Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 20 - An Offering of Cookies

Athira froze in her efforts to free herself from the cushions and stared back.

Zoe, halfway to sitting, instead stood back up. "Would you like some help, ma'am?"

"So polite," said the woman, passing Zoe the cookies to open. "And please, dear. Call me Grandma. Everyone does. The plates are under the sink, and the glasses should be above the counter. I'll get the milk — milk is always best with cookies."

Zoe hummed to herself, light flickering through her hair as she collected the delicate-looking crockery from the various cupboards. With a few gentle instructions from 'Grandma', Zoe organised a half-filled teacup of milk and three cookies on a plate for each person, and brought everything to the table.

"Thank you, dear," said Grandma, settling into the well-worn armchair covered in mauve suede. "Now, before we discuss what brings such a nice young Spectrum and her sister to my doorstep, I insist we all take a moment to enjoy one of these wonderful cookies."

At the word 'Spectrum', Athira's attention switched from wrinkling her nose at the milk to Grandma, who'd continued dunking a cookie into her own milk without a care in the world.

"Did you say —"

"I did, dear, but I assure you, we have time for a cookie first," said Grandma, giving the cookie a quick shake. "It's not often I ask things of people, but if your sister is the Yellow Spectrum, I suspect you might be the dark one — and you'll need all the sugar you can get in the coming days." She took a blissful bite. "Better decisions are always made on a full stomach, of that, I can assure you."

"Not ominous at all," muttered Athira, tracking the cookie with her gaze.

Zoe sipped her milk and gave a confirming 'seems good to me' shrug before digging into her own cookies. Athira reluctantly followed her lead, breaking a cookie in half and gingerly nibbling at the corner.

"Perfect," said Grandma. She leaned back in her chair, folding her hands delicately over her stomach, one finger brushing against a thick, gold bracelet. "Now, the Spectrum. As far as I understand, the Spectrum is an alliance — a group of seven specific people, one of each Colour, that together, have the potential to oppose Rathe and succeed."

Athira wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. "They can... beat Rathe?"

"Yes," said Grandma. "You may have noticed your sister's Yellow's effect on Rathe and anything else Sin-related you may have come across." She collected her teacup, delicately lifting it to her mouth. "Of course, affecting a Sin and beating them are two entirely different things. There are so many circumstances that must be met — all seven working together, in possession of the Prism — ah, it's a near impossible task, yet here I am, watching them regardless."

"...Watching them?" asked Zoe, concerned.

"Visions, dear," said Grandma after a sip. "A plague upon my mind almost every second of the day. A million possibilities, some now, some later, some before, some never. All jumbled up."

Zoe's eyes went wide. "You're like Zac — his drawings."

"Ah yes," murmured Grandma. "The silent one, overwhelmed by the outward who instead looked inward. Devout or devastated, left to the action of a single, spoken word."

Her eyes glazed over, the teacup perfectly still in her hands.

"Grandma?" asked Zoe, shuffling closer along the sofa and waving a faintly glowing hand in front of the woman's face. "Are you okay?"

Grandma blinked. "Hmm? Oh, yes, quite alright, dear. Sometimes I just get a little lost with when I'm supposed to be." She gave a soft sigh, placing the teacup back on the table. "Time is such a strange concept, trying to bind everything together in some kind of neat, orderly line, completely unaware of the mess of maybes it's leaving behind." She gave her head a slight shake and sat up a little further in her chair. "I'm sorry, dears — what were we talking about?"