Chapter Text
Everyone was mesmerized. The way their fingers moved with such skill and precision, and the way the music seemed to be everywhere in the room was breathtaking. A beautiful melody, made from tears and pain, but still managing to sound delicate. It looked like people could not take their eyes away from them. And normally that would be a good thing for a bard. But for Raine was a nightmare.
Their stage fright rocketed to the sky as soon as the song ended, and the applause began. They hoped that talking was not necessary or they probably would end up running away, again. They listened to several compliments from the people and sighed in relived when no speeches were expected from them.
“Can you play something livelier so the emperor's nephew can dance with his new bride?” Asked the man that had hired them. Darius was his name, if they weren't wrong.
Raine nodded and put their violin on position again. Their fingers rested lightly on the strings, taking a deep breath in and letting it out when the song started. Soon the percussion started to follow their lead, and the room light up with smiles and cheers for the newlyweds. Oddly, the newlyweds seemed to be the only ones that weren't happy. Raine tried to not think about that too much. Marriages for convenience were normal, even if they were against it.
They focused on their violin again, afraid to make a mistake for being thinking about things that were not anything of their business.
Soon, dawn arrived and with it, Raine's presentation ended. The emperor himself got close to paid them, and congratulate them for the marvelous performance, as he called it. Raine only smiled, gathered their things, and left the castle to return to their humble house.
They could only be eighteen, but now there was no doubt that their musical skills were beyond amazing. They were sure that with mentioning that they had performed for the emperor himself, some other nobles would fight for them. And hopefully, money would no longer be an issue.
Their horse was well rested, so they began the road to their town. It would take a day, since the castle was isolated from nearby villages, for what reason, Raine could not know. It would take some hours for the sun to rise, and the darkness was less than encouraging, but Raine needed to get home. Being surrounded for so many people, for so much time had left them exhausted and their bed was all that they desired in that moment.
They did not expect the rain.
Ironic, maybe.
Rain and darkness were not a good combination. Bat, their horse, was beginning to have troubles with the muddy road and the strong sounds of thunder. Even Raine was scared.
Taking the reins tighter, Raine sped up, not wanting to get their violin wet. It was their most valuable possession and not for their monetary value. It had been a gift from their parents, before... well, the accident. It was a memory that Raine would rather forget.
The rain hit them hard on the face, but the need for shelter was a much urging thing. Turning back was not an option either, they could only move forward and hope for the best.
And suddenly a castle appeared out of nowhere, almost as if the rain had brought it. Almost as if it shouldn't be there. It was huge, dark... and alone. It was probably abandoned. Probably haunted, said the little voice inside of Raine, but there was no time to cowed by such childish stories. That was a perfectly good shelter and they needed one, that's it.
The gates were opened as soon as they got close, and Raine almost ran away at that, but the storm only seemed to get heavier leaving them without option.
They left their horse at the stable, where there was food and water and even a source of heat. Bat would be okay there until morning, at least. Raine felt tempted to just stay there with Bat. But there was no space for them, the stable was too small, and Bat took up all of it.
Maybe inside the abandoned and haunted castle would be a place to rest. They were certainly tired, and sleeping was their number one priority in that moment, no matter how much the castle scared them.
Opening the huge and heavy door prove to be a problem. The bard almost wished that the door would open on its own like the gates did. Almost. Because if the door opened then it would be irrefutable proof that the place was haunted. The gates were probably because of the wind. At least saying that was reassuring.
As soon as they managed to open it enough for them to enter, they were met by absolute darkness and the smell of birds and dust, as strange as that sounded.
“Hello?” They asked, expecting to not receive an answer. But, unexpected as the whole castle was, they received one while the torches surrounding the huge foyer light up. Raine yelped, not knowing what else to do. Running away would not end good, the door was too heavy to open again. Attacking it... they weren't good at that.
“Helloooooo.” Said an annoying, high pitch voice coming from the ceiling. The ceiling!
It was a demon, Raine was sure of it. There was no other reason why a... thing, owl... tube? Would appear of nowhere. It must be magic; even if they weren't really good at their spells yet, they could recognize other types of magic.
“I haven't received a guest in so loooooong! What do you want? Cookies? Blankets? My favorite bugs?”
“You... you...” Raine was speechless. The whole situation didn't make sense to them. They had never seen a demon up close, and it was proving to be rather distressing.
“Well, that's a bit unusual but who am I to judge? I don't think Eda would be willing to let go of her high security system though! Hoot, hoot.”
“What? No! I don't want... you! I meant... what are you? How are you coming from...?” Raine could not finish their sentence, looking with curiosity and perhaps a little disgust the entire form of the... being.
“I'm Hooty!! I am the security system!!! And best friend of everyone.” That seemed hard to believe. “And who are you?”
“I'm Raine... Raine Whispers. I'm a bard that was looking for shelter from the storm. Is that okay?”
“Of course!! I would love to have someone to sleepover! Eda is sooo boring these days,” said the demon, Hooty, moving his weird form around them.
“Eda?” It was the second time that the name was mentioned, so it was probably important.
“Yes, Eda, she lives here! Really scary lady, but she gives me bugs to keep the place away from strangers. Bugs and bones, hoot, hoot!”
“You... don't do a good job I presumed,” they said taking off their wet cape. Hooty moved a little more to inspect closely their bags.
“What do you mean? I'm the perfect system! I just thought you would not cause trouble, hoot. And would be okay with me talking about my favorite bugs.”
“You really like bugs, don't you?”
“Hoot, hoot!” Was the only answer they received.
“Are you sure I can stay here? Won't this Eda lady get mad?”
“Only if she finds out!”
That was not very reassuring, but with the storm howling outside, there was nothing else they could do. Freeze to death was not something they were looking forward to. And if that meant that they had to put up with Hooty, then so be it.
Turns out, with some patience and a lot of willpower to not kill him, Hooty was a decent host. They were served food and drink and offered a place to sleep. It was hard at first but ignoring Hooty's monolog was not too difficult when they were so exhausted.
The morning came with the sun shining bright and high. It smelled wonderful and Raine almost forgets that they were not in their house, but in a haunted castle in the middle of nowhere. At least it was not as creepy in the day as it was in the night.
They got out of the room and rushed downstairs to get ready to leave. It was a nice sleep; it was kind of nice meeting Hooty, and this was just going to be another story to make more songs.
But a tall, feathered figure in front of them crashed their plans. She was too tall, with yellow eyes and black sclera. Her hair was wild and gray, with tufts of hair coming out of her elongated ears. And huge wings came from her back.
She looked like an owl, almost like a beast but not quite, and Raine's first instinct was to scream as loud as their lungs allowed.
And then, their legs ran but they weren't going anywhere.
“First you break into my house, then you steal my food and now you scream at me? You gotta be the rudest person I've met.” Her voice was somewhat human, of that Raine was sure, and her tone was so melodic that all their fears started to calm down. A bit.
“I'm... I'm sorry,” they said, realizing that she had a hold of the back of their shirt, holding them above the floor. “Hooty said it was fine... and the storm... I didn't want my violin to get wet. I just... I'm really sorry. I'll do whatever you want! Just don't kill me!”
“Kill you?”
“I'm good at cleaning! And at playing music! Even cooking... at least I can try that. I just can't die here, please lady!”
The owl lady (as Raine started to call her in their mind) looked at them with curiosity, then with a frown she called for Hooty who appeared as fast as his named was pronounced. It was unsettling for Raine, but the owl lady seemed to be accustomed.
“The hell did you tell them?” She was harsh and did not let go of them, as if they were some lost kitten.
“I told them about Beans the beetle, William the butterfly, Kyle the bird—”
“Not that, what did you tell them about me?” It was menacing, dangerous even and Raine could felt the hairs in the back of their neck stand up.
“OH! I told them that you were scary, hoot, hoot.”
“And why did you think that was a good idea? Now they're scared, they're gonna run to town about the big scary monster and we will have to move again!”.
“NOO! I hate moving!” Hooty screamed, outraged.
“Then you need to stop telling people I'm scary. Better yet, stop inviting random people to my house.”
“It's our house!” The tube thing stressed, making a face.
“Not if you keep inviting people”
The bird tube made an annoyed 'hoot' before retiring as to not continue the discussion with the owl lady. She also let go of them and they almost hit their face but thankfully their hands were enough support to prevent it.
“So... what should I do with you?” Asked the lady, towering over them. They were on their knees, and if Raine was honest, the situation was not appropriate. They tried not to raise their look because they knew that it would only scare them more.
“I... I can clean and play music. And I can almost cook,” they murmured, looking at the owl lady's feet.
“Yeah, I know, you already told me that. But I'm most concerned about you telling people about me,” she said with a tone that was almost too dangerous for them to be listening. It was a threat, a light one but a threat, nonetheless.
“I won't tell other people. I swear!”
“What's the thing that you appreciate the most in the whole world, eh? Tell me.”
Raine took a second to swallow, not too sure where the conversation was heading but they were sure it was nothing good.
“That would be my violin,” they answered. There was no need for a lie. Raine was sure that whatever that creature was it could probably tell if they were lying.
“Give me your violin and I'll let you go.”
It was reasonable, a part of them said. Their life was worth more than the violin, they could always get another one, even a better one. But the problem was that only that violin had the carvings their parents made. Only that violin had been played by their mother, and only that violin had been cleaned by their father.
There was no replacement for the memories. They could not give it up so easily.
“I can't do that,” they said, “my violin has precious memories that I'd like to keep. That I need to keep. Please... ask for anything else and I'll give it to you!”
They raised their eyes to be met with the yellow piercing ones. It was scary, but something in the look of that lady assured them that harm would not come upon them. It was naive trust, but it was difficult to get rid of it, now that it was there.
“You're a bard, then? Okay. Give me five songs,” she demanded with a smirk. “Songs that have never been listened by other people. Songs just for me. A song each week, and I'll forget this whole ordeal.”
Raine hadn't done anything too bad, but they supposed it was a fair trade. After all, it was her house and they had entered without permission.
“You'll stay here for the time being. I don't want to move again.” She said finally, leaving them there on the floor a little confused but relived about their life being safe.
Living with what seemed to be a beast for five weeks could not be that hard, right?