Moonflowers

-telephone-

Ogma and Marian have been waiting with Ned once Ogma wakes up to a call from Oscar.

An hour or two later, Ned is pacing in concern. He can smell the fear trailing in before Alima even opens the door. "Did the Hunter go after you again?" He lunges up and checks her, but there's no smell of ice and bone wafting around her. "How far does that bastard travel?!"

"Hey--Bulan, off." She pushes at his chest like she usually does, but her calmness is the tired kind that comes after a shock.

"Come on, dog. Sit." Ogma shifts Ned off of Alima, and Ned goes next to the couch with a grumble of protest. "What's with the police portal, Alima? Something happen with the Folk again?"

She moves to the couch and twitches her fingers to call Ned over. "No, Owen got beat up by some guys."

"Must have found out he's gay," Marian sighs. "Do you want anything to drink, girly?"

"Nah." She ruffles Ned's ears, and he puts his chin on her knee. "At least nobody's in the hospital this time." She stands and pats her leg for Ned to heel, then rolls her neck. "Come on, boy."

In Alima's room, Ned scratches at his bed and settles down safely out of view while Alima changes into pajamas. Sharing a room with your daughter is awkward when she doesn't know you're a dog. (Or still alive.)

-----

At ten or so, Marian goes to check on the Miller's Mount after Oscar calls. That leaves Ogma and Ned in the house until at least afternoon.

Ogma stretches. "If Owen's gotten into something all the way in Galway, someone found out about those damn Knights of Aaron five years back."

"Extremists?" Ned asks.

"Yes. They're like the Westboro Baptist Church, but instead of slapping you with a lawsuit if you attack them, they... retaliate."

"Oh." He turns a few circles and then lies down against the couch. "So what happened to Owen back then?"

"People called him a changeling, and they just went on trying to kill him without even a test." Ogma sighs. "We don't take the changeling claim lightly, but how could they get to twenty without one sign of being part Folk? Owen has a damn car."

"But the Hunter stole Mal's car, didn't he?" Ned wonders.

"Well, the Hunter is nearly a god. Plus he's stronger at night." He flips through the channels until a short young man appears in the room. Water pools around his bare feet.

"Ogma, quick, I need your help with--whaaaat." He blinks at Ogma with river-blue eyes, and his accent is a strange guttural form of British. "God, Ogma, what now?! You even got someone else cursed!"

"Nothing happened, Maidin, I just got old," Ogma tells him, then rolls his eyes. "Wait, you saw me last year!"

"But that was in the Otherworld!" Maidin squints. "You've stayed the same in the soul."

"Maidin, soul. Different. From. Body." Ogma grabs an apple and tosses it over to him. "So what do you need?"

"There was a guy in my river a while ago," Maidin begins after a bite. "See, the God's men were after him because they mixed him up with the Folk, so he made an awesome speech that he wasn't going to die and then he jumped straight into the fucking deep end! I managed to fish him out and keep him from freezing, and then I gave him one of my rocks and I really really hope he didn't throw it away or... lose it... Fuck, it sounded better in my head!"

Ogma's laughing at him in the unrestrained way of an old friend, but he stops after a thought. "Wait, are you talking about Owen?"

"Your grandson? Pfft." Maidin flounces onto the couch after another bite. "Owen's, what, this big?" He taps his chest with the apple.