Chapter Text
Willow didn’t know exactly where she was. That was kind of the point. She had been on her way to London from somewhere in Somerset, but then she’d seen this wood. There was nothing that required her in London – well, there wasn’t really anything that required her attention anywhere these days. She’d been staring absently out of the window when she’d seen the wood, and she’d realized that she just couldn’t face going into a city, filled with people moving around as though they had a purpose, some place they needed to get to. A city wasn’t the place for someone aimless.
So she’s gotten out of the car, told her driver to carry on without her, and she’d headed into the wood. She wasn’t really dressed for a forest ramble, and her shoes weren’t really up to it. Willow didn’t care. That wasn’t why she was there. She was there so that she could just walk, without anyone bothering her. She could open herself up, feel nature all around her – that much was left to her, at least – and she could just walk.
So that was what she had done. She had moved further into the woods, walking for hours until she was no longer entirely sure where she was. Willow could find the road, if she needed to, but right then she just… walked. She moved through the forest, thinking of nothing much.
Willow wasn’t sure how many hours had passed, but eventually she heard something besides herself and the birds. It sounded like a galloping horse, but Willow was fairly certain that wild horses didn’t roam the woods of Somerset.
She was completely correct. It was a horse, and it wasn’t wild. It in fact had a woman riding it. The woman was wearing standard riding clothes, as far as Willow could tell. She knew next to nothing about horses. In any case, the woman didn’t look all that pleased to see Willow there.
The horse stopped a few feet in front of her, and the woman dismounted in one smooth movement. Willow wondered if she’d absently wandered into some kind of horse training area or something. Obviously the woman knew what she was doing.
“What are you doing here?” The woman asked. She was English, which wasn’t really a surprise. She sounded posh enough to give Giles or Wesley a run for their money. “This is my property.”
“Is it? Sorry. I was driving past, and I saw the wood and thought I’d go for a walk.” Willow paused. “That sounds weird, doesn’t it? It’s weird. Who just randomly goes for a walk in some woods?”
“You were on the motorway? That’s miles away.”
Willow shrugged apologetically. “Sorry. I kind of… lost track of time, I guess. Sorry.”
The woman relaxed slightly. It occurred to Willow that the woman was about the same age that she was. Even though she seemed to own an entire forest, she still seemed rather uncomfortable to find a stranger in it. This made sense, but didn’t particularly fit in with the self-possessed rich person stereotype that Willow was familiar. She couldn’t ever imagine Cordelia feeling uncomfortable in a situation like this. “You said that already.”
“I know. Sorry.” Willow winced, and the woman smiled briefly. “I’m Willow.”
“Vivian.”
Willow shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot. “So, um, this is your wood.”
“It is.”
“It’s, uh, a nice wood.” Willow tried not to wince again. As small talk went, this was painfully awkward.
“Thank you.” Vivian’s face seemed to mirror her own feelings. “So, uh, do you go walking in every forest you find, or is mine special?”
“Oh, no. I mean, it’s a nice wood, but generally I’m more of a city girl. It’s just that I broke up with… someone, and I’m pretty sure that I'm going to leave my job soon, and I just couldn’t face going back to London. Sorry, I didn’t mean to trespass…”
“It’s not a problem.” Vivian said. “I’m sorry about-“
“Oh, don’t be.” Willow interrupted. “I mean, it’s not the first time we’ve broken up. We’re kind of… incompatible, I guess. We just get thrown together a lot.”
“Okay.” Vivian said, after a moments pause. “And your job…”
Willow smiled for a moment. “You could say that the magic’s gone. Honestly, I should have left a long time ago, but I just sort of… hung on.”
“Right.” Vivian said, clearly a little uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be telling you all of this.” Willow said apologetically. “We just met, I shouldn’t just be…”
“It’s not a problem, honestly.” Vivian said. “You’ve got a lot going on. Sometimes you just need to talk.”
“Yes. Yes, exactly.” Willow agreed. “But, um, if you could point me in the direction of the freeway, I can get out of your hair.”
“Nonsense.” Vivian said, suddenly decisive. “It will be dark soon, and English weather isn’t exactly known for being pleasant. My house is nearby – you can wait there and my driver can take you to London.”
“You don’t have to do that, honestly-“ Willow protested.
“You’re not dressed for a night out in a forest in an English autumn.”
Willow opened her mouth, then closed it again. Vivian had a point. “I don’t have to get on the horse, do I?”
Vivian’s lips twitched slightly. “Not if you don’t want to. It would be faster.”
“Not a fan of horses. They’re too… big. And they have huge teeth.” Willow said. She was fully aware that she had stared down demons which the average person would have found much scarier than a horse, but that didn’t mean that she had to like horses. Besides, whoever said that she had to be rational?
“Fine.” Vivian said. She turned to the horse and said something to it in a language that Willow didn’t recognise, and slapped it on its side. The horse turned and cantered back the way it came. “He can find his own way back. Come on, it’s not far.”
“What language was that?”
“Russian.” Vivian replied. “It’s the result of a misspent youth.”
“Right.” Willow said uncertainly. “I’m sure that lots of delinquents learn Russian and horse-riding.”
“They probably would, if they went to the kind of boarding schools I went to.” Vivian said drily.
“Yeah, most delinquents only manage French and donkey riding.” Willow commented. “Whatever is the education system coming to?”
Vivian shrugged. “Maybe our delinquents are more talented than yours?”
“Oh yeah? You'd be surprised. Yours might be polyglot centaurs, but ours are Olympic level athletes.”
Vivian looked at Willow. “No, you're not.”
“I never said I was a delinquent. I'm the very model of a modern… trespasser. I just work with delinquents.” Willow paused, before adding quietly “Worked.”
“Olympic delinquents.”
“Of course.”
They continued walking in silence for about a minute, before Vivian asked “What exactly is it that you d- uh, did? If you don't mind me asking.”
“What? Oh, I guess that I've been cryptic enough that I can forgive your terribly impertinent question. One must answer occasionally.”
Vivian narrowed her eyes. “Was that supposed to be an English accent?”
Willow nodded proudly. “Yep. Good, huh?”
“Well… no.” Vivian said bluntly. “It sounded more South African. A bad South African at that.”
“Ouch.”
“Sorry.”
Willow waved a hand. “We really need to stop apologising to each other.”
Vivian hesitated, before venturing to say “You started it.”
Willow looked at her indignantly. “Really? You're going there? I mean, I know I'm trespassing on your property and you're being really nice and I'm being kind of… odd, but that's actually a great reason to be snippy, so I think I'm going to stop talking now.”
“No, don't do that. This is the first actual conversation that I've had for…” Vivian trailed off.
“You know…” Willow said, after several seconds passed without Vivian saying anything, “... a reputable source tells me that sometimes it's good to talk about things.”
“I thought we’d already established that I'm not a reputable source.” Vivian said lightly. “Being a delinquent and all that.”
Willow didn't immediately respond. When she did, it was to answer Vivian's earlier question. “I used to… well, technically I still work for a charity. I haven't actually left yet. Anyway, the charity helps teenage girls. Teaches them… skills, you know, that sort of thing.”
“Sounds noble.” Vivian said, carefully not asking why Willow was going to quit.
“Oh, yeah. But it's… depressing and difficult and dark and other things beginning in 'D’. I just don't… I don't think I can do it anymore.”
“Fair enough.” Vivian said. She hoped that Willow would say something else. She didn't want this conversation to end, weird as it was. She didn't talk to people all that often, and Willow had literally walked into her back garden. Vivian didn't often get on with people, didn't often even bother to try, so it came as something of a surprise to find that she was enjoying this conversation. Strange as it was.
But Willow didn't continue. She seemed lost in a reverie, doubtlessly thinking about her job or perhaps her failed relationship. Vivian didn't want to ask more questions - she didn't want to pry - and she couldn't for the life of her think of anything to say. While Vivian was technically capable of holding a conversation in a half-dozen languages, that didn't mean that she was actually any good at conversing in the first place.
Eventually, though, Willow blinked and seemingly came back to the present. “Anyway. Enough about me. I'm guessing that there's more to you than being a Russian-speaking, horse-riding Samaritan. I mean, most of them probably don't own forests. Well, I assume they don't, but you're the first one I've met.”
“Honestly? Not much. My father is… some kind of industrialist. I honestly don't know exactly what he does, only that it makes him ridiculously wealthy and takes a ludicrous amount of his time. Meanwhile I… ride horses, travel and generally idle away doing nothing whatsoever with my life.”
“Uh huh. Sounds…”
“Lonely?” Vivian supplied.
“I was going to say boring. I never was one for idling.” Willow decided not to comment on what Vivian had said. “We're quite the - wow.”
They'd just left the woods, and Willow had seen Vivian’s house. To say that it was big would be a waste of an opportunity to say that it was massive. It looked like a small castle, minus the battlements and the moat.
“Welcome to Chez McArthur.” Vivian said drily. “Home to me and a staff of dozens.”
“Really?”
“Well, no. More like six.”
“And it's just you living there? No wonder you spend most of your time idling - it looks like it would take you about a week just to walk from one side to the other.”
“Oh, half a week at most.” Vivian said modestly.
“Think of the… I mean, you could probably have guided tours.”
“It's not that interesting, historically.”
“You could throw a massive party.” Willow said, fully aware that she had spent far too much time with Faith to even think of a comment like that. “Honestly, I've seen some big places before, Ke-, uh, my ex used to live somewhere pretty massive. But they had whole families in them.” Or, on occasion, oodles of Slayers.
“I have a bunch of horses.” Vivian said, feeling defensive but not entirely sure why.
“I'd suggest a cat, too.” Willow said, still staring at the mansion. “Listen, you need to get out of the house. And I don't mean to ride a horse…” Willow caught Vivian's expression and hastily added “Sorry. I don't mean to give advice. Occupational hazard.”
“No. No, you're right. I should do something.” Vivian searched for something else to say. “Uh, but what about you? You're just about to leave your job. What are you going to do?”
“Apply for an astrophysics degree and get a job in a second hand bookshop.” Willow said instantly.
Vivian smiled. “I get the impression you've been putting some thought into this.”
“Oh yes. I plan. I'm a planner. I've actually found a charity bookshop in the centre of London that'll take me, and I've sent off my university application. Even if your system is a little weird.”
“What is the education system coming to?” Vivian repeated Willow’s earlier comment with a grin. “You're staying in England?”
“Yup.” Willow said cheerfully. “Can't get enough of your food over here.”
“Understandable.”
“So… you? Any plans suddenly spring upon you since I foisted my unwanted advice on you?”
“I don't know. I could be a translator, I guess. I'd still get to travel.”
“Sounds like a good idea. You could always go somewhere with horses.”
“Why don't we meet in a year?” Vivian said impulsively. Then she blushed as she realised what she’d said.
Willow spoke before Vivian could apologise. “No, that's a good idea. We can see how we're getting on. I'll probably be heading off the university then, I can come back here and meet you and bask in the glory of knowing a world famous translator.”
“I wouldn't say world famous…”
“This is the oddest conversation I've ever had with a horsewoman in a forest.”
“Do you have a lot of those?”
“You're my first.” Willow said, with a grin.
“So, a year?” Vivian said. She felt oddly hopeful, and was trying to ignore the sensation that told her that she would still be here in a year, having done precisely nothing, which wouldn't matter because Willow would have entirely forgotten about her.
“A year.” Willow replied, trying to ignore the feeling that even if she did come back here, Vivian wouldn't remember her and she's end up getting turned away by her butler or something. Not that she would come back anyway, because having a conversation with a stranger in a wood was an entirely different thing to meeting up with said stranger a year later.