Liminality (short story)
Title: Liminality
Author: Rohese Bayvel
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First published on the 3rd day of Eorgina in the year 5124.
Following on from her unfortunate encounter with her sister, Poladra, this is a repository of vignettes around Rohese's continued story.
Prologue
"Liminality /ˌlɪməˈnælɪti/ Liminality is a quality of being in between two places or stages, on the verge of transitioning to something new. Periods of liminality are transitional, sometimes disorienting, and frequently involve waiting for something new to begin. Liminality is rooted in the idea of a threshold (limen in Latin), a kind of doorway between the past and the future."
Rohese was struggling but, with the help of her glamour, she was able to convince her grandfather and Mimini that she was coping with Mirkk's absence. It had been three months since his departure; a blink of an eye to an elf but she felt every minute of every day as if each were a century passed.
Her grandfather had reassured her that his journey west had been imperative and that he had to go alone. Eairion would not be drawn on the reasons and all Rohese's protestations – her many tearful and angry outbursts – had fallen on deaf ears. She simply spent her time between home and Nendelomea in a state of sullen acceptance. Mimini's futile attempts to placate her with freshly baked lemon cookies and ripe summer berries went unappreciated and Ipsy had all but given up trying to engage her with her new-found skills in starstone divination .
Feeling lost and numb, Rohese aimlessly wandered the surrounding woodlands of her family home oblivious to everything around her.
A yellowing leaf drifted down from the tree and landed in her lap. It was closely followed by a second and a third as an errant breeze ruffled the branches and dislodged the first of the turning leaves.
Rohese sat in the lengthening shadow of the ancient oak, as she had done for most of the summer, and barely noticed the subtle changes in the season. There was a slight chill in the air as the day drew to a close and faint smell of petrichor from the brief rain shower earlier that day. She picked up the leaf and her thoughts drifted back to the Glimae'den. A sharp pain pierced her heart as Mirkk's face appeared before her and, closing her eyes tightly, she quickly brushed the memory aside for fear of being overwhelmed once again by a deep-seated sense of loss.
She had a vague recollection of Mimini passing her a book at dinner the night before. Instinctively opening it to peruse the contents, Rohese had noted that the pages were all blank and the housekeeper had written one word on the facing page, "Liminality." Looking up at the gnome to question it, Mimini had simply said, "Write it all down." She had squeezed Rohese's hand gently and left her to ponder its meaning.
In the solitude of that moment, Rohese began to understand. She was going to have to come to terms with this unforeseen change in her circumstances. Keeping a journal would hopefully help her transition from the immature elf of the past hundred years to the elf she was destined to become.
Her hand reached inside her satchel that had been casually tossed on the ground beside her and soon felt the warmth of supple leather. Lifting the small book to her nose, she was struck by how comforting she found the smell of leather and parchment and quietly thanked the beloved housekeeper for her wisdom. Slipping the leaf between two of the blank pages, her thoughts turned to what she would write.
"Liminal space; it's where you are in between who you were and who you will be. It's your becoming.