For Children Are Innocent (Ceinwen, Fabien)

[div style="width:50%;opacity:0.5;font-size:0.85em;border-bottom:1px solid #ffffff;"]MONDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2001, 2:09 PM[/div]

[div style="width:450px;font-family:Abel;font-size:14px;text-align:left;"]“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” [span style="display:none;"] @Fabien Álvarez [/span]
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind[/div]

Old age was no detriment to Ceinwen Crearwy Conway, no matter how much her bones and joints might try to say otherwise. She still puttered around her new home on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, maybe hobbling a bit here or there but otherwise taking delight in the newness of the place and the openness of the space. A modest little one-floor cottage with an abundance of cottage-style windows covered in diamond panelling, it was a far cry from the old Ysgubell ⁊ Ystafell, which she had officially passed down to the care and ownership of her nephew Trahaearn and his wife Enid. But it was a pleasant change of pace, and since she had reached her goal age of one hundred years old, she was ready to relax and have a proper retirement.

Such newfound relaxation was due in no small part to the shattering of the ancient magic dome that had surrounded Hogwarts Castle since mid-September only five months prior. After Ceinwen's hundredth birthday party at Maes Mawr in Rhayader back in October, she had immediately moved here to Hogsmeade with the express purpose of helping the national attempt to break the dome, but to no avail -- nobody had been able to figure out how to get in or out. Then as winter approached the dome had weakened, flickered, thrummed and hummed and pulsed, presumably from either someone working from the inside to remove it or from the magics of the dome itself diminishing with the passage of time. Finally the whole thing had dissolved three weeks ago and the students had been let out for a month-long belated Christmas vacation with their families.

Ceinwen had been very pleased to receive visits from her kinfolk - her brother Dafydd's great-grandson Damien, and her brother Iolyn's great-grandson Adrastos - after they had both gone home to their parents and then found out Ceinwen had moved herself right to the seat of action. She had also had a visit from her cousin Merfyn's great-grandson, Pedr, who would be attending Hogwarts in the fall and had had lots of questions in other visits in the past months about what was happening and what he might expect to encounter as a first-year. Because of her kind (and increasingly and frequently dotty) demeanor, and seeing some of these other children going in and out of the cottage, it was no surprise that other random students would pop by, enticed by the smell of baking dirigible plum tarts or seeing the sweet old lady carrying on a conversation with the hanging plants that adorned the front porch. Ceinwen would welcome everyone that came by warmly, often giving them sweets or sharing a teatime meal with them, and more often than not she knew their grandparents or great-grandparents from her own days in Hogwarts or her subsequent travels.

So when Ceinwen stepped outside to water her plants, and saw another young face walking down the lane toward her house, she was completely unsurprised, though it still delighted her to have visitors of any kind. She waved from the porch and called out, "Hello, hello!"

[div style="width:50%;background:rgba(176,224,230,0.33);padding:10px;"]

Rolled 2d50 : 14, 26, total 40
Rolled 1d100 : 100, total 100

[/div]

Something about Hogsmeade had dragged the Álvarez family there. Well, okay, it had dragged Fabien there, with the intent to hanging out. It was almost time for school, and he had wanted to see friends – Cameryn, a first year Ravenclaw, had invited him over. He was pretty sure he had seen her at some point earlier in the day, but now? He had been taking his time to wander around the quaint little town with really no place to go. His parents, Katy and little sister Flora were all adventuring elsewhere. Taylor had to go back to work, and while Fabien wanted to spend time with her, he had other things to do.

The Álvarez family had spent time in Diagon Alley on Friday evening, and then came up to Hogsmeade late Saturday afternoon. He had spent time catching up with friends and hanging out, but now, really, Fabien had no plans. It felt like something dragged him through the streets, like he had such a purpose, a need. He rubbed his nose as he turned a corner. Something clicked. It reeled in his mind and it made him pause mid-stride. His empty hands (for once, his Screechsnap was in the small apartment that the family took residence in until they had to return to Hogwarts, and then he’d bring it along with him to school once more) curled into fists. This was where he needed to be.

The second year Hufflepuff was quickly noticed by the woman with bright whiteish-blond hair, and bright eyes. She waved from her small inset porch and the Hufflepuff’s face grew from grim to bright, his normal personality shedding through, "Hi!" he chimed. He hesitated before he bounced over, looking at all the plants strewn about the woman’s porch. Man, did Fabien love plants! Not as much as his love for his Screechsnap, but still! He gave the woman a smile as he touched one, feeling the weight of the leaf on his finger. It was waxy and warm, and so earthly all at the same time.

"You’ve been taking good care of your plants! They’re super happy! I have a screechsnap at home, and he wiggles whenever I water him. Can I try watering yours? Maybe they’ll wiggle like my screechsnap does!" he beamed, eager to try it for the woman.

That’s it. Lure her in. Something tickled the back of Fabien’s head. This is what he was supposed to do.

The look of nervousness on the young boy's face changed to a broad, beaming smile when Ceinwen greeted him. He chirped a hello back and trotted over, carefully examining all of Ceinwen's house plants and the little garden in front of the house. Ah, she noted to herself. A budding Herbologist. "I just made the funniest pun in my head," she said nonchalantly before turning her attention back to the young boy's question. "What? Well of course! Here, let me just--" she reached for the old antique tin watering can she had placed on the porch table, and handed it to the little herbalist. "Though I don't know if any of them will wriggle.

"I've never grown a Screechsnap before," she went on abruptly. "I remember one of my old colleagues had one though. Picture it: Sicily, nineteen twenty-two. An attractive young Welsh woman who has saved her pounds sterling embarks on a glorious vacation to a Palermitan resort on the Tyrrhenian Sea. For weeks, she frolics at the seaside resort and enjoys the company of many young men, all of whom adore her." Ceinwen stopped for a moment, shook her head, and corrected herself, "No, no, that was Sophia. I spent my time at the Palazzo Brunaccini with the marchesa Calandra Costaglione, who had a four foot tall Screechsnap that she doted on. In Italian they call it a stridio schiocco. I think I have pictures of it somewhere!"

Ceinwen stood up quite suddenly, a triumphant look on her face, and then she sat back down on the swinging bench. "Have any of them wiggled yet, little gardener? Perhaps I have some plants I don't even know I have. Which is more likely than you think, since I know I don't know half the knowings I know I knew before."

[div style="width:50%;background:rgba(176,224,230,0.33);padding:10px;"]

Rolled 2d50 : 1, 41, total 42
Rolled 1d100 : 30, total 30

[/div]