I never got to grab an apple. I tried to head in that direction but was tugged insistently away by my girlfriend. We walked past most of the tables, ignoring them, as Callie lead us into the deeper portions of the park, where the yellow and orange trees were crowded closer together. We walked around several copses of trees before finally coming to a small wood cabin tucked back out of sight. It was a homey looking place made of lightly colored wooden beams that had seasoned to a golden color that reminded me of sunlight in the last minutes of the day.

On the porch of the cabin sat a woman elbow deep in mud, seated in front of a pottery wheel as she worked on what looked like a huge vase. Her hands pressed forcefully into the clay as she worked it, and I watched the porch buckle slightly under the wheel before she eased up. Whatever that clay was, it was clearly much harder to work than one would expect. It was G-ranked material at least, and the woman working it was the same.

She had a wide smile on her red lips as she molded the clay, obviously lost in her joy in creating something, and she didn't seem to hear us at all, implying she was throwing all her Focus into whatever crafting she was doing. We stood to the side and waited as she worked, no one daring to interrupt, and I got my first look at the woman I could only assume was Harvest, the executive who owned the Grove.

Her hair was green. Not emerald, but more of a seaweed. A darker green that somehow seemed more natural, and it fell in wild curls down her shoulders. Her face was delicate, almost fragile looking, with high cheek bones, and bright golden eyes that set off her dark mocha skin almost as much as her brilliant smile. She was tall for a woman, six feet if I had to guess, I couldn't tell perfectly with her sitting, but she had long graceful limbs and thin artistic fingers that she was using to shape the clay.

We watched for about thirty minutes as she molded the clay, pushing and pulling and slapping the material, tracing fingers over it in runes I recognized as Enchantments, though I didn't recognize what kind. She was using another Skill alongside Enchanting, probably some kind of pottery Skill, and I wasn't familiar enough with the technique to figure out how one affected the other.

Eventually though, she finished the last of the work, and lowered her hands with a happy sigh. Her golden eyes rose from the pot and she jumped slightly in surprise, hand going to her chest in a gesture of shock. "Oh! Guests. Sorry about that. I was a bit focused." Her eyes fell on Callie, standing next to me, and her smile widened into an affectionate grin. "Calliope!" She was up in a flash, blurring over to sweep my girlfriend up into a crushing hug. "Darling girl. It's so good to see you back." She put Callie down, hands clasping her shoulders before she looked conspiratorially around, leaning in to stage whisper. "You poor mother has been going spare worrying about you up in the big city."

Amelia cleared her throat, glaring at her friend. "Oh, are we telling secrets Aly? Is that what we're doing? Because I seem to remember a certain someone having a rather strong reaction to a batch of hard cider she made a few years ago. If we're sharing maybe I should tell everyone what happened. It's such an entertaining story." Her eyebrow was arched in threatening annoyance, but the small smirk pulling at her lips gave lie to the threat.

Harvest, or Alyssa, from what was said earlier. Raised her hands in surrender. "Don't shoot. Down girl. No need to get nasty. Your daughter knows you missed her. She's hardl-" She stopped talking, and her eyes froze where they had been raking over the group. Locked onto the pale face of my teammate, who looked almost afraid of how her childhood mentor was going to react to seeing her.

If Alyssa's hug rush toward Callie had been a blur, she practically teleported to Jessie. My blonde teammate started to flinch back, but barely had time before she was captured in a hug so tight it looked like she might snap in half. Alyssa buried her head in the green cloak of our healer, squeezing for all she was worth. "Jessica." She murmured, voice muffled against Jessie's shoulder. "Sweetie I am so glad to see you? Are you alright? I tried to come see you when I heard what happened, but you weren't taking visitors except for Lindsey and then you were gone."

Her voice was thick with unshed tears, raw and painful and vulnerable in a way that made me deeply uncomfortable to hear from a complete stranger. Finally she put Jessie down, and I only noticed then that my friend's feet had left the ground when she was pulled against the much taller woman. Jessie's eyes looked about to overflow with tears, shimmering green like the sun through a glass bottle in the ocean's depths.

She took a long, slow breath, calming down as she forced a smile onto her face. "I'm fine, Aunt Alyssa. Really. I've..." She looked over at us. "I've made good friends. They've been helping me a lot. It's been hard sometimes, a lot of times even, but I'm getting through it. I don't feel like I can't get out of bed in the morning's anymore. Some days are worse than others, but my friends are there with me, and it's good for me. I've met so many interesting people and seen so many amazing things. I...I don't think I would be anywhere near this stable if I'd stayed. Coming back has felt strange, but it's let me see how much good my time away did, if that makes sense."

Jessie was talking fast and without breath as she filled her mother's friend in on how things had been, but she didn't seem to have any trouble getting through it. Alyssa looked at her with a conflicted expression on her face and stepped back, offering a caring smile. "That...that sounds nice. Gods you look so much like Piper now. I haven't seen you since you were a gap toothed little pipsqueak. Those eyes though. Look at you." She shook off her daze. "Sorry, sorry, all of you come inside, please."

Walking over to the door, she kicked it twice at the base and then bumped the middle with her elbow. It popped open, and when she saw some of us looking confused she grinned, holding up her hands. "I got sick of cleaning my door knob, so I set up a catch plate in the door I could hit to open it. The lock shifts it out of place, so it only works when the door is already open, but it's been a massive times saver for me." She nodded us in. "Here, let me clean up first, and then I'll get everyone some drinks. I have a new honey apple cider if you'd like?" She smirked at Amelia. "No booze in this one."

She headed over to a small sink to wash up as we looked around the inside of the cabin, taking in the small but homey space. The whole living room area was full of furniture, two couches, three chairs, all squeezed into a small space and showing that Alyssa loved having guests even if she didn't have much room for them. The kitchen had a small round wooden table with four chairs around it by comparison, a much less open place where we wouldn't be able to crowd in, and somewhere I pegged as being for close friends.

The floor was a much darker wood, but there were brightly colored yellow, orange, and red throw rugs at various spots that reminded me of the leaves outside, almost creating a canopy effect on the floor of the house. The windows let golden light spill in from multiple spots, giving a nice cross illumination effect, even if I could see drapes held back from the all and knew it could be blocked off without much effort. The house smelled like mulled cider too, and I smiled and closed my eyes, taking a deep whiff.

Alyssa headed for the kitchen, where a small sink sat unobtrusively to one side of a wood burning stove. "Let me wash my hands and I'll get anyone who wants one a mug. Amy? Jessie? Callie? Anything for you all? How about-" She stopped, frozen again, and turned to narrow her eyes at Alexander. "See,,,I got so distracted by Jessica I didn't even notice someone else was here. I'm assuming that's you Alex, because Paul isn't stupid enough to walk into my house after that stunt he pulled."

With a grimace, Alexander waved. "Hello Aly. Been a few years." She glared at him. "I...like what you've done with the place?" More glaring. Son of glaring. Glaring returns. "You look fantastic by the way." He offered waekly. She just turned and stalked into the kitchen, summarily ignoring the now cringing E-ranker.

That was a surprise, but it also kind of made sense. Amelia seemed to be an old friend of Alyssa, and the G-ranker would naturally have known Midknight, so it made sense she'd grown up with the twins too, at at least been aware of them. I hadn't really taken that far enough to figure out they might have grown up together. Amelia didn't LOOK like she was in her forties, even for a mortal, and naturally the rest of them all looked early to mid twenties, given their Impact. They'd aged four or five years max.

She took her time cleaning her hands, seeming very focused on getting all the clay off, making sure to get it out from under her nail beds especially, and she didn't acknowledge anyone as she did it. Once she was done, she started taking incredibly delicate pottery mugs with very smooth glazes from the cabinet above the stove and set them all on the table, before pulling a clay jug from the same cabinet (which shouldn't have had the room, I was guessing spatial expansion) and pouring a health dose into each glass.

When she finished that, she picked one up, walked over to Alexander, and held out the cup. When he reached for it, she then proceeded to throw the whole mug full of apple cider right into his face. Then she placed the empty cup in his hand and turned to go back to the table, picking up a few more and giving them to each of us in turn. Amelia was trying her hardest not to smirk.

Once she passed out all the cups, she walked back to the cabinet, pulled out a towel, and threw it to Alexander, who began to clean himself and then the floor. Then she sat down on one of the couches, took a long sip of cider, and smiled dazzlingly. "Well. I feel better." Callie looked like she was having almost as hard a time not laughing as Amelia. Alyssa gestured us all over to sit on the couch. "Please, have a seat." Her eyes locked on Alexander. "Not you, Alex. I don't want my couches to get wet."

Then she turned back to Jessie. "Now, Jessica. I insist you tell me all about your adventures. I knew you had gone to Rajak, but I never realized you were part of Callie's party. I should have introduced you two years ago, but I just never thought of it. I'm glad you became friends though, you're both such special girls." Her golden eyes shifted to me. "Oh, and speaking of how special Callie is, this must be the boyfriend." She patted the couch right next to her, smile turning wolfish. "How about you come sit over here. I have so many questions." I looked over at the soaking wet E-ranker mopping up spilled cider on the floor as it dripped off his face. Gulp.