Gildur + His Dark Materials au
three sentenceshort drabbles
In a way,it was Gwen who made her mess up. Their bond was strong and it was not thefirst time Ur had gotten so lost in her daemon’s near childish joy andforgotten that she was somewhat on the run and that she had to be careful notto get caught.
(In retrospective, it was pretty clear that she had never had a fair chance toget away from the university with all their top trackers being after her. )
But beforeshe got actually caught ( nearly twelve days after she hadfirst snuck off ), these things happened: Gwen saw snow for the first time in avery long time and unsurprisingly, she dove right into the biggest heap, Ur staggeringbehind her, careful not to let the distance grow to the point where the Strainwould kick in and she would suffer actual pain.
Usually,she would have been on her guard, would have kept her eyes open — but thiswas difficult when her soul was filled with so much happiness (being confided in a city had been difficult for both of them )and so she stepped right into the trap.
The painin her ankle was nearly enough to make her pass out and the sight of blood inthe snow, dyeing it red, made her feel nauseous — && she nearlyLAUGHED because it was a little ridiculous for her to be uncomfortable withblood when she spent whole days dissecting at times.
(Then, in those cases, it was never her own blood. )
And suddenly,she wanted for the people who were looking for her to catch up with her becauseher ankle needed to be looked after and right now, she could not even free herselffrom the trap that had closed the moment she had stepped into it.
Next toher, Gwen was whining ( their pain was always shared )and trembling — && then, she raised her head and sniffed. The windwas on their side, meaning that the feline would pick up scents from followersquickly while they were at disadvantage. ‘Oz,’ she breathed out, the namesurrounded with a sigh of relief.
This time,Ur did not haveto try to unravel the mystery that was her daemon’s mind because the reason forthe sudden lightness in their chests was that a friend was close.
(They did not have many of that kind. )
“That’slucky for us,” Ursaid, trembling hands reaching for the daemon who was moving away. “Gwyneira,what are you do—”
‘Not goingto take any risks,’ the leopard replied with a pained hiss before she becamenear invisible amidst the snow.
If thepain in her ankle was agony, it had nothing on the feeling of Gwen movingaway from her. She knew that it made both of them suffer, that it was noteasier for Gwen to willingly cause the strain than it was for Ur to feel it —&& so she bit down on her bit until she tasted rusty cooper and wasquiet.
She didnot have to wait long before Gwen returned into her field of sight ( that had long started to blur onthe edges ), followed by the dash of gold she knew to be Oz.
‘Youreally shouldn’t have just run off,’ the lion declared before Gwen glared himinto silence. At times, it was near amusing how the white feline could easilyget daemons twice her size to stop talking — a trait shared with Ur.
“Where’s Gildarts?”the scientist asked as she wiped a bloodied hand off on her skirt.
‘I sometimesfeel like you love him more than you love me,’ Oz said as he nudged her side beforehe turned his head to look at Gwen who had started to giggle, a sound that was rare.
‘You know thatI like you better,’ she then said before she looked at the man who was appearingbetween the trees, a frown on his face. She had been happy many times to see himsomewhere but she could not deny that this was probably the happiest she had everbeen about his presence.
“Hello, Gildarts,”she greeted with as much dignity as she could possibly muster in this situation.“Looks like you caught up.”
He rolled hiseyes before he nodded at Oz who took a few steps backwards. “I doubt you ever reallythought you’d get away that easily,” he said as he twirled his knife in his hand.“Uh, hold still and I’ll cut you free.”
“You are a hero,” she muttered softly.
(And then, Urdid pass out. )