forewarning: this is another long one, folks
+++++++++++++++++
Merida got back to the mansion and was met by Higgs hovering at the door.
"Well, what did she say?"
"She said that she would have to think about it and then she would send her response by letter."
"By letter?"
"Aye... She's muckle suspicious and quite odd about what's going on."
"Considering who I am, I can't write her off just because she acts a little odd."
"The difference between ye and her is that ye change yer body, not yer head. She's verra strange, even by yer standards."
"What makes you say that?"
"Weel, for starts, she is a master of The Hunt. A wee lass like her having a liking to a sport like that and with ye the way ye are... dinnae ye find that a bit odd?"
"As long as she's not hunting me then to each their own." Higgs said with a shrug as she walked towards the kitchen.
"Higgs..."
"I think it's weird." Edgar chimed in.
"No one asked ye." Merida growled as Edgar rolled his eyes.
"Well, I can't just pick and choose women based on their hobbies. It's more interesting than sewing, knitting, or needle point."
"An ye say so, but I'd still be leery of such a hobby in a lady. I feel as if foulness is aplay."
"Nonsense, Merida, you're just letting your imagination get away with you."
"An ye say so... Weel, now that I've wasted the whole day at Lady Hinkley's house, we ought to get to assessing that room to see what damage there is the furniture and what we need to be replacing."
Higgs crossed his arms and looked at Edgar for a moment, his kitsune ears appearing and flicking.
"I think we should do that first thing tomorrow. Right now, I'm famished and just want to relax. It's been a bit of a few days."
"Aye, that it has. Weel, come on, lad, ye can help me in the kitchen while I've got ye." She said, referring to Edgar.
"Actually, may I speak with Edgar alone?" Higgs asked.
Edgar and Merida looked at each other, Edgar with a quizzical expression, but Merida nodded.
"Aye, of course ye can. I'll be helping Marlow then."
She left the room and Edgar looked around in agitation. As much as he viewed Higgs as a father, they had never really been in a room together by themselves and Higgs had definitely never requested to be alone with him. He sensed that it wasn't going to be friendly chat. He finally looked at Higgs again as he stared at him, his odd fox eyes making him even more uncomfortable.
"We need to talk, young man."
He turned and motioned for Edgar to follow him.
****************
They made it to another room and Higgs motioned for Edgar to sit down. He did and then looked at his feet.
"Do you know why I'm talking with you in private?"
"No..."
"I'm very displeased by your attitude."
"Oh... um..."
"Do you realize what you've done?"
"Who would have known, Fa- I mean, Mr. Higgs. Sorry... but it's just-"
"It's not "just", Edgar. You're a child, not an adult. How could you possibly believe that you know more about this situation and what is involved with it than the two people who are involved, hmm?"
"Well... I... They say sometimes things need a push."
"A push, not a bloody punch to the face!" Edgar winced and Higgs paced in front of him, a tail appearing with every agitation. "I need you to listen to me carefully, Edgar, because this is going to be the last time that I will tell you this: straighten up. I know you don't like Lady Hinkley and I know you're upset about what's happened, but you were meddling in something that was going fine. I was almost going to nonchalantly tell Merida to court me, did you know that?"
"What's stopping you now?" he asked in genuine interest.
Higgs stopped walking and turned to Edgar with a glare.
"Knowing. The whole game was the curiosity, the mystery, the hope. That little bit of uncertainty would have made that possible... but you stuck your big fat nose into what was none of your business and ruined it. The love has to be natural and if you had just waited, things would have been fine."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Edgar yelled, standing up.
"It doesn't need to make sense for you!" Higgs snarled, turning on Edgar with tails raised and eyes glowing, teeth sharp. Edgar fell back into the chair. "No one asked you." He hissed.
"But... if you know then I don't understand why-"
"Damn it, Edgar, I've said my peace on the matter. You are not a part of my family enough to understand what we go through; the lengths and convoluted loopholes we have to jump through to maybe (hopefully) find the right combination of emotions and love to satisfy this god forsaken curse! It's not as easy as it would make you perceive it to be. It's not myth, it's not legend, and it's not fairytales. This is my life, Edgar."
Edgar tried not to let his emotions get in the way as tears still stung his eyes. He clenched his fists.
"I know that I'm not a part of your family but you've always been a part of mine. I'm sorry that I ruined everything but I was just trying to help. I'll remember next time that it's for exclusive family members only."
He got up and stopped off as Higgs looked at the floor, realizing what he had said.
"Shite."
****************
Merida was mixing batter for cake when she saw Edgar storm by the entrance to the kitchen and the front door slammed closed. Merida looked at Marlow, who was washing the dishes.
"Marlow, I'm going to go and check on Edgar."
"Of course, miss."
"If I'm not back in a few minutes, please continue with the cake."
"Yes, ma'am."
Merida followed Edgar out the front door and saw him going to the stables. When he got there, he grabbed a bridle and headed to a horse when Ailers popped up out of nowhere, scaring him.
"Ailers... What are you doing here?"
"Mucking about."
Edgar looked over the stall wall and saw that he was indeed, mucking.
"I see."
"Riding at night?" he asked.
"Yes. Is this one okay?"
"She's nice."
Edgar nodded and set up the bridle in the dapple's mouth and turned to grab a saddle just as Merida walked in. He rolled his eyes at her and hauled the saddle to the horse.
"Oi, lad-"
"Don't try to stop me, Merida. I'm going for a ride."
"In the dark? Ye taking a lantern to light ye way?"
"I'll be back."
"What's got ye, boy?"
"Why don't you ask Mr. Higgs." He mocked as he tightened the saddle on the horse. "He can answer all your personal questions."
"What in the world are ye haivering about?"
"I promise I won't get in trouble." He said, climbing on top of the horse.
He kicked the horse's side gently and she trotted off out of the stables just as Higgs appeared. Merida looked at him as he gave a small growl.
"What's going on? What did ye do?"
"I worded things very wrong."
"Oh, blimey, what did ye do now?"
"I was trying to tell him that because he wasn't part of the Northumberly family that he wouldn't understand what we go through regarding the curse and such, but I just said family so..."
"God's beard, ye numpty! Ye sure as hellfire ken how to really muckle up a person." Merida snarled.
"I'm not good at this sort of thing."
"Talking?" Ailers interjected, scaring Higgs.
"Dear lord, Ailers, you scared me."
Merida tried not to laugh at Ailers' very dry joke as Higgs sighed, running his fingers down his face.
"Apparently yes, in this situation, I believe that works. What am I going to do?"
"Ye are going to let me take care of the lad-"
"He almost called me Father, Merida." Merida watched his ears and tails go down. "He almost slipped up and... I understand why it would be so important for him for us to be together. No wonder he hates Lady Hinkley."
"Ye not ken the past, Mr. Higgs. I'll go find him and have a chat as well."
"No, I hurt his feelings so I should tell him."
"Not to add insult to injury, but it's not necessarily that ye hurt his feelings, but that ye crushed his spirit. Aye, he wasnae great with trying to get us to be together, but at least someone was trying. He saw an opportunity and he took it."
Higgs knew it was a sharp blow to his own ego but he would wallow in self pity later.
"Right..."
"He'll be back soon. Lad can't go far at night. Ye come back to the house now."
Higgs felt as crushed as he made Edgar feel as Merida took him back to the house.
******************
"And- and- and then he said that I wasn't part of the family! I know I'm not the best but..." Edgar wiped his tears away. "I knew if I stayed that I'd embarrass myself..."
Fuchsia put a glass of milk in front of him and rubbed his back gently as Boston ate some cake on the other side of the table.
"You should know by now that Higgs can't think half the time when he's in a stressful situation. Half of the problems he gets himself into is because of this." Boston said.
Fuchsia glared at her fiancé. "You can be quite the dunce, my love." She turned back to Edgar and sat next to him. "I know it hurt, Edgar, but I guarantee you that that's not what Higgs meant to say. I think he was talking about the Northumberly family curse, not just the family. He loves you like a son, sweetling."
"I don't think so. I almost called him Father but I've always felt like he doesn't want to think of me that way."
"He's doted on you before, Edgar." Boston said, leaning on the table. "When you won that achievement, Higgs made sure to come and tell all of us that you were the smartest one in the class. He kept that letter with him for days, rolling it out every once in a while to read the sentence again. It was endearingly stupid, but that was his way of being proud. The only reason he had to put it up was because Merida told him he would make it disintegrate if he kept messing with it."
"He's kept all of your art projects, no matter how bad they were." Fuchsia said with a small laugh.
"In all seriousness, though, he cares very much for you, it's just he's not the fatherly type at the moment. He's just getting over the issue with Merida and moving on into unknown territory. He's very stressed and confused and probably ashamed."
"Boston is right, love; he's most likely more ashamed than anything. Especially since a young boy could see the love between them and yet he couldn't do anything about it. Think about it, Edgar, after four years of pussyfooting around, it was you that made him come to grips that he truly loved Merida. If you had does this years ago, then maybe he would have gotten over himself and they'd be married by now."
"I don't think that's how he sees it, ma'am." Edgar said, sipping his milk. He sighed. "I'm just a nuisance and a busy body... I guess I should go back before Merida wakes up the whole village trying to find me."
"Ya goin' out, lad?" Catherine said, coming in from the kitchen.
"Yeah, I need to get back home."
"Best be on the look out now. Kans is about tonight."
"About? What do you mean?"
"Oh, I completely forgot." Fuchsia said with a worried look. "Oh dear... If we don't send him home then Merida will be out but if we send him out..."
"What is it?" Edgar asked, exasperated.
"Kans is about doin' the cù-síth."
"The... what?"
"Cù-síth is kind of like the dog version of the Dullahan just without the headless part."
"But much more dangerous. The Dullahan won't mess with ya unless ya're on its list, the cù-síth though... Ya have a horse, yah?"
"Yes?"
"Then ya be needin to get on it quick and head back home. If ya find a large black dog sittin in front of someone's house, ya best better kick that horse to ride as fast as possible."
"Wait, I don't understand, what's going on? What's a coo-shi? You haven't really explained anything at all."
"Come on, Edgar, I'll explain on the way to the horse."
Edgar was confused as he was practically pushed from the small house at the edge of town. It was Boston's house, but he decided to let Fuchsia and Catherine stay there together and the boys could come and go until their weddings. It made it easier to not be completely alone together, and helped the women learn how to do domestic things for their fiances. Fuchsia insisted she learn a few things just in case things went south and she also just wanted to accomplish something, like cooking. Boston promised that when he started getting clients and made more money, he would get a more reclusive house for he and Fuchsia to live in and give this house to Catherine and Kans, if they liked it. Either way, the problem was that it was much farther than Jami's mansion and still had a few miles of homes to get out of before hitting the hills.
Fuchsia started helping Edgar onto the horse but he fought her hands.
"Stop it! Tell me what's going on. You're not being helpful at all! What's a coo-shi?!"
"Like we said-"
"The Dullahan but a dog with a head though? That's it?"
Fuchsia sighed. "The difference between the Dullahan and the cù-síth is quite a lot actually. The Dullahan has a list of people and it calls out their names and they die. It has a job to do at night with a list. The cù-síth is like that except it has no list. It can smell death and so when it does, it will sit outside of a house where someone is on the verge of death and wait. When that person finally dies, it lets out three very loud and very distinctive barks. It's an alert of two things: someone has died and someone is next. Unlike the Dullahan, death can come to people other than those who are dying. If you hear the three barks, you have to find safety before the third one or it will come after you and kill you itself."
"AND YOU WANT TO SEND ME HOME WITH THAT THING OUT THERE?!!" Edgar screamed.
"If we don't send you home, Merida will start to look for you. Do you want *her to be privy to this? She doesn't even know about this transformation."
Edgar worried his lip. He didn't want to go out and be chased by a crazy death dog, but Fuchsia was right and Merida would try to find him since he was so upset. She'd never know anything about this thing.
"If I hurry, I can make it to the house, right?"
"Yes. There's a high chance you may not even run into Uncle Kans at all, but just remember that if you see a large strange looking dog that's sitting outside of someone's house, break into a gallop. If that person dies while you're out, he will bark."
"Alright... I..."
"I'm so sorry, Edgar. I completely forgot about this."
Edgar nodded and shakily got onto the horse.
******************
Edgar made his way out of town and down the road that led up the hill and to the mansions. All was well so far and Edgar kept the dapple at a good pace as he went through the town. It was just after dark and he could see the lantern lighters making their way around lighting the wicks for the pathway, but the horse was too quick and they were easily behind him in minutes, making his future path literally dark. He was almost free of the town (and hopefully free of Kans) when he thought he saw something sitting in front of the last house. Edgar ignored it and chocked it up to his imagination until he reached the house. The blood ran out of Edgar's face as he saw the biggest dog he had ever seen in his life sitting there to the side of the front door, stock still like a statue. It was bulky and almost unnatural, its fur stringy and shaggy as its eyes followed Edgar's horse with a chilling glow.
Edgar gulped and as soon as he passed the cù-síth, he did as Fuchsia and Catherine had said and he made the horse go into a gallop. Just as the horse hit the first slight uphill angle, causing her to slow down a little, a low, echoing and otherworldly bark rang out, seeming to overtake the air itself. Edgar held the reigns tight as he started yelling for the horse to go faster.
Another bark.
The horse was galloping at full speed, almost getting past Jami's mansion.
Another bark.
Edgar yelled out in terror as he tried to make the horse move, but the horse got spooked and threw him off of it. He fell hard and saw stars for a moment. He got up and rubbed his head, watching his horse go up the hill without him. Edgar stood up and looked behind him, finding the cù-síth emerging from the town and heading up the hill. He broke out into a run.
******************
"I'm worried now. I'm going to go and get him." Merida said.
"Merida, what's there to be afraid of? He'll come home. Let him calm down a bit-"
"No, something is off. I can feel it. I'm going out..."
She got up and headed outside and Higgs sighed, getting up to go after her. As he walked out of the mansion he thought he heard some screaming, his ear pricking up. When he didn't hear it again, he thought maybe he was imagining things when he swore he heard it again. He sniffed the air and walked over to where the hill dipped down the pathway. He saw someone running as fast as they could with something chasing after them.
"What in the devil..." Then he got a whiff of it and realized what was going on. "Oh bullocks! Merida!"
Merida came out of the stables. "The horse is here but-"
"Merida I need you to come here for me." She ran over to him and he pointed down. "Look."
Merida squinted to see what was going on and then she gasped.
"God's beard! A cù-síth!" She suddenly realized what was going on. "Oh, bloody hell, are ye serious?!"
Merida was about to go down there, but Higgs grabbed her shoulder.
"Wait! You can't!"
"The hell I cannae!" she snarled.
"No, wait. You can't, but I can. It's Uncle Kans transformed. If you try to go down there, you'll be liable to the cù-síth's powers as much as Edgar. I need you to run back to the mansion and open the door. Edgar can't stop running until he's safe. I can stall Uncle Kans though... Go."
Merida nodded, running back to the mansion.
Higgs breathed in deeply, letting all of his powers out and feeling himself transform into the true form of the kitsune. He had only done it the one time but he knew it was powerful enough to stave off his uncle.
******************
Edgar was about to vomit and die from the exertion he was putting out. He needed to stop. His side was hitching, his lungs were screaming for a break, but if he got caught by that thing, he knew he would die. He wanted to cry, really. Suddenly, a weird light caught his attention and a few moments later, a beautiful fox's head appeared from over the last hump on the hill. Mr. Higgs! he thought happily and got a new hope. As he crossed the hill, Higgs started running with him.
"Don't stop until you're in the house with Merida, do you understand?" he said.
Edgar nodded and left Higgs behind to deal with the scary creature.
Higgs turned back just as Kans came over the hump and he stopped. He bared his teeth at Higgs and Higgs did the same, crouching down for a fight. Kans bolted forward as Higgs jumped in front of him, keeping him from getting too far. Kans realized that he wasn't going to get to his prey easily and Higgs knew that Kans would never stop until sunrise. Blimey, this is going to be long night.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
ah the cù-síth (pronounced as edgar had it: coo-shi because it's gaelic and fuck what the word looks like vs. how it sounds) anyhow, there is also the cu sidhe in irish mythology and the cwn annwn (coon anoon) in welsh mythology. i kind of used a little of each of these for the cù-síth plus a little of my own stuff to make it more interesting. sorry for a couple of info dumps up there but they were needed.
so higgs had to talk with edgar personally about his attitude and what it cost them. it may seem silly that he can't just still ask her, but the fact is that now that everything is known, everything will seem obligatory or out of pity or something. that's the issue here. the mysteriousness kept it genuine. either way, don't worry kid, higgs still love ya. after all, hes about to fight his creepy creature uncle for you :shrug: