"My what?" Elisa said with disbelief at Brooklyn's words.
"It says, 'You wore this dress on your wedding night, and I hope you get to wear it again someday.'"
"I did what now?" Elisa spluttered, her voice higher than normal.
"It's quite clever actually. Any written material about Shambahla cannot leave the valley, it disappears, but this is technically embroidery, so it fooled the spell, I think."
"Brooklyn…what you're saying doesn't make any sense to me."
"I'm just telling you what it says, Elisa," Brooklyn explained.
"If it's my wedding dress, then who the hell did I marry?!" she said alarmed.
"Well...you were there with Goliath," Brooklyn pointed out. "and the word wedding here is written with an exaggerated flare...like it's not the literal meaning, which would make sense considering Shambahla is home to a clan of gargoyles, so there wouldn't have been an actual wedding just the, er, well...you know…the consummation," Brooklyn hedged and glanced at Nashville who was still young and mostly ignorant about the ways of adults.
"Gargoyles?" Elisa and Broadway said with surprise at the same time.
"I visited them once. Long ago. Right before they put up the spell that affects your memory. In fact, I was there when they did it, or at least, I was there right before they did. I tried to convince them not to, but they went ahead with it anyway," Brooklyn explained.
Elisa blinked at him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about…" she said.
"That's because of the memory spell."
Brooklyn looked at her and the dress.
"You did say this was your dress, right?"
"It fits me like a glove, " Elisa said dazed.
"Then perhaps, you and Goliath–" Brooklyn began to say.
"What's going on?" Goliath asked as he walked into the room and observed the looks on everyone's faces.
Elisa jumped, startled by the sound of his voice.
She looked at her mate and searched his eyes for any kind of recognition as he looked at the dress she held in her hands.
But there was none, and she was struck with a swell of anger that he couldn't remember.
That she couldn't remember.
She and Goliath had been together before.
In Shambahla.
What Brooklyn told her rang true to her.
She thought of their first time together.
Or what she thought had been their first time together.
He had known her so well. He had touched her like he knew exactly what he was doing.
Because they'd been together like that before, and he knew instinctively what she liked.
But neither of them could remember!
"Elisa?" Goliath asked concerned by the horror stricken look on her face.
"I've gotta go," she said abruptly and dashed out.
Goliath looked to the others for explanation, but none of them were forthcoming, so he followed her.
"Elisa, wait," he called after her.
"I'm going to be late for work, Goliath," Elisa warned him.
Goliath caught her hand and gently turned her to face him.
"Elisa...what's wrong?"
"It's...nothing. Everything's fine," she lied.
He looked at her like he clearly didn't believe her.
"I haven't seen you in days. I feel like you're avoiding me," he said.
"I've just...had a lot to deal with," she said dismissively.
"I know you have, and I realize that I have only added to your list of problems," Goliath said apologetically.
She wasn't sure what to say, what to tell him exactly. Everything was so fucked up at the moment.
"Goliath...we really need to talk," Elisa said seriously. "Tomorrow's my night off. I'll see you at home?"
Goliath nodded.
"Ok. Tomorrow then," she said decisively, and as Goliath watched her walk away, his anxiety spiked. Something was going on with his mate, and he wasn't sure what it was, but ever since she had come home from Arizona, and he had told her about what happened to Cagney, about Queen Mab, she had been distant.
She blamed the shorter nights, but he knew something was very wrong between them, and he dreaded the conversation they would have tomorrow.
He feared it would not be an easy conversation.
Not at all.