It's hard for Reela to really remember what happened. She recalls she was fighting Avinalyn, and they were both frozen in the moment with uncertainty of what to do. Neither of them struck first. They looked arrogant, but then there was a stabbing pain in her back and chest and she was struggling to breathe.
She watched the cockiness on Avinalyn's face turn into fear, but she couldn't register it.
Everything went dark.
And now, she's slowly waking up. No longer on a cold stone floor, she's covered in soft blankets in a warm bed. The sounds of fighting in the streets is gone and instead, all is quiet. She hears the faint sound of a crackling fire, and even fainter is the wind whistling outside. The clock softly ticking on the wall.
This all sounds familiar. She's been here before.
She groggily blinks her eyes open, letting the room come into view as her vision returns in a blur, clearing enough for her to realize she's in Avinalyn's castle. In their room. She looks down, and she sees she's also in their bed.
Being back here, she instantly pushes herself to sit up. But as she moves too quickly, a sharp jolt runs down her spine and her back seizes up, forcing her to lay back down and take a couple paced breaths to calm herself down.
Reela takes a moment to compose herself, remembering that the stabbing pain in her back was from someone injuring her. She was hurt. Looking around, she realizes that she's alone here. Avinalyn isn't in the room.
She takes another deep breath and this time, she carefully pushes her arm under her to help her sit up enough to look around the room better. Her eyes land on the polished dark wood bedside cabinet next to her, and she sees that scattered all over it are empty glass vials of a few different shapes and sizes. And with the vials are a few rolls of bandages that look like they've been used.
It takes a moment to click in her brain, when she – yet again – recalls her injury.
She quickly looks down at herself, pushing the soft black fur blanket out of the way so she can roll up her shirt and see the white bandages wrapped neatly around her torso. With a shaking hand, she carefully pushes the bandages out of the way so she can see how bad the wound is, and she sees the scar between her ribs. The blood has been cleaned up, and she was expecting it to have maybe been stitched, but it wasn't. It's cauterized.
Burned shut.
She can feel that the parallel wound on her back doesn't have the same sting of a burn, and instead the sharpness of stitches. Only her front was cauterized. Did Avinalyn do this? She thought their magic was uncontrolled, more than even hers. How is it possible that they could have controlled their fire enough to not kill her? Though, knowing them, it's unlikely they would have cared either way.
The wound looks relatively healed enough that she doesn't think moving will threaten to reopen it, but she still opts to take it slow as she shifts forward, lowering the bandages and her shirt back over the fresh scars. She moves so her legs hang over the edge of the bed, almost touching the floor.
She pauses for a breath. Her body feels weak and she's still somewhat shaky, but at least she's alive. While she's giving herself a moment, she reaches back to feel her pocket, and she feels that at least she still has her rift shard and her phone.
She'll use the rift shard to get out of here, but she guesses she should probably at least stand first before trying to use her magic and her strength to move herself back to Letroseli. She figures her best bet would be to return to Ceelyaer. Jules would know what to do. She always does.
Reela turns her head towards the closed door of the bedroom, still waiting to see if Avinalyn is going to show up. But still, she's left alone. "Avinalyn...?" she meekly calls out. She waits for a few moments, but there's no response.
So she just takes another deep breath and shakily pushes herself forward so her feet can touch the floor and she braces herself before standing up. Her legs feel wobbly, so she grabs the wooden post of the bed's canopy to keep herself upright as she gets herself used to the feeling of standing again.
Once she feels like she's ready, she reaches into her pocket and takes out the rift shard. She spares the door one more glance before sighing and closing her eyes, focusing her magic on Ceelyaer.
Using the shard still leaves her somewhat disoriented for a second, so with her current state, it just about knocks her off her feet once she warps herself to Desdemona's house. She instantly opens her eyes and stumbles to the side to catch herself on the wall beside the door that leads out of the house.
Now back in the main room of Desdemona's house, she instantly sees her Auntie Jules pacing back and forth until the moment she sees Reela standing by the door with her hand on her stomach and a feeble look on her face.
Jules gasps and her eyes light up as she runs over with her arms open to trap Reela in a hug. Reela weakly returns the embrace and lets her weight sink into Jules at the relief of feeling safe again after all of the bullshit that just happened.
"Thank the gods, I was so fucking worried," Jules shudders and carefully leans back without letting go of the girl's shoulders. "Even knowing you were alive, I was still terrified that maybe Varagores or Avinalyn took you. But you're safe, so I can relax a bit now," she smiles warmly and brushes her thumb across Reela's cheek.
Reela takes a few deep breaths to compose herself. "What... happened? Where is everyone...?" she asks. She doesn't even have the energy to even consider telling Jules that Avinalyn was the one who took her. Right now, she's far more focused on figuring out what happened in Sunyu Foorst after she was hurt.
Jules takes a deep breath of her own and closes her eyes, nodding to herself in preparation for something. "Cree is upstairs with Romeow and Toya. I found Toya and managed to get her healed, so your father has been with her since we got here. Knowing she was alive helped him relax a bit, knowing that you had to be as well," she starts, but her voice sounds like the exact opposite of relaxed. At least Jules was able to find Toya. Reela was terrified she had lost her. And at least Toya has been able to keep her dad at ease while Reela's been gone.
Reela looks up at her again. "And what about..." she trails off before saying their names when Jules looks down mournfully without saying a word. Corb and Todo were still taking the Warrior's Test when everything happened. They have to be back by now, right?
"Jules?" she says softly, and Jules sighs painfully before stepping aside so Reela can see further into the room. At the end of the room, Desdemona is at her alchemy station beside a table, where Todo is laying motionless.
Reela's face pales and without another word, she runs over. Her wound still hurts and her body trembles, but she ignores her own pains as she reaches her best friend's side.
He's covered in deep slashes and bruises, cuts and scrapes all over his body. He has thick red gashes across his chest and shoulder, but Reela's eyes ultimately land on his near-colorless face. With trembling hands, she tentatively cradles his face, a desperate attempt to shield her eyes from the wounds that mar his form, but her actions are met with a resigned sigh from Desdemona.
"Be careful... He's..." The elderly woman trails off, her voice heavy with weariness, and turns her gaze away. "...unstable," she looks down at the alchemy table, where her frog, Ganon, meekly croaks.
Reela refuses to break her shattered stare, her gaze unyielding as it remains fixated on Todo's lifeless face. "He's... is—is he...?"
Jules slowly steps up behind her and rests her hand on her back. "He's alive... But badly wounded. Cree and I found him and Corb at the end of that ruin. Corb... wasn't in a good way. He wouldn't even speak."
Reela absently shudders. "What... happened...?"
Desdemona shrugs. "We don't know for sure, but..." she sighs. "According to Jules, when she found the brothers... there wasn't a scratch on Corb."
The revelation jolts Reela from her shattered trance, her gaze drifting momentarily from Todo's lifeless face to settle upon Jules. "You don't think..." her voice barely escapes her lips, a fragile whisper that resonates with disbelief. "...Corb did this... Do you...?"
Just saying those words makes her feel sick. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't even feel possible in her heart, so she tries to ignore the evidence until she knows for sure what actually happened. Because it can't be this.
Jules wearily shrugs, her own fatigue evident on her face. "Again, we don't know. He—"
"Where is Corb?" Reela interjects, her voice filled with a desperate urgency, as she musters the strength to take another deep breath. "I need... I need to talk to him."
Jules stares at her intently, a flicker of apprehension shadowing her features, before gesturing towards the door. "Outside... He seemed like he wanted to be left alone..." her words carry a cautious tone, as if she is attempting to caution Reela against seeking out Corb. As if she believes Corb to be dangerous or untrustworthy. But Reela isn't buying it.
With utmost care, Reela withdraws her hands from Todo's face. But before stepping away, she gently places her hand upon his shoulder, leaning down to press a tender kiss upon his forehead. She lingers for a moment longer, her hand tracing a faint path over his chest, feeling the feeble rhythm of his heartbeat.
Jules extends a comforting hand, gently rubbing Reela's shoulder, as Reela takes a step back, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. She tries to once again get her breathing under control. She has to force herself to turn around and make her way back to the door. The pain that grips her heart threatens to overshadow her physical wounds.
She steps outside with a heavy heart, her gaze scanning the surrounding forest and the distant town below. Closing the door behind her, her eyes catch sight of Corb, in his human form, sitting atop the hill that overlooks Ceelyaer. Adjacent to him stands a greatsword firmly planted in the ground.
He sits there, unmoving, his gaze fixed on the town below.
Reela begins her slow approach, summoning every ounce of strength within her to ascend the hill. But as she nears him, Corb remains unresponsive. "...Corb?" she calls out softly, her voice quivering with a mix of hope and worry.
There is no flicker of recognition, no reaction at all.
Reela cautiously closes the distance, her gaze briefly falling upon the sword beside him. With closer proximity, she can now see that there's also a shield resting in the grass in front of Corb. Left with silence as a response, she takes a few tentative steps closer. "...Corb... What happened...? Todo... He's..."
Corb lowers his head ever so slightly. His face turned away from her, his gaze directed towards the sword at his side. "...I think you know what happened..." his voice falters, punctuated by weak shudder. Reela comes to a halt beside him, slowly lowering herself to sit by his side. But Corb remains resistant to meet her eyes.
"...I tried to kill him..."
Reela's gaze remains fixed upon Corb, her expression a mixture of sorrow, pain, and a tinge of anger. "...Why...? Why the fuck would you...?" she whispers, her voice laden with disbelief.
Corb responds with a feeble shrug, his attention drifting back to the shield resting in the grass. His gaze is distant, clouded over by a storm of emotions. "Because I didn't realize the price... All this time, we believed that Nesosa sacrificed herself to save the world. To Todo, she was a hero... But to me... I hated her. She left us... But now I understand that she didn't want to... She just didn't have a choice..." His voice trembles as he takes a shaky breath.
"Nesosa chose to be alone, which was why she left. She pushed others away out of fear of being responsible for their lives... Todo may have left me," he pauses, closing his eyes, "but I didn't exactly make an effort to follow..." He forces himself to open his eyes once more, fixating his gaze upon the town below.
Reela can't find the words, her heart heavy with sorrow as she watches Corb silently weep, his gaze averted, unable to meet her eyes. She always knew the relationship between Corb and Todo was complicated, but understanding exactly why they are the way they are hurts. Two brothers caught in a constant battle of who is right, but in the end they were both wrong. Now here they are.
Corb lowers his head again and turns away from her. "...Say it, Reela..." he shudders. "...Say that you hate me... I almost killed your best friend... My brother... Just say it..." his voice grows weaker with each word that adds fear and guilt to his heart, fueling more tears to fall and stain the black wood of the shield in front of him.
Reela also looks down. She doesn't know what she's supposed to say here. So she decides to not bother thinking about it and just speaks the truth.
"...I do hate you, Corb," she forces the words out. She sees his shoulders tense, but he still doesn't look at her. She can just barely see more streams of tears roll down his cheek and his lip quivers, but he remains silent.
Reela takes a silent deep breath before scooting closer to him and grabbing his hand, which finally gets him to look down at her, and she shows him a shattered smile.
"...But I also love you," she blinks faster as her own tears begin to fall.
He stares blankly at her and still says nothing.
Reela painfully chuckles but the sound is broken up by the burning lump in her throat. "Corb... Yes, Todo is my best friend, but... So are you. You two have both been my friends for as long as I can remember. Just because I became friends with Todo first doesn't mean I ever valued you any less... I wanted to be friends with you too, but, well... You didn't like me at first... But now..." she leans against him.
"...You both are my brothers that I never had."
Corb's breath trembles as he stares down at her. "...Reela..." he can barely speak her name, let alone see her past his tears. She just looks up at him with a broken, but warm smile before she wraps her arms around him, and he hesitates to hold her in turn.
And they stay like that for a while. A few minutes, maybe, before Corb's hold around her tenses and she feels him shudder.
"...We're going home," he whispers painfully.
Reela slowly leans back, keeping her hand on his shoulder as she meets his eyes, but only for a second before he forces himself to look back down at the shield. "...What... do you mean?"
Corb takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "...You saw Todo... There's only so much Desdemona can do... so..." he shies his face away from her again. "...I called Nisha and told her to come get us... So... I'll be taking Todo and going back to Sage so he can recover..."
Reela stares up at him absently, feeling more tears fighting their way to the surface but she pushes them back as best she can. Before she can think of something to say, Corb continues.
"I... I'm sorry, Reela... I want to help you, I do... but..." he throws a glance back at Desdemona's house. "...but family comes first..."
Reela weakly chuckles and wipes at her eyes. "Corb... You don't have to apologize... If I didn't think family should come first, I wouldn't be out here in the first place... Cree, Jules and I will find Regan, but you..." she reaches up and wipes a tear from his cheek. "...You need to be there for your brother."
Corb sniffles before pulling her back in his arms. "...Thank you..."
She smiles into his shoulder and closes her eyes. "...But Corb... When you go..." she tightens her arms around him. "...Don't say goodbye. Goodbyes hurt too much."
Corb blinks his eyes open and stares past her at the sword and shield in the grass.
He also holds her tighter. "...I won't."
Eventually, Reela realized she needed to head back inside. Corb stayed on that hill for a while longer before he also decided to head in once the sun started to set, and he found his place at his brother's side while Reela made her way upstairs to find her dad.
As Reela knocks on the door, her heart swells at the sound of shuffling feet that grows louder until the door swings open. In that instant, her father's eyes light up with a mixture of surprise, worry, and sheer joy. Without hesitation, he pulls her in a tight embrace, holding her close to his chest.
A mixture of relief and playful scolding laces his words as he holds her tightly. "Fucking hell, kid, why the fuck do you feel the need to give me constant heart attacks?!" Cree's voice, tinged with both exasperation and undeniable affection warms her heart.
Reela feels a contagious smile tug at her lips as she leans into her father's embrace, knowing that she has returned to a place where she knows for a fact that she is safe.
She lightly chuckles and rolls her eyes, which are still feeling a bit dry after her talk with Corb. She can never help but appreciate that however much Cree likes to put on this hard-ass front, she knows he's probably a bigger softie than even Regan.
She pats him on the back. "How else am I going to receive fatherly affection if not by almost dying constantly to make you realize how much you appreciate me?" she teases and lets him go, and he steps back with a scoff.
"Oh, so you mean always buying you whatever you want isn't enough to spoil you, and now you also want support, validation, and love? No one told me fatherhood would be so much work." Cree's feigned annoyance quickly melts away, replaced by a tender expression of love and concern as he cradles Reela's face in his hands. The mistiness in his eyes reflects the depth of his relief at the sight of his daughter safe and sound.
"You scared me," he says softly, his voice filled with rare vulnerability.
Reela's smile widens, radiating gratitude and reassurance. "I know, Dad... I'm sorry. But I'm okay now, I promise." She gently holds onto her father's wrist, reciprocating the affection and silently conveying her appreciation for his concern. With a shared understanding, she steps into the room, and Cree closes the door behind her, knowing that with reunions done, they still need to talk.
Inside the room, Reela's gaze shifts to the sight of Toya peacefully sleeping beside Romeow, who is now more awake than he was in Greanleif, purring softly and kneading the bed. The sight of Romeow's improved condition brings a wave of added relief over Reela, knowing that Regan must be doing at least a little better wherever he may be.
Toya, wrapped in her own bandages, breathes steadily, emitting small squeaks in her sleep. Reela's heart swells with warmth, reassured by the signs of her baby's recovery. In this simple moment of tranquility, a sense of comfort washes over Reela. For now, they're all safe.
All but Regan.
With a contented sigh, Reela takes a moment to appreciate the moment of calm they have as she sits down on the bet, reaching over to gently pet Romeow and he meows at her before curling up against her side, licking her hand with his murderous sandpaper tongue that she knows means he's content at the moment. She also carefully scratches between Toya's ears, minding the fox's state of recovery to not disturb her too much. Just a subtle gesture to let her know that she's here now and she's safe.
Cree's stern expression softens as he uncrosses his arms and turns to face Reela, his genuine concern shining through. "How're you feeling, kiddo?" he asks in a familiar tone that she knows all too well—her father's protective instincts are always ready to kick in whenever she's in need. She feels a surge of gratitude knowing that he made it through unscathed while she was unconscious, and it fills her heart with relief to see that he didn't get eaten by a fucking werewolf.
Reela shrugs, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her lips. "Better than before, that's for damn sure."
Cree chuckles lightly. "Good. I was worried when I saw you and that fire fucker vanish like that," he admits. Hearing him bring up Avinalyn – the aforementioned 'fire-fucker' – gets her to narrow her eyes up at him.
"Speaking of... Mind telling me how the hell you're here now that we're not running for our fucking lives?"
Cree sighs, understanding the need for answers, and slowly nods before taking a seat beside her on the bed, facing her directly. "Right... Well, your little 'friend'—you know, the asshole who kidnapped you—paid me a visit in Manatria. And I, being the intellectual I am, figured out who they were pretty quickly," he starts and Reela shifts to face him better and her eyes slightly widen.
Reela's brows furrow in question. "Wait... They found you? How?" she asks with genuine confusion lacing her tone. "I never told them where you were, and I can't think of anywhere else they could have found out."
Cree shrugs. "Beats me. Could they have overheard you talking about it at some point?"
Reela scoffs dismissively at just the idea and how stupid it sounds. "The only time I can imagine was when I first got to Sunyu Foorst and talked to you on the phone. But even if they were there, how the hell would they have even known to be listening in at that exact moment?" she states. As dumb as it sounds in her brain, a small seed of unease takes root within her at the idea that Avinalyn could have been listening to one of her conversations without her knowing about it.
As she ponders further, a flash of realization dawns on her face, causing her body to tense once she remembers something.
Just after the first time she, Corb, and Todo had left Ceelyaer and were on their way to Greanleif, they stopped to camp for the night. The crackling of the campfire provided a sense of comfort as Reela conversed with the twins, but amidst the peaceful moment, a single sound shattered the calm—a twig snapping from the shadows.
Her instincts caught it, but Corb and Todo distracted her which caused the sound to slip her mind. It was quickly dismissed and forgotten.
Yet now...
Time seems to freeze, the air thickening around her as a chilling realization grips her heart. Every muscle in her body tenses, and her hand halts its gentle caress of Toya. Unease seizes her.
Cree's eyes narrow with concern as he notes her sudden change in demeanor. "Reela? What's wrong?" he asks, his voice laced with a mix of confusion and worry. She moves with an eerie slowness as her steady hand retrieves the rift shard from her pocket. Her fearful gaze locking onto his. A silent warning in her eyes, as she suddenly finds herself afraid of speaking. Something unsettling lingers in the air, a feeling she should have noticed sooner.
The feeling of being watched.
"...Wait here."
Rift shards can't be attuned to anything living. But she never considered that they could be attuned to other shards.
She closes her eyes and takes a shaky deep breath. She doesn't think about their castle.
She thinks about Avinalyn.
When she opens her eyes, instead of finding herself standing in the dimly lit halls of Avinalyn's castle, her surroundings have transformed into a familiar forest. The realization strikes like lightning, causing her heart to race and her breath to catch in her throat. The same terrain that holds the hill overlooking the town, and Desdemona's house.
Her gaze fixates on the familiar sight of the house, her eyes drawn to the window on the second floor where can see Cree looking around with confusion and concern on his face as he tries to understand where the hell she just vanished to.
But her attention instantly shifts, locking onto Avinalyn's figure leaning casually against a nearby tree. The sight of them sends a chilling jolt through her veins that leaves her numb, but slowly the feeling is replaced by anger.
Avinalyn's anticipation builds as they lean forward, their hand pressing against the rough bark of the tree, trying to catch a glimpse of anything to help them understand what they saw. They had seen Reela talking with her father moments ago, only for her to vanish into thin air in the blink of an eye. At least she's back on her feet. It took a lot of healing elixirs to get her that way. But now the question lingers in their mind: Where did she go?
Lost in their thoughts, Avinalyn remains unaware of Reela's presence until her voice slices through the air, tearing their attention away from the window.
"What're we watching; anything good?!"
The suddenness of her words startles them, causing a surge of raw energy to crackle through them. Flames flicker from their palm momentarily but are quickly extinguished by the frigid air, leaving behind a lingering scent of singed wood.
As they turn around, their eyes widen, locking onto Reela's burning gaze. The fire that once danced in their hands pales in comparison to the intensity radiating from her furious expression. Her arms crossed defiantly, she stands fuming with more anger on her face than they have ever seen before.
"R—Reela. I..." Avinalyn stammers. Their eyes flicker nervously between her and the window. The weight of Reela's anger hangs heavily in the air, causing their breath to catch in their throat, when Reela scoffs and holds up her rift shard.
"Have you been fucking stalking me?!"
They freeze where they are as they actually find themself struggling to think of what to say for once. Without thinking, their mind automatically reverts to saying what they would always say whenever Mog had accused them of the same thing.
"N... No! Not... 'stalking,' just—"
Reela huffs venomously and takes a step back. "Just watching me from a distance without my knowledge ever since I got this fucking shard?" she snaps and watches them with a burning threat in her eyes. Daring them to try coming up with another bullshit excuse to justify their actions.
She just sees them glance away, almost timidly. Look at that, they've been caught. What the fuck are they going to do about it now?
"Well I..." they clear their throat and hesitantly meet her eyes again. "When you put it like that... it sounds..."
"By the fucking gods!" Reela laughs bitterly and holds her head in her hands as she turns away from them. "You've been stalking me... What the fuck is wrong with you?!" she keeps laughing her disbelief and rage, almost delirious with how livid she is.
Avinalyn sighs and takes a careful step towards her. "Reela, I can—"
"No!" she whips back around to face them and takes a daunting step towards them. The sheer force behind her voice instantly shuts them up and they almost flinch back. Reela fumes up at them and they can see in her eyes that there isn't a single hint of fear in her heart.
Her jaw tightens and she shakes her head. "Don't even fucking try. I've had enough of your bullshit excuses and constantly thinking you can get away with whatever the fuck you want! I am fucking done with you ignoring everything I say and treating me like I'm not even a fucking person!" she spats.
Avinalyn can't even speak and they just stand there, watching her let out all of the rage she's pent up since they met.
"I've put up with so much of your bullshit, but this," Reela motions to the shard, "is where I draw the line." She takes another step closer to stand directly in front of them, and again they feel almost compelled to shrink back, but they don't move.
Reela shakes her head without breaking her glare. "So either get the fuck out of my life, or if you want to 'worship' me this badly - then get on your knees and pray." She points at the ground and grits her teeth as she stands almost shaking with rage, waiting for them to finally respond.
Avinalyn just stands frozen and speechless as Reela never breaks her furious glare from their wide eyes. They were admittedly afraid as she was yelling, but now they don't know what exactly they're feeling. This whole time, they've been running around in circles trying to get this girl out of their head, blaming her for making them think about her all the time.
But now they think they realize she never meant to make them think about her.
They did that all on their own.
Because now hearing their options, they know for certain that they don't want to get out of her life.
Reela waits impatiently for them to say something. Anything. She can tell that they must be thinking very carefully. They turn their gaze away from her to stare at the ground for a moment, then close their eyes and take a silent deep breath.
And she sees a small grin grow on their face before they leisurely meet her eyes again.
"...As you wish."
Reela's anger briefly ceases when Avinalyn drops to their knees in front of her, staring up at her with teasingly playful – but also apologetic – eyes and a delighted pout on their face at seeing her eyes widen and her mouth fall open as it's now her turn to be left speechless.
She stands frozen over them, just blankly staring down at their golden eyes peering up at her like that and without understanding anything, she accidentally lets a small shudder escape her chest and her face warms up as she blushes.
She forces herself to quickly look away and close her eyes. Her hands ball into fists to fight how they start shaking once whatever this sick twisted feeling in her heart is joined by fear. Not fear of Avinalyn, fear of the feeling itself. She takes a forceful deep breath and swallows back the start of a burning lump in the back of her throat.
"...Just..." she returns her glare to them and tries to stand stronger, despite everything she's feeling in this moment. "...Leave me alone."
Avinalyn's playful look fades as they watch Reela turn on her heel and storm away, back to Desdemona's house with her head down and her arms wrapped tightly around herself.
And they just stay there on their knees for a moment, slowly lowering their head to just stare at the ground as they too are filled with feelings that they aren't used to. Their intention has never been to hurt her, but they think they just did. Badly. But they don't fully understand how or why.
The feelings linger long after they've left Ceelyaer. After they left Letroseli. After they returned home, to their castle, their room where they now sit and stare into the dancing flames that hug the charred logs in the fireplace.
And they sit alone. Just watching the fire.
But after a few moments, they glance at the empty armchair beside them. They stare at it for a moment longer before they sigh and reach for their glass of wine on the end table, but they stop themself from grabbing it once they realize their hand is slightly shaking.
They return their focus to the fire. But again, they can't help but move. This time to glance back at the door to their room. They watch it longer than they had stared at the chair. They wait, listening for a familiar sound of knocking to break the silence, but no one comes to visit them.
As they realize that they're waiting for no one, they turn back to the fire and sigh mournfully before again reaching for their wine glass. They grab it and lift it off the table, but they give it another few seconds. Waiting. For anyone.
With another sigh, they raise the glass to their lips.
But they stop when there's a knock at the door.
Avinalyn lowers the glass to hold it in their lap and they throw another glance back at the door.
They almost forgot.
"...Come in, sir."
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Reela races back to the room, starting to tremble violently the more she thinks about everything that just happened outside with Avinalyn. She runs right into Cree as he's walking to the door, probably because he was about to go looking for her.
But the instant she sees him, she grabs his arm with one hand and his shoulder with the other, and once he sees her face, he sees that she's on the verge of tears with a look of terror in her eyes.
Cree holds her face and grabs her shoulder. "Reela? Sweetheart, what's wrong? What happened?"
Reela violently shakes her head and struggles to stay standing. "I—They..." she just keeps shaking her head. "T—They were stalking me... But they... I..." she grips his shirt tighter and struggles to speak.
He holds her up as best he can and tries to keep her eyes focused on him. "Reela, what is it? Did they hurt you? Are you okay?" he keeps asking, but Reela just keeps trembling and sporadically shaking her head.
"I don't—I don't know... I don't..." she blinks faster and starts choking over her words. "Dad, I... I'm scared... I don't like this... I—I don't want..." she doesn't even know what she's saying anymore. She just collapses in his arms and he pulls her tightly against him, resting his head atop hers as she buries her face in his shoulder, clinging desperately to his shirt.
Cree lowers to kneel on the ground without letting her go and starts rocking her back and forth. "You don't want what...? What's wrong, baby?" he asks and sounds like he might just cry too at just seeing her breaking down but not knowing why or how to help. The frustration over his struggle to provide comfort beyond just holding her.
She keeps sobbing into his shoulder, continuing to cling to him with violently trembling hands just to remind herself that she's safe with him. He has always protected her. He always will. "I—I don't want..." she coughs on her tears and tries forcing herself to breathe.
"...I don't want to... to feel like this..." she curls up against him, trying to make herself as small as possible. "N—Not for them."
Cree rubs her back with his metal hand, tracing his thumb in a straight line between her shoulder blades. "Feel like what? Reela, what's wrong?"
She can't even bring herself to answer him. She refuses to admit it out loud. It's not real. She won't let it be real. She hates Avinalyn with everything she has.
That's all she feels for them.
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"My apologies, sir. I almost forgot you were coming to visit, otherwise I would have greeted you at the door." Avinalyn sets their wine glass down as the door opens behind them and their employer enters the room, softly shutting the door behind him.
"No need to apologize, Avinalyn," he says slowly. "Have you made any progress?"
Avinalyn sighs and lowers their head. "I'm afraid not. Reela... got away again."
Unsurprisingly, instead of being angry, their boss simply chuckles fondly. They've never known him to be a man to get angry often. "That doesn't surprise me. She always was too stubborn for her own good," he says.
Avinalyn weakly snickers. "You have no idea..."
"Don't I? After all, she gets it from me."
Avinalyn glances back at Nelaeryn and shows him a small smile.
"So I've noticed, sir."