Rose had no idea what to do. It had been nearly ten minutes since Olga had come down from her hiding place. They had linked hands and then… well nothing. Rose thought that once she had Olga, her time in the spirit world would be over. But still they lingered there. So they walked.
"Strange Mademoiselle where are we going?" Olga whined. Although Rose had told the girl her name more times than she could count, the child insisted on calling her "Strange Mademoiselle".
"We are looking for a sign my Lady," she replied, "so keep your eyes open for something that might lead to the way home,". She could feel Olga's fear. Fear that maybe they would be stuck in this place forever. But she was also annoyed. Rose felt the same way, but she couldn't tell if those were her true feelings or if they had been blended with Olga's. If she ever got back she was going to really train to gain control over this "gift".
"Strange Mademoiselle, how did you find me?" Olga asked. Her fear had subsided some but the annoyance was still there. But this question she asked with only a feeling of curiosity. This girl would be a fine ruler if she ever got the chance. Her cleverness was overcoming her fear. Rose smiled at Olga.
"Well, I just tried to… I guess feel the way to you. I thought of you and suddenly I was walking to where you were," Rose said as she thought about it.
"Voila! There is the problem. Before you were feeling now you are thinking. You must feel again," the little royal said confidently.
"You know my Lady, I believe you are right. You are quite clever. Your parents must be very proud of you," Rose said approvingly. Then she felt a surge of pride. That was Olga. Olga was proud of herself, and happy that Rose was happy with her.
Rose cleared her head and tried to feel something that would find their way home. Her heart reached out on an exploratory mission. Things in this world felt shimmery and fleeting. But there was one direction that was sending a feeling of… was it solidarity? It was an overwhelming feeling too, one that didn't fade away. So Rose went that way. Faintly she heard scuttling behind her as Olga scrambled to keep up with her. Soon Rose was so full of this feeling of constancy that it felt as though she was walking into a wall.
"Strange Mademoiselle! Look" cried Olga. It was not until now that Rose noticed that her eyes had been closed.
They were at a pool of very deep, very blue and very still water. Through the pool the two could see their bodies as they were in the physical world. There they were lying on the huge four poster bed, just as they had been when Rose's spirit left her body. She could see Mistress Yaga's hand applying ointment and water onto her forehead.
"Are we meant to jump into that?" the little duchess asked with concern in her voice. Rose didn't know what to do. So instead of answering she dipped her fingers in the water.
It didn't feel like water. It wasn't wet. It was silky and had no temperature. It was not cool nor was it warm. It reminded her more of layered clouds than of water once she touched it.
"My Lady, give me your hands," Rose said airily. She thought she knew what to do, but wasn't sure how she knew. Olga was a little huffy about being so directly ordered to do something by someone so obviously below her rank, but she obeyed anyway.
"Kneel down to the edge with me and we will put our hands in the water. Then say these words with me 'sensus partis, somnium partis, curatio partis'," Rose told Olga. But instead of starting the chant with Rose when they put their hands in the water, Olga gave a little squeak of surprise at the weightless silkiness of the pool. Soon after though she joined the chant. The pool began to glow and right beside them an archway appeared. Through it Rose could feel the familiar feelings of the physical world. She could feel the concern, fear, guilt, anger, and hope that filled the palace. Once the archway was in place, the pool stopped glowing.
"We may go through now My Lady," Rose said assuredly. At last their journey was over.
"You go through first, your spirit has been gone from its body longer than mine, and you must hurry home," Rose said as she smiled at Olga. Olga did not say anything, but nodded her head causing her dark ringlets to bounce. The child seemed to be mesmerized by the beautiful arch of light. From the moment it appeared her hand had been outstretched to touch it. So as soon as Rose gave the go ahead she ran through the archway. Rose was left alone in the sprit world.
As she wondered and worried about whether or not Olga made it back to her body, something to her right caught her eye and she felt a presence. Suddenly she was not alone. She turned to face what had appeared. There were two people looking at her, a man and a woman. They both looked as if they would cry.
"Hello," Rose said cautiously. She didn't know why, but she felt as if she should talk to them.
"Hello Rose," the woman said with a fondness in her voice that piqued Rose's curiosity.
"Do we know each other?" Rose asked. This time it was the man that answered.
"No. But we should," he said sadly. Rose could feel a wave of bitterness rolling off of him. Rose didn't understand what was going on. There was a small seedling of hope that Rose suppressed. There were only two people that she could imagine needing to know.
"Rose you know who we are. I can see it in your eyes. Go ahead and say it," the woman said coaxingly.
"My parents," Rose choked out.