Some new guests...

Rosie was busy just cleaning up and getting to know the kitchen a little better, it was where she would be most of the thim after all. She heard the door open as she was in her bare feet reaching for something on the top shelf. It was a rice cooker, "I'll be with you in a second." Rosie smiled over her shoulder as she almost had the thing out from the top shelf. She was on the tips of her toes, and she almost had it.

"So are you two family?" Rosie asked before she could stop herself, to her it looked like mother and daughter the way the child with the orange hair was being held.

She closed her eyes and just held on, she just wanted to have a mother, she listened quietly to hear what "Ivy" would say in response to the woman on the counter top. "Can I have some Celtic stew and biscuits?" she whispered softly, not many knew how to make it the correct way in this time period.

"Yes," Yvonne replied simply, not going into details for this new person. Yet, at least. "Do you have clean water and a cloth? I'd like to clean her scrapes up as best I can."

"I'm sorry, Andraste," she decided after a moment. "I've never made that before, I'd only get it wrong. We can ask the lovely young lady here, though. She might know how." Obviously Rosie was young, but then, so was Yvonne to outside appearances. This was a school for magical creatures, was it not? The cook was likely not all she seemed either.

"Beg pardon, young lady..." Yv paused a moment, in case the cook chose to reveal her name. "Sweetheart here is not from around here, and I asked her what might make her feel a bit better. Unfortunately I don't know how to make Celtic stew and biscuits... not the way she would like, at least."

Rosie gave a smile, "Well, as you can see the sink is right there, the paper towels are under the sink, just watch my backpack, but if you're looking for first aid, I believe that's on the top floor, I don't have any non-stinging soap down here at the moment."

She put the rice cooker down and walked across the counter to get a large old fashioned pot and an old fashioned tray that had been hiding in the back, she knew it was a good idea to have moved them into a more accessible place. She placed them atop a gas burning stove because she knew stew always tasted better over a fire, but there were no fire places around. "I'll have the food ready in about an hour." she smiled. "By the way, my name is Rosie."

Something about her seemed a little locked up, a bit distant, but she was nice at the least. Rosie moved around, not bothering to get off the counter, to get some of the items that she needed for the stew, like water. and bowls to make the biscuits in. "Fear not, I washed my feet when I washed my hands. I wouldn't stand on the counter otherwise. In the sink sat her sandals because she had washed them as well so that she could actually get back on the counter with clean feet again. She currently threw the sandals on the floor and stepped into them. She had previously dried them off and they had just been sitting there waiting for use, in the sink so that they were out of the way.

She walked over to the pantry and began to get everything she needed to make the child some food, as well as herself and Yvonne, it had been a long time since Rosie had had a traditional meal such as stew. She was just happy that it was one of the many things that she had learned to make while she was traveling the world. Thank god for other immortals willing to share the old ways.

The child looked up at Yvonne a little surprised when she said 'yes' and she pressed into the woman a little more, a small smile filled her lips and she closed her eyes. Hearing the familiar clatter of an old pot, and the sound of water being poured into it, the girl closed her eyes and fell fast asleep in Yvonne's arms. She was exhausted, and this was the first time she truly slept without fear since she had been brought to the new age.

Yvonne, despite cuddling the child ever since she'd fallen, was surprised that Andraste was comfortable enough to fall asleep. Family means a lot to her, she decided. We'll have to talk later. And I'll have to see if her mother's spirit is still around. That was a sad thought. She would never presume to take the girl's mother's place if the spirit still lingered. But she might be able to help the girl get some closure... and the mother-spirit, too.

"If you don't mind, Rosie," Yvonne murmured lest she wake the child, "I'm going to sit here and clean her up with some water and just rock her while she sleeps. I think it's been a long day for Andraste, here." It might be somewhat contradictory, saying they were family and then hinting that she didn't know what had happened that day, but she'd said stranger things before. And the cook could take it any way she liked.

Holding the child with one arm, she squatted down and found the paper towels, which she wet under the faucet. "My name is Yvonne," she offered after carefully turning Andraste in her arms so she could dab at the scrape on her cheek. "I'll be teaching Psychology next semester." With several paper towels lightly wet, Yvonne hopped the two inches to get her rear end on the counter. She winced and cradled Andraste carefully, expecting the child to wake after being jostled so.

Rosie was going about cooking, she kept quiet allowing the woman to have her moment with the young one. Besides this took a lot of concentration, she always went for perfection when it came to her work. She wouldn't let a little distraction take away from her work.

The child just shifted. She was so innocent and so tired. She just slept, not even bothering to open her eyes. She was locked in a dream world.

Her mother had followed her around for many years, as did her father, but when the Stonehenge took their daughter, they finally passed on. There wasn't a soul looking for the girl, she really was all alone in this world.

((sorry for the shortness of my posts))

Yvonne cleaned Andraste up as best she could with only water; the girl's cheek and hands were at least cleaner than before. Then she rocked the girl in her lap, letting her sleep. Since the cook was focused on whatever it was she was doing, Yv was content to just sit on the counter with Andraste in her lap. Her instinct was to hum quietly, letting her voice gently seep into the girl's dreams, but she didn't wish to disturb the cook who was so kindly making exactly what was requested of her. So the nymph remained quiet where she was, rocking gently the girl who had asked so sweetly if Yv would be her mommy.

Within the hour the food was finished, Rosie smiled, it had been hard work, but it smelled so good. She took out three plate, three bowls and three spoons as well as a knife and butter that she had made earlier in her boredom. "Its ready to eat when the little one wakes up." Rosie smiled quite proud of herself. She put some of the stew in the three bowls to let it cool a little bit so that it wouldn't burn them when they tried to eat.

Andraste was slowly coming around at the smell of food. She seemed to at least be interested in eating. Her hands moved up to rub her eyes, as a child-like yawn escaped her lips, she turned over, into Yvonne, "Moooommmyyy..." the child whispered, she was in such a state, that she thought everything in the real world was just a dream, "I had a funky dream... I got transported to the future by stonehenge, and ... and everything was so strange, and they had these fluffy things called towels... and....." she yawned again, she was still half asleep.

The nymph hated to enlighten the poor girl, but she didn't know what else to do. She beckoned to Rosie since the girl was still in her lap. "Can I have one of those, please?" She could at least wake the girl for the food she'd asked for, and let everything play out as it would.

"Andraste, dear," she murmured, stroking the girl's hair. "Your stew is ready. Are you hungry?"

"Course I'm hungry mommy." she giggled, slowly waking up.

Rosie put two bowls next to Yv, as well as two biscuits per plate. She gave a silent smile, and moved over to her own food to eat it quietly. She really was just interested in what was going on, it seemed a little interesting, the dream that Andraste explained, and she wondered if the two were time travelers...

Yvonne rocked the girl while moving one of the bowls closer. She dipped in a spoon and tasted to see how hot it was, then blew lightly across the surface. Then she winced. Nothing for it, she thought, and bent her head to brush a kiss across the girl's forehead. "Wake up, dear. You're dreaming, Andraste. Open your eyes."

She didn't really want to disturb the girl, but they were going to have to do this sooner or later. And the stew tasted lovely. She'd failed to inform Rosie that she didn't actually eat for the purpose of eating, but she could at least tell the woman how delicious her food was.

The child's eyes slowly opened, and she ate the spoonful of stew before she realized what was going on, her eyes got wide and she began to softly cry, "It.... wasn't a dream...." she whispered and looked up at the woman she had just called mother, and waited for a scolding about calling her 'mommy'. A tear slipped down her cheek, "You can yell at me..." she whispered, as if to say that she wouldn't mind being punished.

"Why would I yell at you, dear? I'm sorry you're not dreaming. I'd help you go back if I knew how." She lowered the spoon into the stew again, but left it there for a moment so she could wipe away the girl's tear with a corner of her dress... which seemed to have unending folds within it. Once she released the corner of the dress, it rippled back to the position it had been in, the additional fabric not particularly visible.

"Here, have some more stew. I think Rosie's lovely stew reminded you of home while you were asleep." Her glance in the cook's direction suggested she wasn't really just saying that, it was lovely stew, but her focus remained on the girl who'd asked her to be 'mommy'. She offered the child another spoonful, knowing she could feed herself, but not minding in the least.

The child just ate the soup. Something seemed to be wrong though, there seemed to be a drawing from her, Stonehenge was trying to adapt her to be able to trust someone a little more than she trusted everyone else. She was starting to lose sight of her real mother, but she did mumble something, "My... my real mommy... died... when I was little..." she said slowly, "And my adopted mommy... she died just before the day we tried the spell...." but that was it, her eyes closed completely for a moment, and her breathing ceased. It was a heart pounding two minutes before she took in a deep breath, and looked around before accepting the spoon full of stew held out for her.

This was the first Yvonne had heard of an 'adopted mommy' in between herself and the child's birth mother, but that wasn't what bothered her right now. "Andraste? Sweetheart?" Her voice rose slightly in the momentary realization the child had stopped breathing. And then she sighed, hearing the sweet sound of breath entering Andraste's lungs. She wasn't exactly relaxed, but she did feed Andraste the spoon of soup, stirring the bowl to retrieve another.

"You might eat faster if you fed yourself," she teased lightly, trying to pretend she wasn't concerned at the girl's stutter and subsequent lapse. "But I don't care. I'm not the one who said she was always hungry."

"But mommy... I like it when you feed me." the girl giggled as if she had never known anyone else to be her mother. She looked up at Yvonne, the girl's eyes were shaking slightly something magical was happening to her conscious and subconscious mind, it was storing her old memories, and replacing Yvonne as her mother in the new ones, as well as smudging out the face of the father figure that she had during those times. With this brought a cool feeling of discomfort and an overall strange presence in the air. It was as if Stonehenge was looming over it's pray, the child's soul...

Rosie takes a step back away from the child, she could see something messing with the child's aura and it made her uneasy. She just watched quietly now, staring at the child, she wasn't registering anything else as she did so. It was strange, it looked like something was not only rearranging the child's aura, but getting ready to take a bite out of it, and having really no helpful magical powers, all that Rosie could do was watch...

Yvonne's eyes widened. "Sweetheart, sit still a moment," she ordered. Green eyes unfocused, she took a deep breath. A low thrumming noise left her throat at the same time as words in a strangely deep voice for the woman. "Stop it." The land spirit knew only some about the spirits of people, having conversed with them over the years, but she knew enough that she didn't want Andraste's spirit tampered with. This was her daughter, if only by choice, and she would not have her scarred!

"Leave her be!" Yv's deep voice ordered. Something was not right. No spirit of the land ever messed with the spirit of a person, but that was the resonance she was feeling. She couldn't be related to this... this monstrosity. She leaned down and in her own feminine voice whispered the Old Norse word for protection then kissed Andraste's forehead. Yv had entirely forgotten the cook was even in the room, too focused on catching sight of this... whatever was going on.

The child looked up at Yvonne.

The spirit who had been messing with the child hissed deeply, it sounded male, "I've been saving her for later... she's my snack..." It licked the child's aura once before Yv put the protection spell on the child, "Besides I fixed her memory, enjoy your daughter... at least until she becomes my snack." it hissed lightly, watching the protection spell wash over the girl, it would fade eventually, and the woman would forget to renew it one day, and then he would move in to finish off the girl's soul.

Andraste seemed oblivious to the soul's words, she didn't hear them, but she did feel uneasy. She shook slightly and moved into Yv after she had been kissed by the woman. She shook a little bit and tried to take hold of her 'mother'. "Mommy." she whined softly, she sounded a bit afraid, "What's going on?" Her eyes searched the woman carefully trying to get a hint of what exactly was happening, of what danger there was to have been told to hold still. She felt like the woman was worried about something, and that worried her. Andraste was very close to Yvonne even though they had just met, and when she gets close to someone, she always seems to pick up on things fairly quickly despite being a child.

"She is not yours to take," The vættir was getting angry, and it was rather hard to anger a tree. But this was no way to treat a soul. It was not a plaything. It was against everything she had ever believed in. She could not know that this was one spirit older than she... with a long history of less than honorable events. "Leave now, and forever. I forbid you from ever touching her again. Leave my daughter be."

"You are safe, my darling," Yvonne told Andraste. "I worried for a moment something was wrong, but it is nothing to worry about." She hugged the child to her, feeling the icy grip of hatred for such a wicked thing to happen to such a little girl. She might not have all the pieces of the puzzle, but she had enough to realize her daughter would be in danger when next Yv slept. The protection spell would never hold during the nymph's century-long resting period. Something would have to be done, but what... she didn't know.

"You can't protect her forever." The spirit said before it faded, it had a taste of the girl, now it truly wanted her...

The child could feel the differences in the spirits and she suddenly clung to Yvonne. She was afraid, her soul and aura tried to latch onto Yvonne, her energy was trying to match her's more so she would blend into Yvonne spiritually.