Chapter 1: A New Year
Spring had come and gone in Waldmeer and it was well into summer. As Waldmeer is in the Southern Hemisphere, summer carries with it a new year. Gabriel and Aristotle were travelling in the car to Waldmeer from Gabriel’s apartment in Darnall. It was Aristotle’s idea. Gabriel didn’t like going to Waldmeer anymore. Since Amira had mysteriously disappeared in early spring and her nasty cousin, Eve, had taken over the house, the whole of Waldmeer felt different. It was as if a light had gone out and a dark cloud had spread over the town. Nevertheless, Aristotle wanted to visit, so Gabriel said yes. Gabriel said yes to almost everything Aristotle wanted. They had been inseparable buddies for the last three months even though Aristotle was only twelve and Gabriel was forty. Aristotle was probably the child Gabriel had never had. What an exceptional child he was – intelligent, kind, quick-witted, and altogether delightful to be around. When Gabriel looked at Aristotle, a thought often popped into his mind – Look after my boy. He could not remember that they were Lady Faith’s parting words when he and Aristotle entered the frame which transported them from Borderfirma to Waldmeer.
“Tell me again why you want to visit Waldmeer,” said Gabriel.
“I want to go and see my Aunt Eve’s house,” said Aristotle.
“I don’t want to say anything mean, Aristotle, but do you realise that your Aunt Eve is not a particularly nice person?” said Gabriel. “She’s not like you.”
He wondered how two such different people could be so closely related. For that matter, Amira was also related to Eve, as a cousin, and that was an equally unfortunate genetic mismatch.
“Oh, I know that,” said Aristotle. “Aunt Eve’s much meaner than you would even care to know about.”
“Then why do you want to go there?” asked Gabriel. “The house looks completely different from when your Aunt Amira had it.”
The curtains were always drawn. The garden was overgrown with weeds and the flowers didn’t seem to grow anymore. Gabriel thought about how Amira would sometimes say that one would have to try really hard to have an ugly garden in Waldmeer because the rain, sunshine, and rich, forest soil made everything grow without any help at all.
“I have a feeling my mother might be back soon,” said Aristotle.
“Do you?” asked Gabriel. “How do you know?”
“I dreamt it,” said Aristotle.
“Oh,” said Gabriel tolerantly.
Aristotle was always dreaming weird and wonderful things. Gabriel had become acclimatised to Amira’s dreaming habits and so he took it in his stride.
After a few minutes, he said, “I know you miss your mother but she may be some time yet.”
Gabriel actually felt that there was a very real chance that Aristotle’s mother (whoever and wherever she was) may never return.
After all, he thought, what sort of mother would leave their child with Eve?
When Gabriel first returned to Earth from Borderfirma with Aristotle in tow, he was very disoriented. He told Aristotle that he felt unwell and that something was mentally wrong with him. He could not assimilate the memory of Borderfirma with the reality of his life on Earth. That first evening in Darnall, Aristotle contacted his mother telepathically. Lady Faith had no memory of Borderfirma when she was on Earth as Amira. However, for his safety, Aristotle had retained his Borderfirma memory. He asked his mother how to help Gabriel. She told him to whisper the following words into Gabriel’s ear and that the Great Ones would make sure that it entered his mind as an uncontested reality.
Aristotle crept into Gabriel’s room. He crouched next to him as he was deeply sleeping and said quietly but clearly, “When you wake up, you will not remember Borderfirma. Your only recollection of Amira will be the Amira you know on Earth. You will not be able to recall her as Lady Faith, ruler of the Borderfirma Mountains, mother of Bethany, Malik, and myself, and grandmother of Lentilly. You will believe that I am the child of Eve’s sister who is one of Amira’s cousins. You will also believe that Amira sent me to you while my mother is away so that I do not have to live with my Aunt Eve.”
Aristotle repeated this several times until he felt that Gabriel had absorbed it into his subconscious mind. On waking, Gabriel told Aristotle that he had slept like a baby and that he felt marvellous.
While driving along the peaceful country road, Gabriel asked,“What’s your mother’s name?”
“Faith,” said Aristotle. “Her name is Faith.”
“That’s a nice name,” said Gabriel.
Hopefully, Faith and Eve are like chalk and cheese, day and night, he thought.
“My mother is nothing like Aunt Eve,” said Aristotle reading Gabriel’s thoughts. “She is a true queen.”
“Yes,” said Gabriel. “I’m sure she is.”
Many a twelve-year-old boy thinks that his mother is a queen, thought Gabriel.
He remembered how Amira had once told him that it is the family romance that has to be rightly outgrown. He recalled many things that Amira had told him over the years. He wished that she would come back. Or, at least, he hoped that she was alright wherever she was.
It’s strange, he thought, how some people’s words stay inside us and have the power to change us and other people’s words are powerless, no matter how intelligent they may sound.
“How old is your mother?” asked Gabriel.
“I believe she is fifty now,” said Aristotle.
Donna Goddard 