Chapter 252: Chapter Two Hundred Fifty Three

I never got to grab an apple. I tried to head in that direction but  was tugged insistently away by my girlfriend. We walked past most of the  tables, ignoring them, as Callie lead us into the deeper portions park,  where the yellow and orange trees were crowded closer together. We  walked around several copses of trees before finally coming to a small  wood cabin tucked back out of sight. It was a homey looking place made  of lightly colored wooden beams that had seasoned to a golden color that  reminded me of sunlight in the last minutes of the day.

On  the porch of the cabin sat a woman elbow deep in mud, seated in front  of a pottery wheel as she worked on what looked like a huge vase. Her  hands pressed forcefully into the clay as she worked it, and I watched  the porch buckle slightly under the wheel before she eased up. Whatever  that clay was, it was clearly much harder to work than one would expect.  It was G-ranked material at least, and the woman working it was the  same.

She had a wide smile on her red lips as she molded  the clay, obviously lost in her joy in creating something, and she  didn't seem to hear us at all, implying she was throwing all her Focus  into whatever crafting she was doing. We stood to the side and waited as  she worked, no one daring to interrupt, and I got my first look at the  woman I could only assume was Harvest, the executive who owned the  Grove.

Her hair was green. Not emerald, but more of a  seaweed. A darker green that somehow seemed more natural, and it fell in  wild curls down her shoulders. Her face was delicate, almost fragile  looking, with high cheek bones, and bright golden eyes that set off her  dark mocha skin almost as much as her brilliant smile. She was tall for a  woman, six feet if I had to guess, I couldn't tell perfectly with her  sitting, but she had long graceful limbs and thin artistic fingers that  she was using to shape the clay.

We watched for about  thirty minutes as she molded the clay, pushing and pulling and slapping  the material, tracing fingers over it in runes I recognized as  Enchantments, though I didn't recognize what kind. She was using another  Skill alongside Enchanting, probably some kind of pottery Skill, and I  wasn't familiar enough with the technique to figure out how one affected  the other.

Eventually though, she finished the last of  the work, and lowered her hands with a happy sigh. Her golden eyes rose  from the pot and she jumped slightly in surprise, hand going to her  chest in a gesture of shock. "Oh! Guests. Sorry about that. I was a bit  focused." Her eyes fell on Callie, standing next to me, and her smile  widened into an affectionate grin. "Calliope!" She was up in a flash,  blurring over to sweep my girlfriend up into a crushing hug. "Darling  girl. It's so good to see you back." She put Callie down, hands clasping  her shoulders before she looked conspiratorially around, leaning in to  stage whisper. "You poor mother has been going spare worrying about you  up in the big city."

Amelia cleared her throat, glaring at  her friend. "Oh, are we telling secrets Aly? Is that what we're doing?  Because I seem to remember a certain someone having a rather strong  reaction to a batch of hard cider she made a few years ago. If we're  sharing maybe I should tell everyone what happened. It's such an  entertaining story." Her eyebrow was arched in threatening annoyance,  but the small smirk pulling at her lips gave lie to the threat.

Harvest,  or Alyssa, from what was said earlier. Raised her hands in surrender.  "Don't shoot. Down girl. No need to get nasty. Your daughter knows you  missed her. She's hardl-" She stopped talking, and her eyes froze where  they had been raking over the group. Locked onto the pale face of my  teammate, who looked almost afraid of how her childhood mentor was going  to react to seeing her.

If Alyssa's hug rush toward  Callie had been a blur, she practically teleported to Jessie. My blonde  teammate started to flinch back, but barely had time before she was  captured in a hug so tight it looked like she might snap in half. Alyssa  buried her head in the green cloak of our healer, squeezing for all she  was worth. "Jessica." She murmured, voice muffled against Jessie's  shoulder. "Sweetie I am so glad to see you? Are you alright? I tried to  come see you when I heard what happened, but you weren't taking visitors  except for Lindsey and then you were gone."

Her voice was  thick with unshed tears, raw and painful and vulnerable in a way that  made me deeply uncomfortable to hear from a complete stranger. Finally  she put Jessie down, and I only noticed then that my friend's feet had  left the ground when she was pulled against the much taller woman.  Jessie's eyes looked about to overflow with tears, shimmering green like  the sun through a glass bottle in the ocean's depths.

She  took a long, slow breath, calming down as she forced a smile onto her  face. "I'm fine, Aunt Alyssa. Really. I've..." She looked over at us.  "I've made good friends. They've been helping me a lot. It's been hard  sometimes, a lot of times even, but I'm getting through it. I don't feel  like I can't get out of bed in the morning's anymore. Some days are  worse than others, but my friends are there with me, and it's good for  me. I've met so many interesting people and seen so many amazing things.  I...I don't think I would be anywhere near this stable if I'd stayed.  Coming back has felt strange, but it's let me see how much good my time  away did, if that makes sense."

Jessie was talking fast  and without breath as she filled her mother's friend in on how things  had been, but she didn't seem to have any trouble getting through it.  Alyssa looked at her with a conflicted expression on her face and  stepped back, offering a caring smile. "That...that sounds nice. Gods  you look so much like Piper now. I haven't seen you since you were a gap  toothed little pipsqueak. Those eyes though. Look at you." She shook  off her daze. "Sorry, sorry, all of you come inside, please."

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Walking  over to the door, she kicked it twice at the base and then bumped the  middle with her elbow. It popped open, and when she saw some of us  looking confused she grinned, holding up her hands. "I got sick of  cleaning my door knob, so I set up a catch plate in the door I could hit  to open it. The lock shifts it out of place, so it only works when the  door is already open, but it's been a massive times saver for me." She  nodded us in. "Here, let me clean up first, and then I'll get everyone  some drinks. I have a new honey apple cider if you'd like?" She smirked  at Amelia. "No booze in this one."

She  headed over to a small sink to wash up as we looked around the inside  of the cabin, taking in the small but homey space. The whole living room  area was full of furniture, two couches, three chairs, all squeezed  into a small space and showing that Alyssa loved having guests even if  she didn't have much room for them. The kitchen had a small round wooden  table with four chairs around it by comparison, a much less open place  where we wouldn't be able to crowd in, and somewhere I pegged as being  for close friends.

The  floor was a much darker wood, but there were brightly colored yellow,  orange, and red throw rugs at various spots that reminded me of the  leaves outside, almost creating a canopy effect on the floor of the  house. The windows let golden light spill in from multiple spots, giving  a nice cross illumination effect, even if I could see drapes held back  from the all and knew it could be blocked off without much effort. The  house smelled like mulled cider too, and I smiled and closed my eyes,  taking a deep whiff.

Alyssa  headed for the kitchen, where a small sink sat unobtrusively to one  side of a wood burning stove. "Let me wash my hands and I'll get anyone  who wants one a mug. Amy? Jessie? Callie? Anything for you all? How  about-" She stopped, frozen again, and turned to narrow her eyes at  Alexander. "See,,,I got so distracted by Jessica I didn't even notice  someone else was here. I'm assuming that's you Alex, because Paul isn't  stupid enough to walk into my house after that stunt he pulled."

With  a grimace, Alexander waved. "Hello Aly. Been a few years." She glared  at him. "I...like what you've done with the place?" More glaring. Son of  glaring. Glaring returns. "You look fantastic by the way." He offered  weekly. She just turned and stalked into the kitchen, summarily ignoring  the now cringing E-ranker.

That  was a surprise, but it also kind of made sense. Amelia seemed to be an  old friend of Alyssa, and the G-ranker would naturally have known  Midknight, so it made sense she'd grown up with the twins too, at at  least been aware of them. I hadn't really taken that far enough to  figure out they might have grown up together. Amelia didn't LOOK like  she was in her forties, even for a mortal, and naturally the rest of  them all looked early to mid twenties, given their Impact. They'd aged  four or five years max.

She  took her time cleaning her hands, seeming very focused on getting all  the clay off, making sure to get it out from under her nail beds  especially, and she didn't acknowledge anyone as she did it. Once she  was done, she started taking incredibly delicate pottery mugs with very  smooth glazes from the cabinet above the stove and set them all in the  table, before pulling a clay jug from the same cabinet (which shouldn't  have had the room, I was guessing spatial expansion) and pouring a  health dose into each glass.

When  she finished that, she picked one up, walked over to Alexander, and  held out the cup. When he reached for it, she then proceeded to throw  the whole mug full of apple cider right into his face. Then she placed  the empty cup in his hand and turned to go back to the table, picking up  a few more and giving them to each of us in turn. Amelia was trying her  hardest not to smirk.

Once  she passed out all the cups, she walked back to the cabinet, pulled out  a towel, and threw it to Alexander, who began to clean himself and then  the floor. Then she sat down on one of the couches, took a long sip of  cider, and smiled dazzlingly. "Well. I feel better." Callie looked like  she was having almost as hard a time not laughing as Amelia. Alyssa  gestured us all over to sit on the couch. "Please, have a seat." Her  eyes locked on Alexander. "Not you, Alex. I don't want my couches to get  wet."

Then  she turned back to Jessie. "Now, Jessica. I insist you tell me all about  your adventures. I knew you had gone to Rajak, but I never realized you  were part of Callie's party. I should have introduced you two years  ago, but I just never thought of it. I'm glad you became friends though,  you're both such special girls." Her golden eyes shifted to me. "Oh,  and speaking of how special Callie is, this must be the boyfriend." She  patted the couch right next to her, smile turning wolfish. "How about  you come sit over here. I have so many questions." I looked over at the  soaking wet E-ranker mopping up spilled cider on the floor as it dripped  off his face. Gulp.

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