At the Window - Lemon’s POV
TLDR: Lemon gets a rude wake up from her oldest friend for a game of tag, and meets another friend by chance. Lemon feels a bit like a silly romance novel heroine by the end.
In this moment Lemon’s bed had to be one of the most comfortable places in the entire world. She didn’t often sleep in it, only when her mother was sure to be out, so it was a rare treat. Lemon had mostly slipped through the fuzzy veil of sleep, but was still just aware enough to appreciate her bed. She’d made a warm nest of thick blankets, more pillows than were strictly necessary, and her favorite long chiffon nightgown all tempered perfectly by the crisp night air from her cracked window. This was going to be a very comfortable sleep indeed. Just outside crickets were chatting up a storm, an owl quietly hooted, and Coyote was whining by her bed. Ah. Nevermind then. So much for sleeping.
“Little baker? Little baaaaaker wake up. Wake uuuuup,” they whined, getting louder and nearly howling towards the end. They huffed impatiently, hot air puffing against her face. Lemon opened her eyes slowly to squint cross eyed at Coyote’s snout an inch away from her face. They were in their large coyote form, tail wagging quickly through the air behind them, and their tongue lolled out of their maw.
“Coyote wha-”
“Little baker! The moon is out and must be enjoyed!” they yipped before leaping onto the bed with all the force an overeager four legged body could muster. Lemon’s carefully constructed nest bounced right off the bed and tumbled onto the floor with her in it. She sputtered, throwing the bedding off to pout up at her friend.
“Coyote! I was nearly asleep!” she groaned. They just wiggled, front paws barely on the edge of the bed before they launched themselves off to flop dramatically across Lemon’s lap belly up.
“The moon is awake, I am awake, so you should be awake too! We need to enjoy her light!” they cried, writhing around a bit dramatically before twisting onto their stomach. Their cold, pointy nose shoved against Lemon’s stomach, pushing her up and out of her nest despite her protests.
“I’m coming! Let me get my boots you stubborn creature or my toes will freeze out there!” Lemon sighed before yelping as Coyote simply scooped her up over their head and onto their back. Her fingers dug into their fur on reflex as they stood, the halfling now clinging to their back as they trotted to the window.
“You need to feel dirt! Running will keep you warm!” they declared. Their muscles flexed under her hands as they leapt up and out through the window, landing hard on the ground outside. Lemon found herself going ass over head for a second time, flopping onto the ground with a quiet oomphf as her back hit grass. Coyote turned back and shoved their face close to hers as they snuffled loudly.
“Next time warn me silly beast! I’m perfectly capable of climbing out of my own window,” she snapped as she pushed away Coyote’s face. After a quick patdown to make sure her nightgown was intact and running her fingers through her loose hair she held out her hand and grinned at her friend. “Now, are we playing tag?”
“Tag tag tag!” Coyote yipped, wiggling so hard they began to split and shrink until five smaller coyotes were running circles around Lemon. All of them whining and snapping playfully at the others' heels as they went. Laughter bubbled out of her at the sight of one of them stumbling in their excitement. Another lunged forward, their jaws full of large sharp teeth gently closed around her wrist and tugged. The chase was on. The pack surged to the treeline and Lemon followed, toes digging in the cool dirt and hair streaming behind her. Her friend’s cackling laughter echoed around her, bouncing around the boughs of the trees above her. The moon was full and close enough to easily be seen through the branches. Light filtered through the leaves to cast everything in shades of blue and inky black. One coyote burst out from behind a tree, barking happily as they raced just out of reach. Another leapt down from a tree, scraping against the bark as they scrambled down to push the first coyote over just long enough for Lemon to grab their tail and squeeze. They yelped, spinning to try to tag her back but the others spilled out of their hiding spots and herded her away. Between the burning muscles in her legs and the oven warm bodies of Coyote brushing against her side Lemon hardly noticed the chill. The tagged coyote snapped their jaws a breath away from her ankle and she shrieked with laughter. They continued the game, chasing and being chased through the forest until they burst from the treeline, the little pack leading the way to the McGowan’s home in the distance. Lemon started to slow down a bit, watching as the coyotes ahead of her bumped into each other and reformed into their single lupine form. Coyote turned back to face her with a wide wolfy grin before howling, the air trembling with the force of it. Lemon laughed and threw her head back to howl along, the vibration of their chorus settled deep in her lungs as the magic in her gut burned in response to the call, just as it always did. Coyote’s howl tapered off, and when Lemon opened her eyes again they were gone.
“Silly beast,” she sighed as she dusted off her skirts and ran a hand through her hair to knock out any leaves that had gotten stuck. The McGowan house ahead was nearly dark except for the light of the forge in the connected building and one small light in Tadhgan’s window. Lemon found herself moving towards the dim beacon in the distance, not really knowing why but trusting her gut to lead her where she needed to be. As she got closer she could just make out a figure standing in the window, lit from below by a small cluster of candles. Twenty feet, then fifteen, and Tadhgan’s face finally came into focus wearing green plaid sleep clothes and an expression she’d never seen before all aglow in the warm light of the candles. Standing in her nightgown like one of those silly romance heroines, flushed from running with a new oddly full feeling growing in her chest as she looked into Tadhgan’s dark firelit eyes, she felt like howling again. Like if she could just let the feeling out she’d be brave enough to follow through. Maybe Coyote brought her out here so she could try to be brave.
“Lemon?” Tadhgan called out quietly.
“Hello teacup. Lovely night don’t you think? Care to join me?” she asked. He was quiet for a moment, a blush slowly blooming on his cheeks, before he nodded. Lemon smiled, tilting her head to the side and holding out her hand. “Well then?”
“Okay…okay yeah,” he said before starting to pull himself out the window. His hand hovered just slightly too close to a candle and he hissed in surprise. Lemon giggled while Tadhgan muttered a string of draconic, stuck his singed finger in his mouth, blew out the candles, and set the little tray holding them off to the side. This time he pulled himself over the edge easily, long legs carrying him to her quickly. He didn’t bother to pull on his boots. She grinned wide, that odd feeling back in her chest, and gave in to the sudden urge to touch. Her hand smacked against his, the light spell making his hand glow bright and she turned to run.
“Catch me if you can Tadhgan!” Lemon laughed back, head thrown back in joy as she raced back to the tree line.
“Lemon?! Wait up!” he sputtered behind her. Sure enough she could hear him follow. Her grin stretched wider. Even though her legs were burning from her game with Coyote she kept going. She couldn’t make it too easy for him after all. That wouldn’t be fair.