Fortunes of Love Pt 6 (Eda x OC)
Summary: Niliana goes through a rather tiring day, just wishing she had more time to sleep.
Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6
The market was bustling with life that day. Niliana just had to be there on the busiest day of the week at the busiest time, didn’t she? As she struggled to push her way through the throng she wondered if it wouldn’t have been better to just skip the nap and go earlier in the day even if it would have left her exhausted. Whatever, she couldn’t do anything about that now.
She heaved a sigh of relief when she finally reached her tent, the din of the crowd muffled ever so slightly by the heavy fabric of the tent walls. With a snap of her fingers, the dark was lit by the clusters of various candles scattered about. She was thankful to find that nothing had been moved or taken while she was gone. Usually, she would put up some sort of ward to keep potential thieves and troublemakers away but she hadn’t gotten the chance to do so yesterday after running into King.
It had been a very long time since she had taken the tent down. She couldn’t even remember the last time that happened. This tent had been her home for so many years now, there really had been no need, but today would be different. She really couldn’t leave it up if she wasn’t going to be around for a couple of days.
It really only took a few minutes to pack everything up, items flying about. The tent folded in on itself, blanketing everything else until it formed a single pack. Then, with a circle of light, it vanished. All that was left was her small stall, but she could leave that behind. It wasn’t exactly that important.
Unfortunately, now that the tent was gone she was surrounded on all sides by the crowd once again. She noticed that there was a small group of witchlings nearby that stared up at her in wonder. Clearly they had watched her put her tent away, amazed by the show of magic they were incapable of doing themselves. Nily gave them a shy little wave and a few of them waved back before the whole group ran off, talking and giggling amongst themselves.
She made her way to the library, avoiding as much of the crowd as possible. The library itself wasn’t nearly as busy, the silence deafening after the noise from outside.
It took her longer than she would have liked to go over the beast taming section, glancing through the different book titles. There were a few books that sounded promising. She picked those ups and gleaned through the chapter titles, but nothing seemed to quite fit Eda’s situation. After some time she decided it may be best to look in a different section. Eda was cursed, right? Then maybe she needed a book on curses instead.
By the time she finally left the library, sadly empty-handed, the sun was getting dangerously close to the horizon. She felt a bit of panic rise in her chest. Eda would be waking up soon if she hadn’t already. She took a deep breath. She was sure it would be fine. Hooty knew not to let him out and she had to trust King was smart enough not to get himself killed. Still, she rushed back as quickly as she could.
Luckily, when she got back the house hadn’t been torn apart or something.
“Hey Nily!” Hooty croaked in his annoying voice as the witch approached the front door.
“Everything okay?”
“Yep!”
Nily had opened the door before he had even answered but froze in the doorway.
The living room was empty.
She took another deep breath, shoving the panic down once more. Hooty said everything was, so she must be in the house. She just wasn’t in the living room. And she couldn’t be chasing King around or something because there was no screaming or the sound of running footsteps.
She left her staff by the door, the wooden snake curled on top suddenly springing to life and slithering up her arm to rest on her shoulders. She smiled at him, giving him a little scratch under his chin before going to search the house.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long. Eda was just such a large creature there weren’t too many places to hide. She ended up finding her in what she assumed was her room. The pair of double doors were already open, revealing the decently large room beyond filled with various shelves and boxes of stuff and a large nest against the left wall, complete with sticks and some shiny things. That’s where Eda was, laying in her nest, pitch-black eyes staring at her the moment she appeared in the doorway. A low growl filled the room, making the witch freeze in place.
The growling quickly turned into chirps of delight. She bounded out of her nest to meet the witch. She smiled, chuckling at her.
“Hey hun, what’re you up to?”
The beast cooed back. Apparently not much.
“Do you know where King is?”
Eda just blinked back at her.
“He’s probably napping somewhere, isn’t he? So much for keeping an eye on you, huh?”
She chuckled to herself and went downstairs, Eda following close behind.
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When Luz got home she didn’t burst through the door like she usually did. She was a bit more subdued. Of course, that didn’t stop her from shouting an “I’m home!” and smiling at the wonderful smells that were coming from the kitchen. She smiled a little wider when she got to the kitchen and saw everyone together. Nilly was cooking, of course, while King looked like he was trying to play with a very uninterested looking Eda at the table. She looked at the girl as she walked in, making a cute little cooing sound.
“Welcome back, hun! Did you have a good day with your friends?”
“Yeah, it was pretty good.” Luz shrugged her shoulders, sitting at the table.
King whipped his head around, narrowing his eyes at the girl critically. Luz started to sweat a bit under his gaze.
“Are you sure about that?” He asked, leaning a little closer. Luz tried not to look right at him.
“Whaaat? Yeah, of course! Why would I lie?”
Clearly, no one believed her. Even Nily was giving her a side glance that said she knew something was off. At least she didn’t bother the girl about it, unlike King.
“Did something happen?”
“No.”
“Something happened.”
“Nothing happened!”
“Something had to have happened! I know these things.”
“Clearly you don’t.”
“Yes I do! I know everything.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do!”
“Then you tell me what happened.”
“So something DID happen!”
Luz groaned in frustration, sinking into her seat and stubbornly crossing her arms, refusing to say anything else. King looked triumphant, proudly resting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest like he just won some great battle. Nily shook her head.
“King, leave her be. If she wants to talk about she’ll talk about it. Pestering her isn’t going to help anything.”
King deflated slightly at her words, sitting back down.
“Sorry, Luz.”
She smiled at him.
“It’s okay, King. I just don’t want to talk about it.”
For a moment they just sat in awkward silence. Luz desperately looked around for something to talk about to break the quiet.
“Hey, why is Eda wearing a collar?”
That seemed to do it well enough. King blinked at Luz, then looked really hard at Eda who blinks back owlishly. It was very difficult to make out, blended almost perfectly with the feathers on her neck, but sure enough, there was a collar there. It just looked like she had some gray leather around her neck.
“It glows in the dark.” Niliana said, not even bothering to look up from her work. She was already getting the plates ready. “So I can keep an eye on her when she goes outside at night.”
“What!” Luz shouted, jumping to her feet and slamming her hands on the table, making Eda and King jump. “You’re playing with her outside? I want to do that!”
Niliana hummed, thinking it over. Of course Luz would want to spend more time with Eda, especially outside where there was more room. But going out at night did not seem like the best idea, especially for the teenager who was still growing and needed her sleep. Maybe if they went out earlier in the day.
“Not today.” She finally said, placing the plates on the table. “It’s a bit too late and I don’t want you outside when it’s dark. We can try tomorrow before dinner.”
Luz huffed but sat down. “Fine.” Of course, the frown didn’t stay on her face long. “I can’t wait! We’re going to have so much fun!”
“Hey! I want to come too!” King shouted, apparently feeling left out. “I can make her my minion of evil!”
Eda was staring at them intently and Nily noticed. Well, she wasn’t staring at the people at the table. It was more like she was staring at their plates, grumbling to herself and drooling. So, she made another plate and put it on the floor for her, too. There wouldn’t be any leftovers today, but no one really cared, especially when King and Luz just laughed and giggled at how happy it made the owl beast.
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This night was darker than yesterday. Niliana could only just make out the branches of the trees above her and the trunks surrounding her. She had to walk slowly to make sure she didn’t run into anything. Far ahead of her, in the branches, she could make out the glow of something teal, Eda moving around and jumping about, doing whatever.
It was only the second night, but Nily was already slowing down. She was still tired from last night and not getting nearly enough sleep throughout the day to make up for it. Still, she trudged on, keeping Eda within sight the best she could.
And that worked for a while. But then, well into the night when the moon was on its way down, she lost sight of her. It happened in the blink of an eye. One moment, she could make out the glow of her color bopping about ahead of her. The next, it was gone. Niliana didn’t freak out like she thought she would. She was far too tired for that. Instead, she just sighed and mounted her broom, flying above the tree canopy.
It was much brighter up here, the moon and stars lighting everything up and giving them a silver glow. But Nily didn’t really have time to admire it, she had a cursed beast to find.
She didn’t see anything above the trees, so it was unlikely she had flown away. She flew down, hovering over the canopy and gazing through the branches, searching for any sign of movement or the glow of the collar.
She had only been at it for a short while, likely less than a minute, when she heard the branches nearby start to rustle. Suddenly, a giant mass burst out. She just managed to swerve out of the way and avoid getting knocked off her staff. Well, that was one way to wake her up.
“Eda, what was that for?” she shouted, but there was no anger in her voice.
The owl beast was flying next to her. Well, flying circles around her, really, each beat of her wings nearly grazing the witch's shoulders. The beast trilled at her, a smile clear on her face.
They flew together for a while, Niliana just following Eda around. She had more than enough time now to admire her surroundings. Sure, she flew around quite a bit, often very high, but it had been a very long time since she got to do it a night. The stars were so clear and bright.
The horizon was just turning gray, dawn fast approaching, when Eda decided she wanted to go home. She walked through the woods slowly, clearly very tired. Not that Niliana was complaining. She didn’t exactly have the most energy either. So, they walked, the morning air crisp, the birds just beginning to sing. It was nice.
When they got back to the house, ignoring Hooty’s good mornings, Nily immediately collapsed onto the couch, face down in the cushions. It was not a very comfortable couch, but she was just so tired it felt like the softest couch on the Isles. Eda settled next to the couch, staring intently at the witch until she moved again. She just grabbed the blanket and dragged it over her shoulders, mumbling a good night to the owl beast before promptly falling asleep.
Eda watched her a moment longer before giving an enormous yawn and curling up as close to the couch as she could. It didn’t take her long to fall asleep, either.
When Luz and King came down later in the morning, they decided they wouldn’t bother Nily today. They let her sleep as long as she needed.
