“What is that?” Momma asked, pointing to the bright place we were going to when it was light outside again.

On top of the big hill where our camping spot was by the broken wall, the bright place looked smaller than my thumb if I held it up to it.

The City Above. Leaves whispered into my head.

“The City Above!” I said. Leaves always told me the answers to what Momma asked me even, even when I couldn’t see him.

“Very good, Blossom!” Momma clapped for me.

Very good, Leaves. I thought at Leaves.

Momma pulled her map out of her pack and pointed at something on it. “If this is The City Above,” She moved her finger down. “Then what is this called?”

The City Below. Leaves whispered again.

Colors were under where Momma was pointing. Red, blue, some I didn’t know, and then green. I liked the green the most. Momma’s aura was green.

“Blossom? What is this called?” Momma asked, hitting the spot she pointed to with her finger.

The City Below.

“The City Below!” I said, looking at the colors again.

“Very good, Blossom,” Momma clapped. She moved her finger down the map. “All the way down here is where I grew up. That is where we are going to live, do you remember what it is called?”

The Mother in Green’s domain. Leaves whispered.

“Why did you leave where you grew up?” I asked. I didn’t know where I grew up yet.

Momma looked down at the bright place. “Because of you.”

I liked when she talked about me. “Because of me, why?”

“Well, it took me a long, very long, time to be granted permission to try and have you. When I did, I knew that there were thousands of Maidens of Zenithcidel and I wanted you to have a special name, one that could be all your own.”

“That’s why I’m Blossom of Everblossom!” I said, not needing leaves to whisper my name to me.

“Very good! If I would have had you here,” she tapped the green spot on the map. “You would have been Blossom of Zenithcidel.”

“But then I wouldn’t be special!” I said.

Momma laughed. “Your name is not what makes you special. It just lets others know you’re special. Now, one more try and then we need to get some sleep,” She tapped the green spot on the map again. “Do you remember what this place is called?”

I didn’t need to wait for Leaves. “The green momma’s place!”

Momma covered her mouth and laughed so hard she snorted. “Isilisk, what have I told you about helping her. She will never learn for herself.”

A big lizard, not big enough for me to ride anymore but still big, crawled down the wall beside us.

“That’s where you were!” I said, reaching up to grab him by his tail. The wall was broken like the others and Leaves must have been right on the other side the whole time.

“You push her too hard, My Lady. It is late. She is small. We have traveled far.” Leaves said.

Momma called him by his other name but I called him Leaves because he was made of them, his whole body.

“Perhaps you are right,” Momma said, pulling the big blanket out of her pack and laying it down on the ground. “It is time for bed, Blossom. Come rest.”

I was tired, so I did.

“Momma,” I yawned. “Will I get a Leaves?”

Momma yawned back. “Someday, possibly. No one knows The Weaver’s design. If She wills it, then you will.”

Whoever She was would give me my own Leaves, because I was special. I would just have to tell her my name.

Sometime after I closed my eyes, I felt myself fall.

I opened them to see the dim lights of the wellhouse hanging high above me and hearing an all too familiar voice.

“What is your name?”

“Autumn Aubrey.” I answered my familiar, stretching my arms and legs in the warm water. I never felt quite right when I came back from the memory of a child.

“Who is Autumn Aubrey?”

“I am a Maiden of Zenithcidel. Daughter of Idensyn Aubrey. Thief and possessor of The Well. Debtor to The Circle of the Nine Mothers,” I rolled my shoulders and pointed my toes until my calves strained. “Does the name, The Weaver, mean anything to you?”

Sam ignored my question. “Who was Autumn Aubrey?”

I shot my legs down and stood up in a splash. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“Who was Autumn Aubrey?” Sam repeated.

My familiar, who was under the influence of an arcane directive that compelled him to ask the same three questions every single fucking time I came out of a memory with an obsessive and unyielding fervor, had just asked me a new question.

“You understand you cannot change one of your questions after countless, identical, repetitions and expect me to take it in stride?”

Sam stood up to all fours atop the bench. His low voice grew louder and echoed shallowly off the stone walls. “Who was Autumn Aubrey?”

“Blossom. Blossom of Everblossom. Is that enough? I was a little girl overlooking The City Above with my mom.”

Sam sat. I had evidently given him enough.

“Your mortal came. I did not grant her entry.” Sam stated.

The most miraculous thing that had ever happened in his service to me, including bursting from his flesh and turning into lightning, and he acted as if it hadn’t happened.

I wanted my own Leaves. How nice would it be to have a familiar that gave me answers instead of questions?

“Are we going to pretend like that was the same it has always been?” I asked him, pushing myself out of the pool and sitting on the edge.

“It is the same.” Sam answered.

“Even by your standards, you are being unusually difficult today. You asked me a new question, Sam. I would like to know how.” I said, one more of his rumbling words away from commanding him.

“By answering who you were, you sate my need to know what you were doing. By answering who you were, you will never forget a name because I will never forget a name.” He started grooming himself as soon as he finished speaking.

“Why could you not have said that from the beginning,” I sighed, drying my hair and getting a towel. “You don’t have to be so resistant to me.”

“I do. It is within my nature to dislike you,” Sam stated. Then, to my surprise, he added. “Sleep calls for me. I am eager to answer it.”

My wittle kitty is tired. I thought. Not wishing to antagonize him, I left it a thought. “Which of my mortals came?”

“Your mortal.” Sam stated.

“Anna?” I pulled my dress over my head without any need for violence.

Sam’s silence was an answer enough for me to leave him in the well house.

Without my daily lunch with my mother to mark the middle of the day, I had lost track of time. When Arthur had stopped by and helped my mind empty itself of things I very much wanted to remember when it had still been morning, but when I stepped out of the dim room, dusk had filled the sky over Erosette with its golden light. Sounds came from the otherside of the ivy and blossoms to my left, but the greenery was too thickly grown for me to peek through. The wall that surrounded the manor stood high to my left, a constant reminder of just how far my freedom went. Looking up at the window of Anna’s room that faced the garden, I started towards the house.

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When I had gone back into The Well, Ola’s book had been nowhere to be found. Every shelf had been filled end to end and there was no orange book on the floor next to the chair by the fireplace. I had gone up several floors and then back down several more, but no matter how many spines I had run my fingers over, I hadn’t heard any of The Mothers' names again.

Nami, Ola, Aster. Sam had another. I would ask him for it after the feast and write them down. Having his not new, new, question taking the names from me when they were fresh in my mind was convenient but it didn’t help me remember.

When I stepped into view over the packed dirt path, Anna was leaning against the bricks of the manor by the back door. She looked up and the golden light spread over her. A little smirk touched her lips and she waved me towards her.

“Come on, your mom gave me a job.” Anna said, holding the door open for me.

I would never admit it to her, but I had been worried about what would happen after we moved to Erosette. Once I ceased to be the strange girl on the third floor of the boarding house, once she had learned all of my secrets and got used to my real face, once she realized that I was indeed a prisoner, I had worried she would grow bored with me. I had worried that she would regret our meeting and all that had happened because of it.

“What did she ask you to do?” I passed by her, content that neither of my worries had proved to be true.

She herded me up the stairs in a hurry, but when we reached the top of them, she pulled me into her room instead of mine. It was nearly identical to mine, except her bed didn’t have the canopy and there were two windows where mine had none. One faced the garden at the back of the manor and I could just see the well house peeking out from the greenery. The other faced Erosette and the crossroads on the other side of the bridge, where I had seen The Mother in Red, were in clear view.

Anna stood in front of the closet. “She asked me to make sure you wear something festive to the feast.”

I slumped my shoulders and whined. “Oh no, Anna”

“Don’t make this difficult. I don’t want to have to get violent with you.” Anna said, her face completely serious.

Genuinely curious, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you actually think you are capable of fighting me?”

“Yes.” She insisted, her face remaining serious.

“That is ridiculous. You watched me kill a creature that you were powerless to stop from stealing you away. What is your confidence founded in?” I asked, not understanding how she could have arrived at the conclusion she had.

“That’s my point. It’s not hard to win a fight if you are the only one fighting. I could do whatever I wanted to you and you wouldn’t hit me back,” She opened the closet and walked in, snapping the overhead lamp to life. “You care about me too much.”

End to end, the entire circular room was a variegated stream of clothes. Pants, shirts, dresses, cloaks, and every other cut and style hung on a rail with shoes of every kind running around the bottom underneath.

“That’s,” I hesitated, thinking about her words and the logic within them. “That’s not fair.”

“Then don’t be difficult. Try this.” She tried to hand me a silky black dress that looked silky in her hands and shimmered in the lamp light.

“Where did you get all of this?” I asked, looking around and thinking of my own sparse closet, nothing but white dresses that were identical to the one I had on.

Anna shook the dress in front of me. “I asked for it. Here, put it on.”

“Won’t black make me look too pale and isn’t that too formal,” I asked, shaking my head. “Who did you ask?”

“Your mom, and you would look pale next to snow, but whatever.” Anna answered, putting back the black dress.

She passed over something gray and I refused a brown dress that had no straps. I had a bad enough habit of exposing myself with clothes that supported themselves. The brown dress was a disaster waiting to happen. The process continued for much longer than it should have.

“Just so I can keep track of where we are at,” Anna sighed, holding her hand up to count off her fingers. “Orange?”

“No.” I said.

“Yellow?” She folded one of her fingers back to her palm.

“No.”

“Purple?” Another finger.

“No.

“Green? Look at this one, it will look so good on you.” Anna said, pulling the end of a forest green garment out from the others. It was a wrap, the same style my mother favored.

“No.” I answered, knowing I would feel like I was wearing a costume of my mother if I agreed. I would never look as good in it as she looked in hers, besides.

Anna let the dress go and continued folding her fingers back. “I’m wearing red, so that’s out. I’d die before I’d let you wear white. Blue it is.”

“I still don’t understand why I cannot just wear what I have on.” I sighed, absentmindedly running my hand over the hundreds of different fabrics hanging around me.

Anna tossed the dress at me. “Because we are going to a feast and I think you will look pretty in it. It’s just like what you have on except it’s blue.”

I took it and ran the fabric through my hands. It was not silky or shiny, it had shoulders, and it looked to be close to the length of the white dresses I had made my uniform. “I give up. I will wear it.”

“Finally. Let me out of here. I’m tired of being in the closet.” Anna said, pushing past me and shutting the door behind herself.

Understanding that If I left the closet without putting the new dress on, Anna would indeed become violent, I chose peace and changed. A moment later, I came out of the mirrorless closet having no idea what I looked like.

Anna scrunched her nose and smiled when she saw me. “You’re beautiful. Let me do your hair.”

“I thought you like my hair?” I ran it through my hands over my shoulder, wondering what was the matter with it.

“I do, dummy. Just sit down.” She pointed towards the chair placed in front of the desk that was identical to the one in my room. With one hand, she grasped the lip of the desktop and pulled it upwards, unfolding a three sectioned mirror and locking it into place.

My jaw dropped. “I didn’t know they could do that!”

Anna shrugged.

Like a thunder clap, a sudden sound rattled the windows of Anna’s room and made both of us flinch.

“What was that?” Anna recovered first.

Feeling like I already knew, I stepped to the window that faced the city and had my feeling confirmed. “Firework.”

“Can’t be, there was only one boom.” She said, coming to the window.

A single shimmering flare climbed into the air from the heart of Erosette. Larger than any I had seen the night before, it shone, wine red, against the last golden light of dusk. Just as the day ended and the darkness of night took the sky, the firework dimmed and disappeared from my sight. A moment later, it burst in a blinding flash that sent an uncountable amount of small red werelights drifting down over the city like snow.

“This place is fucking crazy,” Anna said, staring through the window with wonder evident on her face. “It’s the first night of that Amoranore thing your mom told me about, right?”

I wished I could share her excitement. I turned away from the window. I had tortured myself enough. “When did you talk to my mother?”

“We talk everyday,” She grabbed my wrist and turned me back to her. “Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

“This place is fucking crazy,” I snapped, not realizing I was angry until the words came out of me in a rage. “And all I can do is observe it from behind the walls of what amounts to a prison! It makes me so fucking angry I have to perch up here and imagine what it’s like down there!”

Anna didn’t tell me to calm down. She didn’t pull me into a hug or try to comfort me. She let my anger rush out and matched my temper. “It’s bullshit. You should be angry! Say more.”

I did as I was told. “I spend every single day of my life seeing through the eyes of others, doing things that have already been done, saying words that have already been spoken. I want to do something new, I want to do something of my own,” I shouted, balling my fists and stomping my feet. You did this to yourself. I thought, my anger dipping into a guilty frustration with a sudden swing. “I know I stole The Well and I know I have to pay back my debt, but fuck! I want to live!”

Anna mirrored my outburst, balling her own fists and shouting. “Fuck!”

A heated laugh slipped out of me and I took her hands in mine, my anger and frustration giving way to an unfamiliar feeling. “Think about how much trouble we could get into if we could go down there. We could get drunk like we did in the woods behind your house and run through the streets as we pleased. I want to live, Anna. With all the memories in my mind you would think I have enough, but I want to make my own. I want to make them with you.”

“It’s happening again.” She said, leading me to the chair in front of the newly discovered mirror and sitting me down.

The emerald green of my eyes had been saturated with crimson light that shone back at me from the mirror. It had happened before, in the boarding house and the moments before I had found the color of my soul. “Is this what it always looks like?”

“Every time I’ve seen it.” Anna answered, brushing her fingers back through my hair.

I could see her in the mirror, her straight raven hair contrasting against the soft red curls of my own. Seeming to be entirely focused on what she was doing, the hint of a smile played at the corner of her mouth as she let my hair fall and ran her fingers through it again. It could have been the glow of my eyes or it could have been that she was blushing, but her cheeks bore a red tint that made my own face grow warm.

I looked back at myself. “You were right.”

She looked at me through the mirror, her dark eyes meeting mine. “About what?”

“They are freaky. That is the word you used the first time it happened.” I answered and rubbed my hands against my eyes to see if that altered them further.

Anna, her voice barely more than a whisper, spoke. “Remember this. Remember how you feel right now, how angry you were and how it feels for me to do this,” She gathered my hair a final time and tied it behind my head in a neat bun. She ran the tip of her finger along my jaw, starting at my chin and ending just behind my ear. “I like it like this, I can see your face better. Don’t forget it.”

I was paralyzed, completely unable to do anything but watch her through the mirror. “I could never forget this.”

Without any notice, she pulled the chair back and drug me out of it by my wrists. She shoved me towards her door and turned her back to me, walking back towards her closet. “Alright, get out of here. I’ve got to get ready now.”

I did as I was told, leaving her room without a word of protest and closed her door behind me. I slumped my back against the wall and took a deep breath. I sighed. “What the fuck.”

Running to my own room, I pulled at the lip of the desk and the sectioned mirror revealed itself. Without unfolding it, I craned my face down to it and saw that the red glow had not faded from my eyes. I smoothed out the blue dress Anna had put me in. I wasn’t sure what I had just felt, but I knew if I did not settle myself before I went downstairs and joined my mother’s feast, she would know something had happened.

I could not afford that.

I needed Idensyn Aubrey to be as calm and relaxed as I could manage to make her. She needed to be carried along by the spirit of the feast and get lost in the festivities brought on by Amoranora. I needed her to be in the best of moods because Anna had given me an idea so grand, so ingenious, that it had never occurred to me in all of my life.

Instead of throwing logic and reason to the wind like I had when I ran away or giving myself over to my curious nature and sneaking down to Erosette under the cover of night, I, Autumn Aubrey, was going to ask my mother for permission.

What could go wrong?