"It was the day of Jasper Leeds' funeral. Five years ago or so? You were still married to Elias, at that time. We found ourselves living lives as if we belonged to Pumpkin Hollow, as if we had been in this world--if not on the island--all our lives. I was a snow elf, rather than...well, all that I am."

She looks thoughtful. "I was friends with Harriet and Linette. Good friends. After waking up, the realization I'd never see them again, it was as real as any sorrow I've ever held in my heart. While...phrasing this properly is going to be difficult, follow me as well as you can...while I don't believe that we were inserted into the island's past, I think the dream put the past into us. It was a reminder of how much has been lost, what this community has been through, what's changed that we could not grasp in the abstract."