I was trying to be kinder toward Willa and even Eric. They still looked at me skeptically. I hoped they would trust me enough to come to this place I had found. I wanted Willa to see it. She needed to see it.
I had found it after Willa had left the fae world. I had told myself I was scouting the area, but the truth was there was nothing to see there. It was in the far reaches of the Seelie Kingdom, where they only ruled by technicality. They hardly went there, and there was no one there to obey them when they did.
I had wanted complete solitude. Willa was the first fae I had interacted with, aside from those I had killed, in centuries. Helping her escape meant being with her constantly for those days. It had been an overload for my mind and I attempted to counterbalance that when she was gone. I decided to explore an area I had not been to in quite a while to see if anything had changed and to compose myself.
It was not entirely effective. I became consumed with my drawings for the longest period yet. I could not be sure, but I thought I may have spent years there. Willa had brought all my memories to the surface. When she went to the human world, I oscillated between euphoria that she existed and what that could mean, and despair that she was gone and I would never find out. Getting out of my head had never been my strong suit. I have spent so much time alone. And at that time, it had been absolutely impossible to focus on the outside world.
Interestingly, it had been a kelpie that finally got my attention. It had been quite short on food. It was desperate enough to try to take a bite of me. I fled toward the inner lands of the Seelie Kingdom and ended up near the farthest gate that they still regularly use. There, I happened upon a rogue troop breaking the rules. I took them and fed them to the kelpie. We had been in agreement ever since that any disorderly fae at that gate would be his. In return, he let me be.
After meeting the kelpie, I went back to policing the fae, but I often returned to this empty corner of Seelie land. I was on my way to feed the kelpie and his newfound herd when I discovered the meadow we were now headed toward.
I had called it ‘just a place’ because I could not think of the right words for it. It was a meadow, but that hardly makes it worth the time. There are plenty of meadows. This one was special though. It looked just like a smaller version of where I had met her. I had watched her there for a time before introducing myself. She had been happy. I thought this meadow could do that again. I thought it could remind her of what she had liked about this world. To what end, I was not sure yet. I would figure that out later.