mistress of Fiana. One thing she knows, is that Edain will be delighted to learn about Mareeta, at least.