The month went on and although there were a couple of incidents that made it where Higgs turned back into a small child, Merida was alright with it and they went on with their daily lives.
**************
"It looks like ye were invited to a party." She said, coming from the door.
Higgs turned to her from playing in the flour and she made a face, putting her hand on her hip.
"Mr. Higgs..."
He grinned as she set the invitation on the table and picked him up to set him on the counter top.
"Now I have to start all over because ye ran yer hands in it."
"But it was so fluffy!"
"I ken ye can try to keep yer childish behavior at bay at least sometimes, yeah?"
"Sometimes..."
She smiled and took an extra rag, getting the flour off of his hands and arms and the straggles that were in his hair and on his face. She pinched his nose and moved his face as he giggled. Once he was all cleaned up, she ordered him to stay on the counter as she found a chair for him to stand in so he could help her make some bread and some muffins. Once the chair was acquired, she put him in it and pulled the flour off the counter to throw away and set out a small new pile.
"There..."
"Merida, I just wanted to let you that... that tomorrow is the start of the next month."
"Is it? It's been that long already?"
"Yeah... I don't know what this cycle is going to be this time around so... You still promise to stay, right?"
"I told ye I would so I will." She said, cracking an egg into her mix. "Will ye turn as soon as tomorrow comes or when the sun comes up?"
"It's usually in my sleep but I will be able to tell you about it then... Did you say I was invited to a party?"
"Ah, aye, I have the invitation over there."
Higgs crawled down from the chair and over to where Merida had set the invitation. He stood on his tippy toes and finally grabbed it. He opened it up and smiled.
"It's Boston!"
"Boston?"
"Boston Graves' parents are holding the party. I know him from when we were younger. He kind of knows about my family's issue."
"How do you 'kind of' know about the issue?" Merida asked, pulling out dough from the bowl.
"He saw my father once and he saw me once but he just denies our existence to being drunk. He's really great because I can tell him something and he'll just take it as a joke but he'll actually believe it. It's kind of strange."
"How do ye mean?"
"Well... for example, if the party is at night and I know that that month I will be the werewolf, I can say something like, "I really want to come to your party but I'm afraid I turn into a werewolf at the time, could you make it during the day?" and he'll just laugh and tell me that he will do that. But I think he really believes it because every time that's happened, he's truly done it."
"I see..."
"You wanna come?"
"Me?" Merida laughed as she wiped her cheek and flour got on it. "I dinnae ken a Scottish lass, much less a servant class one, would be welcome to such a party."
"But who am I supposed to take?" he said with a pout. "That's one of the benefits of being my maid: you get to come and be my dates to the parties and such."
"Really now? Is that a requirement?"
"No, it's just a perk. There are two reasons for it." He walked over to where she was and climbed back in the chair. "One is that I need someone to watch out for any signs of my transformations (whenever they are) and two, going to a party like that without a date is disastrous."
"How is that? Wouldnae it make ye available for some fine filly to come and take ye away?"
"That's the thing, I need someone to judge said filly."
"Judge?"
"Yeah... see... well, it has to do with the cure for the curse. I won't tell you unless I find the one I believe will help me but, you just have to make sure I don't fall in love with any of them. You need to be my bodyguard and fake whatever so that I don't try... just know that it would be very bad if that happened."
Merida sighed as she kneaded the bread on the counter.
"I dinnae what ye're talking about but I will try my best. So should I send word that ye're going to be there?"
"Yeah. Just give it to Fuscia and she can forward it."
"Alright... are ye going to just stand there or help me knead this bread? Ye're the one who asked for it..."
Higgs nodded and leaned over to help her with the bread.
****************
That afternoon, Merida went down to Higgs' mother's house to give the invitation about Boston's party to Fuscia. The door opened and the maid smiled.
"Oh, Ms. Dunbrough. Are you here to see someone?"
"I came to give this invitation to Ms. Fuscia in lieu of Mr. Higgs."
"Of course. Come in, come in... I'll fetch her for you."
Merida walked in and stood in the foyer as the maid went to get Fuscia. She would never get over the hospitality the Northumberlys showed her whenever she came over and was always enthralled with the foyer of the manor. Fuscia came in through the hallway and smiled at Merida.
"Ms. Dunbrough; it's always a pleasure to see you. What brings you by today?"
"Mr. Higgs wanted me to give this to you."
Fuscia took it and smiled brightly.
"I'm so happy he accepted! He hasn't gone out in ages. I hope he'll be able to come since it's so far in advance... Higgs won't exactly know what he'll be in May."
"Well, I ken we'll have to just do with what we have."
"How has he been?"
"He's been lively. We've had a couple of run-ins with the weather and such so he's reverted a couple of times but nothing too serious."
"That's good. He did let you know that tomorrow was a new month?"
"Aye, he did. He said he dinnae ken what he was going to be."
"This is usually where things get tricky for him. I do hope you still uphold to your promise?"
"Does everyone not ken what a promise is?"
"We know what a promise is, Ms. Dunbrough, but we are on the receiving end of many broken ones. We just want to make sure Higgs is happy... that's all we want."
"I assure ye, ye cannae run me off that easily with mystical beings and fantasy creatures."
Fuscia smiled, although Merida could tell this one seemed forced.
"I hope that that's very true. Tell Higgs I will get this to Boston promptly and to let me know what he is at the beginning of May so that we can plan accordingly."
"Aye, I will."
********************
The next morning, Merida stretched and realized that it was a Saturday, a day where she didn't have to do anything. Higgs had set some ground rules regarding her work and he had specifically said that the weekend was for resting, not for working. Merida told him that every day had its own jobs to be done around the house, but he forbade her from doing anything that made her focus on it as if it were a job. He said that he if he could get more servants then he would rotate them but so far, she was doing the work of many when she was only one.
Today was a day she was happy she didn't have to do anything. She wanted to relax and just read and leave Higgs to himself. His childlike personality (which she learned 'came with the territory') was constantly wanting her attention and wanting to do something, as young children do. She was exhausted! So today was a day of rest... if she could get out of bed.
Merida made a face and looked under the covers to find her legs wrapped in a batch of scales. She followed the scales up and to the right, finding Higgs in her bed sleeping soundly.
"Um... Mr. Higgs... Mr. Higgs..." she said softly, touching his shoulder.
He felt cold to the touch and she made a face, trying to get her legs from whatever was holding her down.
"Mr. Higgs, whatever ye are is squeezing my legs together. Let me go!" she growled, shoving him.
He mumbled but his lower half seemed to loosen and Merida crawled out and fell off the bed. She made a face but could see his full body from a distance now that she had jumped out of bed. He was the same from the waist up, although there were bright green scales in different places. His lower half, though, was that of a large green snake with a beige under belly. The tail was about twice as long as Higgs was and was curled up neatly from where it had been wrapped around Merida's legs. Merida ran her fingers through her hair in relief since the muscles in the tail were enough to have broken her legs if she had provoked Higgs in the wrong way and made him squeeze instead of release.
"Well... that's new..." she said and she sighed, deciding that tea was in order.
*************************
As she fixed breakfast for herself and Higgs, she wondered what her employer was. He didn't like it when she called him something plain like horse-man or fire-child. Apparently there were proper names to be had for each of his transformations. Merida preferred her own versions but Higgs thought it made her sound less intelligent. So far, snake-man was what she was going with. She had heard about these types of creatures, but from the mainland, not in England or in Scotland.
"Morning." She heard from the doorway.
She looked up as Higgs looked at her from behind a blindfold. She made a face.
"Why are ye covering yer eyes?"
"Well, if I don't, you'll get turned into to stone."
Merida blinked. "What?"
"I'm a Naga, half man, half snake." He said, pointing to the respective halves. "One of the issues of this fact is that I am also considered a Gorgon and so if I look at anyone in the eyes, they will be turned to stone... and they can't turn back until the month is over."
"Well, at least they can turn back."
"The problem is that they can still think and their five senses still work in that form. So it's more like a torture than it is just turning to stone."
"I see... I will assume that it's happened before?"
"Plenty of times. Luckily I was so sleepy and cold last night that I didn't want to wake up. Otherwise you'd be stone in bed."
"Or with broken legs..."
"Hmm?" he asked, turning his head.
"Ye had yer... uh... tail wrapped around my legs this morning and I was afraid ye'd crush them."
"Oh, yeah... that could have happened. Sorry about that, by the way; one of the issues is that I get cold very easily and sometimes my body goes on automatic and I find body heat where I can... that will most likely include you."
"Right... Well, I made ye breakfast so I hope ye like it."
He sniffed a little. "Eggs?"
"And toast and sausages."
Higgs made his way to the table and sniffed a little, finding his place and picking up his fork. Merida watched him as he ate with great precision even though he was blindfolded.
"How are ye doing that?"
"Snakes smell with their tongues and usually rely on their sense of smell more than they do their eyesight. Which in this case is quite useful... Also, in this form I tend to crave eggs. Lots of eggs. I don't care what form but I prefer raw if you must. I can eat other things too but eggs seem to be the main course."
"Dinnae ye ever get tired of them?"
"Yeah, I don't eat them for months afterward... Um... Are you alright with this?"
"With what? Yer transformation?"
"Yes... this isn't like the phoenix. This is something that lasts all day for the remainder of the month. Is this something you can live with?"
"I ken a bit of scales for legs isnae that big of a problem. Other than ye possibly squeezing me during the night or something like that. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"
Higgs put his finger to his chin for a second as he thought.
"Not that I can think of... this is one of those creatures that I don't get to be around people enough for."
"I see... can I feel it?"
Higgs blinked from under the bandage.
"Pardon me?"
"Yer scales; can I feel them? I dinnae like snakes but since ye're not really a snake and ye willnae come back and bite me..."
Higgs rubbed his arm a little in embarrassment.
"Um... su-sure..."
Merida stood up from the table and walked over to him. She put her hands on his hips where the scales began as Higgs put his hands on her shoulders to steady himself. She ran her hands down his tail, feeling the coolness of the scales and how they were not slimey as she once thought they would be. They were cool and had a slightly wet feel to it. Higgs lifted the end of his tail up and Merida turned to it, grabbing a hold of it to get a better look. Upon grabbing it, Higgs made a noise and his hands seemed to dig into Merida's shoulders. She turned back to him as he just stayed still like a statue.
"Are ye alright?"
"I... I'm not sure..."
She made a face at him and turned back to the end of his tail to take in the different scale patterns from the large belly platelets and the overlapping triangular–like scales to the small round ones that made up the end of his tail. She touched them again and Higgs shivered and snatched his tail from her.
"I... I think you shouldn't do that anymore." He said, his face flushed and looking embarrassed.
Merida made a face. "Why not?"
Higgs cleared his throat and motioned for her to come closer to him and then whispered in her ear. Upon hearing it, she flushed a bright red and turned away from him.
"I do apologize, Mr. Higgs!"
"No, I'm the one who should apologize. I never knew about that aspect. I'm very sorry, Ms. Dunbrough."
The two stood awkwardly in the kitchen, both embarrassed by the revelation of just how sensitive the end of Higgs' tail really was and Merida floundered to her seat.
"How- How about we just eat our breakfast?" she tried.
"I think I'll just eat mine elsewhere."
"Right, fine idea..."
Higgs grabbed his plate and left the kitchen as Merida fanned herself as well as she could with her napkin.
Higgs leaned against the wall outside of the kitchen, trying to compose himself. Tip of the tail is very very sensitive. Note that! Note that! I can't have that ever happen again unless the cure is underway... He sighed and composed himself enough to slither away to eat his breakfast.