Chapter Twenty Two
OuroborosChapter Twenty Two
Inverailort House hadn’t seen such hustle and bustle in a long while. B with overflowing energy which could barely be kept once the morning arrived and people began to wake up, the house was alive and full of chatter. In fact, Mrs. Kerry couldn’t remember that they had ever had so many guests at one time since they opened the manor up for lodging, usually it was at most a small group of backpackers, like a couple. To her pleasant surprise these guests were helpful even with their limited and broken English, helping with setting the food items and carrying the heavier sauce pans and food trays into the dining room fashioned in the late Victorian style with its various knick knacks and porcelain decorations. The large alcove window opened up to the front lawn letting the sun into the room.
The room glowed as did its current occupants diving into breakfast and attempting to settle down so they could get to know each other better. For some this was the first time learning of the others and for others a catch up on what they had done so far in this life. They trickled in slowly as each of them woke up at different times.
The first two to get down and help with the setting of the table, disregarding Mrs. Kerry’s insistence of non-interference, were Irene and Jeongyeon soon followed by Nayeon. Hesitant at first to go down when all her friends and people she knew were asleep, she eventually crept out after hearing Korean from the hallway, joining their conversation and getting to know each other better as they helped set the breakfast table. One by one the ladies filed out of their bedrooms, finally the last one being Chaeyoung who had to be forcefully woken up by Yeri when they realized the former was the only one still asleep.
Split into two tables the ladies sat in familiar groups among people they knew in the order they arrived to the breakfast table, but soon as people got refills and spent more time talking the more they mixed up and eventually everyone was sitting next to someone they didn’t know yet, or at the very least an Eternal Lady they hadn’t travelled with so far.
By the end of the chatty breakfast with everyone’s coffees and teas finished and Mrs. Kerry began to clear the tables with Jeongyeon’s insistence of helping, Momo caught the attention of everyone in the room with a little whistle.
“Alright, so who here would like to go see the castle?” Momo asked from the new group that had arrived the night before and had yet to see Momo’s old castle.
“I think we all do, it’s been a while even for myself and Chaeyoung,” Dahyun piped up and received nods from everyone in the group.
“Alright, I guess we’ll have to use both cars to get everyone over cause that’ll be six of us going. I can’t drive by the way,” Momo said looking over at Jeongyeon who had the keys to their rental car.
Jeongyeon’s death glare was fruitless against Momo and she soon relented while whining the whole time. “Fine I’ll get dressed and drive you all, I just wanted to stay and rest and be lazy but noooo why would I get to…” Jeongyeon’s voice trailed off out of the dining room as she went upstairs to change into warmer clothes for the outdoors.
“But…I can drive,” Nayeon said quietly, which Momo didn’t hear over her laughing at Jeongyeon’s resignation.
“I guess that’s our cue to get going. Chaeyoung you drive the other car then?”
“Yuuuup,” Chaeyoung sighed, getting dragged out of her seat by Dahyun before she trounced out of the room quickly to follow Jeongyeon and tell her that she didn’t need to drive to the castle as Nayeon would take the other car.
Out of the current arrivals the only ones staying behind at their lodging were Jeongyeon, Irene and Jihyo, who thought she could use her significant organizational skills as Momo’s secretary to help sort out the information they had gathered from Istanbul. She could do this together with Irene who brought in a whole different insight to the documents they had brought with them. They would prepare a profile of the current Adhabu, The Door. As in this life he happened to be Irene’s twin brother Isaac she could share what he looked like as well as all the information on his habits and what he knew about Irene.
The rest drove off to Castle Tioram in two cars, the short drive over in an instant and the morning sun beautifully casting the castle into a romantic light, the water of the loch glistening out into the cold North Sea.
Alec Ronald was out by the shore fixing up the wooden bridge to the island and was happy and surprised to see Momo back so soon. She explained that the group of ladies with her were the friends they had been waiting for and they would love to see parts of the castle if Alec and Eyleen were alright with it. Never to turn down guests Alec enthusiastically greeted them all and let them on their way to tour the castle.
The weather granted them a pleasant tour around the partially restored castle as Momo showed them around and primarily talked about the oldest portions of the castle and its buildings, having been primarily filled in about the new constructions by Irene and her research since much of it had been built after Momo’s life as Mór and seized seven hundred years earlier.
She told them of stories of sailing and riding the hills, of the cold winters huddled in front of the Great Hall’s massive fireplace in thick deerskin cloaks and the prized bear skin of her father. She showed where the water had risen in the loch during a particularly wet spring when the snow melted and it rained incessantly so the courtyard of the castle had flooded.
Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Momo revelled in the memory of the first time the Eternal Ladies had gathered in Momo’s castle all those years ago; Chaeyoung had a severe injury and punctured lung from an ambush weeks earlier and Dahyun had been nursing massive bruising in her chest and arms from a dangerous fall she had suffered due to a landslide. That Cycle had been particularly rough; most of them had sustained some forms of injury before even meeting up and starting the fight against Adhabu’s forces. To add to the chaos Scotland and England were embroiled in a dynastic war which was later known as the First War of Scottish Independence.
Touring the restored sections of the parapets atop the walls Momo stopped for a second, her eyes glazing out for a moment as she looked far into the distance, almost losing focus of reality. Dahyun and Chaeyoung were intimately familiar with this look; something had triggered a deep memory of her past life and she was reliving it while Sana, Yeri, Nayeon and stared at Momo confused before Nayeon carefully touched her shoulder.
“Momo?”
Snapping back, Momo turned to look at Nayeon with a smile. “Ah, sorry. I just had a very heavy handed memory return to me after I saw this nook here,” Momo said as she walked over to a bend in the wall, a spot between two massive crenulations.
“What happened?” Sana inquired curiously looking at the rather unimpressive spot. It looked like much of the rest of the parapet and wall.
“This is where I took my first arrow during a minor altercation and siege with another Clann,” Momo replied with a massive smile lowering herself in a crouching position.
“You... took your first arrow?” Sana gasped. “First arrow. So that means you took more arrow hits later?” Yeri asked a little excited. Of course this was a serious injury that could have led to Momo’s death then, but the stories the Eternal Ladies had told them were so fantastic and exciting she partially wished she could have experienced it all through the ages. But only partially, because she had also been told a little of all the emotional and soul crushing baggage a repeating life like theirs brought, not to mention the amount of times they had experienced death, actual real death.
“Oh, several. In all my lifetimes probably hundreds but in this particular Cycle I got shot a few times more,” Momo said now leaning in and extending her left arm out while drawing her right back. “I was perched like this here with a bow, thought myself sneaky between these two massive crenulations, looking down at the enemy hiding behind their makeshift fortifications at the beach of our island. I mean, it’s about a hundred metres away so it really was a safe spot, so whoever managed to hit me was a crack shot,” Momo gave an excited smile. She was unnervingly happy and nonchalant about being shot, ”then the next thing I knew I couldn’t breathe and I found myself lying here like this.”
With terrifying realism and accuracy, as if in that moment Momo was actually hit with an arrow, she slumped back against the wall like a ragdoll, her head hanging loose and in shock. It was clear Momo knew exactly what getting hit by an arrow looked like, what it felt like. Nayeon, Sana, and Yeri took a surprised step back, almost running into Chaeyoung and Dahyun who trailed the pack.
“I had been hit here just under the right clavicle partially fracturing it and coming dangerously close to my arteries in the neck, it's a miracle they didn’t get hit.”
“Wha- what happened then?” Nayeon asked with bated breath.
“Well… I actually passed out pretty fast. I could feel the blood trickle down my shirt and armour and I saw the arrow sticking out. I lost consciousness and the next time I opened my eyes I was in my room all bandaged up with my mother Cairistíona sitting by my side. I slept for a week. My brother in that Cycle told me he had found me slumped on the parapet after I was completely drenched with blood so I was probably close to death had he not found me.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Yeah, it was luck that he happened to come to check up on me at my section of the wall at the time he did because we were only a few people defending the castle, eight warriors against a Clann force of fifty. We had only four people manning the walls while the other four guarded the door. The enemy Clann had tried to sneakily capture our castle when most of our gallóglaigh, our warriors, were out assisting Robert I Bruce, king of Scotland. It was the second week of the siege when I got hit. By the time I regained consciousness my father had returned with the men and the besiegers had scurried off with their boats out the loch back to Ireland before they could be engaged.”
“Those bastards!” Yeri cried. She was completely taken in by the story and was imagining the scenarios in her head, a beautiful tall red-haired Momo in armour fighting against lesser men, shooting her bow and wielding her battle axe, shattering shields and skulls.
“Well, I got my revenge soon enough,” Momo picked herself up from her slumped position and cleared the dust off her pants and shirt. “They were a distant cousin Clann trying to assert claim to our lands while hiding in Ireland. They used our support of King Robert the Bruce as pretext to claim the land as theirs. We chased them to Ireland, found where they were holed up and killed them,” Momo said nonchalantly as if stating what she wanted to order at a restaurant.
Sana stared with a little nervousness at Momo who continued off along the wall with a smile. Dahyun walked next to Sana to continue the tour as she whispered to her. “Have you… killed people?”
Dahyun’s eyes widened open and she let out a heavy sigh, “I… can we talk about this later?”
Sana nodded and followed Momo who had continued her history lesson to Yeri who was in lockstep with her, completely entranced by the historic tales.
“And it was good that we killed them when we did, because they had been paid by Edward II of England to ravage the Highlands while the Clanns were gathering out to support Robert in his battle against the English.”
“That is insane. So you have killed many people then?” Yeri asked.
“Yeah I have. Nothing to be proud of though, I wasn’t born a warrior but life forced it on me. We grow up according to our environment and none of us have any control over who we are reborn as after all,” Momo replied with a hint of sadness forcing through her persistent smile. “Anyway, if you look over to your right you can see the end of the loch. Look straight ahead beyond it and that is the Atlantic Ocean, with the next landmass that comes across straight ahead being Newfoundland Island in Canada.”
The rest of the tour was a lot more light hearted and Eyleen Ronald offered them some tea and biscuits as a little snack after their walkabout. The guided tour was over and the group split up to explore the surroundings a little on their own before they would gather again by the beach to go back to Inverailort House.
Sana wanted a better view of the castle and loch so she dragged Dahyun along with her towards the cliffs by the beach on the mainland. It took a fair bit of time and a few slips climbing up the steep incline, but thankfully the trees and brushes on the climb assisted them on their way up. The whole arduous way up Dahyun kept shouting after Sana to watch out while trying to keep up to her excited pace.
The smooth cliff top finally opened up and Sana dashed up the final stretch with a huge smile to look at the sights that spread around them, Dahyun finding her way next to her. The view from the top was magnificent. Down below the castle looked like a regular house with four tiny figures standing by the shore of the island facing the sea. To their left and beyond was Loch Moidart. It led out to the sea and further out the Atlantic Ocean as Momo had told them. Behind them the mountains of the Highlands framed the skyline and Sana felt like she was in a fairytale.
“It’s so beautiful here. I’m glad we get to see something so wonderful considering our Venice trip got cut so short,” Sana said with a grin. In her mind she had already gotten over the secrets that Dahyun had kept from her and the kidnapping, although she knew that the trauma she had experienced was certain to reappear when she least expected it, and that expectation was frightening.
“It really is. I haven’t been here for seven hundred years; it’s nice to see not everything has changed with the unforgiving tides of time.”
“Can we just sit here for a while and rest?” Sana asked, her bright eyes digging into Dahyun’s.
“Of- of course we can. Why don’t we sit he-”
“Look at that rock; it’s perfectly perched to rest on. Let’s go there!” Sana shouted excitedly, cutting Dahyun’s reply short. It was a three metre round boulder sitting at the edge of the cliff. It was obviously well sturdy and unmoving, but Dahyun shook her head as Sana climbed to the top.
“I’ll… stay here at the foot of the rock.” Dahyun really hated high places.
While Dahyun took a seat on a smooth and solid cliff side that was far from any edge, Sana found a perfect spot to lay on the rock and closed her eyes, taking in the sun, the wind, the sea air and the absolute silence apart from the sounds of nature. She let her soul and mind rest, something she hadn’t been able to do for a long time and especially since the Venice incident. It had been non-stop escaping since then and she finally had some time to just relax.
As Sana’s body and mind found a way to let go of things the first tears rolled down her cheeks. Soon it was a river as she released her stress, anger, fear, and sorrow that had been piling up inside her waiting for a release. She sobbed on her own laying down on this rock, in a beautiful happy place she cried her heart out. The fear and thoughts of dying and death had been at the forefront of her mind just a week ago, of being sold into some sort of slavery. For a moment in time she had believed she would never see her family again, that she would never taste freedom once more. It was something that would take time to get over no matter how much she tried to trick her brain into believing that she was all over it.
Down beside the rock Dahyun could hear the quiet sobbing of Sana and her heart sank with the knowledge that all of what she was releasing out of her with those tears was her fault. Everything that Sana had to experience in the past weeks and the trauma she had endured was because of Dahyun. And this ate at her inside, drilling deeper holes into her already patchwork heart. She wasn’t certain she could ever truly forgive herself. Thinking back to her many lifetimes, Dahyun knew that she still held onto the guilt over the deaths and tragedies of many of her family and friends. It wasn’t healthy to do so, yet they still clung onto her like tar; black, heavy, difficult to wipe clean.
“Dahyun.”
“Yes?” Dahyun looked up from her safe spot at the very top of the cliff. They had been sitting in silence for almost half an hour now, Sana’s quiet crying having stopped a little while earlier.
Sana hopped off the rock perched precariously at the ledge and skipped over to Dahyun to sit next to her all the while the latter followed her movement, her eyes widening with worry as Sana climbed down the rock. It was so high, she should be more careful moving around in such high and dangerous places.
Plopping down next to Dahyun, Sana stared out into the distance for a moment in silence before speaking. “You know that story Momo told us on the castle walls and about killing people…”
“Ahhh…” Dahyun sighed audibly. The topic she had asked Sana to bring up later but secretly hoped that she would forget about it. Very unlikely she would have forgotten but one could hope.
“Did you… have you… killed?” Sana asked, her voice a whisper, almost a whimper. She couldn’t even look Dahyun in the eyes as she spoke.
Silence filled the air once more, the gentle rustle of the nearby trees being the only audible sound nearby as Dahyun built up the courage to reply. It was far from the first time she had to answer this question, however it was never easy. She didn’t like killing, she didn’t want to take a life. Dahyun knew exactly how short life could be and knew that for everybody else besides the eight Eternal Ladies it was the one shot they got. Or as far as they knew.
“I have killed,” Dahyun started, glancing at Sana to see her reaction to this. There was a slight shake in her eyes but she kept staring out into the distance unable to face Dahyun’s gaze. “I have. I, and in the same vein the rest of us Eternal Ladies, never want to. Most of the time it has been in self defence and if we can we try to avoid killing them. But, there have been times and lives in which killing and fighting was a part of the life our reincarnating soul inhabited. We have no control over who we become, no control…”
Dahyun’s voice faltered at the indignation of their situation, how unfair it was that they had no say in anything other than the actions they took once their souls reawoke. Sometimes they were soldiers, sometimes seamstresses; sometimes they were the guttersnipes begging on the street for food. All the various lives had certainly given them lots of perspective on the human condition, on how circumstance and where you are born often dictates how your life will be. However, all of that knowledge didn’t make Dahyun any less angry at her role - of being a leaf in the wind, plucked out of the tree and landing randomly without any agency of their own.
“Just like our life here in Scotland for Momo, she was born a warrior. Fighting and killing was a part of her upbringing long before her old Soul got reignited and there is nothing she could have done about that. All I’m saying is, I don’t want to, we don’t want to kill. Our fight against our Mother is exactly to oppose the slaughter of innocents. Sometimes though…”
Dahyun stopped as she felt Sana wrap her arm around Dahyun’s and hug it tight. A wave of comfort and safety washed over her and let a tear roll before wiping it with her one free hand.
“I know you would never do so on purpose. I saw it in Venice, from you and Chaeyoung. You both had plenty of chances to kill but neither of you did. I saw the restraint. I… I just had to ask. I had to know. I’m sorry,” Sana said pulling on Dahyun’s arm even tighter.
“No you don’t have to be sorry. You had every right to ask. It’s just; it’s something we aren’t proud of for having to do so we don’t really like to talk about it. Not to hide it… well, maybe it is to hide it because it is a source of shame for us,” Dahyun relented. If they didn’t want to hide it they wouldn’t be having such a hard time talking about it, at least some of them. Momo had always been the type to take life as it came and accept it. That is why she was pretty confident with talking about it like she had earlier.
“Thank you for being honest with me,” Sana released the tight grip on Dahyun’s arm and finally looked her in the eyes.
Past Dahyun from the corner of her eye, Sana saw something glint in the sun and she moved her head to the side to have a better look. Dahyun turned around to see what she was looking at. Further down the bend of the road there was a car approaching the castle.
“That’s not one of us right? Cause we have both cars,” Sana asked as she stood up.
“Yeah, I wonder who it is.”
Down by the shores of the castle Momo, Chaeyoung, Yeri, and Nayeon had taken a little trip out into the loch with a rowboat, not too far from the shore. It was a little lovely trip and they all had enjoyed the feeling of floating freely on the boat being gently rocked by the little waves. When the high tide had reached its peak and low tide was on its way they made their way back to shore lest the tide pull them out to sea. Once the waters really got going it was hard to fight the currents.
They had pulled the boat back to shore and tied it to the posts when Nayeon, who had walked up to the top of the island, saw a car approaching down the road to the beach.
“Hey, there’s someone coming over with a car,” Nayeon called out as the rest made their way next to her. It was a red compact minivan with a yellow logo on its side. The car stopped at the parking space on the beach opposite to the bridge and a man stepped out with a white envelope in his hand.
The four of them made their way towards the entrance of the castle where Eyleen was managing the flower beds by the entrance of the castle door. The last specks of colour before the petals would fall as the plants went to sleep for the cold winter ahead.
“Afternoon Eyleen,” the man approaching with the envelope called out. As he neared the ladies could see the Royal Mail logo on his shirt. He was delivering mail.
“Oh, well good afternoon Pat. You have something for us today then do you?” Eyleen replied with a big smile brushing off the mud from her gloves.
“I do. Just this one package… let me see here. Its address was the castle, but it says it’s for a Mnathan Sìorraidh,” the postman said reading off the package.
“Tha- that is us,” Momo stuttered in her broken English.
“Oh, well here you go,” Pat said, offering the package to Momo who reached out to receive it. One of them had sent this package, most likely whoever had hacked the news networks and sent the secret message a week earlier. Or so Momo hoped because the alternative was that the Cult knew of this place and their gathering and they would be screwed then.
“You’ve named your group in Gaelic? Well isn’t that a lovely name, Mnathan Sìorraidh, ‘Eternal Ladies’. Wonderful,” Eyleen Ronald said with a big bright smile, before she happily bid the postman farewell.
Chaeyoung approached Momo and looked at the package information. The address was to Castle Tioram and the recipient was as the postman had said, Mnathan Sìorraidh, Eternal Ladies in Gaelic. Whoever had sent this knew where they were and knew they would respond to this name.
“We should open this back at our lodging with Irene and Jeongyeon,” Chaeyoung said as Nayeon and Yeri gathered around them to see what it was.
“I agree,” Momo said, turning around to Eyleen. “Thank you for your time. We have to go to dinner.”
“It was lovely to have you all here again with these new friends,” Eyleen smiled as Yeri and Nayeon bowed politely as a thank you.
The four made their way towards their cars after saying goodbye to Eyleen and tried to spot where Sana and Dahyun were. They had seen them climb up the cliff and were looking out over the forests when the two appeared from the shadows of a tree just to the side.
“Hey, there you two are. We need to get back to the guest house,” Momo said as Sana and Dahyun approached the group.
“We saw the car approach so came down to have a look. What was all that?” Dahyun asked.
“It was the postman. We received a package for Mnathan Sìorraidh,” Chaeyoung said, opening the front door to her rental car.
“Oh… yeah we need to go,” Dahyun said quickly ushering a confused Sana into the car before the two vehicles made their way back to Inverailort House, their current premises.
The drive back was rapid and within minutes of arriving they had all gathered around this mysterious package, the Eternal ladies sitting on a bed with the package in the middle while the mortal souls watched from the side at the unfolding situation.
“We should open it,” Chaeyoung said after a moment of silent staring.
“Yes, we don’t have powers of foresight so we need to just see what's inside,” Dahyun replied, however none of the ladies moved to open it.
Momo poked Jeongyeon’s side and she glared at her Sister for a hot second before letting out a sigh and reached out for the package. “I’m the eldest Sister here so I'll do it.”
“If we’re going by seniority I should open it then,” Irene said, a little timid from the foot of the bed looking Jeongyeon in the eyes as the latter shook her head.
“You’re the Lock; you need to survive no matter what.”
“You make it sound like there's a bomb in there!” Dahyun moaned, instinctively pulling back a little after saying it.
Jeongyeon picked the package up in her hands and started to rip the side open. “Well truthfully it’s not like we know wha- PANGGG!”
A loud shriek ran through the room as Irene, Dahyun, and Momo fell back off the bed onto the floor in shock and Sana grabbed hold of Jihyo in the back who swore extremely loudly. Yeri and Nayeon had grabbed hold of each other and Chaeyoung clutched the pillow on the bed holding onto dear life as Jeongyeon rolled in laughter.
“I got you all! I got you all good!” She gleefully mocked everyone in the room for having been frightened at her shout, laughing loudly.
Chaeyoung smacked Jeongyeon over and over again with her pillow while Jeongyeon tried to contain her laughter as she pulled out the contents of the package. Irene got up from the floor and sneered at Jeongyeon and Momo held herself back from tackling her Sister.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Jeongyeon pleaded to Chaeyoung who stopped the hitting as a letter and a USB-stick were revealed as the contents of the package. Dahyun picked the USB up looking at it before glancing over at Jeongyeon who straightened herself out and cleared , opening the letter. It was written in their old mother tongue.
“My dear Eternal Ladies. This is Sofija.”
Irene’s eyes brightened and all the Sisters in the room gasped and rejoiced for the moment before calming down. The letter being written in their mother tongue was pretty good proof of it really being her. Jeongyeon continued.
“Reading this letter means you received my encrypted message from the news. By the worst kind of luck my identity was revealed one day after our souls reawakened, they know who I am. I’m still in Korea and spying on the Cult, and I’m safe and hidden from them for now.
The USB-stick has a program that if run will install a secure connection with me. Just insert the stick and run the executable in there and when it's done you can call me via laptop. When calling, preferably do it through a public connection and not your own private residences, just in case.
Waiting for your call.
Stay safe. With love, Sukkalgir”
All of the Eternal Ladies recoiled a little hearing that name being mentioned, however they immediately knew they were truly reading the letter of their eldest Sister, Sofija.
“To use that name… she really wanted to make sure we believed,” Momo said before looking over to Jihyo. “Hey Jihyo, do you think we can borrow your laptop? We need it to connect to our Sister.”
“So it really is from one of your Sister’s?” Jihyo said with amazement as she reached into her bag to take out her laptop.
“Who is it from?” Yeri asked, curious to find out more about another Eternal Lady they had yet to meet.
“The oldest Sister of the group. She was called Sofija in the last Cycle,” Chaeyoung explained as she plopped off the bed with Dahyun. The two quickly ushered Yeri, Sana, and Nayeon out of the room together with them.
Jihyo opened her laptop and once it was open Momo gave a wink to Irene before leaving the room with Jihyo, much to the latter’s confusion. Irene shyly smiled back as Jeongyeon inserted the USB and ran the installer that was in the only folder on the stick. It was done installing quickly and a shortcut popped up on the desktop.
“Take your time,” Jeongyeon said with a wide grin before also leaving the room, leaving Irene alone with the laptop. She moved it onto the small table by the window and sat in the chair, straightening her hair and correcting her shirt before finally opening the program through the shortcut.
A simple blank window popped up with a chat screen on the side. The webcam and Irene could see herself on the screen. The connection started ringing and soon the screen flashed from the call as the webcam on the opposite side flickered to life.
“Hello?”
The camera adjusted its lighting and an image of a woman with long brown hair was brought to focus, with cat-like monolid eyes that pierced through, high cheekbones adorably squishy and a small mouth that curled up to a gently sloping nose. Her face was a little wide but it complemented the cheeks and eyes.
“Hey,” Irene replied, looking deep into the eyes of the one in the camera as the latter did the same, both of them trying to find the Soul connection that was established whenever the Eternal Ladies’ eyes met one another in a new Cycle. Nothing sparked though; they couldn’t recognize one another through the video call. According to the message in the package they had received this was Sofija but Irene couldn’t get a confirmation through the usual means. “Sofija?”
“Yeah it’s me,” Seulgi laughed with a bright smile, extremely relieved that she was finally in contact with somebody else, she finally wasn’t alone. “I’m Seulgi this time around. Which one of us are you?”
There was unfamiliarity in her voice, the emotional connection they all had when their Souls recognized each other was missing, and hence she couldn’t recognize this voice as familiar.
“It’s me, Iva,” Irene said, her voice faltering a little as Seulgi’s eyes widened with this knowledge. “Irene in this life.”
“Iva… I mean Irene,” Seulgi whispered as a wave of nostalgia, relief, and love washed over her in an instant when she heard the name. A wide smile crept on her lips while her eyes disappeared into tiny slits. The eyes that Seulgi possessed in this life were mesmerizing. Even if they were unable to form a Soul connection through the video call both of them had hundreds of years of memory and emotion to draw upon. “I’m so happy to see you are safe.”
“Glad to see you safe too, all things considering,” Irene said with a little laugh, knowing that Seulgi’s identity had been exposed much like her own had been. “I’ve missed you. I miss you right now.”
“I miss you too. You’ll have to come to Korea to see me since I can’t leave easily without risk,” Seulgi laughed. “I can’t… connect to you. I can’t recognize your soul. It’s not just me right?”
Irene sighed before attempting a smile through the pain of not recognizing the soul of her love. “It’s not just you. I can’t recognize you either. It’s… hard. I wanted that spark.”
“I know, me too. But, at least this answers one question.”
“Which is?”
“Whether Adhabu would be able to recognize our Souls from video and images alone. Good news is he can’t.”
“That is good news.”
There was a short pause in the call as both tried to reconcile their feeling of the situation. It was a first for both of them as in all their past lives there weren’t any video calls or phone calls or email. When they met for the first time in a Cycle it was always physically next to each other. Now they had to believe without the proof of their souls that they were who they were, and they had to do so without embracing each other. It was a cruel first meeting.
“So how are you doing? Are you still safe? Have you talked with anybody else?”
“I’m safe, I moved to a new location today that is a lot safer, and no you’re the first one. How about you? Is it just you there or have any of my Sisters arrived in Scotland?”
“I’m not alone, a bunch of them arrived in the past couple days actually.”
“That’s a relief, such a relief. You know how much anxiety I have over my Sisters every single time. This is good news. You’re all safe?”
“Yes,” Irene paused wondering if she should reveal the details of Adhabu and her own perilous escape now. She thought better to do it when everyone was gathered with Seulgi. “So how were you found out? What happened?”
“I… maybe I should tell everyone who is there at the same time. There’s a lot to talk about.”
“True, good idea. I’ll go get them.”
“Irene!”
Irene stopped having gotten up from her seat to go call the others in. She turned around to look at Seulgi’s smiling face on the screen.
“I’m so happy to see you, even if it’s like this it gives me strength to go on until we can be together again. Just let me look at you for a moment longer, just a little longer.”
“Ah... alright,” Irene smiled shyly before sitting back down on the chair and looking into the webcam of their laptop. Her eyes studied Seulgi’s face as the latter studied hers. For now she couldn’t connect her soul with her love, but in lieu of that she would study every single detail of her face and cherish every little aspect of her until the day they could physically see each other again. She realized that Seulgi was obviously doing the exact same thing as her and all that staring made Irene a little shy and self conscious. Being appreciated by her love like this; it always made her heart flutter.
Trying to hide a pleased smile Irene cleared . “Okay that’s enough staring for now, save some for later,” she said, giving a wink to Seulgi.
“I await it eagerly.”
Seulgi smiled as Irene got up from her chair and opened her room door. “Oy! Ladies, your Sister wants to talk to you!”
A quick stepped rumble could be heard from the next room as four ladies rushed out of the door and into the room all of them shouting one after another as they entered.
“Sofija!”
A chorus of shouts echoed in the room as Dahyun, Momo, Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon all filed in to greet their Sister, Seulgi responding to the hellos and waiting for it to quiet down a little before she could finally get an answer to who was who. This happened relatively soon as all of the new arrivals realized that they were unable to recognize their Sister’s soul through the call, just how Irene and Seulgi had noticed moments earlier.
“You can’t recognize us through the call right?” Chaeyoung asked after the commotion died down and they all realized they hadn’t had a connection with Seulgi.
“Yup, no clue. So who is which of my cute little Sisters now?”
“Right, I’m Jannah or Jeongyeon this time.”
“Móna, Momo.”
“Momo, that’s so cute!” Seulgi chuckled at the cute name of her Sister in this life.
“Daria, now Dahyun.”
“And your favourite Christine~” Chaeyoung sang into the camera earning laughs and faces of disgust from her Sisters. “Right now known as Chaeyoung.”
“And I’m Seulgi this time around. By the looks of it that’s most of us. Just Wera and Trudi missing? Any news on them?”
“None yet unfortunately. However, a couple days ago when we were in Germany and performed the meditation ritual I felt two Souls somewhere in France. So my guess is they must have been busy doing something there before they could make it since we got here first,” Chaeyoung said.
“Well, it must be them, they are the only two left. I’m glad Trudi isn’t alone and found Wera,” Seulgi said letting out a visible sigh of relief. Seulgi was always protective and extra worried about their youngest Sister and they could all see how large of a weight was lifted off her shoulder knowing she was with the second oldest Sister Wera.
“How is your money situation?” Jeongyeon asked. Always being born less than affluent had made her extremely heightened to all her Sisters financial situations. It was amongst the first questions she asked them, even if she often didn’t have much to give. Regardless she still always gave everything she had for her Sisters.
“I’m a bit tight on money to be honest. I didn’t really have any chance to gather proper finances before my identity was discovered.”
“Okay, don't worry we will send you money. We have plenty, or to be more precise Momo does,” Jeongyeon said glancing over at Momo.
“Hey, all that gold money went into your account so you’re the one strapped. You’re richer than me!”
“I know! I just wanted to hear you say it!” Jeongyeon laughed with glee, the rest of the girls laughing along.
“Amazing change of fortune, Jeongyeon! You’d think it was the end of the world,” Seulgi laughed. Through the wall of bodies that were her Sisters, Seulgi caught movement and saw that there were more people standing behind them. “Want to introduce your friends?”
They all turned around to see Nayeon, Yeri, Sana and Jihyo standing behind them, the four having sneaked in after them to hear what was happening.
“Uhhh… Hi?” Nayeon said with a shy smile, waving to Seulgi from the back of the room.
“Sana, close the door please,” Dahyun said as Sana closed the door behind her and everyone gathered around the laptop. “I think there is a lot we need to talk about tonight.”
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