Chapter 12 - Martha

"Thank you... For having us?" It wasn't a question, but it came out as one. she wasn't quite sure what to say to the woman, she found she had been more at ease in her dream, maybe because then she had not had the time to overthink the situation. In any case, they were there in the woman’s house and they were going to see it through. Hopefully get the answers they were needing.

"Come right in." Said the woman, as she opened her front door and made a sweeping gesture with her hand ushering them into her home. A warm smile playing on her lips.

Jasper squeezed her hand again, when she hesitated, and she took that as an, it's okay, let's go.

She took measured steps toward the woman and nodded briefly before walking past her and into the cottage. Jasper didn't nod, he just went through the door.

The woman went in right after them and closed the door behind her.

“ make yourselves comfortable.”

The living room was painted white and had a warm cozy feel about it. There was a mantel without a fire kindled, and pale pink curtains that were parted, letting in warm Rays of sunlight. The room made her think of long endless talks and laughter, family and friendship. She found herself yearning and had to remind herself of why she was there in the first place.

"Why did you ask us to come here?" Jasper said without preamble, and Hannah turned away from her thoughts and environment to look at him, then look at the woman who watched them.

"I was under the inclination you needed help, and it just so happens I'd like to give it." The woman said cheerfully and walked past them, through a door.

"A moment please." She called out to them.

There were chairs, Hannah thought they would be soft. She had missed the soft, but they both chose to stand.

"A bit loony." Jasper said amused, and Hannah had to stifle a chuckle.

"But she definitely has something, you can tell."

"Indeed, I just hope it's for our good."

"Me too." She whispered as she heard the approaching footsteps of the old woman. She sat on a wooden chair that was settled in front of the mantle as if she'd placed it there, as if she had waited for them. she had something in her hand, Hannah noticed.

"You could both sit, the chairs won't bite." She said, gesturing to the brown couch that sat on her right.

"I'm sure." Jasper muttered, but they obliged her. Hannah had to bite back the moan that wanted to rise up. She really had missed the soft.

"The Athànatoi are coming." said the woman, but they didn’t respond. Just turned to each other, before once again, regarding the woman,

"And they are coming for you princess."

"You can tell so easily that I'm the princess?" Hannah asked self-consciously.

"Oh not by your physical appearance, you're doing a lovely job."

"What are you?" Jasper asked, impatience ringing his voice.

"I am a seer." The woman said, not batting an eye.

"Why have you asked us to come, seer?" Hannah asked, trying to be a bit more gentle, but she too had some impatience of her own, if she was being honest.

"You reached out to me, darling girl." She said, looking tenderly at Hannah for a brief moment, before getting up.

Hannah turned to jasper her brows drawn, and Jasper held an expression that mirrored hers.

"I don't remember doing that." She whispered to him.

"We'll let her explain." He whispered back to her. They heard sounds of glass, and opening and closing of cupboards and soon the sound of the woman's returning feet. She carried a tray that was filled with two cups and a plate of biscuits and laid them on a small round table before them. The cups were filled with milk.

They both muttered 'thank you's' and she smiled a small smile.

"How is it that I reached out to you?"

"Ah, the connection is a harder one to explain, how about we start with why you would reach out to me in the first place. For starters, you both had a dreamlike projection, am I correct?" They nodded.

"I have been getting visions about you two for some time now, and although I do not know the exact contents of the dream you both experienced, I know you had it. The Athànatoi are a strong race, and some of them hold very strong powers, strong enough to put you in a state such as the one you werre in."

"And are they strong enough to know that the princess isn't really ill and not in the castle?"

The seer nodded.

"So why haven't they come for us yet?"

"They did, that dreamlike state was not merely happenstance, it had an aim. But I believe they met a block, I perceive there exist between those who seek you, a confusion. Your essence, princess, is everywhere."

"My...essence?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, it is in the castle, it follows you in this journey you take, and it blows in every direction. On that night, it found me, desperate and Afraid, courageous and strong. "

Jasper reached out to Hannah, and took her hand in his.

All had grown quiet in the room, the only sound, a distant cry of a lark.

Hannah pondered the words of the woman, finding it hard to make any sense of it, it was too much for her.

Her essence?

"If you're a seer, how come you could come into my dream? Aren’t seers supposed to only be able to see what will be?" Hannah asked, finally breaking the reeling silence.

"I simply sent you my thoughts, and it was easy to do that since I had received your essence and something much more deeper and sacred. But we will leave that for later." Jasper raised a brow, but Hannah chose to let it go, let it be, for now.

"But since you could trace my essence back to me, can't the Athànatoi do that as well?

"They can, but you see although the Athànatoi aren't men, they are limited in their powers, for they lack the greatest power of all." The seer was answering Hannah's question, but her gaze was turned towards Jasper's. He received each word she said, each boring a hole in his chest by the deeper meaning he sensed in them.

"And what is this power you speak of seer?" But he thought he knew.

"You know."

And he did.

Hannah let out an exasperated sigh.

"I don't, would someone like to tell me."

"Love." Jasper said with the seer, as he turned to look at her.

"Love." He said again, his eyes set on hers, a fire burning in them.

Her brows drew together and as understanding filled her, her eyes grew wide.

"On that night, I had fallen asleep thinking of you." Her fingers brushed his cheeks, feeling his stubble, he hadn't shaved in days.

"I had fallen asleep with you on my mind as well."

She turned to the seer.

"Is that what kept us together in that dream, that place and time?"

"Yes and something much greater. but I say, It was really you, Hannah, that they sought. But you both had each other in mind and heart, you were joined, if only by that, the thought of one in the mind and heart of the other. Pulling you in, bringing him in as well, they couldn't have kept you two apart if they tried." Hannah smiled at that, and the seer returned the smile. that small smile of hers, she knew she'd seen that smile before, but where?

"The both of you haven't touched your biscuits, they are filled with hazelnuts, I think you would enjoy them."

Hannah took one and bit into it and the seer was right, it was enjoyable.

"They're really good."

"Thank you."

Hannah brought the one in her hand to Jasper's lips and she nearly laughed at his scowl, she could tell being in this place left him on edge and was trying to lighten up his mood, if only with feeding him hazelnut filled cookies. "They really are good." He took a nibble to pacify her, and she smiled and finished off the remaining in her hand and reached for her cup of milk. He did as well. If the seer had any opinions about her little public display she kept it to herself and Hannah was glad.

Setting the milk down, her brows drew together,

"I understand how that kept us together in the dream, but how does that explain how they haven't found us yet, you say they aren't men, and that love is the powerful factor, but how? Aren't they strong none the less?"

"I think only the both of you can answer that completely, but here is the little I perceive. Indeed they are strong, immensely so. But, they can't trace you the way they should because, you essence confuses them, it misdirects them, it is beyond them, your very essence is defined by love. What drives you in this journey is your love, that which drives you is embedded in your essence. The Athànatoi perceive this as do I, but it does not guide them, it does rather the opposite, it confuses. Jumbles up their direction and perception and it is that which will be their downfall. Let love continue to be your drive princess, let it continue to lead you."

"Thank you." It was all she could say, the seer's words left her heart in a turmoil and she needed to process everything that had been said, everything that she now felt.

"Jasper." She said, as he abruptly got up and that brought him to a halt. The fact that she knew his name and that he hadn't told her wasn't lost on him.

"You have the heart of a warrior, but also the heart of a man. You must not war against either of them, for they both make up who you are. You must embrace both, and only then will you be able to do that which you fear the most."

He stared at her, for a heartbeat, then two and turned around and headed for the door. He thought if he stayed in the room much longer than he had, he'd suffocate from all the emotions sizzling in the room, bubbling up inside him. Perhaps the seer was right after all, indeed he was a warrior, and he found himself warring and fighting against all within and around him.

He heard Hannah get up from the chair as he opened the door and walked out of it into the cool evening breeze and was glad when he heard the seer say,

"Let him for now princess."

And for all the raging energies he felt within him, he scould still shut the door behind him gently. If not for him, then for them