Servant of the Serpent

Birdsong

"Daisy and Fern will keep me company. You saw how enamored they were with Merlyn."

"I hope so—"

Meryln kicks a clawed foot, sending the bowl of oatmeal flying. Adder scrambles to catch it, only to end up fumbling and covering the both of them with sticky oats. Adder groans at the disgusting sensation of lukewarm oat goo seeping onto his scales. Even worse, poor Merlyn starts to scream as the oatmeal soaks into her fluffy white wings, and Eben starts to laugh.

"Eben!"

"I'm sorry—I'm sorry—it was just so perfectly timed!"

"It's not funny," Adder grumbles.

Eben attempts and fails to catch his breath, still grinning despite Merlyn's shrill cries. "Okay grumpy scales. I'll start a bath for you two while you clean this up."

Adder nods, already pushing the oats off the table and into the bowl. A few minutes later, he's just scraping the last of it off the floor when Eben calls out for him to come over. The gorgon complies and is greeted with a lovely sight of a steamy wash basin filled with sweet-smelling water.

"Hop in, I'll wash off your scales while you wash the baby."

Adder nods, pulling off his loin cloth and slipping in. He sighs as the warm water strips away his worries. It seems that Merlyn is in agreement, as she immediately quiets as she's lowered into the water. The gorgon just sits there for a moment, watching Eben dutifully begin to pour water over his scales, rubbing mint-scented soap in gently.

"You treat me so well," Adder whispers lovingly.

Eben flushes, ears twitching. "It's a little ironic isn't it? That I do much more now than I ever did as your servant?"

"It makes sense to me. You were so scared of me back then..."

"It took me some time to realize you were harmless as a fly."

Adder chuckles. Only Eben would see the things a gorgon is capable of and still say things like that.

"I'm glad you gave me a chance, Eben."

The half-elf doesn't reply, just smiling as he continues to scrub. Adder enjoys the comfortable silence, beginning to finally wash off Merlyn. The infant is lax in his arms, breathing steadily. Adder figures the warm water has put her to sleep, and starts with washing the short auburn hair. He uses his hands to gently pour water over her head, carefully avoiding her face. A droplet of water makes its way down onto her little nose, causing a chittering sneeze to ring around the room.

"Gods bless you, little bird."

Merlyn coos, flapping her little wings. Adder takes that as a sign to move on, delicately combing the sticky oats from her fluffy white feathers. The action is received favorably; the little harpy stretches her wings out as if it's a relief to be cleaned. Adder grins, relieved to see something besides tears. But the moment is short lived as the gorgon feels something strange on Merlyn's wing. He brushes downy feathers away to find a long dark spike among the fluff.  He pulls on it for a moment before realizing it's attached to the wing. With the action, the hard outer layer crumbles away, revealing a dark brown, spotted feather.

The revelation is a shock. He knows he should've expected this, but it's sobering to see the proof that his little fledgling is growing right before his eyes. He sighs, looking for more of the pin-like feathers. He finds several others hidden in her wings, and gets to freeing each one from their sheath. By the end of the bath, the little harpy's mood is much improved. The gorgon carries her over to the hearth, where she chirps contentedly as Adder dries her off with a fluffy towel. When she's completely dry, the monster has swaddled her in the crocheted blanket.