Maureen has everything ready and is sitting in the room waiting for the newlyweds. When they enter the room they both are already dressed in what she laid out for them. She gets up and goes to the book case. Pushing the symbols to open it, when it opens Aisling gets excited. "Calm down child , in this time Moll will not be there. We will go to my time and you will use the moon flowers portal to go back to the time before Ester heart became broke. " she sees Aisling"s crestfallen face at not seeing Moll. She pats her hand and smiles at her.
"Oh Lord , my girl you have such a soft heart. It gives you an enormous amount of love for others. It"s infectious you know that. I was a hard nosed witch in my time. I have very little love to others. Watching you over the years changed my heart. I think that"s why I wanted to be here to see you two wed. Now it"s time for us to go. The doorway only stays open for certain amount of time." With that the three of them go through the doorway. Once on the other side they see the house newly finished. Gathering a few more items from this time they get ready to open the moon flowers.
"Oh wait what about money we won"t have any there ? Won"t we need some?" Astila asked since it just dawned on him that they do not know how long they will be gone.
"No worries dear, I put some into the bag for you there is a small fortune in it so be very careful how you flash it around. Your going to a time when people killed first then robbed you. Now Aisling before you do the moon flower spell make sure that you both are affected by the glamour spell. We cannot have anyone seeing any resemblances . " Aisling closes her eyes and does the spell. When she opens them Astila is a white Irishman with striking blue eyes and dark black hair . Aisling is a stunning small girl with very womanly curves and blonde hair so white is almost translucent. Her eyes are like a stormy sea. Her face still very small and round. Maureen gasped at how striking they both look. They will garner attention but hopefully only the good kind. She hands them their bags ,right after Aisling opens the moonflower portal. Waving good bye to them as they walk through. She sighs this just may be the last time she gets to see her.
When the couple walk through the portal they are in a dingy back alley. The horrible odors from the open sewage and garbage is over powering. Astila hands Aisling a medical mask he had stuffed in his pocket. Placing it on her face . Then wrapping the scarf that she had around her neck over her head and covering the mask. Looking at him with curiosity over how he knew to bring it.
"I remembered from my spirit walk that everyplace I went it smelled bad. I gagged so much that my stomach hurt for a while after I was back. " she nods her head in acknowledgment and hugs him tight . They walk towards the street where the lamp lighters are climbing the post to lite them. Soon the streets are lit up and they can see around where they are. It"s a street of broken down shops by the looks of it. There are a few carriages parked in front of the Inn . They go inside the shabby Inn to see about a room and some food. Once inside they see that it"s quite elegant. The floors are clean, it has plenty of tables with beautiful embroidered tablecloth"s. Each table has a hurricane lamp . A girl rushes to greet them.
"My wife and I just came to town and need a room with a meal." Astila holds Aisling"s hand . He wants no mistakes with the looks she is getting that she is taken.
"Of course sir , I will get a room ready while you eat. The cost will be three pounds two shillings a night for the room and one pound for the meal. "Looking at their clothes she is sure they have the money. Though sometimes you can"t tell with foreigners. Astila hands her five pounds.
"This should cover it. May we sit anywhere or do you have special tables arrangements?" He looks around noting that a number of men have not taken their eyes from Aisling.
"You May sit anywhere , would you like me to take you bags to the room?" Aisling Notice"s she is eyeing the satin bag . Remembering what Maureen said about Thievery she clutched it tighter.
"No that is not necessary,we can take them when we retire." Aisling glares at the girl letting her know do not cross me and the man is mine.
The girl smiles at them and shows them to a table. Aisling begins to feel less uncomfortable , so she carefully takes the scarf off as to not expose her mask. Not wanting anything from the future to be seen. Their dinner was brought by a young man this tie his appearance was rather shabby compared to the girls. He looked to be about twelve or so.
Looking at their plates Aisling"s stomach growls. Her cheeks turn pink with embarra.s.sment. Astila laughs at her
"I knew you would be starving you barely ate at the wedding and then we did not get the chance on the way here. The food smells delicious." Looking at what was prepared he began to cut the Cornish hen into smaller portions for Aisling . Switching their plates they begin to eat.
While eating Aisling notices a couple in the corner. Her eyes grow wide in surprise. There is Ester with Ingrid"s soon to be husband. They are sitting very close together. He leans down and kisses her not caring who is looking. In our time it"s normal , but for this place in time it"s scandalous. Aisling kicks Astila under the table to get his attention. Slightly moving her head in the direction of the couple for him to see. He glances at them noticing that the man is overly affectionate with her in a public place. Either he truly is in love with her or using her for just a dalliance. With what they know of the past it a good guess it"s the latter.
They watch as the man escorts her to the second floor.
"Well we now know what their relationship was. The question is if he is in love with Ingrid why have an affair with her sister?" Astila makes a motion for the waitress to have them shown to their room.
Aisling looks at the girl and asks
"The couple that just went upstairs. They seem to be newlyweds as well. I would like to send them something to congratulate them." The girl giggles at her Naïveté
"Oh honey that is Lord Hawk he has girls in here all the time. Though he does seem to be more fond of this one. You know I think she is n.o.bility by the way she dresses. I feel sorry for her though, it"s said his family has arranged a marriage for him. His soon to be bride comes from a family with very strong ties to the English royal family. " Aisling looks up at Astila in surprise. She didn"t know that wondering why it was never mentioned?
"That is truly sad for her especially if she is n.o.bility as you say. " Aisling tried to get more out of her but they arrived at their door.
"I would still like to gift them with something, you know they may actually love each other and their fate is in someone else"s hands. Can you send them a bottle of your finest wine and bill it to our room?" She gives the girl a few extra shillings for her trouble. The girl nods and scurried away.
"Well we seem to be getting loads of information quickly. I feel sorry for her but it still doesn"t explain why she turned evil. You can get around a scandal and still have a good life. " Astila pulls Aisling into his arms pulling at the thread closing her dress. Letting her know what he is wanting. She giggles and begins to unb.u.t.ton his shirt.
"Really again already my I have married a very h.o.r.n.y man. "Kissing his chest as she opens his shirt.
"That you have my dear, especially when you look so s.e.xy as you do now. " he playfully growls as he nips at her neck. Aisling giggles and squirms in his arms.
"That tickles ." Smiling up at her husband.
"Do you want to stay like this or do you want me to change us back?You know when I sleep the spell breaks. We will need to ensure that the window curtains stay closed. The door locked as well. We cannot risk us being seen out of the glamour spell or we could be burned at the stake."
He holds her tightly
"I know when we are awake no matter what we are doing we need to stay in character so to speak. "There is a light tap at the door. Aisling slips into a robe while Astila answers the door. There stands the couple they gifted the wine to.
"Good Evening , we wanted to thank you for the wine. I also wanted to ask if you would like to meet sometime and the four of us could have dinner?It will be a thank you for your generosity." Aisling doesn"t give Astila a chance to answer she comes up behind him wanting to get a closer look .
"I would love that , we are new here and I have no friends yet. I would love to get to know another couple." She gushes with excitement knowing that this will make it easier to approach Ester later.
"Good it"s settled them how about we meet tomorrow at the park here is the address. " with a bow the other couple leaves and Astila closes the door.
"Well we have our introduction and a double date. Good job my darling ,you now really deserve a reward." With that he locks the door and scoops her up to place her on the bed. Their pa.s.sion ignited instantly and all that could be heard through the thin walls were moans of pleasure till well into the night.