There was a string. On his finger. Why was there a string on his finger. He had been sitting around a campfire just northwest of Virens forest when he noticed it, snugly wrapped around his heart finger. So shocked was he, he fell backward in a panicked scramble over the log he'd been sat atop. A red string…

… Suddenly, he was very aware that this was not the first time he had witnessed such a phenomenon. Once upon a time, he had seen string upon string. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands. He saw them even in his sleep - in what precious little slumber he could manage. But just as quick as the image had been summoned, it disappeared, and he was left to wonder. Frowning behind his mask, he shook his head. Folly. Most likely he'd eaten something in the forest he shouldn't have.

Hours passed. He had resumed travel, for daylight remained yet, and he'd a ways yet to go.
But with increasing frequency, he found himself staring at the string. And again, he caught himself wondering…

As soon as he'd decided on following it, his surroundings went dark, and yet were filled with colourful, vibrant life. The calming influence of the soul stream was welcome. He felt as though embraced by a familiar, motherly presence. It was… decidedly nice, albeit short lived. He had remained undeterred in his newfound quest to follow the string, and soon Frey found himself walking the length of a rather peculiar beach. It reminded him of a place called Ja'nin, and he didn't know why. This was hardly the first time he'd made such a correlation without understanding why, mind, and so he did not dwell on it overlong.

As he walked, he could not shake the feeling of familiarity that had greeted him before even arriving. In a way, it was unnerving. With a nervous gulp, he paused at last, and again images assailed him. Fiery red hair danced in the wind. Unique, captivating eyes stared into his soul. With a shuddering breath, he pulled himself from the thought (a memory? was it a memory?). Standing still, hands loosely clenched at his sides, he drew in a deep breath and took a moment to better appraise his surroundings.

And then, he saw her. Saw, more specifically, where his string seemed to be leading. Squinting from behind his mask, he took a wary step back. "… Angela…?"

He wasn't sure, but he thought - he could feel it in his bones - that the name somehow fit.

Fate was an odd thing. It brought people into your life and just as quickly took others away. Sometimes those same people who left would reappear without warning. Leaving no trail of where they had been. No trail of where they would go. That was fate. The never-ending twisting of several thousand strings all together at all with only one of them being the true life path.

Her hand reached for her belly and she took a giant sigh. Their daughter was certainly a pain before she was even born. Her magic sometimes did odd little things like making someone’s hair pink for example. It perplexed her but she let it go. That was when she felt the pull. Someone had come into her realm and it was such an eerily familiar feeling.

Nostalgic.

Pushing herself up Angela disappeared into her realm and appeared on the edge of the sea glass beach. Her feet paid no mind to the glass as she stepped across it. Her eyes watching as birds and butterflies erupted from the sea foam caused by the ocean’s tides. That was where she saw him. The brown hair and the green eyes… She thought she could smell apples in the distance just from seeing him. “Frey…” Her voice answered him back.

The way he held himself made her realize that this man… This man who her kids had grown up with and called Uncle. The man who had fathered Rhea. This man was and was not the man she knew. There were a thousand different reasons for why she felt the way she did but none of them seemed to stand out as the real reason why. “Please do not run. In this realm, you will just go in a circle and come straight back to me.” Her voice was pleasant as she took a step forward.

“I had almost forgotten… how messy your hair gets.” Her eyes looked him over. “And now tired your eyes are.” A green apple appeared in her hands and she tossed it to him with a smile. "You are an enigma to me… both the person I know and a person I do not know."

Before she could even call his name, Frey knew she would recognize him for who she was. How, or why, he had yet to ascertain, but he could feel it in his gut that he was right. A rush of memories past tickled at the edge of his thoughts, vague, blurry, only barely perceptible. As she called to him, his breath hitched in his throat and he had to resist the urge to take another step back.

'Please do not run,' she had beckoned him. But the thought, the idea of doing just that appealed to him very much. With a gulp, the mage steeled himself and he stood tall. With his ruse over before it had begun, he reached up and pulled his mask from his face, attaching it instead to the belt at his waist. The blasted thing had not proven much of a disguise of late - maybe, just maybe, he mused, he'd be better off ridding himself of it after all. But there would be time to deliberate over that later. For now…

For now, he had other, much more pressing things to worry about. "My hair is not messy," he pouted, snorting in a curious mix of annoyance and amusement as he ran a hand through the hair in question. "It's just right. And thanks! Thanks a bunch! A man always loves being complimented on the bags under his eyes." Grimacing wryly, he pointedly averted his stare. He felt small all of a sudden despite her comforting tone. She was right about all of it: his hair was a damn mess, he was perpetually exhausted, and he was a bloody enigma… "An enigma to you, and to myself," he added with a rueful shake of his head as he deftly caught the apple.

As she neared, he but stood his ground - it was the most he could manage, at this point. His knees felt weak. He anxiously turned the fruit over in his hands, not really looking down at it yet. His gaze, weighted with intense apprehension and curiosity both, burned like fire. "You are Angela… Correct? Angela Rose?" Or was it Angela Rose-LeSilve? His eyes narrowed as the memory intruded, almost painfully. That name… it couldn't be right. But hadn't she and his brother… His frown deepened. "I have a brother?" he asked himself in a whisper, though he had not meant to leak that particular thought aloud, no.

He shook his head to himself and looked up at the goddess, his expression stoic, resigned, tired. "It's all so confusing. I've known you a long time… Haven't I? You see, part of me feels as though I have, looking upon you, but another part of me doesn't think so, and I fear that I do not know quite what to believe."

Her hand moved up to her hip. Her smile did not fade. “And a lady AFRAID of ships does not like being put on one.” It was a pointed argument like he had done something to her in the past. “Consider us a bit more even.”

She tilted her head full of red hair. “I have not gone by Angela LeSilve in a long time… but yes I was married to your brother.” She put her hands more firmly on the top of her hips now. “I am the mother of your niece and nephew. I was also one of your oldest friends long before I was your sister in law. However, it would be best not to track down that… your brother.” She frowned a bit as if she was scoffing at the idea. How much she had loved him at one point but no more.

“You and I are the same Frey, however, in Revaliir we were friends for a long time. You entrusted me with a gift very important to you but for now, I will not tell you what that is.” He couldn’t know about Rhea just yet. Rey and Aelwen yet but it wasn’t the same thing. “You must only know that I took care of it well.” She moved over and took his skeleton arm up in hers as if it did not bother her at all.

“Come rest. You must have a thousand questions… Will you come with me?” She wouldn’t force him to. “Elysia is a safe haven for all those that seek it out. I’ll hide you from Rey and Aellie if they see you. I think it would make their heads explode… and overwhelm you at the moment.”

Frey merely blinked in confusion, his blank stare evidence enough that perhaps even if he did not necessarily consider himself wholly innocent, he was unsure of the incident she spoke of. "Are you quite certain that was me?" he inquired suspiciously, eyes squinting as he attempted to remember. "Why ever would I have put you on a ship if you didn't care for it? Heavens know I'm not a fan of them, myself." He could only shake his head. He wouldn't apologize. Especially not for an act he could not recall committing. He averted his gaze. "Hmph… Even, she says…"

Though he was unimpressed - and looked it - he was by far more intrigued by the next spot of conversation, and the curious glint that surfaced in his eyes no doubt betrayed him. He could hear his heart thumping in his ears. He had a brother! And a niece, and a nephew! And apparently, a sister-in-law… sort of? Once upon a time, from the sounds of things. "Wonder of wonders… I had that much family this whole time? And here I had for all these years thought myself alone…" For better or worse.

Her next words shook him to his core. Friends? Certainly she seemed more familiar with him than he afforded most these days. But a gift? "I'm awful with giving gifts," he mused aloud, quiet, thoughtful, brows furrowed in consideration. "What manner of gift would I have given you, I wonder? Are you sure you can't tell me?" He arched a brow and smirked wryly, at once both amused and the slightest bit annoyed. "You're leaving me with more questions than answers, you know."

It took every ounce of willpower in him not to jerk back upon her taking up his arm. Not only was it surprising in itself, but he was still trying to wrap his head around the idea of an old friend, and it was taking some getting used to. Nonetheless, he would allow her to lead. He nodded. "As you wish. You're probably not wrong - this is all very overwhelming already, I'll admit."

He grimaced, then though better of it.

"What did you mean by 'you and I are the same'? Have you also been wandering the lands, searching for lost memories?" He allowed himself a dry chuckle at his own expense. Such a fruitless search, and after all this time, all it took was him coming across a familiar red string by complete chance…

or was it even chance at all?

“Am I certain that you are the same man that smashed through the walls of my well-built cottage while you attempted to take down your brother that I had found in the forest? I couldn’t mistake a face like that. Nor your smell for that matter.” There was a smirk on her face. “You said it would be fun… a fishing trip. If I remember correctly you froze the water and helped me get to the island to ease my suffering just a bit. We’ve always had that type of relationship even before I married that hardheaded brother of yours.”

The look on Frey’s face sort of amused Angela more than it should have. There was a tilt of her head as the red curls fell dramatically to one side. “With the shifting of worlds and the changing of souls, there is much that could be missed, Frey. The world does not stop no matter what world it is. You will remember in due time or you will be able to forge new memories on the information that I am giving you. All is not lost nor can it be. It is simply what is.” She loosely shrugged her shoulders as she pondered her long thought.

“If you cannot remember your family nor memories than it is not time for you to learn of the gift that you entrusted me with.” Her tone was sharp as she would not budge. Eventually, he would start to remember and only then would she reveal the truth to him. That the gift was not an object but a person very much dear to his heart. “You are not ready for it… so I am sure that I cannot tell you.” Her tone was more gentle this time.

With Frey on her arm, she escorted him up the long path. She was sure that this was awkward for him but this was just how she was whether she knew a person or not. She was intimate as it was her nature as Love. “When I say we are the same I mean part of me fell from another world as well. That world was the one in which I was Angela LeSilve… married to your brother and birthed your niece and nephew. It was only by my divine nature that I was able to retain most of my memories.”

It was a long walk to her palace but there appeared a panic look on her face as they entered. She let go of him and waved her hand. His body became ethereal as loud noises came crashing down into the temple. “MOTHER!” There was a shriek a giant runic warhammer came crashing down onto the floor the power of the blast put a hole into the ground. If it were not for Angela’s divine force it was clear that it would have done a lot more damage than it did.

“Calm yourself Aelwen… What in the Voice’s name do you think you are doing with that temper of yours?” Angela’s voice was filled with concern as her eyes darted to Frey’s but for just a moment. Hardly enough for the young Aerkai halfling to notice.

“Bloody work is why I’m mad at you. I want more work and I don’t want this pansy ass stuff that I’ve been getting lately. Give me a challenge…” Aelwen put the hammer in front of her and got up on the long edges of it with her tiny feet. “I don’t care about the pay. I need something that makes my blood burn with happiness.”

“Well, if you will respect my property… I will give you the next job that requires that level of involvement… Until then it is small time mercenary work that comes through for you… Is that okay?” Angela crossed her arms lightly towards her small daughter.

“I suppose that you can’t make the world more unsafe just to please me… Fine, I will wait until this job comes in… and what’s that smell? It smells like Uncle Frey?”

“It is your imagination from being dropped on your head too many times by your father at birth… You know Frey hasn’t been seen in Revaliir. Now shoo…” She did a shooing motion with her hands as Aelwen glared at her with suspicion.

“Can you open a portal to Sularia for me?” The halfling jumped off her hammer and picked it back up.

“Of course,” Angela spoke softly as she opened the gate and waited until the girl passed through and it was closed to reveal Frey. “She has such a temper on her… A real wildfire if you ask me. That was the youngest of mine and your brother’s children. Her name is Aelwen and her temper is as short as she is.” Angela waved her hand and the temple repaired itself.

Angela pulled Frey now quickly as she got him into her study and looked around before slamming the door. With a snap, the door disappeared. “I might have to hide you for a while until I know both Reyviir and Aelwen aren’t lurking about… I am a terrible liar so she probably knows something is up. She offered him a seat as she went around her desk and sat in her nice chair with a sigh. “Aelwen has always been a struggle but you made her that hammer she so fond of smashing things with.”

"He probably deserved it." Her house, on the other hand, had likely not deserved its particular fate but… hard to feel remorse over an action he could still not recall committing. Doubt flickered briefly in his eyes - he'd never cared for fish at all. A fishing trip didn't sound like a thing he'd suggest. Still, hearing of past adventures… Her easy familiarity with him… The power that hummed about this place… The whole of it was a bit uncomfortable. She spoke of new memories, and he thought it an intriguing coincidence. In his waking hours, he remained obsessed with his quest for the truth. In his dreams, however, the concept of favouring new memories and leaving behind the past remained a constant temptation.

He dispelled the thought with a shake of his head. His frown deepened. She said he wasn't ready, and he quite frankly disagreed. He dropped the matter thanks only to the knowledge - impossibly gained, pried from somewhere in the locked depths of his past - that her stubbornness matched his own. He was of no mind to chase lost causes.

They walked together in curious companionship, until Angela released him. Frey watched the chaos unfold before him with stoic acceptance, as though he'd seen it all before. Maybe he had? Hm.

So that was his niece… "Not sure if I ought to be impressed or concerned, to tell the truth," he noted after the young spitfire'd made her exit. Being led around again was tolerable at this point - even if he was surprised at how quickly he'd become accustomed to it. Brows flexed in befuddlement and renewed doubt, he looked down at his own hands. "I made that? Wasn't aware that was one of my skills."

The mysteries just kept piling on. By now, the furrow in his brows might as well be etched in permanence. "I think you'd not have to hide me long, given I was not considering burdening you overlong." He'd taken to pacing now, and would not meet her gaze as he tipped his chin unto his knuckles and brooded. Until at last he paused and looked over, a mystified look softening his features. "You've given me much to think about, but not yet an answer to this." He held up his arm, the red string dangling before it. "Why was I called here?"

Angela appeared amused towards Frey’s words. “Aye, he probably did. He normally did.” She could see the struggle in him when he heard about the memories she had of him. At least some of them.

Once the goddess was in full swing of dealing with Aelwen it seemed like she was an entirely different person while she was parenting. There was an air to her that hadn’t existed before that moment and it disappeared as soon as the young half-aerkai had left. “That… was probably both of yours doings… Taylef would tell her how special she was and you would practically give her just about whatever she wanted within reason as long as she worked for it… and her working for it… Well, it matches about what she does when she has a tantrum.” She tilted her head. “Aye, you are rather good at rune working. Aellie needed something to unleash that monstrous strength of hers so you gave yourself a task to make it.”

Once he began to pace Angela’s green eyes followed him back and forth. It wasn’t until his question came to be that she let out a sigh. “The heartstring is a mythical creation that existed long before even myself. It leads a person to what they seek the most. If you seek out your past it will take you where you need to go. Aellie and Rey have always been a very important part of your life. It was my special request that you help raise them. It’s what your heart wanted in other words. You might not remember but it does. I promise you that.”

There was a gentle smile on her face as she looked about the room. “To be honest, I am selfish in my want to hide you. It drives the children to find you and I don’t want to help them. When you all are ready it will happen on its own. They are quite driven in their own ways. A lot like you and sometimes like him too. Rey more so than Aellie maybe but Rey is for his own reasons.” She smirked a bit more remembering just how the boy got brought into the world.

“Just because I am a being of immortality does not give me the right to overrule the strands of fate in certain situations. I am happy to see you alive and well that must is assured. They will be happy when they find out as well but both of them need to do it on their own. They are broken in some ways that they will not let me fix and that is why I must be selfish with this. You all have journeys that you must do before that is to happen but I trust all of you to know what to do when the time comes.”

She folded her hands in her lap. “Does that answer your question a bit more? I know that I went off and ranted a bit about everything but it is only because you are all my very dear family still. I don’t wish to see any of you hurting more than you have to and some memories will be harder than others.”

A speculative glint in his eyes, the aerkai could but shake his head. "Mystifying," he mused aloud. "Truly."

Frey fell ponderous, in no small way at odds with the information being presented him. The more Angela spoke, the more it sounded like he and this mysterious past self of his were two completely different beings. Was it a possibility? Fearing the answer, he did not dare ask, though it was writ across his face plain as day.

Sighing, he lifted the string to his face again, before letting it fall limp to his side. "Aye… That explains that, then. My search for my past has been my reason for living these past few years - my reason for waking each day. Small wonder this 'heartstring' led me here." He spoke somberly. It felt as though, simultaneously, a weight had been lifted from his shoulders only to be replaced in the next moment by a fresh pressure of a different, foreign nature.

He didn't like it one bit.

"Fate…" The word had tasted strange upon hearing it - speaking it aloud, even if but in a contemplative whisper, stirred the butterflies in his stomach. Familiar. He didn't like that either, he decided swiftly.

He smiled, putting on a brave front. "I am happy to see you alive and well also, even though I do not remember you yet fully." He had not the energy to be chagrined. Weary, he instead halted his pacing and fell into the seat she had offered him prior. Hunched over, he held his head in his hands and stared at the ground a moment. Then, ever inquiring, ever demanding in that way of his, his eyes flicked up to meet hers.

"If fate forbids you speaking overmuch of my past… What, then, can you tell me of my future? Where am I to go next? What am I to do?"

This was the most progress he had made in months, if not years, after all. Either these things simply took time, or his methods were simply not working - and he did not care for the implications of either.