Lucid

"Oh." Rowena paled suddenly and the papers she was holding fluttered out of her hands.

Helga looked up. "Darling, are you all right?" she asked, hurrying over to pick up the papers. She handed them back to Rowena and sat on the edge of the bed. "Rowena?"

Rowena put a hand to her chest. Then, she breathed out shakily. "Yes, thank you, Helga," she said, accepting the papers.

Helga frowned. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Rowena said dismissively. She leaned back against the headboard and put the papers beside her on the bedside table. "Someone—someone just walked over my grave, is all," she added softly.

Helga reached out to hold her friend's cold hands. "Would you like another blanket, dear?"

Rowena did not answer immediately. She appeared to be thinking, or just resting - Helga could not quite tell. Though Rowena had always been quiet, these days she had become increasingly so - she lacked much energy at the moment. This was why Helga had been surprised to find Rowena reading this evening when she had come to visit. Usually, such activities were too taxing for Rowena now.

But it had been nice to find her reading today. It had helped her forget a bit of Rowena's delicate health and had reminded Helga of what Rowena had been like thirteen or fourteen months ago now.

Without opening her eyes, Rowena nodded gently. "Thank you, dear," she said softly.

Helga got up and kissed Rowena's cheek.


Dreams

Helga looked over her book to check if Rowena was still sleeping. It had been almost two weeks since they had sent the boy to fetch Helena. So far there had been no news and in that time Rowena's health had deteriorated considerably. The witch was plagued by such weakness and heavy fevers that her moments of lucidity were becoming few and far between.

All Helga could do was sit, wait, and watch Rowena, to make sure that her condition did not worsen before Helena managed to make it back. Helga looked down at her book again, or rather the book Rowena had been writing before Helena's untimely disappearance. She had tried to complete it of course, but Helga feared now that it would always remain unfinished.

She sighed and turned the page, just as she heard Rowena stir.

"Are they back yet?" she murmured faintly.

Helga came to sit on the edge of Rowena's bed. She adjusted the blankets so that they better covered Rowena's thin body. "What was that, dear?"

Rowena kept her eyes closed. "I understand now," she said, so softly that Helga had to learn further forwards to hear her. "I understand what those dreams meant." She breathed out slowly. "Nothing to do with—with Salazar...or...or...Godric..."

Helga sat up and held Rowena's cold hands. "Don't think about that," she said.

Rowena did not appear to hear her or to be listening. "I have been foolish, Helga. How can a mother not take care of her own daughter?" she continued, her voice sounding stiff and painful in her throat. "I should have gone after her much sooner."

"Oh, Rowena," Helga said, wiping Rowena's brow. "Do not say such terrible things."

Rowena shook her head. "I should have done better, I know that." She frowned and closed her eyes. "I fear...Helena will not make it in...in time."

Helga held back her tears. "I am sure that she is on her way this very minute."


Passing

Helga lit the candles in the room, and then came to sit in the chair beside Rowena's bed. The noise of the feet of the chair scraping against the floor made Rowena stir. Her eyelids fluttered open, though it took a moment for her eyes to focus on her friend.

"Is that you, Helga? Is there any...any news?"

"Hush, now, dear," Helga said, speaking softly. "Go back to sleep."

Rowena obeyed and closed her eyes. Yet, she opened them again a second later. "I must leave tomorrow," she said, her voice strained and quiet. "Helena...in Albania."

Helga nodded and stroked Rowena's hand. "We are getting her right now, Rowena."

"She is coming home?"

Helga forced a smile on her trembling lips. "Yes," she lied. "You will see her very soon."

Rowena let out a relieved sigh. "Good," she said, closing her eyes again. "I am glad."

It was barely a few minutes until Rowena had drifted back into unconsciousness.

When Helga awoke the next morning, still sitting in the small wicker chair and holding Rowena's hands, she noticed how silent and still it was in the bedroom. Rowena was still lying in her bed, though with an added layer of peacefulness that had evaded her for years.

"Rowena?"

Rowena did not stir. Helga dropped Rowena's cold fingers in shock and stood up.