“When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?“
Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Windenburg Keep
The Fates
“They’ll break your heart,” Rory said quietly as he spun a set of invisible threads and cast them into the air. A cascade of candles floated down from the sky. “It’s like in that poem,” he continued, “Nervy, glowering, your daughter wipes the teaspoons, grows another way.“
Liberty didn’t answer. Instead, she grabbed a few threads and measured their length before blowing on them gently and filling the newly made ruins with light.
“Is it about letting go or breaking free?” Summer asked. She tested the shears in her hand but didn’t yet move to cut the threads.
“Both, I suppose.” Rory smoothed down his dress and looked at his sister, watching as Liberty wrapped her arms tightly around herself.
“I remember when she was still learning to walk,” she said absently. “She was all fat cheeks and chubby fingers—no center of gravity. Whenever she seen me as a cat, she’d scream like the dickens and topple over. I said I changed my form because I was bored but in truth? I was terrified I’d frighten her so badly she’d fall, and I’d find her at the bottom of the steps, brain dashed out of her head.”
She turned back to her siblings, rubbing the heel of her palm against her chest. “You think it doesn’t matter, it shouldn’t, because she’d just loop her thread and come back again. But I knew what the Universe asked us,” her voice broke, “I knew one day Miko’s time would be finite. And I couldn’t bear it.”
She cried, and even though the Three Sisters had not been beholden to such affection in centuries, Rory and Summer moved to comfort her.
“You gave her all the tools,” he soothed, patting her back as she cried, “Because of you, our Miko is tough and clever and will not take any shit lying down. She’ll get out of this nightmare.”
Liberty sniffed, “She’s also stubborn and spoiled and naive.”
“Well, that’s mostly Rory’s fault,” Summer said with a smile.
Liberty laughed and wiped the tears from her eyes. “So we’re really doing this? Leaving them to their fates? Letting them steer it?”
“We’ve done all we could,” Summer assured her, her shears shining in the light. “Time has given us a lot of chances, a thousand of them to be exact. We’ve tried every possible incarnation except one: the one without us.”
Liberty paused and surveyed the wreckage of Windenburg Keep. A look of worry passed over her face. “Will it really all end up looking like this?”
“Not all endings come to pass,” Rory replied.
“So, only if they fail,” Liberty interpreted with a sigh, “My hopes aren’t high. Even when we give these dummies a script, they find a way to veer off course.”
“Oh, sister, that’s your age talking,” Rory joked.
“Well, we are old,” Summer added, a conspiratorial glint in her eyes.
“And tired,” Liberty grumbled. “I swear if the end is just a vast, empty nothingness, I’ll kick Time’s ass. That hare-brained cheapskate knows we at least deserve a century in a spa.”
“Yeah, I can see why y’all broke up.” Rory took each of their hands, “Anyways, are you two ready?”
“Absolutely,” Liberty nodded. She watched as Summer reached out and snipped the Threads with her shears. “And this time is for all the marbles.”
Thank you to all the incredible cc and mod creators who made this possible. Check out my credits page for links!
New CC This Chapter
Cornelia Gown by Sentate
Phantom Eyes by Pralinesims
K-Style Eye Makeup Kit by Pralinesims
I should note that I destroyed the beautiful castle by laskipallero (download it from the Gallery! It’s stunning!) to create the “ruins” of Windenburg Keep. The interior of Windenburg Keep was actually just some rooms in the BBD Studio I built.
The poem Rory references is “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law” by Adrienne Rich
FILM CREDITS
Song is “Bad News” and “Majesty (Ft. Wasiu)” by Apashe
Animations from:
Location is a wedding barn build by Devon Bumpkin
That quote is from “The Usual Suspects” and I love it and I’m not sorry (but fuck Kevin Spacey)