Emberwood afypnízo

When he finally awoke, his whole body felt heavy, like someone had pulled rocks on top of him and left him there to die. Maybe they had. Maybe it would have been better.

His eyes cracked open to the dim sunlight of an overcast sky. He felt like he'd been sleeping for ages. How long had he been asleep?

Did it matter?

He closed his eyes again, hoping to forget.

Hoping no one had seen him open them at all. 

@Peridot @Carnelian

Unfortunately, his wish was wasted, for Peridot and her brother had remained, and the girl was the first to notice the fluttering of eyelids. “Uncle Everett! Wake up…Please!” The last was more of a softer plea, filled with a desperation of a child, one much younger than she appeared, who did not want to lose any of the family she had only just found.

Carnelian shared her sentiment. They would speak at length in the quiet moments they stole together, discussing the family they had, by some form of luck or fate, stumbled upon. They couldn’t lose any of them now, especially now that they’ve lost Reina.

The mousey girl nosed him, hoping the gentle rocking would rouse him, tears forming in her eyes as fear had settled in.

What do they do?

A gentle touch, a gentle plea. He felt her as he had before the fever. Real. Grounded. Here.

The scent of her brother wrapped the room and surrounded him like an embrace. He could not smell Foxglove at all. 

A sigh escaped him,

Just leave me to die.

Peridot,

His voice scratched like sagebrush. Scorched like the Gilded Sea. He could not sing for the rain.

I'm so sorry.

His eyes burned, but tears would not come; they wracked through him again as a single sob, deep and dry.

The girl could scarcely hear his words, but was comforted that he had responded to her at all. Her gentle Uncle Everett, reduced to nothing more than a heap on the ground. She did not like it and had no idea how to help this. 

The only thing that ever really work for her when she was overwhelmed was being in the arms of her brother as he hummed, an ear to his chest, rocking to the rhythm of his heartbeat. It soothed her and she wanted so badly to soothe her uncle.

So, she did if he allowed, her small body gently crawling under his head, letting it rest in the bend of her. Her own head curled to rest on his shoulder, essentially wrapping him into a sort of armless hug. She did not rock, as that would be weird in the position they were in, but she hummed, the tune soft and not based on any lullaby or song she knew. It came from her heart.

It wouldn’t be until much later, when she and her brother were alone again, that she realized her tremors had not once showed up in this moment. It was just shy of a miracle.

She didn't reprimand him. She didn't demand answers. She didn't offer empty platitudes of it's okay it's okay it's okay. She simply held him, and let her love flow through her wordless song.

A for a long while, he let himself breathe.

Pray.

Think.

Reverie running -

I've messed up.

Reina gone -

I hurt them so much.

Tybault.

I thought I could find her, his voice came between steadier breaths. Though he hardly knew his niece, in the moment she and her brother were the safest family here. I've been so worried, I'm so - afraid? More than that. And Reverie wouldn't listen. And I - I -

I hit her! There had been something wrong there, too, with her - and he had shoved her down, like his mother and father had taught him.

Where is she?

His breath hitched.

And where's Foxglove?

As he breathed, she curled into him. It was all she could do…she was already so small in body and mind that this was something adult, so above and beyond her capability.

But, she listened as he lamented, his voice becoming stronger. I thought I could find her. Who was he speaking of—Reina? It would make sense since she was the only female missing that Dottie knew about. And, what about Reverie? Why wouldn’t see listen? Maybe it was because she was wrapped up in Dusty Rose and her children that she just had no space for others? Peridot didn’t know, nor was it her place to know.

“She will be found…I know it.” Did she? Or, was it just something to say in this moment where she couldn’t help beyond just mere words.

His next words were like ice cold water, her head snapping up to look around, eyes wide as she searched for the little girl. Carnelian had been silent, not sure how to provide comfort in this moment with Everett, but as soon as the question of their cousin came about, he shot to his feet, looking around the immediate area.

“She was so afraid…she must have left back the way she came.” He hoped, anyway. Dottie was not convinced, but the hope was there, regardless.

The girl turned back to her Uncle, concern still swimming in gem green eyes. “Uncle Everett, are you okay, now?”