Mirai

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We walked across the field of flowers in silence. I strained my ears to listen to Tamah's breathing, to ensure she didn't suddenly stop.

A little cottage appeared before us. Or little was the wrong word. It looked to be quite big. Two floors at least and plenty of rooms on each floor. But it had the feeling of a cottage with white walls and a red roof.

Dad led the way in and up a stair. The inside was very bare with a small amount of furniture and no decorations. He opened a room on the second floor that was as bare as the rest of the house. A bed with sheets that were white with blue flowers. A wooden wardrobe and a desk with one chair.

I walked over to the bed and placed her on it. When I let go, when we lost contact, she stirred. A frown formed on her face and her hand reached out. I grabbed it and she immediately settled into sleep again.

"I'll be downstairs," Dad told me from the door.

I nodded with my eyes still on Tamah. Some hair was in her face that I moved to the side. I heard the door close and knew we were alone. For a moment, I just sat there looking at her, before I got to work.

I hadn't before considered how dirty she was. I had only seen her and not the filth that covered her. But as I took it in, I had to keep my anger in control. I didn't think I had ever seen that amount of dirt in one place before, let alone on one person.

I mumbled a cleaning spell. I had to perform it on her five times before I felt certain that I had gotten it all away. But what I noticed when all the filth was gone, did nothing to elevate my mood.

With all the grime, her features had been partly hidden. With it gone, I could see how sunken and hollow her cheeks were. How she was little more than skin and bones.

I wanted to run back to the coven and curse the lot of them. But I couldn't let my anger control me.

I performed some more spells to clean off the dress and the sheets of any dirt as well. Then I pulled the blanket from underneath her and tucked her in securely.

"I have to go and talk to my dad," I told her. "Can you keep on sleeping peacefully as I do?"

I leaned down and kissed her forehead before standing up and letting go of her. To my relief, she continued to sleep without any signs of discomfort.

I walked back down the stairs. They led to the hallway. On the other side of it was the living room, but to my right, I felt the scent of tomatoes, so I walked in that direction.

I came to the kitchen. It was white with a table and four chairs in the middle of the room as its only furniture. Dad stood by the stove and stirred in a pot.

"Tomato soup," he said with his back still to me as I sat down. "Thought it best with soup, so she gets some liquid into her as well."

I just nodded.

He turned around. The pride was still there as he looked at me. "It's probably best if she gets to sleep a little more before you wake her up. And I imagine you have a lot of questions."

"I do," I agreed. "What are you? And what is this place?"

Those two really were the most burning questions. I knew he was my dad. How I was so sure about that, well, that could only be explained by my sight. Apart from that knowledge, though, I knew nothing.

Dad just smiled at me. He didn't answer my question, just smiled as if he knew he didn't need to answer. As if he knew the answers would come to me.

"You're a flagae," I murmured, and his smile widened.

Snow White had been my favorite story growing up. I would often ask Mom to tell it as I fell asleep. She would always start by reminding me that the mirror in the tale was a weak imitation of what flagaes were. They were powerful beings that had the ability to see everything that had been, everything that was, and everything that might come to pass. She would also explain that they weren't stuck in mirrors as the one in Snow White was, but that they lived inside enchanted mirrors. That was to help contain their powers, since they always were at risk of being overpowered by their visions. Living in the mirrors, away from the physical world, made it easier to control and stop visions.

Thinking back on it, it had been that speech that I had been more interested in than the actual fairytale.

"So I am half-flagae, half-witch," I continued, and Dad nodded. Though, as all of that dawned on me, another part became less clear. "But if that's the case, then why has my sight always been so bad? Shouldn't it have been the opposite?"

Dad let out a sigh. "I have answers to those questions, but that will take quite some time. I believe it's better if you take up the food to Tamah first. Once she has eaten and fallen back asleep, I'll explain."

I wanted the answers. I thought Tamah needed to rest more. I knew it was best to listen to Dad, so I nodded.

He got out of his chair and turned back to the stove. From a cupboard, he took a white porcelain bowl that he filled. Then he placed it on a wooden tray that already stood on the counter, added a spoon from a drawer, and filled a glass of water that went on it as well. I walked over and took the handles of the tray to carry it up. The tray was very plain, the glass and spoon nothing special. But the bowl...

To most, the bowl would have also looked rather plain. It was mainly white, but it had a border around it that had small blue flowers on it, similar to the blue flowers on the sheets in the bedroom. But that wasn't what made the bowl special to me, it was the fact that I recognized it. It was the same type of bowls we had at home.

I wondered how all the things in this world came to be. It was a magical world, after all. Did you have to bring things with you in? Or did they appear when you needed them? Whichever the answer was, though, it meant similar things. Mom was still dear to Dad, though something had obviously torn them apart.