Chapter Text
It was nearing the sixth year of Evariste's disappearance. Angelique was fighting against losing hope with everything she had, and it was a losing battle. She had been trying and failing to find Evariste for goddess knows how many times. All these blasted romance blooming in adversity was starting to get on her nerves. She was tired, alone and cranky. She was also desperate. For anything. Anything at all, to help her find Evariste. If only she could turn back time... with the level of her mastery of her powers now, she could have taken all the black mages that took Evariste back then. She stared longingly at her hands.
She was still in Farset, eviscerating goblins left and right. In the privacy of her mind, she knew and admitted that she was starting to burn out. Emotionally. Being alone for six years has done wonders to my mental state, she thought sarcastically. Even with Pegasus by her side— for which she was thankful for— he wasn't really much of a conversationalist. Nevertheless, she would take what she can get and be grateful for it.
She thought of where she would go next in her endless pursuit of Evariste's captors, and like Emerys said, Mullberg was the only place she hasn't been. And if he isn't there... well, future Angelique will be the one to deal with that.
She went back to Sideralis after some hours had passed, and Angelique waltzed right in, given her new status as elf-friend. Several days have passed since Quinn, her new friend had been injured and the curse plaguing the elves had been broken. It will still be days or even weeks before they can journey to Mullberg as Quinn was still recovering from her shoulder wound. So as usual, she asked to be situated near the library so she could peruse old books— since the elves had the most accurate depiction of the Snow Queen, Angelique had surmised that their book collection would also predate all the books Angelique have read in the past. Maybe she could find one or two tracking spells that might help..
She called for tea in the library, several books on tracking spells open before her. She squinted at one particular book with such impish writings, she would have far more luck reading them with binoculars. Yes, she also tried a magnifying glass to no avail. Deciding to give up for the day, she finished her tea while sitting draped unladylike on her chair. Exhaustion was creeping up on her. She looked past the window and saw the orange and violet hues of the sunset sky. Time had flown by, and I hadn't even noticed until now. Something about that thought snagged in her brain. Ah, yes. Earlier that day she was daydreaming of finding a spell or maybe a magical artifact that could reverse time. And Angelique knew that if such a thing really did exist, she would throw away all that she had done in the past six years to save Evariste. To be with Evariste again. Her heart squeezed at the thought of him. Maybe.. I could find something here... a shot in the dark, yes, but if there is, I mean, this is the oldest library I could have ever visited and I haven't entertained these kinds of ideas before, and I don't really have anything else better to do...
She shot up her seat and set her cup on the table. Somehow her vigor was renewed by this crazy, impossible idea, but she was now powerless to stop it. Combing through every aisle, she plucked every book that mentioned time travel, or time itself. She came away with almost two shelves full of books, and she started reading everything.