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Moonlight filters down through the leaves of the trees, dappling the ground below and sparkling in the pool the creek flows into. Nomura stops, concealed, in the shadow of a large oak. She breathes in relief when she sees her quarry has stopped in the peaceful clearing. She’s really not in the mood to continue their chase.
Rather than make her presence known, Nomura turns back, walks some distance away, and waits for the one following her. It doesn’t take Jim more than five minutes to catch up.
“Nomura!” He skids to a halt right in front of her. “Did you catch her?”
“Quiet!” Nomura snaps as loudly as she dares. So far, Barbara’s fled at the slightest provocation. If she finds out they’re there, if that upsets her, she could run again. Then, Nomura would be stuck in this frustrating pursuit until sunup.
“You need to go back to the house. Now.” Nomura tolerated Jim tailing her so long as confronting him would cost her precious time she couldn’t afford to lose. Now, that no longer applies.
Jim growls, “She my mother.” Despite the lack of light around them, Nomura can still see his new fangs as he bares his teeth. Is he seriously threatening her? Her?
Nomura forces herself to ignore the temptation of rising to Jim’s challenge. “You have to let me do this. Alone.”
“She’s just scared. Like I was. I can—”
“The sight of you is what set her off in the first place.” Is Nomura being overly harsh? Probably. But the facts remained. Out of all of them, Barbara has had the most negative response to Jim so far. If he was the one to approach her now, it wouldn’t end well.
Jim visibly wilts. His ears lower. He loses his threatening stance.
In a softer, almost apologetic (but no one can prove it) tone, Nomura adds, “Trust me, little gynt. I’ll bring her home.”
“You’d better.” Jim takes one last look past her shoulder, and then goes bounding through the woods back the way they’d come.
Nomura exhales the breath she held. She would have neutralized Jim if it came to that, but she’s glad it didn’t. She returns to the clearing.
Barbara is lying on her side by the creek. One of her new wings is spread out on the thick grass behind her, while the other is pulled around her like a blanket. Her back is to Nomura, but the changeling can hear her quiet sobs regardless. As Nomura gets closer, she sees her still-thin frame wrack with each cry too.
Crack.
A twig breaks under Nomura’s hoof. She silently curses.
Barbara’s head jerks up, and then the rest of her. She splashes into the creek as she stumbles to her feet.
“Barbara.” Nomura tries to keep her voice calm, despite her own growing apprehension. “You have two choices here. You can either run and we can continue this pointless chase for the rest of the night or you can talk to me.”
“Go away.” Barbara takes a step back. “Just leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that.” Nomura advances. “Everyone’s worrying about you. I need you to come home.”
“NO!” Barbara snarls. She charges.
Nomura feels Barbara barrel into her a second before her mind recognizes what’s happening. Barbara swipes at her with her claws, but Nomura manages to avoid that part of the attack. Nomura retreats to gain distance. Barbara charges again. Nomura dodges. Barbara continues, and slams into a tree. Nomura tenses for Barbara’s next attack, but it doesn’t come. After a minute, she realizes that the recently turned half-troll is stuck, or at least her horns are. In the tree.
Well, at least she can’t run anymore.
Barbara shrieks. She yanks her head back, but her horns don’t budge. She swipes at the tree, slicing off long pieces of bark but the act doesn’t free her.
Nomura waits.
Eventually, Barbara tires of her fruitless assault on the tree. She stops thrashing, and just stands there. Her body heaves with her breathes.
“If I free you, are you going to attack me?” Nomura asks quietly.
“No,” Barbara whispers.
“Are you going to run?”
No answer.
“I won’t free you if you’re going to run away,” Nomura informs her.
“Fine. I won’t run. Now, help me.”
Nomura attempts to pull Barbara from the tree, but quickly realizes how futile that is. Instead, she digs into the tree and yanks bark off of it until Barbara’s horns come free.
They stand there for a long minute. Barbara, still catching her breath. Nomura, finally taking the chance to look at her.
In the time since they’d first found Barbara after she’d grabbed onto her son in an attempt to save him from submersion in Merlin’s transformation spell and been pulled in with him instead, Nomura had only gotten fleeting glances at the doctor’s new form.
Barbara’s blue, like Jim, but a shade or two darker than him. Her hair, which was always long, can be classified as a full mane now. It tumbles in thick, rusty red waves almost to her waist. The tips of her pointed ears barely peak out from it. Her horns rise above her head in a first point, before swooping back into a second. There’s a smattering of softly glowing, almost freckle-like markings across her face. Her eyes, which Nomura is relieved to find have stayed their original, familiar, light blue, look so, so scared.
Without thinking about it, Nomura holds out a hand to her.
Barbara reaches forward, hesitates, and then finishes the motion of putting her hand in Nomura’s. Her lower lip wobbles and she lets out a cry.
Nomura pulls her in close, and guides her to sitting on the ground. Barbara buries her face in Nomura’s shoulder and fully cries then. Nomura attempts to rub soothing circles on her back, but its tricky due to Barbara’s wings, which resemble that of a luna moth.
“I don’t know what I am anymore, Zelda.” Barbara shakily whispers.
Nomura keeps her arms wrapped around the new half-troll. “You’re someone I love,” she replies.