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A huge bang made Nadia lift her head from the book she was reading, something about the use of magical capabilities in politics and war across Vesuvian’s history that she was studying for the next meeting with her courtiers. It would have been such an interesting subject if she was in the mood but she had to admit that the late hour and the fact that she was working for quite a long time now made it difficult for her to stay focused.
While she was zoning out, asking herself what happened another loud bang made her get up in a hurry, her book falling from the desk. This afternoon had been absolutely quiet and this sudden fracas was enough to trigger in her a little bit of panic, especially after everything that happened with the devil. She decided to go figure things out, grabbing her sword that was drawn up on the wall before leaving the room.
The rattle and other noises came from one of her salon, the one she was using when meeting friends and family, the cozier one, not so far from her office. Nadia couldn’t help but feel a rise of adrenaline and anxiety bubble inside her chest while she was crossing the path separating her from that damned salon. She was hoping nobody was under attack, especially because she knew that all of her most precious friends were around the palace, visiting her and planning to join her for supper.
She got in the room, sword in hand and ready to battle only to see Llyr, mostly unarmed, arranging a dozen of soft pillows and blankets on the floor with a critical gaze. A wave of relief suddenly hit her as she discarded her weapon on some random piece of furniture without even looking at it. She took a minute or two to regain her composure before approaching the magician who was currently deep in his thoughts, enough not to immediately spot her right away.
Nadia couldn’t help but feel amused about how Llyr could concentrate on the most trivial thing as much as on one of his most difficult spells. Even if he was not facing her, she could hear him hum under his breath, see how his hand would stroke his blond hair briefly before moving a pillow to another spot or adding a few plushies right here or there and how he was crouched over his task.
“ Llyr, may I ask what you are doing ? ” She asked, making him jump a little before looking at her fondly.
“ Oh hey Nadia !, ” he turned back at her, smiling widely while holding a rabbit plush against his broad chest, such a cute sight. “ I’m going to take a nap. ”
“ In the middle of the salon ? Is there a problem with your bedroom? ”
“ Don’t worry your pretty little head: it’s perfect but there isn’t enough space. ” He laughed it off, putting his plushy friend away on the bundle of blanket that was actually quite large and could comfortably fill multiple men like Llyr, who was not tiny by any mean.
“ Not enough space…? ” She said
Nadia thought about it but his room was quite spacious, she made sure of it way before when she did invite him, and he didn’t seem to have a problem when he got it back then. Maybe he didn’t want to tell her because he thought that it would have been impolite to complain. She didn’t forget how quick he was to refuse her presents while thanking her widely for it and how it was hard for her and Asra to convince Llyr to wear something more appropriate for the Masquerade than his everyday handmade clothes. She even had to tell him that he could just hand back the clothes after everything, thinking that he would forget and keep the present. He did not.
It was such an odd feeling: she was used to people complying with her demands every day, the fact that Llyr refused to do so made her feel uneasy. She didn’t really know how to show affection without presents as she was quite stoic. She was even a little bit worried, even if she wouldn’t show it and even if deep down she knew it wasn’t the case, that her friend was not comfortable enough to tell her when things were wrong.
Her train of thoughts were suddenly cut by Llyr rising up from his spot, hands on his hips, looking appreciably at his work for a brief moment before turning back again to Nadia :
“ Would you please look after it Nadia, I still have a few more things to fetch before napping.”
“ Of course.” She answered, confused, watching Llyr jog out of the salon, determined for whatever reason. Nevertheless, she decided to roll with it and observe what would happen. Her gaze fell inevitably on the pile of blankets. It did make her giggle: at least he seemed to have fun, maybe she could tempted him with a few pastries if she was eating it with him after his nap? She was sure that she couldn’t work anymore, she could at least spend her time resting a little bit, maybe get to enjoy a bit a fresh air. A look at the windows convinced her of not doing it: it was raining quite a lot, enough to make the outside world look all blurry.
She decided to extinguish the candles to dim the light and make it easier for Llyr to sleep. While doing it she saw him returning with Portia in his arm as she was seated comfortably on his shoulder, clearly enjoying the fact that she was towering over everyone, but clearly as confused as she was.
He installed her on the blanket before leaving quickly again as Nadia began to understand what he had in mind. She turned her gaze over Portia who was making herself comfortable against a fluffy pillow. She lifted an eye at her :
“ Well, I didn’t plan that but I can’t say that I’m against a nap, Do you mind if I do milady ? ”
“ Obviously not Portial, enjoy yourself a little bit.”
Nadia sat down on the couch while Portia was closing her eyes snuggling cutely against the nest. The countess was finding charming that Llyr wanted to cuddle with them all, after everything, he was making sure that everyone would keep taking care of themselves. Napping on the floor in a bundle of soft think seemed to be on his self-care list and his assigned bedroom would obviously be too tiny for them all. Nadia couldn’t help but feel relaxed as she was listening to Portia’s quiet respiration as she began to doze off. She seemed to be quite tired indeed.
Nadia promised herself to check more regularly on her friend.
The next time, she heard Llyr before seeing him as he was indeed carrying Lucio like a potato sack on his shoulder, making him struggle and whine against his grip. The sight of them made her smile, especially because she knew that her former husband was supposed to be taking care of his menagerie, far away from this salon, and that Llyr had to transport him all the way from here, in front of everyone, a breathy laugh escaped from her as she was trying to stifle it.
The magician put Lucio on the nest quite delicately despite the rough transportation before covering him with a heavy blanket, hugging him briefly before leaving again. With all his grumble, the count did not try to leave. Nadia could see him submitting to the cozyness of the moment, she was sure he was even happy to be taken care of. The mutter even faded away as Lucio began to doze off, hiding his face from her.
Nadia thought about getting a cup of tea to observe the little bundle of napping forming in front of her but as she was deciding if she should called someone to do so, she saw Llyr carrying an absolutely red-faced Julian bridal style. The fact that Julian was nearly ten centimetres taller than the magician didn’t seem to bother him to say the least as he could even whispering praise word to their medic as he was doing so often without breaking a sweat.
This time, Julian tried to refuse being coddled as he had patients to attend, papers to sign and in general a lot of stuff to do. Llyr laid him next to her on the couch while looking at his face critically.
“ When was the last time you had at least four hours of sleep ? ”
“ Last night! I even had a full eight hours of sleep. ” Julian retorted, regaining a bit of composure now that he was away from Llyr arms even if Nadia suspected that he was quite disappointed to leave the magician’s grasp. Hell even Nadia, who was not the most tactile person by any mean, found that Llyr’s hugs were among the best even if below Portia’s ones.
Said Portia lifted her head, glaring at them for making so much noise “ Don’t listen to him Llyr, he was at the clinic last night. ”
“ Traitor. “
A big grin quirked Llyr’s lips as he was discarding Julian’s coat away before lifting him and put him near Portia, patting her head gently while wrapping the doctor in a blanket. He kissed Lucio’s hair before leaving again, finding the last one of their little group. At least, the one that were present in the palace today as Muriel was unfortunately away for the moment but she was sure that Llyr would catch up with another blanket nest.
While she was sure that Portia was no longer sleeping, Nadia took the opportunity to summon a servant and ordering them to prepare snack and refreshment for when they would wake up. She even did cancel her meeting with the courtiers, reporting it to the next day and that they were dismissed for the day. She didn’t know if they would enjoy it as much as she did but she didn’t really care.
She heard Llyr and Asra saying hello to the servant as she was leaving when they came back with Asra wrapping around him like a koala, grinning so happily. She loved seeing her friend so delighted for the little things, make it more real in some way, so far from the pomp of the court. Except maybe Lucio but he was enjoying himself even if it means sleeping on the floor. She was quite surprised that he didn’t even complain about it.
Llyr put the other magician down on the pile as he was making himself comfortable even if was clearly waited for Llyr to join him to cuddle properly. He even pushed Lucio to get more space and to bugger him.
Finally, Llyr came from her, asking for her permission, permission she did give instantly, before lifting her easily. He nearly jumped on the pile to cuddle against all of them. He seemed to enjoy all his effort to reassemble them.
Nadia had the pleasure to keep the best place : lying against Llyr’s torso, he even kissed her hair when she sank her face in the crook of his neck.
She could see that he was facing Asra’s face as he was hugging Llyr’s right arm, clearly enjoying the proximity as he as humming softly.
Llyr’s left one was around Julian as he was playing with the red hair of the doctor, stroking his head while keeping him close. Portia had her head on her brother belly as she was curled up not far from Lucio who was snoring lightly smooched against Llyr’s tight.
There was no devil, no danger threatening the very fibre of their reality, just their sounding respiration while napping and the tapping of rain tapping against the windows.