Episode Sixty Two

            Gwen did not see Harry off to the Hogwart's Express. She wasn't present at breakfast that morning. As a matter of fact, no one had seen her since that night in the common room.

            Chris was highly disappointed that his friend wasn't there to share in the triumph of their graduation. He rode with Gabrielle in the carriages to the train, and once on board they shared a compartment. They had exchanged addresses and had promised to write regularly. He thought, that maybe he had found the woman he was going to marry.

            But Gwen knew nothing of the budding romance between her friends. She had been too mired in her own problems to even notice the subtle way they smiled at each other and laughed just a little differently at each others' jokes. She would have been as pleased as punch had she known, but she would not learn until much later when she received an invitation to their wedding.

            Minerva knew that her goddaughter had spent the past two days holed up in the faerie mound with Gemma. She had given the emotionally distraught young woman permission to seek out her relatives of the mound. It didn't matter so much now, because Gwen was no longer a student and she wouldn't require anyone's permission to wander about the Forbidden Forest if the thought struck her.

            She watched for hours as Gemma carved more intricate patterns into that same silver table she'd seen many visits before. The way the lithe woman went about her work held Gwen's fascination far longer than anything else in her entire life. The tools were thin and looked scarcely able to provide ample power to carve out chunks of the precious metal medium. Yet Gemma knew how to finesse them. She was patient beyond belief. This table was to be a wedding gift. For whom, she was not yet aware, but the muses had inspired her and who was she to refuse their genius?

            She laid her tools to rest. Gwen shifted lazily from her nook in the wall. She had learned a few handy mound secrets in the past few days and was practicing them. Her favorite was a simple trick. The walls of the mound were actually quite pliable, which made them easy to manipulate or say, walk through. When she felt the desire to get off her feet she had only to push gently on the wall and it left her a neat little seat. She had pushed enough that she had a small daybed from which to watch Gemma work.

            The older fey sighed and sat down next to her great-great-granddaughter. "Feeling any better?"

            "More relaxed." Gwen replied. "But I'm leaving tomorrow. It's going to be awhile before I can hang out down here again."

            "Don't worry, the mound will still be here."