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Earthspirit is looking for Eyjafjalla. She was going to meet her when she arrived but by the time she got there she was informed by the others that Eyja had rushed off as soon as they made it onboard.
So, Earthspirit makes her way back through the halls of Rhodes Island, to the only place she can think of that she might be headed.
Earthspirit arrives at the RI geology lab to find Eyjafjalla running through her research files on one of the lab’s terminals while pulling out boxes of old datasheets.
“Welcome back Adele.”
The young researcher looks up from the screen, “Oh! Earthspirit, how are you?”
“I’m doing well.” Earthspirit notices a worn coat folded over the back of one of the chairs, “How was your time in Siesta?”
Eyjafjalla smiles, “Good!”
“What are you up to?” She gestures to the boxes.
“I’m putting together the data I’ve been collecting.” She looks back down to the screen, “I want to send it to Professor Keller.”
Earthspirit thinks she’s heard Eyjafjalla mention that name once or twice.
“Alright.” There is a strange sort of intensity to Eyjafjalla that she hasn’t seen before, “Would you like some help?”
Eyja looks around for a moment, “If you would like to, but it’s nothing urgent if you have somewhere else to be.”
Earthspirit lifts her bag off her shoulder, setting it down inside the door, “I’ll help.”
They work mostly in silence, copying and organizing, reaching a comfortable rhythm that lasts for nearly an hour.
Until Eyjafjalla slows to a stop, as if considering something, hand resting on a seismometer readout.
She looks over to Earthspirit, expression unreadable, “I think I was named after her.”
Earthspirit stops, blinks, “Doctor Keller?”
Eyja nods.
She sets down the data she’s holding, “And you didn't know?”
“No, she was always just Keller to me.”
Earthspirit turns to Eyja, data forgotten, “They were close then? Keller and your parents?”
“I don’t really know. She was around a lot when they were home, and she went on all their expeditions…” Eyjafjalla trails off.
Meeting them was the luckiest thing to ever happen to me.
“Yes, I think they were.”
It was a quiet night in Siesta, between the festivals it was usually quiet, even more so since the city had left the volcano behind.
Keller is in her office, the last person in the museum, looking down at a blank letter, pen in hand.
It had been two days since Eyjafjalla’s research had reached Dr Keller’s desk.
Dear Adele,
Keller stops.
She had been avoiding thinking about Magna and Katia for so long. As much as she could, surrounded by their legacy.
Then Adele Naumann came to Siesta, and told her it wasn’t her fault.
Katia was quiet, difficult to read, but there was a brightness to him. You got the impression that he was always seeing something you weren’t. It was like he was looking at a work of art and all you had to do was look a little closer to see it too. When he looked at you it was no different. The man could also deadpan a joke better than anyone Keller had met before or since.
Magna was driven, stubborn, and endlessly patient; a gentle leader with fire in her eyes. She had so much to teach and show, it was incredible to watch her lead an enraptured audience through the wonders that could be seen in the stones at their feet. Keller remembers all the times she and Katia had covered Magna’s work so she could rush home to their daughter.
They were magnetic, unstoppable, the stone and the fire, and Keller was hopelessly caught in their wake.
She never understood what they saw in her. She never understood why they welcomed her to their dance with open arms.
She looks back at the page before her.
Dear Adele,
Keller had never really liked her first name, it always seemed like it wasn’t quite hers. Keller was a better name.
Then Magna and Katia had taken that stray name and given it to their daughter.
Because to them Adele was her name, and they wanted their daughter to have some part of Adele Keller.
The day they asked her if she would be okay with that, she had cried so hard it was all she could do to say yes, clinging to Katia’s arm as Magna softly laughed with that beautiful warmth.
Somehow, her name being given to someone else had made it feel more like her own. That was how they were, Magna and Katia could do anything.
And then they were taken away. Taken to where she could not follow.
And Adele was alone.
Dear Adele,
The letters on the page blur. She takes a deep shuddering breath, as she pulls off her glasses to wipe her eyes
She had let them go, and the volcano had taken them.
And it wasn’t her fault.
Adele Keller’s sobs settle quietly into the darkened corners of her room.
Dear Adele,
I have given this a lot of thought, but I finally decided to write you this letter. I want you to know that I am truly grateful to you—
It was a small town, notable only for a handful of hot springs that made the place a local tourist destination.
Keller only needed to wait for a few minutes before she spotted Eyjafjalla among the other passengers on her transport.
Her mother’s coat draped across her shoulders, rolling a Rhodes Island suitcase across the cobblestones.
Keller smiles and starts walking over to her, waving her hand and calling out to get her attention, “Adele!”
Eyja’s face lights up as she waves back, making her way over to meet Keller.
“How was the trip?”
“It wasn’t bad, I had things to read.”
They hadn’t seen each other since the Siesta eruption. She’s still a little shorter than Keller, she still looks so much like Magna, she still has Katia’s eyes.
She looks around, then back to Keller, “So, what’s the situation?”
Straight to business.
Keller smiles, “Minor earthquakes around the hydrothermal sites, I’ll fill you in along the way.”
It was just a survey, really. The residents just wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be a catastrophe any time soon. So Eyjafjalla and Keller set off into the hills surrounding the town.
It was good that they didn’t have a mountain to climb, the slopes they did have to manage were giving Keller enough trouble. It had been a long time since she had been out in the field.
It had been a long time since she had a reason to.
“... that is the hardest I ever saw Magna laugh.” Keller ends her story with a smile, Eyjafjalla giggling next to her.
They had found a good campsite as night had set in, and now sat side by side in front of a small campfire.
“I wish I had gone on more of the trips with you.” Eyjafjalla says as she regains control of her breathing.
“Magna and Katia would never put their little girl in an originium-rich zone.”
“I know.” Eyja murmurs with a hint of sadness.
All that time away from their daughter, and she had ended up infected all the same.
Eyja looks into the fire, “Professor Keller, did they name me after you?”
Keller’s heart stops for a moment.
“... Yes, they did.”
Eyjafjalla nods, working up the courage to speak the question she came here to ask.
Her voice is quiet when she breaks the silence, “Did you love them?”
Keller sags slightly, as if the words threaten to crush her.
When she answers her voice seems smaller,
“Yes. More than anything.”
A raw pain rings loudly through those soft words.
The two of them sit quietly for a moment, a quiet filled with the crackling of the little fire.
“They would be so disappointed with me.”
Eyjafjalla looks over to Keller, “What?”
“After they were gone, I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t.” Keller stares deep into the glowing coals, “I stayed away, because that was easier.” She shakes her head, “I’m so sorry Adele, I should have been better.”
After a few seconds that seem to last an eternity, Eyjafjalla softly speaks.
“No. Mutti and Vati would forgive you,” Keller looks up, and meets Eyjafjalla’s gaze, “because… because I think they loved you too.”
The orange glow of the firelight gleams in the tears at the corners of Keller’s eyes.
She opens her mouth to say something, but the words catch painfully in her throat.
Eyjafjalla reaches out and pulls her into a gentle hug.
Keller wraps her arms around their daughter, and holds her close.
And for the first time in a long time, Adele doesn’t feel so alone.