Nita took off her hat and removed the pins that secured her hair on top of her head, letting the chestnut waves fall past her shoulders. She looked at herself in the mirror as she tried to process the events of the day.
As they walked the streets of Marketh, looking for anything out of sorts, “out of sorts” found them. Their companions had experienced odd timeshifts – Hayden was moving in slow motion, Arinelle believed she was decades older than she was - And then they began to become different versions of themselves. Lukas had never heard of the Skybound Inn. Hayden became an artillerist in the war.
And then it had apparently happened to her. Amanita Merrymoss, druid, master naturalist, who resided at the Meadows with her family – including Muse – and who is planning to marry her love, her soulmate - was no longer there. In her place was someone very different. Nita had never sought power, let alone political power, and had no interest in climbing the social ladder, as it were. She was content with her calling to protect and preserve nature, to do her research, and to enjoy the company of her family and friends. She needed nothing else.
This Other Amanita was not only a noble and a member of Parliament, she had done the unthinkable to get there. In her quest for power and influence, she had seen an opportunity to use the foolish Ferdinand and had become Amanita Weiss. She had married into the family that had stolen Muse from their family – had stolen years of their life – and who had forced them into servitude and treated them as an object. As their property. As one who was beneath them. With Ferdinand's unexpected death a year into their marriage, she had inherited the family fortune, political power, and ownership of Muse.
The fact that she was apparently strict but not overtly cruel barely mattered when Muse was still treated like an object... like property. The very idea that any echo of herself could treat her best friend – her chosen family – in such a way was abhorrent.
“Speak your truth” they were told in the ritual. She named those things that helped to define her.
Druid. Master Naturalist. Daughter. Teacher. Friend.
Had she spoken all of her truth? Was there something more that Nita shared with this Other?
She looked at herself in the mirror before whispering to herself, "If there is, I don't ever want to know."