Raise Your Glass

Aurora

Taking in a breath of the brilliant Spring air, the delicate woman had intercepted her uncle on his way out to attend the Winery after months of neglect from any of the immediate family members. Perhaps it had been a bit bold of her to do but she would offer to go herself since he had been so busy with the more political side of things after the war, causing the older man to reluctantly agree to her going in his stead. It had been about half a year since she last was in the Lowlands, however, she had nearly asked Victorian to travel along with her but there was a raised bit of flustering at even the idea of him since that night in the Lagoon that hardly felt real. Focus on things other than him is what she needed to do and this little trip without him was a perfect step in the right direction as she entered Edinburgh at long last.

The last time she had gone was when she had instructed Gwydion to leave and she kind of hoped to see him here again as her lungs absorbed the smells in silent hope she might pick up his scent. No such luck would find her, rather, all too familiar herbs would lace the air from her a different companion she had dragged along with her. Well, dragged wasn’t really the right word. The moment she had mentioned where she was going, it seemed like the chimera would latch onto her with the insistence on joining her which she had idly accepted, in part to ward away unnecessary guards flocking to her.

“Danny, m-m-must you always get distracted? We are nearly there,” she huffed a little, seeing them falter to their normal curiosities, though she hadn’t the foggiest what pulled their attention away this time. She smiled to herself as she glanced back toward a spattering of white and black, forever amazed by the other’s endless childlike wonder even though they were her senior, her teacher, her doctor. She wished her own mind could stay so occupied by simple wonders like it once had. Four years in this world had started to dull her excitement at such simple things. Maybe it wasn’t that at all. Her mental health had been diving up and down like an unhinged teeter totter that can’t decide which side is heavier.

Loss. Love. Pain. Happiness. Depression. It all weaved and interlaced if she let it get to her head. Some days she slept for extended periods while others she stayed up for days at a time, tired but unable to sleep. She had refrained from addressing any of it, dabbling in herbs she had to try to counter it only to fall to the opposite extreme. The desire to dwell on such thoughts today were ignored, focusing on the nice weather for a change and it uplifted her as her ears preened at a gentle gust of wind rolling the flora gently.

Rounding the bend, eyes would become bright as a field of vines well maintained went on for a while, guiding the eye to a large manor a little further up the way where the berries and grapes would be housed to ferment to perfection and not mold. She’d skip ahead, a light bounce in her steps as she went to greet some of the employees that greeted her with open arms. Many of the workers seemed glad to see the delicate noble, far more than had the patriarch shown. She’d turn toward the doctor with a gentle smile, waiting for them to hobble over so they might go inside the lavished winery.