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"She's getting worse Ragnor."
"I know, my friend." Ragnor reaches out to clasp one of Raphael's ice cold hands in his own. They watch fondly, as Rosa laughs with delight at a tiny bird that alights on her outstretched hand, pecking at the seeds she is offering.
Despite her white curls and the wrinkles creasing her skin, there's a childlike sense of wonder to her, as she watches the bird scoop up the seeds from her palm. The next instant her attention is caught by a huge bumble bee as it buzzes past her head, the very same one that had distracted Magnus just a few nights previously. Dropping the seed from her palm, the bird already forgotten, she skips after the bumble bee as it follows the honey sweet scent of buddleia flowers. Or as close to skipping as her arthritis will allow.
When Raphael looks at her, he still sees his younger sister as she was the day he left home, the day he was murdered. He remembers her long, glossy black curls and bright chocolate brown eyes, the way her mouth curled in a wide mischievous grin as she waved goodbye to him. Not realising that it would be the last time she ever saw her beloved big brother alive.
Now of course, she doesn't remember who he is. Just a friend who reminds her of the brother she lost all those years ago. The brother whose name she can no longer recall.
She never forgets the garden though. Ragnor portals them here every few weeks, the time difference between New York and rural England allowing them an extra precious few hours together, before Raphael has to return her to the nursing home. They've had tea parties and picnics, toasted marshmallows over open flames. Spent evenings snuggled together on the pink cushioned seat of the arbour, listening to Ragnor spin tales of his many adventures. Danced under the stars till Rosa is dizzy and exhausted, and it's still not enough for Raphael. It will never be enough.
He can see the end approaching now. Her lucid days are becoming less frequent, more often than not now his sister is quiet and withdrawn. He can see the tiredness in her eyes, her skin and hair becoming dull, the vivid spark of life within her dimming….week by week, month by month.
Tonight is a good night though. He lifts his phone and snaps a quick photograph of her, as she stares entranced at the myriad of rainbow coloured fairy lights that sparkle and dance among the plants. Burying her nose in a clump of night scented stock, she closes her eyes, expression joyful.
All too soon the evening is over. Time to return to reality and the constant ticking of the clock, as it counts down the remaining days and weeks of Rosa Santiago's life.
Tonight is the last time they spend in her garden together. Rosa is gone just a few short weeks later, never getting another chance to visit with her brother.
Ragnor keeps the garden exactly as it was on that last evening, a moment frozen in time, and Raphael still comes, to remember and to mourn.