GRETA
Something heavy keeps me from turning over on my side. I kick my feet against the weight while trying to open my eyes.
Fluffs of warmth cluster snugly around my body like a baby's noyk. What am I doing tucked inside of one?
Very slowly, I peel my eyes open despite the immense pain stinging in them. I break down into sobs seeing nothing but the silver smear of someone's bright eyes watching me from over the edge of an even greater pile of cloud from high up above. My eyes droop, groggy in defeat as they shut back closed against my god's glowing bed.
Adler's voice rumbles from on top of it. "Little pearl? Have you finally woken?"
When I manage to open my eyes again a cough leaves me. I try to sit up in the mini-cloud that I've been stuffed in near the side of his own huge one. Miraculously, his clout bed drifts lower dimming in brightness. By the time it reaches the level of the noyk I lay in, its glow has dimmed disappearing completely into the darkness of the room.
I do not sleep in noyk anymore, I am a grown woman.
Suddenly, Adler reaches down toward me and I clench my eyes back shut. His hand slips down and around the fluff cushioning me in place until he grasps underneath the back of my tunic. His icy fingers graze up and down my spine as if to comfort me while he spreads a smelly substance across my belly...where he must have undone my tunic for it remains partially opened.
"Yes, I know. You're so sore. Just let me finish spreading this remedy. Okay?" he whispers.
It tingles, making me go still as silent tears dribble down the corners of my eyes. My hips tremble as he starts spreading more of the salve over my chest. I go rigid when I sense his head lower down beside mine. His heavy tone keeps me from making a peep, "I know you are awake."
I blink, staring wide-eyed at him for he must have put me inside this tiny bedded cloud. My eyes burn, but the pain lessens as my vision clears.
I continue to squirm beneath him.
"No..."
He appears indifferent to my fear and continues rubbing the strange goop over me.
"Hush, I am doing this for you."
I wiggle, helpless.
"No!"
"It's amazing you survived all alone in the black desert, my little pearl. You aren't going to be alone ever again. This is how I can keep you close. Is it truly such a bad idea?"
I nod rapidly hoping he understands my feelings against it.
His serious face makes me feel very small as he ignores my discomfort. Tiny. Inconvenient. A bug made helpless turned over on its back as he continues to smear the stickiness over me. I will not be made a child by him. Why is he treating me as such? What did I do wrong?
"I do not want to sleep in noyk!"
With a huff, I sit up and cover my tunic back around myself. He withdrawals his hands and wipes the goop off on his tunic.
He scratches his head. "But it is what the hospice has recommended. Would you rather be in my bed?"
"No. I don't want to be in anyone's bed, but my own."
His chuckle makes my skin crawl. For a new darkness passes over his face melting his warm smile into a hard line in the dimness of the room.
"I want you to meet my wife. Will you be well enough to attend dinner tomorrow with us? You've been very sick. I came back a little early. Please don't be hurt, but I think you may have gathered this much yourself you are abnormally short again...so as to keep you most safe. The perfect size for your new noyk."
He has found a new wife? This is wonderful, but I am not going to pretend to be his child.
But why must he torture me by keeping me small?
I purse my lips and glare through my pain as he looms over my demeaning bed. I am too old for this ridiculous situation.
Adler makes a fussing noise.
"Don't be sour. I can't have my wife thinking you are an adult," he explains in a serious tone while petting my hair. "Or any of my enemies either. I don't want anyone to find out about you. You will remain my daughter and sleep in your noyk when visiting me here. Cephine is not fond of you staying in our bed yet."
That is the truth I told myself he would not be crazy enough to admit.
I don't answer immediately. How long have I been asleep in here? I have been in and out of it. I know at one point Enoch was taking turns watching over me.
The noyk has high sides that are taller than myself. It keeps me from getting out on my own.
Embarrassed, I reach up toward him.
"This is humiliating, Adler. I want out. Get me out of this, please. I am not a child."
Right away, he reaches down and tucks my face into the crook of his neck lifting me from the little clouded trap. My weight completely slumps against him. He sits down with me on his own much bigger bed.
"I missed you so much," he says in a tender voice. He pulls his tunic to the side letting me hold the shell of the necklace I made. "Look at all the gifts Cephine and I brought you."
A pile of books. Tins and wrapped morsels of sweets clutter his bed as well. My throat is sore, but growing curious, I sit up, even more, finding a strange jeweled cage beside me too. The thick bars are made of shiny metal with tiny little gems embedded within them.
"Do you remember what you asked me to get during my sea voyage?" Adler asks. "I've been looking after it all this time...waiting to show you it."
I can barely hear his voice over the excitement and shock of finding something indeed in the cage.
Nestled inside, the most adorable little ball of fluff. Its three teeny tiny eyes are closed as it sleeps curled in a ball. Three little puffy notches form the end of the strange antenna centered on the top of its head. A long furry tail wraps around its body. On the end of it, a ring drifts, separate, yet attached, to the living creature.
The door of its cage is left ajar I can see as I brave a peek at it from the side of Adler's chest.
"Go ahead, little pearl. Don't be shy. You can open it."
Intrigued, I tap one of the bars, watching the cage door swing a little further open. The shadow of Adler's hand taps it even more open as I gaze at the fluffy ball resting peacyinside. Its eyes burst open from the movement. My hands clasp together with giddiness as I look up at Adler.
He tucks his chin in to peer down at me. "Oh?" he breathes with a wide grin. His arm moves over me. "Do you like it?"
I nod, watching him open the tiny door of the fancy cage all the way.
The creature darts out running right into his outstretched palm.
My heart swells when he cups it in his hand and sits up more with me.
He holds it between us while I pet its warm chubby body. Oh, it is so soft! Its little heart races so fast. Its head twitches around as it has a look at us.
Adler drops it off on my belly where it curls back into a ball as if to sleep right on me.
"It's called a limpnut. You can take it for walks," Adler whispers while tying a strange contraption around its body. "But this harness will let you do so without having to worry about it running away."
I can feel his gaze on me as I scoop the sleeping little creature up. It does not run. I kiss its furry mass before placing it back in its cage and closing it shut with a very satisfying feeling.
My own pet.
"I love the limpnut," I gush while hugging him. "Thank you!"
"Of course, my sweet little pearl. I hope you aren't offended. I thought you wanted your own cloud too. I'll bring it over to the hospice. I understand you do not wish to stay here-"
"Why are you hiding children and their mothers?"
His stare remains empty as he watches the cage.
"Adler?"
His gaze veers sideways, his lips twisting into a repressed smile.
"I do not know what you mean, little pearl."
"Yes, you do. You will tell Enoch to free them or I will never visit you again."
"Okay," he murmurs in defeat. "But, um, my wife is not going understand. She's going to be very...upset."
"So am I, but I am still here. You will make your mistakes better by admitting them first."
He starts talking in his baby voice, "I'm sorry, Greta. I don't know if I can-"
I grab the sides of his face, remaining firm as I look through him at the broken families he made.
"You will."
"Okay," he agrees readily just as a woman enters the chamber.
Her hair is long and flowy as she moves over to us with the grace of a goddess.
"Good morning, Greta. I'm Cephine," she introduces. Her voice is bright and trickles nicely through the air. I like the sound of it. Adler looks happy to see her. I am too. Excitement blooms within me. "Are you feeling better?"
"Hello," is all I can manage to say at the sight of a very large serpent-like animal following behind her.
Its strange slits for eyes watch me silently from on top of its long toothy snout as it moves on its four legs ahead of Cephine.
Jingle, jingle
My heart stops seeing a set of tiny bells hanging from its collar.
"This creature, Adler, does it live in your fountain?"
"Why, yes, it does. It's not supposed to be walked in my temple though before being fed."
Why does he sound nervous?
The shifty eyes of the massive animal focus on my new pet resting on the ground just a few feet away from me. It blinks once. A slimy coating moves over its eyes as it reopens them watching me once more as I let go of Adler.
I know what it wants.
Its huge silvery mass waddles right by my god's wife toward my limpnut's cage.
The cage is sent onto its side by it. My limpnut shrieks a series of terrible squeaks. The big animal's hooked clawed foot scrapes against the cage as if to eat my new pet inside.
I jump off of Adler and onto the ground to save it. The scaly animal's attention immediately leaves the limpnut as it races toward me with an opened mouth.
"Greta!" Adler yells behind me as I make my way to my trapped limpnut. I scream when its snout barrels into my injured knee knocking me over. It waddles over me hissing low. Adler lifts me up with one hand, and then, my new pet with his other. "No, Rog! Bad! Back off, now!" Adler commands furiously while grabbing Rog's mighty spiked tail sending the animal off balance.
Cephine hollers when Adler sends it scrambling backward after kicking its snout away from our direction.
"Take Rog out," Adler orders with anger that makes me shiver more than Rog's monstrous size does.
Cephine picks up her lantern in a hurry. The glow of the light lets me see a fancy rope she holds that's attached to the animal's big collar.
What good is a leash if a pet outweighs its master?
"It knows better than to eat the hands that feed it. She has fed it, hasn't she?" Cephine asks.
"No, she has not met Rog yet. He tried to get her away from me to see what I would do."
"Oh...well I'm truly sorry! I thought Rog was familiar with Greta. My mistake. Dear Ashta, I'd have a heart attack too seeing it for the first time out of water like this. I'll release him and go grab lunch at the market for us."
I gape at Cephine as she leaves the room with the giant scaly animal tied to her wrist. A couple seconds later, I hear a loud splash in another chamber, his bathing pool, as Adler pulls me back against his chest.
"That is a big pet," I murmur. "What do you feed him?" I ask with concern for my own pet's life.
"Rog just wanted to play with your pet, sweet pearl. Such a small creature wouldn't be very filling to him."
I don't know if I believe that.
"What do you feed him?" I repeat.
"Meat."
Bug meat would be too small for Rog. Does Rog know any tricks? I want to learn more about my god's pet so it doesn't try eating my own.
"What kind of meat, Adler? Can we feed it sometime? What other pets do you have?"
"Just Rog," he answers gently. His voice rises a little making him seem upset by something, "When he comes indoors, he likes to swim around in my bathing pool sometimes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about him before. I didn't want to scare you. We'll feed him sometime together, but he can be a picky eater. It's fun to see who, er, I m-mean, what he'll choose."
"So he eats in your bathing pool?" I giggle. Adler chuckles. "Did you think he was going to eat me?" I laugh.
"Oh no, you're too sweet for his taste," Adler says while tickling my belly. "He can only see like you and I though. No colors or very defined shapes...just silver and black. So anything moving that he is unfamiliar with may raise his curiosities."
I smile imagining Adler feeding such a big creature. I bet it likes fish a lot. They could be fun for Rog to catch.
"He probably feels lonely in there all by himself," I murmur.
☁️