Evangeline widened her eyes, "Oh, that's...wow...and your first wish, huh, honey? What happened?", as she played with Terrence's little hands, looking at them, and Sylvia smiled softly, "Jiminy here wished that he would help me more than just massages, holding my hand, etc., while I was getting frustrated and trying to be patient when Lila was on the way, and well, Terrence interpreted it to making us fused together, sorta like seahorses, and we literally were going through contractions together, the whole 9 yards.".
"Wow...", that was all Evangeline could say upon hearing that news. It was quite stunning to hear that a newborn like Terrence was able to do that sort of magic. "Certainly was quite the quick surprise before we were still having to push Lila.", Jiminy said.
Sylvia replied, "We think that being conceived and born in the Evening Star itself made the twins powerful, through Lila is taking her time to find her talent as she apparently doesn't grant wishes like her brother.", and Lila cooed in agreement from her position in Jiminy's arms.
Jiminy then replied, "And then there's their birthmarks. Terrence got an actual star as a birthmark above his heart while Lila got a compass above her heart.".
Evangeline exhaled, "And I thought being created as who I was by Mother was powerful when she wanted an heir after her to look after the Evening Star...", with a chuckle.
Sylvia smiled, "Aunt Fay had the right idea, Eva, and now we don't mind the work...After all, you deserve to be human with your man, seeing your children grow up, and having the promise of seeing their grandchildren in the future.".
Lila then noticed, blinking at Mimi, and she sensed so much pain in her soul yet she can tell that Mimi has been really trying to socialize yet she shies at any man who resembles her deceased master even when she knew that the men in the village would never, ever hurt a black woman, especially when she's related to Ray who partially saved Perla and Ella, and if it wasn't for the family, the village wouldn't have been here in the first place.
Mimi's wish was barely whispered in the air when she wished for a way out, and her voice is finding light again, but it's very slow, and Lila found a deep wish in her soul, a wish for her to be free from every terrible and horrible memory, but Mimi doesn't want to die, to remember those painful memories in heaven even if it was said that they were like muddled remnants up there, there's still feelings about them, even if it's tempting for her to do suicide, to see her family including Mama Odie..
Lila can sense that Mimi wanted so much to help Ray, the family, the village beyond babysitting, making food, and all, to pay for what they did for her...She then remembered a story, a story Jiminy read aloud to her and Terrence a few days ago, about a phoenix...
She babbled to Terrence in their baby language, and they babbled while the adults kept conversating, and with gummy smiles, Lila then squealed, reaching for Mimi.
Jiminy noticed, and smiles gently, "Mimi...I think Lila wants to cheer you up.", and Mimi whispers softly, "It's okay?", and Jiminy nods as he passes Lila into Mimi's arms, and Lila grabs into Mimi's finger, magic shimmering through Mimi, and she gasps softly as she sees images in her head, interpreting them into words.
Evangeline asks in concern, "Mimi? Are you alright?", and Mimi speaks softly, "She can see my wish in my soul...she wants me to be happy...she and Terrence suggested that I'd be a phoenix child...an immortal human who is born from the ashes every time I die in protecting the village, to protect your descendants...to watch over Ray's descendants...
"R-Really?", Jiminy stammered, hearing that. "They... that's something they could do?", he looked to Sylvia as she had the look on her face that wasn't even sure herself.
"You... Is that really something you would want, Mimi?", Evangeline asked as Mimi sighed. "I'm... I'm not really sure, if I'm honest.", she admitted. "But... I just...", she quieted up for a moment as she retreated from her voice once more like she tended to do.
Lila looked at Terrence, babbled to him, and he babbled back, and Lila shimmered magic again to Mimi who blinked at her, and bit her lip, whispering, "I suppose that's less scary...".
Evangeline replied softly, "What is it?", and Mimi looked at Evangeline, "She suggested something less complicated...but it's...I don't want to be a burden...".
"Does it involve me and Ray?", Evangeline spoke gently, and Mimi bit her lip, "I...I want to forget...But I'm...scared...Lila says all my bad memories can change into a positive force, a protective aura over the village so everyone can be safe from the bigotry, bad people, and such, but...", quieting down, averting her eyes.
Evangeline exhaled, looking at Jiminy and Sylvia, "I think you better get to show the twins around...", gently taking Lila out of Mimi's arms, giving her back to Jiminy, "Mimi is not the same with strangers around, even if she knows that you saved her, Sylvia...And Jiminy, Ray is across the street, helping fix up one of the sleigh carriages for Naveen and Carlo. If he's done, tell him to come over...I am sure the twins would appreciate a new playmate.".
Jiminy nodded, "Alright then.". He got up and started to head out with Sylvia and the twins following suit, leaving Evangeline and Mimi alone once more.
Evangeline looked at Mimi softly, "I'm here, Mimi...Do you want to wait for Ray?", and Mimi shook her head, whispering, "No...I need to say something before I lose my courage...I...I have thoughts of...of suicide...", seeing Evangeline's eyes widen yet she doesn't dare interrupt her as Mimi kept talking.
"Lila said that if I take all the bad memories into a potion she'd lend instructions to her parents to make, and when...when the last bad memory leaves me...I would stay alive a bit longer for making the best of the time I have left with you, Ray, your kids...But I'm scared if the rest of the family and Mama Odie would be mad about me leaving you in a good way without..suicide...even if Lila reassured me that the bad memories would be manifested into a positive, magical aura, to protect the village by the potion. And I wouldn't have them in the heavens...And the village has done so much for me all those past weeks, even if I am pathetic when I get scared at any man who resembles...him...", Mimi speaks softly.
"Mimi.", Evangeline whispered as she got close to her. "Please... don't think yourself pathetic for your fears... it's what makes you human... anyone else here would probably be the same as you if in your situation. And I know simply saying that he can't hurt you any more won't make that much of a difference to you but...", Evangeline closed her eyes and sighed.
"But what?", Mimi asked. Evangeline sighed deeply, "Do you really want to die peacefully?".
Mimi whispered, "Evangeline...I'm so tired of suffering...I hate waking up from nightmares almost every night...I hate the scared looks of the kids when they're worried for me...I want to forget the bad memories...They dominate every happy memory of Poppa and Momma, Mama Odie, Ray...everyone that leaves me...Did you know I was actually angry at Ray for leaving us? Even after Poppa told me that Ray had to make some sacrifices to actually bring Naveen with him...".
"I can't imagine how that must have felt at the time.", Evangeline closed her eyes. She didn't want Mimi to end her life; she still felt maybe there was a way to fix her, to help her recover for the most part.
Mimi exhaled deeply, looking at Evangeline silently before hesitating slowly, yet suddenly hugging her for the first time in forever...She only allowed Ray to hug her all those past weeks.
Evangeline's eyes became full of tears, hugging Mimi gently, and the hug lasted for a few miraculous minutes before Mimi had enough, and pulled back, whispering softly, "There's nothing you can do to change my mind...But I will wait until you and Ray are ready to let me go...", closing her eyes, "Especially Ray...Please don't let him shout or leap to his feet to confront me, anything like that...I'm going to see to the chickens and goats out back...".
Evangeline shakily exhaled, knowing that Ray dearly loved Mimi as she's family, and was about to reply when they heard the front door open, hearing Ray's voice call out, "Hey, I'm done helping out at Naveen and Carlo's house. Jiminy told me that when I got done, I had to come over!".
"Go...I'll talk with him...And I promise I will make him not to do anything drastic...", Evangeline whispered softly, and Mimi gave her a little smile of thanks, grabbing her coat, scarf, heading to the back of the house, to the little barn/henhouse to check on the goats and chickens.
Evangeline took a deep breath before she walked over to meet with Ray, trying to think of how exactly she could put things in the right way to tell Ray about what Mimi wanted.
Ray heard footsteps and smiled as he saw Evangeline before frowning as he saw signs of tears in her eyes, and asked in concern, "Is everything okay, Eve?".
Evangeline replied, "Mimi hugged me for the first time...", and Ray laughed widely, "Oh, that's great!", before noticing that she is having a bittersweet look, "What's going on? I thought you'd be happy...".
"Come, Ray, just come with me to our room...We...we need to talk seriously...And I want you to promise not to interrupt me or do anything drastic...Mimi is already close to her limits of socializing for today...", Evangeline grabbed his hands, taking him to their room, looking at him steadily.
Ray could easily tell that it was something very serious. "Eve... what happened?", he asked as Evangeline closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Mimi... she said some things when she met the twins... she... connected with them...".
Ray blinked in surprise, "The twins are powerful already in magic?", and Evangeline gave a little smile, "Little Terrence has the usual gift of granting wishes, and Lila, she has the unusual gift of sensing very deep wishes in tortured souls within the bodies beyond their hearts.".
"Golly...And Mimi is one of those tortured souls...", Ray sighed heavily, and Evangeline bit her lip, "Yes...Her wish was to forget all the horrible things in her memories. The twins suggested a potion, a potion that would take all the bad memories from Mimi's mind, change them into a positive force of magic, a protective aura that would keep the village safe from all kinds of bigotry of the outside world, and I suspect, when strangers come into the borders of the village, their minds go empty of those bigotry thoughts when they're here, slowly changing, and when they exit the village to go home or travel further on their travels, they're a little bit more open-minded, a bit more better of accepting people.".
Ray nodded with a smile, "That's actually not so bad...After all, the world would use more good people those days...", and Evangeline exhaled deeply, "That's one side of it...The other side of it...when the last bad memory gets extracted, Mimi would...would have some time left to be with us, to make more good memories, and...die peacefully without once deviating to...to suicidal thoughts.", choking up as she struggled with tears in her eyes.
Ray gave her a look as he was shocked to hear it, "You mean... she really would die even if we helped her with the memories?".
Evangeline sighed deeply, "Ray, she told me that she fought suicidal thoughts for us every day, she's so tired of suffering, she hates waking up almost every night from nightmares, and she hates seeing the looks of worrying and such on the kids. Ray, she misses her Poppa, Momma, Mama Odie, everyone who left her...especially with the slave owners going crazy and hard on them even before the gossip of the Abolishment Act came...But she's scared that you'd be mad at her, that the family up there would be mad at her if she doesn't live her life...But all those bad memories, they couldn't let her live her life. She told me that they dominate every happy memory...especially...him.".
"I hate this...", Ray shook his head. "I... I never thought in my darkest dreams that it would be even worse for her... and we were all enslaved to begin with!".
Evangeline scooted closer to him, quickly holding him as he collapsed, sobbing into her shoulder, as she shushed him quietly, "I know...I know...You're free...Naveen's free...Mimi's free, but she just couldn't see it...It's okay, Ray, let it out...I'm here, my love...", kissing his head gently, relieved that he's not rushing out of the room or anything of the sort.
He couldn't stop sobbing for a good minute; even though Mimi was still alive, it felt like at that moment that she had suddenly just passed, and all the emotions hit him at once.
Evangeline rubbed his back, stroking his head gently as she kissed his skin, holding him, rocking him slightly as he cried on her shoulder for all that minute, and when that minute ended, Ray gave a huge exhale as he raised his head, wiping his tearstained cheeks, "Sorry about ruining your sleeve, my love...".
"It's okay...Listen, Mimi said that she's willing to wait until both of us are ready to let her go...", Evangeline spoke gently, and Ray exhaled, "I don't want her to suffer any longer...I...if giving her happy memories with the time she has left, seeing her smile again, I...would be happy to know that she's in great hands with my uncle, aunt, and Mama Odie, everybody up there...to see her realize that she's free, and she gives the village a great gift of protection and love...".
Evangeline gave a warm smile, "And she deserves to know what it means to be a free woman, without fear, to make the most of her days with a light in her eyes, to enjoy fun, to learn.".
Ray took another deep breath. "Do... do you think we should at least wait a few more days... give ourselves just a little more time to think?", he asked. "We can't wait for years, Ray.. we can't keep putting her through all that.", Evangeline gently reprimands her husband.
Ray nodded, "You're right...Your wisdom never fails to astound me...", before exhaling deeply to get up, holding Evangeline's hand, "Let's go...", and Evangeline smiles gently, kissing him on the cheek, "It's gonna be okay.".
They head downstairs from their bedroom, to see Mimi taking off her scarf and coat, and she saw them, whispering quietly, "I didn't hear any shouting...You're not mad at me, Ray?".
Ray shook his head, "No... I could never be mad about you... not about that... I'm so sorry...", he muttered that last bit as he was choked up. "I... I should've been able to do something in the first place... or... at least get back to you sooner... I should've...".
Mimi whispered, "You had priorities with Naveen, and you couldn't leave him here...I know my momma and poppa would have taken care of Naveen, but they didn't know him as closely as you did, seeing him as the last part of your best friend...And you then had to survive with Eleanor Tremaine as your mistress, let less allow her to sell Naveen by force...I would never be mad at you for being involved then with Perla and the family...And then of course, building your own family with Evangeline...".
Ray choked up, "But I should've...I should've asked for news in Louisiana, anything...I...I thought with the Abolishment Act, slavery was finished...I...I'm so sorry...".
Mimi spoke a bit stronger, "It's not your fault...I learned many hard lessons...That day when Sylvia saved me...I had lost nearly hope when I saw the Evening Star...I was having suicidal thoughts, fighting the dwindling hope I had...That night was the first time I spoke more than usual...I'm...I'm haunted every day even when I see signs of freedom around here, people laughing, people being themselves, people being free to love and just be...".
Ray didn't say another word as he wrapped himself around her tight in a hug as he obviously just needed to give her one at that moment. Nothing needed to be said for the next minute as they held each other tight.
Evangeline smiled bittersweetly at the sight, tears in her eyes, and the minute was peaceful and quiet before Ray let go of her, knowing that she's sensitive to boundaries, "Do you want me to get the others back here; Jiminy, Sylvia and the twins?".
Mimi whispered, "Just Sylvia and Lila...", and Ray nodded, "Okay...I'll be right back, then.", and so, he grabbed his coat and scarf again, heading back across the street, relieved that Maurice thought up about sleigh-shovels, and such last year, and it's much easier without using snowshoes every time to walk.