Chapter Text
The rest of the day passed in the same atmosphere of confrontation and heavy silence.
No one talked during supper, and when the clock struck eleven, Segundus sighed.
"I think it's time to move to the bedroom?"
Childermass nodded, "And I would like to ask you to help me with tonight's watch."
"Why, of course!" the schoolmaster readily agreed. “This is the only thing I can do after I failed the last one.”
Childermass stood up and came closer to the child, but then heard, “I’m not sure, though, that I won’t fail today.”
He turned around and saw Segundus biting his lip and looking very nervous.
“Don’t worry, my dear colleague,” he said with warmth. “Any help from you is always appreciated. And it’s only natural to make mistakes sometimes, being under pressure for so long.”
The professor lightened up.
“Thank you,” he said quietly. “You are always so kind to me.” Then his eyes widened a bit, he blushed and stormed away from the room.
Childermass returned his eyes to the fairy and sighed.
“I really hope we cooperate today for once. Come on.”
The child grunted something (which didn’t sound like Echuir at all) and climbed out of the chair.
“Would you be so kind and give me your hand? Just in case,” Childermass made an effort to sound gentle, but in the end, in his opinion, it turned out just as intimidating.
The little one extended his green hand and the magician softly clutched it.
They reached the bedroom with no issues.
“I suggest you start today, Mr Segundus,” he said after they finished with the safety nets. The child was lying on the bed curled up, pressing the raggedy doll to his chest (Segundus decided to fetch it from the parlour, and they risked it, hoping that the day’s events made them all tired enough).
“As you wish,” the schoolmaster answered and sat down by the desk.
“I think it will be better. Not that I don’t trust you, but this way you will be able to alarm me, and I will wake you up at the sunrise, since I, most likely, will wake up then even if I accidentally fall asleep.”
“This sounds like a good plan,” Segundus smiled and snuffed out the only candle.
It was no surprise for Childermass that he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. He slept dreamlessly for around four hours until he felt a light touch on his shoulder.
"Excuse me, Mr Childermass," he whispered, "I have to wake you up. I would let you sleep longer, but I'm afraid I might succumb to Morpheus."
"Of course, you should definitely lie down. I hope you don't mind having to sleep on the same blanket I just had."
"No, not at all," Segundus said as enthusiastically as he could without switching from whisper. "It's warmer that way," and at these words, Childermass suspected, the schoolmaster blushed again.
They changed places, and Childermass settled at the desk. He couldn't see in the dark despite being a sort of dark person himself, so he muttered the magic detection spell in order to register any suspicious activity from the child. But there was no such activity, and the only thing the fairy was doing was breathing steadily in his sleep and Segundus was echoing him.
The sunrise came on due time, and the magicians (Childermass woke his friend up just before) exchanged their descriptions of how the child's magic felt today.
It turned out that they both sensed something, and this something was new.
They watched the child, even taller than the day before, stretching his muscles, and Segundus hypothesised, "It felt like hunger, don't you think?"
"I agree," Childermass replied. "We better hurry to the kitchen and find him something to eat before he goes into havoc again."
At that moment, the child jumped out of the bed and came to the door with an Echuir.
"I'm almost sure it means 'morning'," Segundus whispered, and they rushed down the hall and the stairs to have breakfast.
The cook left Starecross yesterday with everyone else, so the magicians only had leftovers and preserves at their disposition.
“Children love sweet things, do they?” Childermass asked from the pantry, where he was inspecting jars of jam after gruel and soup were gone.
“I… guess?” Segundus answered hesitatingly, then exclaimed, “Fairies in general love them!”
“Cherry jam it is. I would like to taste some myself,” the magician decided and brought the jar to the table.
Soon they found out that the child loved it, maybe, even too much.
“We have no bread left,” Segundus muttered, somewhat in shock, looking at the fairy scooping the rest of the jam from the bottom of the jar, his face all smeared with red.
“Maybe, we should try something more sufficient? There’s ham in the pantry.”
Ham, a big lump of it, was also eaten in a matter of minutes. The child finished the last bite and tapped his plate with the spoon, demanding more.
They gave him two more jars of jam, which worried Segundus (“What if he gets twisted bowels?”) and irritated Childermass, but they, above all, wanted to prevent yesterday’s situation. Jam seemed to satisfy the child’s needs for a time being, and he let the magicians take him to the parlour and even put him into breeches from Segundus’s drawer (it needed a belt to safely sit on the child’s waist but the problem was easily solved with a cord the professor sometimes used for spells).
The day before early dinner went as usual (the new usual they were getting more or less used to), but then they had to repeat the morning procedure, and Segundus complained a little about how it would be great if the evacuated Starecross residents got themselves busy with shopping for food since they were close to the village market anyway. Childermass huffed at it with good humour while the schoolmaster wasn’t looking and thought what a good administrator his friend had actually made despite his own initial insecurity (while Childermass himself always believed it would be the case).
It wasn’t true that Starecross’s food supply was scarce, but not having enough time (and skill, as they wistfully admitted) to cook, the magicians were eventually left with nothing to feed to the insatiable fairy (and oh how different it was from his lack of appetite of the first two days!). However, he obediently returned with them to the parlour and spent another two hours there.
That day was sunny and very warm, so one of the parlour windows was open, and the leaves of trees and bushes in the garden fluttered under the soft wind. Suddenly, birds outside started singing louder, and the child, who was sitting on the windowsill again, perked his ears and smelled the air as dogs do. Segundus, who was staring at him vacantly at the moment, trying to find the right words for a letter, tensed up.
“Childermass, look!” he whispered, trying not to move.
Childermass raised his eyes and his muscles strained reflexively. He felt magic building up in the air, and he guessed from Segundus’s face that the other magician felt it too.
The child came down from his seat and walked to the door of the parlour with all his toys, completely ignoring the humans. Childermass jumped up to block him, and the fairy stopped, surprised. He didn’t quite reach Childermass’s shoulders and didn’t seem strong physically, but he had his magic on his side, so he simply took the magician by his waist, picked up slightly and moved out of his way.
Once on the ground again, Childermass got ready for a magic attack on him, but… nothing like that happened.
The child stood in the doorway and beckoned them both to follow. When the three of them were in the hall (the child just a foot from the main entrance, the others at a cautious distance), the fairy stopped and turned around to the men.
He started a speech in Fairie, not long but emotional, and after the fourth or fifth Echuir he took a deep breath only to say something close to, “Goohai, Sheedmash an Sgoons,” and ran out of the building.
“He said our names, did you hear that?” Segundus yelped and hurried to the door.
“Oh yes, I did,” Childermass confirmed and joined his colleague just outside, at the threshold.
“This is so sweet,” the professor sighed and put his arm on Childermass’s waist and his head on his shoulder. “It is sad to watch your foster go.”
“Mr Segundus, why are you so sentimental all of a sudden?” Childermass laughed but stopped abruptly the second he realised their position against each other.
"Ah," Segundus spoke, and it was the only thing he said for a while. It didn't seem like a sound of reaction to a burn, for example, or any other kind of sharp pain, but more to a realisation of forgetting something or when someone corrects you. He swiftly stepped away a few inches and put his hands behind his back.
Childermass coughed, Segundus cleared his throat too.
"I..." They started together, exchanged quick glances, and neither finished what he wanted to say.
Childermass leaned on the door frame as he often did, this time not only out of habit, but mostly because he was terribly exhausted.
Segundus stooped his shoulders (for the same reason) and asked, "May we return to the parlour? I would rather go to the library, it's much cosier in my opinion, and I don't think I've been there since Saturday. But I'm not in the mood for reading right now and... Oh, I'm rambling, sorry."
His apologies were only met with demanding silence.
“Please let’s go to the parlour,” pleaded Segundus, blushing rapidly.
"I think you won't mind me smoking now, will you?" Childermass smirked, opening the door and letting the professor in first. Segundus only sped up at this.
Childermass sank into the chair and sucked in a mouthful of smoke, bliss of relaxation spreading over his face. Segundus was busying himself by the desk (most likely, only pretending).
“Do you think he will be back?” the schoolmaster finally asked (however, without looking at Childermass).
“I have no idea, frankly. He may bring an army with him or never be seen again. But I know that we must be ready for anything. And it’s very important that we work on our journals and record this as thoroughly as possible.”
“It will make an amazing article,” Segundus mused.
“All your articles are amazing,” Childermass smiled but seeing his friend blush decided not to push it.
They fell silent again, and this time the silence was almost palpable, with no soul in the house apart from them.
“I really hope that now I will have to deal only with good old English children,” the professor said (not quite what Childermass wanted to hear).
“I would rather not deal with any children (at least, younger than your students). Vinculus is more than enough for me,” the Reader huffed, wincing at the thought that they should meet again as soon as possible.
“It’s fair,” Segundus sighed. “We have so many questions unanswered, and we have plenty of time to discuss them later but… why do you think it was us who were, erm, honoured? You said that it might be villagers, but it doesn’t explain the note and…”
“My dear colleague,” Childermass said with a cunning, yet soft smile, still hoping to provoke certain actions, “I think we should get used to the idea that we might never have answers to the questions we’ve already asked this week or will ask during our subsequent research. It is so for science, and magic is even more sensitive than science.”
“Oh, I understand it, obviously. I just… My mind just can’t help but go around it over and over. Or, for example, why is he green?..”
“We all need rest, Mr Segundus.”
“Of course. And, oh, I believe it would be better to keep Starecross empty for a week or so. Will you join me in guarding the Hall?”
“Aye, and I am ready to join you in other things. If you wish to discuss them,” and Childermass let the suggestion hang in the air.
Another minute of silence passed. Childermass finished his pipe and was thinking of dozing off for an inconspicuous amount of time when the professor seemed to finish fiddling with his papers and sighed, standing up straight. He looked like he was deciding whether to do something or not, and Childermass waited.
Finally, Segundus came to the fireplace (empty that day) and stood up next to it. Then he did the strangest thing: mimicking the movements Childermass often employed (in fact, mere minutes ago), he casually leaned against the mantelpiece. But, probably due to this position being novel to him, Segundus lost his balance and almost fell.
“I’m sorry,” he waved his hands at Childermass who jumped up to catch him, “you just always look so confident, standing like that, and I thought...”
“Sit here,” Childermass offered him his own chair and quickly dragged another one closer. “Relax. Breathe. Do only what you feel comfortable doing.”
“Alright,” Segundus sat down. He waited for a bit, fidgeting with fingers, and when Childermass had already started to think that they would have to put this conversation off to another day, he muttered, “I’ve been… conspiring.”
“So all this foundling business is your doing?” Childermass laughed but then quickly stopped. “I’m sorry. Continue.”
“Well, you probably haven’t noticed much of it, or noticed everything, and now think of me as stupid, to say the least, but…”
“You are anything but stupid. And brave.”
“Oh, stop with this cheering. If anything, I’m desperate.”
Childermass gave him his most supportive look but said nothing.
“So, I was just more… less secretive with my feelings. Didn’t always look away when it’s proper and such. And I let myself feel flattered by your compliments. Oh, why do you make so many compliments? Anyway, I was bold. By my standards of me being bold. And I had no practice in making hints of this sort for ages!” Segundus closed his face with his hands and continued talking, his speech muffled but emotions still clear. “That time with “sleeping” on your shoulder? I am too much, am I not? I’m so relieved you’re not appalled by this all but I don’t know what…”
“Mr Segundus, or… should I… John,” Childermass gently interrupted him. “First, I want to say that I’m flattered too, by your attention and affection, whether it is only professional and platonic or something more. Second, after all this… I wouldn’t say we know each other much better (we had the opportunity to learn facts about each other’s past at least for the last year and the half and still have much to discover), but I definitely know now that if I had to choose a magician, a man, a person to work and fight alongside, I would choose you. Without any hesitation,” and he placed his hand on Segundus’s knee to add some kind of substance to his words and translate those that weren’t said out loud.
The schoolmaster reacted with beautiful sincerity, and soon they were holding hands and looking happily at each other, ready to move further. But suddenly, Segundus gasped and clutched his head, boring Childermass with a terrified stare.
“What if we… What if we made a contract with him and failed to notice?! Mr Chil… John, we must check our notes at once!”