«Nightlight!» Eber dives across the room to climb up the clothes Luz had lent Stardust. «There you are! We searched all night for you!»
“I thought you said you weren’t missing,” Hunter frowns down at them.
“Not missing?” Darius repeats, unimpressed, and they shrink from the tone. “We caught them leaving the Great Hall last night when they were meant to be on duty and they bolted. Care to explain, starlet?”
«Darius, you’re scaring them.» Eberwolf scolds, climbing up to nestle in Stardust’s hair.
“Scaring them? After we spent all night–“
“Shut your mouth before I shut it for you, Deamonne.” The hissed threat can’t come from anyone but the Owl Lady, of course, and the pair dissolve into bickering, quickly pulling Raine into their shenanigans.
«Have you had your mouth healed, pup?» Eber asks from their nest in Stardust’s hair.
“Miss Lilith and Emira helped,” they inform, carefully.
“You can just call me Lilith, little raven. Emira did her best, but…” Lilith catches the end of their conversation. “There’s going to be scars.” Eberwolf only rumbles in response, clawed paws kneading gently at Stardust’s scalp.
“You knew?!” Willow demands, furious, cutting through Darius and Eda’s bickering. “You knew and you let them–“
Darius startles at the sudden accusation, staring down the staff she brandishes at him.
“Willow–“ Hunter’s hand on her shoulder does nothing to ease the young witch’s fury, especially as Luz and Gus begin to prickle beside her.
“–you let them leave injured?!” Two sets of green eyes snap instantly to Stardust.
“You’re injured?!” Willow frowns at the adults’ question.
“Well, they’re not anymore!” the Owl Lady protests, folding her arms, “What kind of operation do you think I’m running?”
“So… you didn’t know?” Luz clarifies, still poised like she could pounce any moment.
“Do you really think we would have let them leave injured?” Darius questions, arms folded. Eberwolf chirps. “I know they teleported– whose side are you on, here?”
«I mean, I did see their injury and I couldn’t catch them, so…»
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”
There’s a series of crashes, as the abominations Darius had scattered over the room all suddenly lose their form, sending anything they were holding clattering to the floor.
“…uh, Darius?” Amity questions, anxiously.
“Nothing to worry about,” Darius dismisses, straightening and whipping the abominations back into place with a wave of his hand. Eberwolf snickers into Stardust’s hair, earning a sharp look from the Abomination coven head.
«You don’t have anything to apologise for, nightlight.» The words are soothing, perhaps even more than the kneading paws. «We let you down.»
“Eber’s right. You don’t need to apologise,” Darius agrees, and the words are as close to an apology as Head Witch Deamonne has ever given, and they still don’t understand why he’s offering it.
“Even though I cost you your beauty sleep?” The tone is meant to be teasing, but their trembling voice misses the mark quite a bit, especially when lifting their head to look him in the eye reveals the half-healed wounds around their lips.
