"Distance makes no difference.
The heart always finds its way home." - Unknown
SEVEN
She had left the house early the following morning, her feet leading her to the other Clearwater house as Leah's words repeated in her mind throughout the night -why couldn't the witches save my dad, like they did with Aunt Irene. She was tempted to ask her mother about it, but the older Clearwater had yet to give her a clear answer on any topic since coming back to La Push.
Raising her hand to knock on the door, she remembered Sue persisting to simply walk into the house. Taking her advice, Dianne invited herself in and followed the smell of coffee into the kitchen. "Morning."
Sue glanced up from her newspaper and smiled at her niece. "Morning Sweetheart, did you want some breakfast?"
"No thank you." She took a seat opposite the older woman, suddenly feeling anxious at questioning her mother. "I was wondering if you could help me understand a few things."
"If it's spells, I'm not the person to be speaking to." Sue replied with a humorous tone, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Oh, um…" Dianne hadn't expected her Aunt to casually discuss the topic, or that she knew about her learning spells. "Actually I wanted to ask you about mother's death scare." She thought back to the report that she'd gotten from the doctor's about her mother's health. Her heart had stopped beating at the hospital bed, they had somehow revived her, and the medical team could not explain how. At the time, Dianne had been thankful that such a miracle had happened and the realisation that she had almost lost her mother.
"She was meant to die that day." Sue softly whispered, her heart feeling heavy at the idea of losing the woman. "The ancestors decided it was not her time."
"Why didn't they do that for Harry?" Her thoughts once again on Leah.
"Two different circumstances." The older woman would have appreciated such an honour from their ancestors but there would have been heavy consequences.
"How?"
"There has to always be a witch to guide and protect the community from the supernatural." Sue recognised the understanding in the young woman's eyes. "Like the wolves will always exist if vampires are alive."
"Like good and evil?"
"Yin and yang." The older woman confirmed.
Dianne stared at the wood markings in the dining table, her mind trying to wrap around the information. She could understand why Leah felt hurt towards her. Dianne got to keep her mother while Leah lost her father. "Does this mean mother is eternal?"
"Until the next witch takes her place." Sue sadly looked upon her niece, knowing that her success would be a death sentence of her parent.
"The next witch?" She tried to think of anyone that her mother had mentioned, but she'd told her that only the first daughter of the Clearwater was passed on the gift. "Me."
"Once you reach your potential, the responsibilities are to be handed on to the next generation."
"What if I don't want it? I have a job back home." Dianne argued, not liking the direction of the conversation.
"Your duty of care is to patients, how is that any different to what Irene does?" Sue tried to reason with her.
"There's no magic, or secrets!"
"The magic in your blood drives you to be a nurse."
"That would mean staying here, in La Push." The young woman had spent most of her life trying to stay away from the small town and its trivial views.
"The place doesn't matter, it's what you call home." Sue thought about Leah and Seth, she could live anywhere as long as she had her children. "You need to find the reason to staying in the community."
"A partner?"
"A family." The Aunt reinforced.
Dianne could see sense in the woman's words. She had felt a craving that radiated from loneliness and a longing to have a partner beside her. "Whatever happened to my father?" She often questioned about the father figure in her life and never got a response from anyone in the community. Never in her lifetime had Dianne seen her mother with a man, she'd stayed true to that one partner that never remained long enough for her birth.
"That is a conversation best left for Irene." Sue advised, though the niece could tell that the woman knew the man but refused to speak up about the relationship. "Now, I'm needed at the council." She stood up and rinsed the empty coffee mug. "You're welcome to help yourself to the cupboards."
"The council?"
"You didn't think La Push would allow a group of young wolves to simply run around the community without direction?"
"I guess not, I haven't really thought about it." There was still so much that Dianne didn't know, maybe she should take Emily's offer and call in for a visit.
Dianne took her coat off and hung the garment on the hallway hooks, a frown appeared between her eyebrows at the stranger in her living room. "Hi?"
"Oh," The young man stood up quickly, holding his hand out to her in greeting. "I'm Terry."
"Di." She greeted, still wondering why he was in her house.
"I know." He instantly blushed at his blunt words, realising that seemed straightforward.
She shouldn't have been taken back that this guy knew about her, she could guess that the whole community knew about her arrival back in town. "Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?"
"My grandmother is upstairs with Irene."
"What brought her here?" Dianne asked curious, wanting to know what type of work her mother did with the community.
"Alternative herbs for her aching bones."
She knew that it was more than herbs that his grandmother would be drinking. Her ancestor's tribe may have known the truth about their abilities but Dianne gathered that through the years, suspicion would have set in and caused the Clearwater's to hide their secret in plain sight. There was a risk for them, reaching out and supporting the Quileutes' but they still provided a duty of care to their community. "And it works?"
"The days that she doesn't use it, she's stiff in the bones and can't walk by herself."
"Good to know it's helping her." She said honestly, leading Terry into the kitchen and turning the kettle on. "Do you want a drink?"
"Coffee would be great." Terry said thankful, taking a seat at the dining table as he watched the woman move around the kitchen.
"Sugar? Milk?"
"White and one."
"You're still local right?" Dianne questioned, recognising his face from high school.
"Sort of, got a few days a week at Port Angeles College."
"College?" She found it refreshing to see that someone else was getting a further education like herself. "What are you studying?"
"Photography." Passion vibrated through his voice. "I want people to see the wonder in the world, see that side of La Push."
"I think people need a reminder of the beauty in the world, the simple things in life." She brought the two cups to the dining room, taking a seat in front of the man.
"It's what I enjoy doing."
"Like my nursing." Dianne said in understanding, she welcomed been able to sit down and talk to a patient, get to know them and find out what is important to them. Exactly what her mother was doing right at this moment with Terry's grandmother. "I like taking photos as a hobby."
"I know some pretty magical places around here." Terry said eager to share with someone else.
"Like the cliffs?" She asked.
"There is some clearings and waterfalls too."
"Leah and I found a waterfall back in high school." She felt odd saying that, it had been such a long time ago since the two of them spent time together.
"I could… I could show you if you're interested?"
Dianne took a sip of her drink as she thought over Terry's offer. It would be nice to do something 'normal' and take a step back from the recent discoveries. She looked across the table at the man, he seemed nervous about extending the offer but her gut whispered he was harmless. "I would enjoy that."
"I'm heading out tomorrow if you'd like to come?"
An image of Paul appeared in her mind, the thought giving her more reason to get away for a short period of time. "Tomorrow it is." She smiled at Terry in appreciation.
Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, making Terry stand up to assist the older woman on the last step. "Gran, are you ready to go home?"
"Yes, my boy, we'll have to start preparing dinner." The wrinkles crinkled with a smile and her eyes sparkling bright.
"We'll stop at the grocery store on the way home." Terry started to lead his grandmother down the hallway, he looked back at Dianne. "I'll pick you up at ten?"
"I'll be ready." She replied, looking forward to some time away from the house.
She smiled at the duo one last time before the front door closed behind them. "You're playing with wolves my daughter." Dianne turned to the stairway to find her mother standing there having witnessed the conversation with Terry.
"Wolves?" Dianne questioned as Terry did not look like any of the wolves running around La Push with his lean frame.
"How is the spell?" The older Clearwater asked, directing the conversation.
"Slow." A bad taste filled in her mouth at not having decoded the spell. "I'll get there."
"I know you will." Irene turned back to the attic. "There is lasagne in the oven, could you make a side salad?"
"Yeah, I'll put dinner together."
"I'll be down in a moment to help." Irene continued into the attic to tidy the room after a day of visitors.
Dianne headed to the kitchen, clearing the mugs from the dining table and putting them in the sink before grabbing the salad ingredients – lettuce, tomato, carrot, mango, cheese and capsicum.
Moments later, the older Clearwater joined the kitchen and removed the tray from the oven to put on the wooden chopping block before serving the main dish.
They took a place at their four-seated dining table, Dianne pouring a glass of water for them while Irene put some salad on her plate. The younger Clearwater helped herself to the salad, while her mind raced with ways to bring up the subject of her father. In the past, the subject had always been brushed off, even those times she questioned where her 'daddy' was after seeing other classmates with their parents.
"What is it Dianne?" Her mother asked.
She frowned before realising she had been biting her lip, something she did when in deep thought. She took a deep breath, preparing the decline. "I want to know about my father."
"There is nothing to tell." Irene continued with her dinner.
"I think I have the right to know, I'm not a child anymore."
"It does not matter, he died during a storm." The older Clearwater answered with little emotion.
"What?" Dianne hadn't expected him to be dismissed like that. "Who was he?"
"We don't need to be bringing up the past."
"It's because of the past that we have wolves, witches and vampires running around." Dianne fired back in annoyance.
"That's enough Dianne Marie."
"Knowing who he is could help me accept my place in the community." She continued pushing for answers, ignoring the use of her middle name.
The sharp cling of the cutlery hitting her mother's half full plate had Dianne holding her breath, expecting the woman to leave the room for the night.
"You have always made the relationship with your father sound…joyful and fore filling." The older Clearwater signed, thinking back on that night. "It was one night, the night I conceived you. Nothing more, nothing less but too many glasses of vodka."
"One night." Dianne stated, having thought that there would have been more to her mothers' relationship. She couldn't imagine the well put together woman in front of her enjoying vodka and throwing caution to the wind.
"I wasn't the first woman…or the last one to be charmed by the Quileute."
"There were other women?"
"For a period of time." She muttered, her thoughts lost in the past. "It has always been you and me, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way." She reached over the table and squeezed her daughter's hand.
Dianne squeezed back, the overwhelming feeling of love spread through her and she realised that her mother was projecting to her. Reassuring Dianne of the truth behind her words and the gift of being blessed with a daughter.
Later that night, sleep was impossible as the conversation during dinner echoed in her mind. She could still feel her hand tingling from the projected feelings from her mother, causing the younger Clearwater to throw back her blankets and glance at the piece of paper on her bedside table. She picked up the spell and stared at the language that made no sense to her.
While staring at the words, one stood out reminding her of her nursing degree, Latin been very pronounced in medical terms. Grabbing her laptop, she started up the machine and waited for it to connect to her mother's wireless connection. She searched the Latin words and compared with the sentences in front of her. A frustrated sigh left her as the words didn't match up to the spelling – back to square one.
She felt determination set in as she stared at the jumble of words, wanting to find some connection to the magic running through her veins. She groaned after a few moments, nothing happening with her focused on the paper. Dianne remembered her mother saying something about needing to accept the magic before it would reveal itself, like a protection spell from unwanted eyes.
Relaxing into the mattress with her legs crossed and arms limp in her lap, she closed her eyes and emptied her mind to simply focus on her surroundings. The soft blanket against her back, the chill in the air from the cold night, the sound of the crickets outside her window, the dry taste in her mouth. And finally, the tingle surrounding her made goose bumps appear on her arms, it felt like an electrifying balance as it connected itself to every surface from the flowers on her bedside table to the rustling trees outside the house.
She let it seep through her pores, bringing peace that she had never experienced. With soft breaths through her nose and out her lips, she slowly opened her eyes once feeling grounded to the spark around her.
Glancing at the piece of paper in front of her, she felt excitement buzz through her at seeing the sentences blur to her Native American Language, the Quileute Tribe.
Reading the words once more, she focused her attention on the vase of flowers on her bedside table and slowly, quietly spoke the words and watched the closed purple iris open wide to show their yellow base in the dimly lit bedroom.
It was a small accomplishment that made her lips widen into a smile. She laid back against her pillows, her eyes focused on the deep purple flowers as a tiredness swept through her.
AN: Happy New Year! Thank you to wolf-girl-only-in-my-dreams, .2017, brankel1, ThePhantomismyLove, MyFandoms7 and jcwhale2380 for the reviews, and everyone who has recently followed the story.