Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eda's hand hovered a few inches away from the chipped white door.

It had been...a while...since anything had scared her this much. Actually, the last time she had been this scared had probably been about four weeks ago, sitting on the cold bathroom floor with a diagnostic charm spelling out her fate in deceptively festive lettering. 

She really didn’t want to do this. She was Eda Clawthorne: the Owl lady, feared and respected outlaw, the most powerful witch on the boiling isles. She could do anything she damn well pleased and she could do it herself, thank you very much. 

Except, apparently, for this. 

A tiny, fire-bee fluttering sensation zipped across her abdomen, a recent development her tiny freeloader liked to show off as often as possible in the last few days now that they were apparently capable. 

She pressed a hand over the barely-perceptible bump. 

“At least one of us is excited,” she mumbled. 

She was doing this for them. For her tiny roommate. Money was even tighter than it had been when she had first started selling potions and pawning off human junk. She felt constantly drained of energy, her magic was on the fritz, and she couldn’t keep any food down for the life of her. Cravings for weird fruit and greens and all the other shit she couldn’t afford sitting at the back of her head even as she was hurling the cheap canned crap she’d budgeted for back up. 

She...couldn’t keep the both of them safe. Running from coven guards was getting harder. It was a hard potion to swallow. 

She didn’t know what else to do at this point. She couldn’t go to her parents. Titan forbid her mother find out she was pregnant. 

Memories of being forced to sit back while healers poked and prodded at her while her mother talked over her, spoke for her like she wasn’t even there, like her thoughts and opinions about her own damn curse in her own damn body didn’t matter...those memories haunted her and she knew she could never tell Gwendolyn. Titan willing, that woman would stay as far away from her...as far away from them as possible .

Lilith was her first choice, but her sister was nowhere to be found, her apartment on the fancier side of town practically barren with a note on her door stating that she was expected to remain unheard from for at least another three weeks. 

Naturally, this left the only other option as going directly to the source, so to speak. 

Namely, this run down apartment where it had all began about ten weeks ago, when she had gotten black out drunk and woken up in a cold bed with the worst hangover she’d ever had in her life. 

There wasn’t any doubt on her mind that this was it. Them. The reason she was currently sporting insanely sore boobs and a near constant urge to vomit at any given time. Whoever was behind this door, doing chores if the muffled noises she was picking up with her curse-enhanced hearing was anything to go by, was the one who had knocked her up. 

And by Titan, she was going to make sure they took some fucking accountability for this mess. 

She took all the spite and irritation she was feeling at the stranger behind this door and used it to fuel her courage to bang her fist against the splintered wood. 

Footsteps approached the door and after a brief pause, it creaked open. 

Eda opened her mouth and let loose before she could lose her nerve. 

“Hel-” 

“You’ve got a lot to answer for, buster! I hope you’re damn well ready to cough up, because I have had the worst weeks of my life following our little sleepover a few months ago. Remember that? I sure as hell don’t but I remember this crappy dive! Sure, protection is both parties responsibility, I’ll admit that, I’ll own up to my half of the fault here. But when two people screw up, and someone gets knocked up, guess what? Responsibility is STILL a two way street pal! Buckle up because I have been so FUCKING miserable since that night, and Hexes and Hellfire, I’m taking you down with me!” 

Her eyes squeezed shut as she heaved in a massive gulp of air, gearing up for a second round of yelling. 

Then, a soft voice cut her off before she could start back up again. 

“Eda?” 

Her eyes flew open. 

Standing in the open doorway in ratty grey sweats and an oversized shirt was the last fucking witch Eda had expected to run into today. 

Raine Whispers. 

Oh. 

Oh. 

Oh no. 

She fucked up. 

Her heart rate picked up as the panic set in. Her head was static. Nausea rose up to the back of her throat. 

Shit. 

Shit. 

Raine’s eyes were wide. They took half a step forward. 

“You’re here,” they said just as softly as they’d uttered her name. 

Eda couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. 

This couldn't be happening. Why them, why Raine? 

They broke up, she let them go. Pushed them away so they could have a better future, a better life than anything they’d have stuck with her, a selfish, cursed monster, and she was ruining everything again. 

“I was starting to think I’d never see you again,” said Raine. 

Their eyes drifted down to her stomach, which Eda had unconsciously wrapped her arms around protectively. They sucked in a breath.

“A-are you...you’re really-” 

Something rose up her throat and Eda slapped a hand over her mouth, retching harshly. 

“Titan!” 

Warm hands took her carefully by the shoulders and pulled her forward into the apartment. 

She kept her mouth clamped shut and tried to focus on breathing through her nose, determined not to puke all over her ex. 

Raine guided Eda to the couch and shoved a waste paper bin into her lap. She clutched it gratefully and retched again, coughing at the sting of stomach acid in her throat. 

Raine after a moment’s hesitation, carefully leaned in and pulled her hair away from her face. 

Tears stung at her eyes. 

Fuck, she was so sick of being sick all the time! The only thing she’d even had in her system this time was a plain muffin and she’d thought for sure it would stay down this time but nope! That was her muffin in the trash bin alright. The nausea persisted and she continued to gag up bile and stomach acid while Raine held back her hair and pressed a hand to her sweaty forehead. 

“Let it all out, it’s fine,” They tried to soothe her. She soaked in the sound of their voice eagerly, like a balm on the shit-stick that was literally everything going on with her body right now. 

Titan forgive her, she was grateful that it was their careful, callused hands scratching lightly at her scalp right now instead of a stranger’s. 

Eda coughed one last time and pressed her forehead against the edge of the bin, grimacing at the rancid taste in her mouth. 

“Are you done?” Raine asked hesitantly. 

Eda nodded silently. 

Raine slowly pulled the bin away from her and spelled it clean before leaving Eda’s side to go around the kitchen island and pull open the fridge. In the meantime, Eda leaned back against the couch, stroking a thumb against her stomach. 

“That was rude,” she whispered to her ‘roomie’, as she sometimes thought of the aggressive little bean currently fluttering under her fingertips. 

Raine came back and pressed a cold water bottle in her hand. 

“Here, this should help get rid of the taste.” 

Eda untwisted the cap and gulped the water down eagerly. 

Raine sat down next to her, tugging nervously at the hem of their shirt. 

They waited until Eda was done drinking to speak. 

“So, you’re really…” 

Eda stared at the stained carpet. 

“Pregnant. Yeah.” 

Her hands shook. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Raine did a double take. 

“S-sorry?” 

She wrapped her arms around her middle. 

“I-I didn’t know. I don’t remember anything about.... that night, I just remembered this place, and I swear I didn’t mean to just come barreling back into your life again and screw shit up! I’m sorry, I’m-” Her voice cracked, hot tears pooling down her cheeks. “I’m so, so sorry!” 

“Hey, no-” Raine turned so that they were fully facing her, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

“Two way street, remember? This is at least half my fault, and Eda, you aren’t-you aren’t wrecking anything! I’m glad you came.” 

They took a deep breath. 

“If anything, I’m the one who needs your forgiveness,” they admitted softly. 

Eda sniffled. 

“What?” 

“You really don’t remember anything about what happened that night, do you?” 

Eda shook her head. 

Raine scrubbed a hand down their face. 

“We were both, really drunk, at this club not far from here. Long story short, you said...a lot of things, and we ended up here and, well, you know.” 

Their face turned pink and they coughed. 

Eda raised a brow. 

“You can say sex, Raine. We’re in our thirties, we’re allowed to say all kinds of fun words now.” 

Then she paused. 

“What did I say?” 

Raine looked her in the eyes. 

“That you wanted me to be happy, but you were hurting. You told me to ask you about the curse again when you were sober.” 

Eda sucked in a breath. 

Well, fuck. 

Drunk Eda really went and exposed her like that, huh? 

What a bitch. 

“Y-you also asked me not to leave you alone. You wanted me there when you woke up...and I wasn’t, but, you already knew that part.” 

It was Raine’s turn to wipe at their eyes with the back of their hand. 

“I-I swear, Eda, I didn’t mean to! I had a plan, a-and I thought you would sleep for so much longer, you’re never a morning person! I-I was just gonna get you some food, and-” 

“Don’t say food!” Eda moaned with a gag. 

“Sorry! Sorry! I just meant-” 

“It’s fine, Raine,” 

“It’s not! I promised-” 

“We were drunk!” 

“If I had just been there-”

Raine cut themselves off and sighed. 

“I’m just sorry. More than I have words for.” 

Silence reigned between them. Eda took a few more sips from the water bottle to fill the seconds that ticked by. Her stomach clenched around nothing and Roomie squirmed unhappily, which was a bit hypocritical considering they rejected every damn thing she tried to feed them. 

Finally, Raine spoke up. 

“What do you need?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Well, when you were yelling rather passionately in the hallway, I remember catching a few choice words about fessing up to my half of the responsibility here. So, what do you need?” 

Eda bit her lip, worrying it between her teeth. It was one thing to shake down some random stranger she could be mad at. She couldn’t bother Raine anymore than she already was. 

“Raine, I-” 

“Don’t say you don’t need anything. Just, don’t. I want to help, Eda.” 

They inched a little closer to her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Eda closed her eyes and leaned desperately into the touch. 

“Not just with the...th-the baby, either. Everything you said that night, about opening up to me, I’m still ready to listen, if you’re willing to talk.” 

The tears were back, hot and messy down her cheeks. Her shoulders shook. 

Raine wrapped an arm around her and Eda slumped over to hide her face in their neck while she sobbed. 

“I’m so tired, Raine!” 

“Oh, Eda…” 

“I ca-I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t keep them safe!” 

She hiccuped. 

“I’m scared,” Eda whispered. 

Raine held her tight and rocked her slowly. 

“Shh, it’s okay, Eda, it’s okay.” 

“Nnn, I can’t-” 

“Hey, hey, I’ve got you, shhh. You’re okay,” 

They placed a hand over her own, clasped over her stomach. 

“You’re both okay. It’s going to be okay.” 

They pressed a chaste kiss to her temple. 

“I’ll take care of you.” 

Chapter Text

“Eda.” 

There was a warm hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. 

“Eda.”

She breathed out and scrunched up her face. 

“Mmph.” 

“Shh, I know you’re tired. I’m sorry, but sleeping here won’t be good for your back.” 

The hand rubbed up and down her arm in apology. 

The fluttering in her stomach returned after what had been a rare lull and Eda’s eyes opened reluctantly. 

Kind, green eyes creased at the corners as Raine smiled down at her. After the emotional conversation she’d had with them, she must have been so drained she passed out in their lap. 

She felt blood rush to her face at the realization. 

Eda scrambled to sit up. 

Raine steadied her hastily. 

“Woah, hey, easy! How are you feeling?” 

Eda shrugged, yawning widely. 

“Physically? Meh. About as fine as I’m capable of these days.” 

“Are you hungry at all? I was going to make lunch around this time and I was thinking you should probably try to eat something.” 

Eda grimaced. 

“Ergh, you can give it a shot, but don’t expect too much. The little freeloader’s the pickiest eater on the entirety of the Isles.” 

Raine giggled. 

“The little freeloader? Eda, that’s so mean.” 

“You try throwing up everything you eat for two months straight because of some dumb jelly bean in your gut and tell me how you feel afterwards.” 

They snorted but raised their hands in surrender. 

“Fair enough. I’ll whip up something plain and we’ll see if they can’t be persuaded to give you a bit of a break.” 

They leaned in, then hesitated. 

“Are we…? D-do you mind if…?” 

They hesitantly placed a hand on her cheek. 

Eda grimaced. 

“That’s really sweet, Raine, but I have vomit breath right now. You really don’t wanna kiss me.” 

They blushed. 

“R-right. But, um-” 

She smiled, feeling surprisingly a little shy. 

“Later, though, if you want,” She offered quietly. 

A look of relief crossed their face and before she could process it they were pressing a quick peck to her cheek before standing up and heading over to the kitchen. 

She pressed a hand to her cheek in surprise, feeling the heat that rose up in her face. 

While Raine shuffled around in the kitchen, Eda took a closer look at their apartment. The last time she’d been here, she’d been far too hungover to notice anything over than the fact that it was cold as fuck and depressingly empty. 

It was...a little nicer than her original evaluation had implied. Odds and ends were scattered around, a basket of laundry in the corner made the entire common area smell faintly of Raine under the chemical stench of cleaning supplies. Her nose twitched as she inhaled the scent of pine and cotton and the rosin they used on their violin. It was unbelievably calming and her eyelids drooped a bit, fatigue still clinging to her body with a vengeance. 

She slumped back against the couch, letting her tiny roommate’s squirming under her hand entertain her while she listened to Raine start up the stove and pull things out of the fridge. She breathed through her mouth now, not wanting to accidentally catch a whiff of anything that would cause her stomach to try and turn itself inside out again. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Eda spotted something sitting inconspicuously face-up on the end table to her right. She leaned over the arm of the couch and picked it up curiously. 

It was a wrinkly old napkin, traces of the scent of apple blood soaked into it and a vibrant red lipstick stain imprinted on the surface. 

‘Shit! That’s fuckin cold!” 

Eda dropped the napkin with a gasp. The blurry impression of shitty club lights and the press of a dozen stranger’s wandering hands pounding in her head. 

Was this...from that night? Why had Raine kept it for so long? It was just a napkin, and it was sitting out in their living room like a favored photograph. 

“You okay?” Raine called from the kitchen. 

She swallowed thickly. 

“Y-yeah! ‘M fine.” 

The stove shut off with a click and a few minutes later Raine walked back to the couch with a pair of plates in hand. 

They carefully passed one to her and she inspected it cautiously. 

It looked like plain, unseasoned cockatrice breast on a slice of toast with a handful of crab-apple slices on the side. 

Raine took a bite of their own slice, which was noticeably seasoned and accompanied by cheese. 

Eda sniffed at it, relieved when the smell of the cooked meat didn’t make her stomach turn. 

She took a tiny bite. 

It tasted fine. 

She waited a few seconds. 

Her stomach growled. 

She took another bite. 

And another. 

“Please don’t choke,” Raine pleaded, looking equal parts relieved that she didn’t seem disgusted by the food and alarmed at the ferocity with which she attacked it. 

Eda moaned and tore off another chunk, barely chewing it. 

For weeks, everything she ate had tasted revolting, and rarely did anything stay down long enough for it to do her any good. 

But this, real, not-canned food, was the best thing she had tasted in her life, and she felt like she could cry all over again. 

She finished off the slice and picked at the fruit. She nibbled a bit but so far in her experience, most fruit didn’t do it for her anymore and this proved to be true when the sweet taste hit her tongue and her gut twisted in warning. 

She winced and pushed the rest of her plate away onto the coffee table. 

“Cockatrice, yes. Apples, get ‘em the hell away from me.” 

Raine nodded and took her plate. 

“Duly noted. Are you still hungry?” 

She was fucking ravenous, but she wasn’t about to start celebrating just yet.

“Can I wait an hour or two and get back to you on that?” 

“Yeah, of course. How do you feel? Any more nausea?” 

“Mm, not yet.” 

Raine winced. 

“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how hard this has been for you.” 

Eda shrugged. 

“You’re sorry, I’m sorry, yada yada. It is what it is at this point.” 

She chewed on her lip. A hesitant admission lingering on her tongue while Raine put away the dishes. 

 “It’s not... all terrible,” She finally spoke up as they settled down next to her again. 

“Oh?” 

“I mean, mostly, yeah. Pretty much all the time, but only almost all the time. There’s...one thing I’ve been kinda...excited about, I guess.” 

They tilted their head curiously, ears swiveling towards her. 

She pressed her hand against her stomach. 

“They, uh, I guess they’ve got legs now? Or, I’m just kinda assuming they do, cuz for the last few days they’ve been squirmin’ around like crazy and...it’s kind of cool, when it’s not terrifying,” she admitted. 

Raine’s eyes widened. 

“You can feel them?” They breathed. 

She nodded. 

“Yeah. Scared the shit outta me the first time it happened. Dropped a box full of ceramics all over the place at my stall.” 

They stared at her stomach with something like awe written on their face. 

“Thats- Titan . W-what does it feel like?” 

“It’s...agh, I dunno. Kinda like I got a bug flying around in my stomach, but not as ticklish.” 

They scooted a little closer. 

Their hand hovered a few inches over her own. 

“Can I…?” 

Eda took their hand and pressed it to her stomach, letting them feel the taught, barely-visible bump. 

“I don’t think you can feel anything from the outside yet,” She warned them. 

They shook their head numbly. 

“That’s fine. I just...I don’t know. This is...this is unbelievable. You’re pregnant!” 

She nodded and leaned against their side, doing her best to tuck herself under their chin despite the height difference between them even while sitting down. 

“Yeah. sorry.” 

They wrapped their free arm around her shoulder. 

“Don’t. This is...a lot, and definitely not entirely your fault, as I seem to remember, but, I’m not gonna be unhappy unless you’re unhappy about it. You’re the one doing all the hard parts, after all.” 

Eda snickered. 

“Pfft, hard parts.” 

“Eda!” 

“What?” She blinked innocently and they shook their head disbelievingly. 

“Have you talked to anyone else about this?” 

She shook her head. 

“No. I wanted to tell Lilith, but I guess she’s out of town for a while.” 

They nodded. 

“Ah.” 

She frowned. 

“You don’t sound surprised.” 

They shrugged. 

“Lilith...has a unique reputation amongst the upper ranks of the covens as...a special breed of workaholic. I’m the second Lieutenant for the bard coven and I’ve heard more than a few stories about the unholy amounts of field work she does.” 

Eda furrowed her brow. 

She hadn’t seen her sister in a long time, several years, in fact. Clearly, they had some catching up to do. 

“What about your parents?” 

She stiffened. 

“ No.” 

Then she sighed. 

“I-I didn’t mean to snap. But-” 

“You’re okay. Hey, hey, your hands are shaking,” They pointed out softly. 

She clenched her hands into fists to mask the tremor that ran through them. 

“I don’t want them near me, especially not my mother,” She said firmly. 

They rubbed her arm with their thumb soothingly. 

“Okay, no parents. Just Lilith, then?” 

She nodded. 

“Alright.” 

Eda relaxed and Raine rewarded the lack of tension with slow circles drawn over her stomach. They were clearly still fascinated with the tiny bump, and Eda was content to let them amuse themselves with it, soaking in the warmth of their touch and their steady heartbeat in her ears. 

For a while, they just sat in comfortable silence. 

Her eyes slipped shut. She was still so tired, and Raine was so warm. They were always warm, and soft and strong and a yawn escaped her mouth unbidden. 

Raine scooted backwards a bit so that she was laying half in their lap with her head tucked under their chin and began humming softly. 

“Mmm, missed you,” She mumbled. 

“I missed you too.” 

A few more beats of quiet passed. 

“Raine?” 

“Yes, Eda?” 

“‘Mm tired.” 

“I know, Calamity.” 

She shivered at the fondness packed into that old pet name. 

“ ‘Cn I stay? Don’t think I’ll make it home on ‘m staff.” 

“Of course. Sleep, I’ll wake you in a few hours for dinner and see how you feel then.”

Her heart clenched. 

Fuck. They were so good to her. Even when she should, by all means, have pushed them to their limits by now. Instead they were holding her like she was something precious and not the most annoying, needy, obnoxiously clingy fucker on the isles. 

The heavy limb of exhaustion pressed down on her and she sank into it without a fight as Raine tucked an arm under her knees and picked her up. 

They carried her to their room and set her down in cool sheets that smelled so overwhelmingly of them that Eda just had to pull a pillow close to her chest and bury her nose in it. 

A blanket was pulled over her. 

Warm lips pressed against her forehead. 

“Sweet dreams, love.” 

Chapter Text

There was a hand in her hair, strong and safe. It scratched at her scalp and ran through her hair and back again, and every stroke brought a new whiff of pine and rosin. 

She was so warm, and everything was soft, even the fluttering in her stomach had ceased, her bean-sized roommate just as tired as she was. 

Eda buried her face into the softness surrounding her and purred, the vibrations resonating in her chest. 

The hand scratched once, twice, three times behind her ear and her purrs increased in volume. 

Quiet laughter had a lone ear twitching up for just a second, but she decided to pay it no mind, not when she was currently indulging in the most comfort she’d experienced in years. 

She lazily did a full-body stretch, all the way down her toes, and leaned her head into the hand which obediently kept running through her hair. 

Deft fingers worked down to the base of her skull, massaging at the tension there from the weight of her hair and all the secrets it contained. They found a knot at the base of her neck and she gasped as it was pressed down on, pain sparking briefly before relief began to bloom. 

“Hey,” a gentle, syrupy smooth voice murmured above her. 

Oh, right, there was a person attached to those very nice hands. 

Eda yawned and tried to find the will to open her eyes with little success. 

“nnn?” 

A soft chuckle that had a pleasant shiver running up her spine sounded above her. 

“Shhhh, it's alright, Calamity. You don't have to get up just yet.” 

Calamity…

Only one witch called her that with such affection. Like her reputation for revelry in chaos was a good thing.

“Rrrn?” 

“Mmhm, hello, dear.”

Eda peaked one eye open and saw Raine sitting on the side of the bed, leaning slightly over her to reach her neck and shoulders. 

The light peaking through the bedroom window was thin and red. 

How long had she slept? 

“Tm ‘s it?” She rasped, rolling over onto her side so she could press her head against Raine’s thigh. 

“Oh, nearly seven thirty. You looked like you needed the rest. Did you sleep well?” 

Eda nodded and yawned again, nuzzling her nose into their soft, clean smelling sweatpants. 

“Mmm, feel great,” she said, waking up a little more. 

“Do you need anything? How does your stomach feel?” 

“I…” she paused and tried to focus on something other than how soft and warm and safe she felt. 

Her throat was a little dry, and her mouth still tasted kinda gross, but she really felt…fine. More than she had in ages, really. 

“I’m okay.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Mhm.” 

Short nails grazed up and down her arm. 

“That’s good. Any chance you’re feeling hungry again? I did some reading and I think I can throw something together that your stomach can handle.” 

Something in her clenched. 

“Reading?” 

“Just a little bit of research on Ghoulgle,” they said lightly. 

Her face heated up.

“Y-you didn’t have to,” she mumbled. 

Raine frowned. 

“Of course I did. I don’t like seeing you so ill, Eda.”

They sighed. 

“I know asking for help is hard for you, but I want to do this. I said I was going to take care of you, and I meant it. What that means going forward is mostly up to you, but making sure you’re eating well, and getting enough rest is not something I’m going to bend on.” 

She shuddered and hid her face in their thigh. 

“Y-you’re gonna regret that eventually,” she muttered. 

“Eda…” 

“I don’t know if you remember, Raine, but I’m kind of a pain. And now I’m gonna have all these stupid hormones and my magic is being freaky and eventually I won’t be able to use it at all and titan I’m gonna get fat, I didn’t even think about tha-” 

“Eda!” 

Eda gasped at the sharp inflection in their voice and stiffened. 

Fuck. Has she pissed them off already? Were they sick of her? She doesn’t want to leave-

“Hey, hey , breathe.” 

Raine shifted away slightly and helped Eda up into a sitting position so that they could look her in the eyes. Their face was open and sincere and more than a little concerned. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice.” 

She shook her head frantically. 

“‘S fine,” she sniffed, hating the way her voice cracked.

“No, it’s not,” They said firmly. “I need you to just listen to me for a second, okay?” 

Eda nodded hesitantly. 

They placed their hands on her shoulders, keeping their touch light in case she wanted to move away. 

“When I broke up with you,” They began, “I did it because you were obviously going through something very difficult and I felt helpless all the time, because you wouldn’t talk to me. You were a shut door and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life waiting out in the hall if you were never going to meet me halfway. But it was never-” 

They took a deep breath. 

“- Ever, because I thought you were a pain, or difficult. I didn’t leave because I stopped caring about you, and I’m sorry I didn’t at least try to be there for you as a friend, even if I wasn’t sure I could be your partner.” 

Eda shook her head, disbelief written across her face. 

“No, that-that wasn’t your fault. It was me , it was a-all…I was too much, even before the, the curse and if it wasn’t me pushing you away, it was always gonna be something-” 

“Is that what you thought this whole time?” They asked, hurt. “That everything I told you that day was just an excuse, because you were too much?” 

Eda looked away. 

“I know I am,” She said quietly, wrapping her arms around her stomach. 

“ No!” 

“Oh come on, Raine! I’m not easy-” 

“I don’t want easy! I’ve never wanted easy! I like you! I like the chaos and the schemes and you.” 

“But this isn’t going to be fun! This-” she gestured to her stomach. “-isn’t a prank war in the cafeteria, or a joyride on the school hippogriffs, and whatever it was like before, it’ll never be like that again.” 

“That’s okay too. I don’t-I can’t imagine how terrifying this is for you. But, I’m not, I’m not going to get bored. I’m not here because I want to remake the past. We’ve both changed, Eda, and this is going to change us even more, and I’m ready for that. Well, okay, ready is a strong word, I don’t think anyone can be ready for this sort of thing, but…” 

They grasped her hands, tugging her a little closer. 

“Eda, I’m here. I’m going to keep being here, and it’s okay if it takes you a while to believe me. I have plenty of time to prove it to you.” 

Eda sniffled. 

“Titan, Raine, I really hope so.” 

Raine had to pull her into a hug then, resting their chin on the top of her head, even though they had to do a bit of stretching to get there. 

“I will, Eda.” 

They rubbed her back comfortingly. 

“I will.” 

----------------------------------

The morning-sickness-proof meal Raine ended up putting together turned out to be more cooked cockatrice, this time given some actual flavor with ginger and something citrus-y that was sharp and lacking enough in sweetness that it didn’t make her stomach turn, as well as some green vegetable…thing that as a grown adult she should probably know the name of, but she was drawing a complete blank. 

Eh, whatever, it was leafy and watery and apparently the best fucking shit in the world when baked with more of that citrus stuff.  

Raine had eaten maybe half of their plate in the time it took for Eda to clear hers and somehow, they’d been able to sense that she was still starving and wordlessly shoved the rest of their food to her before pulling out their scroll and a notebook. 

 “So, most fruit is bad, because of the sweetness, but citrus is bitter, so that’ll be a good way to keep up with most of your vitamins until the morning sickness goes away. Ginger, can suppress nausea, are you alright with trying to have a little of that most mornings to help with your symptoms?” 

“Uh, sure,” Eda mumbled around a mouthful of food. 

No thoughts, only hunger. 

“Speaking of vitamins, have you seen a healer yet?” 

She froze. 

Right, a healer. She…definitely hadn’t seen one of those yet. 

Actually, she hadn’t seen one at all since…

Well, the curse. 

And her mother. 

Even if the thought of having a stranger with cold hands poking and prodding her, especially now that she had someone else inside her that she definitely didn’t want said stranger anywhere near, she also just…couldn’t afford it. 

Eda shook her head silently, shame curdling in her chest. 

Suddenly no longer hungry, she shoved the remains of her food around her plate to avoid looking up. 

Sensing her discomfort, Raine set down their pencil. 

“Eda? Talk to me,” they implored her gently. 

“I-I can’t…after I got cursed…there were so many healers, Raine. I can’t do that again.” 

“Not even Markov? She’s a family healer, and I thought you and Lilith liked her well enough.” 

Her ears pressed down tightly. 

“I…no, she’s…Markov’s fine…I just…” 

Raine said nothing, waiting patiently for Eda to gather the words and the will to tell them whatever was wrong. 

She sucked in a breath and twirled a chunk of cockatrice around on her plate. 

“I…haven’t seen a healer at all since I left home…” 

‘Please,’ she pleaded silently. ‘Don’t make me say it. I can’t admit to my incredibly successful ex that I’m fucking broke.’ 

Raine leaned back. 

“Oh... that's…” Concerning. It was concerning. Raine bit their lip. 

Eda had been just shy of seventeen when she ran away from home. She was thirty five now. That was...a very long time to go without any professional help. They'd seen some of the stunts she pulled on the news, and their heart clenched to imagine her hiding somewhere all alone trying to treat the resulting injuries. 

“If I stayed with you,” they asked hesitantly, “would you be willing to try to get through an-” 

They almost said ‘examination’, but caught themselves in time. All things considered, it would have likely been a poor choice of words. 

“-um, a check-up? Do you think you could try?” 

Eda looked shocked, and it saddened Raine to think again of how off-putting she seemed to find any sort of basic kindness or decency. 

She looked so lost, when she thought no one was looking.

It was enough to break their heart. 

Eda nodded, eyes still wide. 

“Y-yeah. If... you'd really stay with me?” 

She blushed. 

“I mean-fuck! Sorry that's, ergh I sound like a damn child.” 

“No, no.” They immediately jumped to stop her spiraling attitude in its tracks. 

“It's not childish, and I don't mind. Of course I'll stay with you.” 

The tension didn't entirely leave Eda's shoulders, but she did take another bite of her food, and they were willing to take that small victory. 

“Thank you,” Raine said sincerely. 

They tapped against their notebook in thought. 

“And after...do you...would you mind if...I took you out on a date?” 

Eda's head snapped up. 

“Huh?” 

Anxiety welled up, along with all the blood to their face. 

“I-Mean! Urgh, I'm so sorry! I thought, maybe-”

Eda slammed her palms against the counter and stood, stool scraping across the floor. 

“Yes!” She shouted, eyes sparkling. 

Then, her face turned just as red, if not more so, thanks to her fair complexion. 

She coughed. 

“Uuuuh, I mean, sure. Sounds cool, If you want to, I guess.” 

For a moment, Raine just sat there, startled by Eda’s outburst. 

Then, they giggled. 

Their giggles turned into full on, riotous laughter. 

Eda's ears burned and she scowled. (well, Raine would've called it a pout, but what did they know)

“S-shut up!” 

Raine shook their head, trying desperately to regain their breath. 

“S-so-orry! I-I just-pfft!” 

“It's not funny!” 

“Hah! I'm sorry, Calamity, but it is.” 

“Fine, then I take it back! Find someone else to take on your stupid date!” 

Panic seized her the moment the words left her mouth. 

Titan. Shit. No. She didn't want them to do that. It'd be so easy-there were plenty of pretty, much less complicated witches out there. 

Fuck, what has she done-

“Hmm, no. I think I'll just perish instead.” 

They tilted their head, eyes softening to something more sincere. 

“Unfortunately, I'm completely lost without my Calamity,” they said, something honest and raw in their tone. 

A swell of emotions took her by surprise and she had to look away so she could sniffle like a lame dork in peace. 

Raine, bless them, said nothing while she wiped the moisture away from her eyes. 

“Do you want to stay the night?” They asked after she'd calmed down from the sudden emotional onslaught. “Or, would you mind if I took you home, just to make sure you get back safely?”

For a moment, Eda fantasized about staying for the night, of just dragging Raine into their bedroom and falling asleep half on top of them with her face buried in the crook of her neck. 

But...that was...now wasn't the right time for that. And she had responsibilities. She needed to feed Hooty, and even though it was getting harder and harder to work in the basement with all the fumes and hazardous materials, she did still have a few potions orders that needed looking after.  

“I should probably get home. You don't have to go with, though. I'll be fine.” 

They shook their head. 

“Please? If only to humor me? I'll sleep better tonight knowing for sure that you made it back safely.”

She almost declined, but caught the serious look on their face and nodded. 

“Alright, Rainestorm, take me home.” 

Chapter Text

Eda’s house was…interesting, to say the least.

Raine eyed the massive, tube, bird, thing stretching out of the door with no small amount of apprehension and bewilderment.  

“Heeeeey, you're back, hoot! And you brought a friend!” 

The weird not-bird coiled around Eda as soon as she got off her staff and pressed his face to her cheek. 

Eda grimaced and pushed him off.

“Yeah, yeah. Nice to see you too, Hooty. This is Raine, by the way. Raine, meet my house demon, Hooty. He protects the property from threats and is a surprisingly good baker, or he was, before my senses started going all wonkey and Roomie decided we aren’t going to tolerate anything sweet anymore.” 

“Mark my words, I’ll find a way around that soon, hoot!” 

Eda snorted and pulled the door open. 

She glanced at Raine. 

“You wanna come in?” 

“Oh, um, sure.”

They took another look at the house before stepping into the doorway. 

“There’s something familiar about this place…” 

Eda shrugged. 

“You probably saw a picture of it when we were kids at some point. This place is pretty old. Been in the family for a long time, but no one could get in because the wards are picky, or something.” 

Raine furrowed their brow in thought. 

“Wait…this isn’t…the old Yaga cottage?” 

Eda clicked her tongue and shot them a thumbs up. 

“Got it in one!” 

They took in their surroundings with wide eyes. 

It was clear now that this was indeed a very old house. From the weathered wooden beams, covered in candles to the way they could see more modern renovations done over the older framework in a way that reminded them of the way certain wings of Hexside would be remodeled after the disaster of the week wrecked the place. 

It was also...nice. 

There was a beautiful mural of a raptor on the ceiling and mismatched furniture scattered around, as well as cluttered stacks of books and oddities in every corner. 

In other words, it was very Eda . 

They felt themselves relax as they stepped further into the house. 

“How did you get past the wards? This place was famous in your family for not letting anyone enter for centuries!” 

Eda shrugged and flopped down onto the couch, bouncing a little on the cushions before settling down cross-legged. 

“No idea. I just touched the door handle and then next thing I know I got this, thing, on my chest and this weird, Old Magic biz connecting me to the house and Hooty was just...asleep? Inactive? I dunno but I guess when the house chose me or whatever he ‘woke up’, scared the shit out of me, and I've been here ever since.” 

“Sounds like an interesting day.” 

She snorted. 

“Pfft, something like that.”

She waved a hand in the air, gesturing vaguely to their surroundings. 

“So, this is it. There's three floors, kitchen's over there, bathroom is on the second floor, my room is at the top, and there's a basement accessible by a trap door just outside the kitchen that I use as a potions lab.” 

She wiggled her fingers about. 

“Aaaand, that's the grand tour!” 

Raine chuckled. 

Eda gasped and stood up. 

“Wait, no, there's actually something specific I wanna show you.” 

She took Raine by the hand and led them to the kitchen. 

She stopped just outside the doorway and gestured to the wall beside the ancient oven and stove system. 

“Look.” 

Raine inspected the wall carefully. 

Scratched, scrawled, and even painted on the wall were a large collection of dashes with names and dates that went all the way back as far as well before the deadwardian era. 

They were measurements, Raine realized, of dozens of generations of children who had grown up in this house. 

Eda ran her fingers carefully along the scratches etched into the ancient wood. 

“When...I first found out, I was, ergh I basically had a mental breakdown for three days straight. I was shocked, I felt stupid, I felt really fucking terrified out of my mind.”

Raine placed a hand carefully between her shoulder blades in silent comfort and remorse, and she leaned gratefully into their touch. 

“I... didn't know what to do. Didn't know what I wanted to do. But, then…” 

She took a deep breath and rubbed her thumb along one of the names etched into the wall, a faded ‘Cassandra’. 

“I was sitting in here, three or four days after I found out I was knocked up and I hadn't really slept in at all since then so I'm slumped over at the table, tired, nauseous, feeling like death warmed over. And...out of nowhere I'm just staring at this, at all these names of kids who grew up here, and for a second I imagined getting to add...whoever the hell this little shit is gonna turn out to be, of getting to add them to this wall, of marking down the years and the inches and the milestones and I dunno...I just... wanted .”

Eda sniffed and scrubbed at the corner of her eye as discreetly as she could manage. 

“Shit, sorry. That probably sounds-” 

“ Amazing ,” Raine breathed, looking at the wall with a new kind of wonder. 

Eda swallowed at the sudden ache in her throat. 

“I-I don’t know how we’re…what’s gonna happen with us, or how we’re gonna make shit work but…it has to be here. I can’t explain it I just-I want them to grow up here.” 

Raine only nodded reverently and Eda was struck with the sudden dizzying impression that she could ask them to jump into the boiling sea and they’d happily dive right in. 

Well. 

That was a fucking terrifying visual. 

She cleared her throat. 

“Not that moving is likely an option for me anyways,” she said to lighten the mood. “I’m pretty sure there’s a no returns policy when a house with centuries old wards decides to bond itself to you.” 

“I’m connected to your souuuuuul! Hoot!” A high pitched voice called from outside the kitchen window. 

Both witches jumped. 

“Fucking hellfire, Hooty! Do you fucking mind?” Eda cursed violently. 

“Nooooope!” He replied eagerly. 

Eda cursed again and groaned. She marched over to the window and shooed Hooty away from the window with a few scolding words about minding his own damn business. 

Raine grimaced. 

“I suppose he takes some getting used to,” they remarked dryly. 

She scowled. 

“You don’t know the half of it.” 

Then, she sighed. 

“ But, annoying as he can get, he really does mean well. He’s old , old, a lot more powerful than he looks, and apparently he really likes kids, so there’s that.”

They raised a brow. 

“Oh?” 

She laughed. 

“Oh, yeah. Like I said, he’s annoying, but he’s not bad. He’s actually been pretty helpful lately. You know how bad my memory is, and now I’ve got all this new shit I’m supposed to be careful about, like covering up my face when I’m down in my lab because of the fumes, and various substances and all that shit. Hooty keeps me in check, and despite not having any arms, he’s not a bad helping hand for chores either.” 

Raine nodded thoughtfully. 

“I’m glad you have the help. I suppose I’ll just have to do my best to adjust to his more…unnerving qualities.” 

Eda grinned. 

“Let me know when you figure out how. I’m still ‘adjusting to his unnerving qualities’ and I’ve been stuck with Hooty for years now.” 

“Hmm, I'll take notes.” 

“ snrk haha! You're a riot, Rainestorm!”

“I have my moments.” 

--------------------

When she opens her eyes, the world is gray. 

“Shit.” 

She can see the door and shrouded figure walking towards her bed and she doesn't bother chasing after them to try and see their face, as she often did in years past. 

Instead she watches silently in despair, hearing the rustle of parchment, the smell of ink, the blinding light. 

Her legs feel heavy, as if weighed down as her childhood room dissolves and she feels a wave of panic at the smell of copper and mud that fills her nose. 

Nausea rises to the back of her throat. 

The flap of feathers. 

Hot breath on her neck. 

She tries to run, to scream, to do something but she can't move, can't do anything but wrap her arms around her stomach and shake. 

She braces for the roar and the snap of a beak against her throat. 

The ground shakes. 

A single tear runs down her cheek. 

Then, she hears a long, drawn out coo that vibrates in her ears. 

A feathery chest presses against her back and a pair of massive wings wrap around her.

Almost like a shield.

“Baby.”

Eda bolted upright in her nest with a shuddering gasp. 

She was drenched in sweat, her favorite sleep sweater soaked through and the late April night air felt ice cold as she sucked in heaving breaths. 

Roomie was fluttering excitedly in her stomach and she pressed one hand protectively over them while she used the other to push her damp hair off her forehead. 

Her heart hammered in her chest, the vividness of her dream still playing out behind her eyes.

“What the fuck.” 

Then she felt a wave of nausea and she bolted out of the nest in search of the waste bin by the vanity. 

Chapter Text

Eda was napping on the couch when Hooty let Raine inside the owl house, nearly a week after their reunion. 

There was a half-folded basket of laundry taking up space on the coffee table and a crystal ball still playing what looked like one of those romance dramas they recalled her being so fond of back in high school. 

They chuckled a bit and set down the groceries they’d brought along with them to pull the blanket draped over the back of the couch down around her shoulders. 

In the last week, Raine had visited Eda nearly every day, and to their relief, she had yet to seem irritated or overstimulated by their constant presence. Generally, they visited in the evening, after work, and the two of them had made a routine out of testing out the limit’s of Eda’s morning sickness with various types of food and flavor combinations. So far only a few things had yielded optimistic results, but they were determined to crack the code. 

Despite the occasional vomiting fit, the two of them had fun, messing around in the kitchen and talking late into the night about…anything, and nothing. 

At first, it had felt a little…awkward, but every day they were gaining a little more footing. 

It was a lot to process. 

Eda was pregnant. 

After they had taken Eda home, Raine had spent the following twenty-four hours in near silence, likely concerning a few of their coworkers, but they’d needed the time to just…absorb it all. 

It was a shock. Just a few days ago, they’d been wallowing in their steadily sinking hope that they would ever see Eda again at all, their last chance ruined by misplaced good-intentions. 

Well, they got their second chance back, but certainly not in the shape they could have ever expected. 

Raine and Eda hadn’t gotten the chance to even wonder if they ever wanted kids before. They were just kids themselves, back then. More concerned with making out in closets and pestering Lilith than thinking about the future. 

A child was…it was a big thing. It was a lifelong commitment to a tiny person that wouldn’t be tiny forever and the thought alone is a lot. 

But…Eda seemed hesitantly excited. 

She didn’t always show it, preferring to complain about ‘the little bully in her stomach’ that made her constantly sick and messed with her magic. 

But that night, when Eda had led them into her kitchen and showed them the countless generations carved into the wall…her touch against the weathered wood had been so reverent. 

She’d glowed then, her eyes bright with something they’d never seen in her before.

They’d felt a little more dangerously infatuated with her then. 

Looking at her in that moment, remembering the glow in her eyes as they processed the last twenty four hours…

Raine had no idea if they would make a good parent, or what was going to happen between themself and Eda in the coming months. What they did know was that Eda had not broken their future, as she seemed to believe. She’d set it ablaze with new possibilities. 

Being in Eda’s orbit wasn’t new to them, but what they were carefully trying to build between them now was something entirely new than when they were young. A shadow of when they were a pair of dumb kids fumbling around together, made an entirely different experience by the years they’d spent apart and the witches they’d become, and the new life they were preparing for. 

Despite the hours they’d spent in Eda’s kitchen, tracing new scars and calluses, relearning each other in conversations so long their voices went hoarse, there was still one subject they both skirted around warily. 

The curse. 

Granted, Eda was trying to be more open, and Raine respected that. So far, she had carefully confided in them little things, said quickly and offhand before hastily changing the subject. 

“Urgh, shaving feathers off is harder than hair, the quills suck to remove. Hand me that mug by the sink, will ya?” 

“I’d rather wait till after the sun goes down to sit outside. Nocturnal eyes, bright light is a literal pain. Hey, just wait, there’s this massive colony of lantern bugs out here, you’re gonna love it.” 

“Don’t listen to Hooty, he’s a fuckin troll. You ever use a sparkly fidget to distract me like that, I’ll steal your teeth, got it?”

They were little things, but they were everything. 

It meant Eda was making an effort, even if she wasn’t ready for The Conversation yet. 

That was okay. 

They could wait, if she kept opening up in little ways like this in the meantime. 

Because even if Eda wasn’t ready to talk about the ugly parts of her curse, the parts that had scared her so much she’d pushed them away, her subtle way of confiding in them meant the door was open. 

It was only a matter before she was ready to step outside. 

Late morning sun flooded the living room, and Raine spared a quick scratch to Eda’s scalp before making their way back to the kitchen with the groceries. 

Today was going to be a significant marker in this new chapter of their lives. 

Eda was going to see Healer Markov, and Raine was going to be there to hold her hand. 

Metaphorically, of course. They knew from experience that if they actually tried to do something as dorky as hold her hand during a healer’s appointment, they were liable to lose a finger or five. 

They were making progress, but Eda still balked at showing vulnerability, something they were certain they could blame on the infamous exes she had complained about under the influence of an impressive amount of apple blood all those months ago. 

Raine was not a violent witch, occasionally, however, they were willing to make an exception. 

And every witch who had held Eda’s heart in their hands and made her believe that she was a burden unless she was warming their bed had a bright red fucking target on their back.

They shook their head and breathed harshly through their nose. Now wasn’t the time to be pissed. This was going to be a stressful day for Eda, and they wanted to start the day off on a high note to help lower her anxiety. 

They hummed a nonsensical tune under their breath as they entered the kitchen, giving Hooty a grateful nod when he took the groceries from them to start putting away quietly. For all his limitless energy, the house demon took Eda’s rare hours of rest very seriously, and the obvious care in his actions had Raine warming up to him faster than expected. 

The way he regurgitated Eda’s mail still freaked them out, though. 

And the eyes. They already weren’t the biggest fan of eye contact with most people, but titan, did Hooty have the most unnerving eyes they had ever seen. 

Maybe it was because he was so old, they mused as they pulled a pan out of one of the lower cabinets and started searching the cluttered mess that were Eda’s utensil drawers for a spatula. Hooty acted childish and clumsy, but according to Eda, he was nearly as old as the house itself. His exact origins were a mystery, but he reeked of Old Magic that left the hairs on the back of their neck prickling, though Eda seemed unbothered by that particular aspect of the house demon. They suspected it was because of her own link to the house, though they couldn’t sense it’s magic on her as they could on Hooty. 

Raine made a tiny noise of victory when they finally found a spatula in one of the cluttered drawers, taking care not to disturb any of the other contents as they fished it out. What was complete havoc to them, was apparently, according to Eda, a carefully cultivated system years in the making. The last time they’d accidentally messed with said system, they had received quite the rant from Eda regarding its importance. They hadn’t actually understood most of it, but the gist they received was that if so much as a spoon was out of place in Eda’s kitchen, the entire house would surely fall to ruin. 

Generally they heeded her words and left the actual cooking to Eda. Even if she had to cover her face when she cooked to prevent an unwelcome smell from interrupting her work, she really was amazing with the stove…and the oven…and the pantry, because apparently she made her own vinegar too, because Eda Clawthorne never went halfway when she decided she wanted to learn something. 

But today they felt the eggs and mushrooms they were planning to present to Eda might just soothe her ire at the disturbance in her territory. 

Mushrooms in particular were a new favorite of Eda’s. The first time Raine had brought a package of them over her eye’s had gone wide at the smell and she’d eaten all of them raw before they even had a chance to do anything with them. 

They smiled at the memory of Eda sitting cross-legged on the kitchen table, cheeks stuffed with mushrooms, looking surprised at her own actions. 

“Uuuh, ah fink ah ‘ike deese.” 

They’d nearly doubled over laughing, cheeks aching from the force of their mirth, but nevertheless Raine had vowed to make sure the house never ran out of mushrooms unless Eda grew tired of them, or her taste buds turned again. 

Raine maneuvered around Hooty, who had his head buried in a grocery bag, to grab a few eggs from the fridge and pluck some red spicy button mushrooms from a bit of twine hanging from the rafters. (They had to stand on their toes to reach them and they thanked the titan that Eda wasn’t awake to laugh at them) 

Cooking eggs was an easy task, and they relaxed further as they lit the stove and dropped a little butter into the pan. 

Hooty finished rooting around and putting things away, and he slithered out the window, making an interested noise at the back of his throat that Raine had come to learn meant that he had spotted a bug. 

For a few minutes, they were alone, and they soaked up the calm silence of the house. 

A floorboard creaked behind them, but before they had a chance to question it, a pair of long, strong arms wrapped around their torso from behind and a familiar pointy chin dug into the crook of their neck. 

They leaned back slightly against the warm weight behind them. 

“Hey, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Raine greeted her softly. 

“Mmm, smelled food. Is that my spatula?” 

Ah, busted. 

“Well, I certainly didn’t bring one over from my apartment.” 

“Hmph. Don’t try to put anything away when you’re done. I’ll fix whatever you messed with later.” 

“I resent that! Honestly, you try to do a nice thing, and the witch you’re feeding insults you!” 

“You don’t understand my system,” she whined into their neck. 

They chuckled and shook their head. 

“Well, consider breakfast a token of my sincerest apologies. Do you want your yolks runny or cooked today?” 

“Uuuh, cooked, please.” 

Please, huh? She must still be tired. 

“Cooked it is, then.” 

Raine popped the yolk on the two eggs in the pan and reached over for the salt, smirking when Eda moved with them. 

“Are you going to let go of me any time soon?” 

Immediately, her hands loosened around their torso. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-” 

They dropped the spatula to take her hands and wrap them back around their waist. 

“I was only teasing,” they reassured her quietly. “I like having you close.” 

 Eda hesitated, but after a moment she relaxed again, tucking her head back into their shoulder and swaying with their movements as they made her breakfast. 

When her food was done, Eda still did not move away, and instead left her plate on the counter next to the stove, tearing the eggs into chunks with her long nails and picking away at her plate slowly with one hand while Raine made their own breakfast. 

She popped a mushroom in her mouth and hummed happily. 

Raine scrunched their nose playfully. 

“I don’t know how you can stand those things,” they murmured, flipping their own runny eggs.  “I tried one of them and I thought my mouth was going to catch fire.” 

Eda shrugged and grabbed another one. 

“‘S a bird thing,” she said. “Can’t taste spicy. These ones are just kinda savory to me, but I used to really like peppers, before my little bully tampered with my taste buds. They’re kinda sweet, but not in a sugary way, like, almost a melon-y kinda flavor.” 

“Huh. interesting.” 

“Yeah. I kinda miss being able to taste the spice though. I liked the face-on-fire feeling.” 

“Of course you did, you weirdo,” they deadpanned. 

Eda giggled and rubbed her nose against their neck, not quite kissing them, but chastely pressing her lips against their skin. 

Raine blushed and cleared their throat. 

“So, today’s a big day.” 

Eda stiffened, and they turned off the stove and gently removed her arms so they could turn around and give her a proper hug. 

“I meant what I said. I’ll be with you the whole time. Unless you say ‘Raine Whispers, I’m so sick of your hovering, get away from me.’ Then I’m gone, no questions asked.” 

Eda laughed. 

“That’s…That’s never gonna happen, Rainestorm.” 

They smiled at the familiar pet name. 

“Then I guess I’m never leaving.” 

Chapter Text

Eda was pretty sure she was going to throw up. 

Again. 

The subtle tinge of antiseptic and medical grade potions felt amplified in her sensitive nose. Paired with the bright lights, and the squeak of practical footwear against tile, it was impossible to pretend she was anywhere but inside a hospital. 

Raine pressed a little closer to her on the bench where they were both seated in the waiting room, and the warm line of their body heat at her side prompted her to take another deep breath instead of giving in to the ever-present nausea. 

Their callused hand bumped against hers in a silent offer. 

Eda hated everything about this situation. The weakness, the vulnerability. She felt like she was seconds away from being trapped under a magnifying glass to be picked at and pulled apart. 

She wanted to run. 

She wanted to move away and hide her face behind her hair and hiss at anyone who got close to her. 

Instead, she took their hand and gripped it like a life-line, knuckles white. 

“Appointment for Clawthorne?” 

Eda stiffened. 

Raine raised their free hand in her place while using the other to rub their thumb soothingly across her knuckles. 

“Room six.” 

The secretarial witch didn’t pay any more attention to the pair of them and the lack of eyes made it a little easier to stand on stiff legs and let Raine guide her in the right direction by their linked hands. 

The walk to the healer’s room was fuzzy. 

Eda could feel phantom hands on her. 

She felt like a child again, being forced to sit still and be silent while her mother spoke for her to blank-faced healers ready to tell Gwendolyn just about anything just to make her happy and earn a few snails. 

Raine placed their hands on her shoulders and Eda realized with a blink that she was sitting down on a padded table the examination room. 

“Hey, there you are,” Raine said quietly. “You’re doing great.” 

“I’m a fucking mess,” Eda croaked. 

“That’s okay. You’re doing better than you think.”

Eda closed her eyes. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“For what, Calamity?” 

“For being like this. I’m a grown ass adult, I shouldn-” 

“No.” Raine said firmly, tugging her into a hug. “There’s nothing wrong with your reaction to being here. I can’t imagine what you must have gone through back then, but I know you should never be ashamed of the way it affected you.” 

Eda leaned into their touch gratefully. 

“Thanks, Rainestorm.” 

They pressed a quick peck to the corner of her mouth before pulling away. 

“Anytime, Calamity.” 

The door clicked open and a familiar demon with pale blue skin and sharp eyes behind half-moon spectacles walked in. 

Eda tried for a cocky grin when she made eye contact. 

“Hey, Markov.” 

Healer Markov huffed and set her faithful clipboard down on her desk. 

“So, you’ve finally come to see me again, brat?” 

It wasn’t a question. 

“Uh, sorry?” 

Markov only shook her head. 

“Kids these days,” she muttered. 

She sat down at her desk and shuffled through her papers. 

“It was quite the nasty shock when your mother announced she was removing you from my primary care after you were cursed,” she stated bluntly in an annoyed tone. “The nerve of that woman…I don’t suppose any of the crackpots she attempted to replace me with actually had anything useful to say on the matter?” 

“...not really, no,” Eda admitted shortly. 

Oddly enough, in the presence of Markov’s gruff, snappy demeanor, Eda found herself relaxing marginally. 

Markov made another irritated noise and looked back up, this time pinning her stern gaze on Raine, who froze like a startled not-deer at the attention. 

“And who are you?” 

“A-ah, w-well-” Raine stuttered nervously and glanced at Eda uncertainly. 

“They’re my partner,” Eda surprised herself by being the one to speak up. 

Raine looked equally surprised by her declaration. 

Hmm. Yeah. They hadn’t really established what they were right now, but considering the current situation, Eda figured it was the best explanation. 

Thankfully, Raine collected themself quickly. 

“Erm, yes. Raine Whispers,” they said, face tinged pink as they introduced themself. 

Markov raised a brow and turned back to Eda with an expectant look. 

Eda felt her face heat up. 

“I, uh, might, kinda, be here for a specific reason?” 

Markov stared at her for several more moments, looking completely unsurprised. 

Eda fidgeted with a strand of hair. 

Markov’s eyes drifted down for half a second before she turned away entirely. 

“Well, that certainly complicates matters a bit.” 

“Hah. Yeah. Just a bit,” Eda muttered.  

Markov stood and picked up her clipboard. 

Eda tensed. 

Raine squeezed her hand silently. 

“Might as well start with the basics. Do you want to get right into the heart of the matter, or do you mind if I ask a few questions first?”

Eda shrugged. 

“Go ahead.” 

Markov nodded and charmed her pen to press itself to a blank document. 

“The last time you were in my care, I examined you to diagnose and treat a possession and metamorphosis grade curse. Are you still under the effects of this curse?” 

Eda frowned but nodded. 

“Yes.” 

“Have the effects of the curse still changed at all?” 

“Not that I noticed?” 

“And do you still take the prescribed elixir to suppress it’s effects?” 

“Yeah.” 

“How often?” 

Eda shrugged. 

“Just as needed, mostly. The last time I needed to take it was… a month ago? Give or take a week.” 

Markov frowned but said nothing as she flipped through a separate set of documents. 

“I want to take a few full-body diagnosis scans, is that alright?” 

Eda hesitated. 

Raine rubbed their thumb over her knuckles. 

She took a deep breath. 

“Yeah, that’s fine.” 

Blue light washed over her and the floating pen started to write faster all it recorded all of her vitals. 

“My earliest impressions of your curse was that the largest threat it posed to your health were the strenuous transformations. I predicted that over time the aggressive nature of your shifts into the owl beast would cause strain to your joints and overall stress to your body. Unfortunately what I’m observing in these readings is that I was fairly accurate.” 

She looked at Eda over the tops of her spectacles. 

“Looking at this information, I’m seeing signs of chronic joint pain. Would you say this is likely accurate?” 

Eda was hyper aware of Raine’s concerned gaze on her even as she kept her eyes forward and nodded wordlessly. 

“Mhm…” Markov flipped through her documents again and sighed. 

“Well, that’s just about everything. Going into what these scans are showing, I am seeing some minor signs of malnourishment, but nothing I would call overly concerning at the moment. To confirm for my records, you are pregnant?” 

Eda nodded, face heating up once more. 

Markov raised her eyebrows. 

“Don’t give me that look, dear, I’ve treated five generations of your family. You’re hardly the first child I’ve watched grow up and start the cycle anew. There’s nothing to be embarrassed of, except perhaps your atrocious posture, but I’m more than used to that by now.” 

Eda snorted and rolled her eyes. 

“My posture is fine,” she whined. 

Raine made a small noise at the back of their throat and Eda whipped her head around to glare at them. 

“Don’t agree with her! You’re supposed to be on my side!” 

They raised their hands in a show of surrender. 

“I didn’t say anything!” 

“You were thinking it,” she accused. 

They didn’t say anything in their defense and Eda groaned. 

“Unbelievable.” 

“If you’re quite done,” Markov cut in with a pointed look, “I don’t suppose you can tell me how far along you are, Edalyn?” 

Eda stuck her tongue out very maturely at Raine before turning back to the healer. 

“About eleven weeks now.” 

“Are you comfortable with me scanning the fetus?” 

“That’s fine.” 

The light drifted by several shades and Eda’s stomach felt as though a warm blanket had been slung over it. 

“Vitals are reading off as reasonably healthy. Everything checks out for approximately eleven weeks. Have you been experiencing typical pregnancy symptoms such as  nausea, dizziness, or difficulty controlling or maintaining a spell circle?” 

“Nausea, yes. Definitely. A thousand percent on that one,” Eda deadpanned. “I haven’t been able to keep food down in weeks.” 

“You’ve been doing a lot better lately,” Raine reminded her.

“Yeah, but it still sucks,” she griped. 

Markov chuckled. 

“Unfortunately, it’s not going to get much better the further along you are. The nausea may fade, but there will likely be flare ups. In a typical pregnancy, symptoms and side effects I generally warn the carrying parent about would also include fatigue, mood swings, issues with thermoregulation, headaches, nose bleeds, leg cramps, increased anxiety or stress levels, drops in blood sugar, and many parents have reported concerns about painful stomach cramps, but unless you experience any blood spotting akin to menstruation symptoms, there should be nothing to worry about there.” 

Eda felt her mood darken with every addition to Markov’s list. 

She glanced at Raine to give them a halfhearted glare for their hand in her current predicament and saw with a tiny amount of vindictive amusement that they looked shocked and deeply concerned. 

“Oh, dear,” they said faintly. “That’s quite a lot.” 

Markov gave them an amused look. 

“Oh, there’s more, but I find it saves time to get the basics out of the way and recommend the proper reading material on the patient’s way out.”

She shuffled through her papers and sighed. 

“There is also my concern that this will not be a typical pregnancy. Your curse complicates matters a bit.” 

Ice flooded Eda’s veins within seconds. 

“What do you mean?” 

Markov hesitated, a look of sympathy in her eyes. 

“It’s largely to do with your overall physical health. Once you get into the second trimester, a loss of mobility is to be expected, but your pre-existing issues with joint pain will likely worsen this. There’s also the matter of the elixirs prescribed for your curse containing several ingredients that will not be safe for consumption for the remainder of your term.” 

Panic jolted cold and sharp in her chest. 

“I was already pregnant the last time I took one-” 

“And there doesn’t seem to be any sort of damage from the occurrence,” Markov assured her quickly. “However, it absolutely should not happen again. I can recommend a safer prescription, but it won’t be nearly as effective as your current elixir. You’ll have to take it far more frequently, and keeping your stress levels down as much as possible will also help.” 

Eda bit her lip. 

“If…I transform at all…” 

“Then the consequences will likely be fatal to the fetus,” Markov confirmed grimly. 

A headache made itself known behind Eda’s eyes and she swore for a few seconds she could smell copper and blood in the air before it suddenly vanished and all that remained was a stinging heat that betrayed her turbulent emotions. 

Raine was pressed against her side in an instant, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. 

“But everything is fine at the moment, right?” They asked Markov. 

She nodded. 

“The fetus is currently at optimum health for their stage of development. Given how infrequently you’ve had to take your elixirs thus far, I’d say with confidence that chances of a transformation are actually a lower level of danger at the moment than others of a more typical case. Your calcium and vitamin readings, however, are a mess, Edalyn.” 

The look she leveled Eda with successfully dragged a watery chuckle out of her as she leaned into Raine’s reassuring side hug. 

 “I’m going to give you the benefit of a doubt and blame it on first trimester nausea,” she said lightly. 

“Gee, thanks for the mercy, doc,” Eda sniffed. 

Markov ignored her quip and carried on. 

“Luckily, this is fairly common in first time parents. I’ll prescribe you some prenatal vitamins, and a calcium booster tonic as well, to be on the safe side.” 

“I can probably make that last one at home, easy,” Eda said offhandedly. 

Markov made a scolding gesture with her hand. 

“Another thing, is that I highly recommend keeping any potion brewing to a minimum. Even in well ventilated spaces, potion fumes can be fairly hazardous in your condition.” 

Eda frowned. 

“I make potions for a living. I kinda have to be able to brew on a daily basis.” 

“We’ll figure something out,” Raine promised her quietly. 

Eda frowned but decided to wait for a better time to get into that particular argument. 

Markov snapped her fingers and her pen settled neatly on top of the clipboard. 

“Do you have any other questions for me?” 

Eda wracked her brain and came up blank. A glance at Raine told her they also weren’t sure what to say. 

She shrugged. 

Markov smiled. 

“Then I suppose it’s time for the fun part.” 

Eda cocked her head in confusion. 

“Huh?” 

Her smile widened. 

“Would you like to hear the heartbeat?” 

Raine quietly sucked in a breath and Eda felt similarly out of breath. 

Suddenly unable to speak, she nodded wordlessly. 

Markov’s grin softened and she carefully traced her hand through the air to form a wide circle that burned a soft, deep indigo before filling up with the image of a dark, hazy shadow that twitched and curled in on itself. 

Eda gasped. 

“I-is that-” 

A fast, fluttery sound filled the room. 

Eda pressed a hand to her stomach, feeling awed as the fluttering in her stomach matched the movements on the projection in front of her. 

Raine made a strangled noise at the back of their throat, eyes wet behind their glasses. 

Markov muttered something Eda didn’t hear and quietly stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click. 

Eda couldn’t breathe, didn’t dare even blink as her eyes glued to the image before her, ears straining to memorize the tiny, firebee-fast heartbeat being projected through the room. 

“Well what do you know,” she whispered. “You really do look like a mean jelly bean, don’t ya, kiddo?” 

Raine burst out in a watery laugh but pressed a kiss to her cheek rather than scold her. 

Her vision blurred and Eda realized with a jolt that she was crying too. 

That was a baby. 

She was pregnant. 

That was a baby. 

And Raine was here. 

With her. 

Because they were doing this together.

Heat filled up in her chest and threatened to burst as the reality of it all suddenly solidified around her. 

It was as though the last couple of months she’d been floating in a haze and suddenly the ground finally felt solid. 

Real. 

Definitely not a dream. 

Another hot rush of tears escaped her eyes and Eda had to turn then to bury her face in Raine’s shoulder. 

Raine shuddered and held her close. 

“Well,” they murmured brokenly into her ear, “This is a little backwards, but all things considered, I should probably take you out on a date, huh?” 

Eda laughed so hard her shoulders shook and her cheeks ached. 

She’d cried so much their shirt was stained, her makeup was definitely ruined and her whole face felt a little puffy. 

Despite this, she didn’t hesitate to press her lips softly to Raine’s, a purr building up in her chest. 

“Sure, Rainestorm, I’d like that.” 

She rested her head against their chest and closed her eyes. 

Together, the two of them listened in hopeful silence to the tiny, fluttering heartbeat. 

Chapter Text

Getting promoted to captain was simultaneously the best and worst thing to ever happen to Lilith Clawthorne. 

On one hand, she was now a slightly more respected member of the Emperor’s coven, with a plethora of new responsibilities and her own squad of coven scouts under her command

On the other, she now had a plethora of new responsibilities and an entire squad of coven scouts under her command. 

‘Under her command’ being a light and pleasant way of saying she had two dozen adult toddlers with access to lethal weaponry to constantly supervise, lest they get themselves or any nearby civilians killed. 

She already disliked company in a general sense, but spending close quarters with her new squad for the past four months, re-training them to her specifications, completing assignments, and patrolling the streets of Latissa, had given her an entirely new hatred for having other witches in her general vicinity. 

Lilith was exhausted on a level she hadn’t experienced since basic training. If this was what she had been like as a green recruit, she supposed she couldn’t blame her old superior officer for trying to dry-drown her on several occasions. 

Her apartment was not home in an emotional sense, but she had never been so happy to set foot within its drafty walls as she had today. Tonight? No, no that was…almost certainly sunlight coming through her bedroom window. 

…almost certainly. 

Her sight enhancement spell had worn off some time ago. 

Her latest assignment had been a grueling, but unfortunately fairly standard critical aide and assistance to a small coastal village on the Left Shoulder. A boiling storm had wrecked the infrastructure and left it vulnerable to parasitic semi-aquatic arachnids known as tarantuleaches. 

Large. Semi-aquatic arachnids. 

It had been Lilith’s duty along with some collaboration from a few witches belonging to the construction coven to repair the town’s defenses and eliminate the colony of parasites. 

Not a complicated assignment, but a very long and grueling one nonetheless. 

Lilith collapsed onto bed with a drawn-out groan, rubbing her heavy, itchy eyes with the palm of her hand. 

The air-circulator clicked on overhead, and she sighed at the cool air on her hot, bruised skin. 

Titan, her head was pounding, right behind her eyes. She rolled over onto her side and splayed an arm over her face, attempting to force her pulse to slow and sleep off her headache. 

…

The sun was very bright today. 

…

Her cooling system was actually fairly loud.

…

Was her kitchen clean?

What did she even have in the kitchen? She didn’t recall leaving any perishables in stock before leaving, but that was several months ago…

She still needed to unpack her rucksack. 

Her uniform needed mending. 

What was that noise? 

Lilith growled and sat up, squinting angrily at the blurry flashing light on her desk across the room, which was buzzing angrily. 

Her crystal ball. 

Lilith grit her teeth and got out of bed with extreme prejudice. 

Fine. 

No resting. 

She knew when she was defeated. 

She cursed darkly under her breath as she stomped over to the bathroom and dug through her mirror cabinet for a painkiller tonic. 

A single half-empty vial of the stuff rested behind a crushed box of bandages and lilith squinted at it, trying to remember just how old this potion was and if it was going to poison her. 

Well, only one way to find out. 

Lilith downed the remnants of the potion and disposed of the vial with a grimace at the stale, bitter taste. 

She leaned against the bathroom wall and waited a minute or so for pulsating pain behind her eyes to ebb with a sigh. Her stomach cramped a bit, but after another minute or so nothing else happened so she figured she wasn’t going to die via an expired painkiller… today. 

She cast another vision spell to hopefully keep any more headaches at bay and shuffled back to her room tiredly. 

The reason her crystal ball was making its irritation known turned out to be that her message inbox had reached full storage at some point while she was absent in the past few months. 

She frowned. 

It was rare for her to receive any sort of correspondence. Should she be needed for whatever reason by the Emperor’s coven she was summoned directly through her crystal pager, and she had very few acquaintances outside of the coven, certainly none of whom would know her communications number. 

Frowning, she cast playback and plucked her rucksack off the floor by the door, electing to get some unpacking done while she listened to whatever had been sent. 

“-Hey, Lils, it’s Eda-” 

Lilith gasped and dropped her bag. 

“-listen, something uuuh- shit- listen something happened. I know you’re probably busy with coven shit, but call me back soon, okay?” 

Her little sister sounded exhausted. Her voice was raspy and she could hear something clattering in the background, like metal dropping off a high surface. 

Suddenly Lilith no longer felt tired, heart twisting abruptly in her chest. Any lingering fatigue rapidly fleeing her mind. 

“-Lilith, hey, I saw that article in the news. Guess you’re still busy. I know you ain’t my biggest fan and all, but I really need to talk to you-” 

“-Your apartment looks abandoned as all fuck, so I guess you really aren’t avoiding me. Sorry about breaking in. Call me!” 

“-Lilith, you’ve been gone for months, when are you coming home? Does emperor fuckface’s little club not have any signal at HQ? Answer me already!” 

“-Look if you aren’t allowed to take calls or something, fucking fine! Hext me, hell, send me a fucking letter but I need to talk to you!” 

“-Lily, I’m scared! Come home , I need you!” 

Fear like a jagged lance struck Lilith hard, breath catching, throat closing up. 

What had happened while she was away? Edalyn sounded devastated! Every message recorded with an undertone of panic in her voice, if not poorly suppressed sobs. 

Was it her curse? Had it gotten worse? Was she sick? Titan, was she hurt? 

Endless possibilities flooded Lilith’s mind of Edalyn, her unfathomably irreplaceable little sister, injured, ill, so desperate that she felt the need to turn to Lilith of all witches! 

A panicked, wounded noise tore from her throat. The world felt too big suddenly. The walls were too far apart, her skin, the spaces between her bones. The world was too loud , too far apart she was goingtoshakeapart -

Lilith wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed, digging her nails into her arms, hoping the stinging pain would be enough to keep her feet on the ground and mind present.

Focus. 

Focus! 

She-

She needed to leave. What in titan’s name was she still doing here? 

Lilith summoned her staff and tore out the door, not bothering to look for her cloak on the way out. 

Her little sister needed her. 

--------------------------------------

Edalyn’s home was located a good distance away from Bonesburrough. Lilith had only been there once before, and during the flight her anxiety reached new heights as she wondered if she even knew how to find it again. 

She flew as fast as Artemisia could manage, ignoring the sting of wind-burn without her cloak or a jacket to shield her arms and face from traveling through the cold morning air. 

Despite her fear and her buzzing mind making it difficult to focus on navigating, the top of the tower her sister’s house was built into was easy to spot over the treeline of the forest outside the city. 

She instinctively began lowering towards the pale cottage, feet brushing the treetops as she hadn’t yet reached the clearing. 

Her landing was clumsy, but Lilith could hardly be pressed to give a damn when she tripped and stumbled off of her staff, grateful to be wearing her sturdy, standard-issue military boots that prevented her from twisting her ankles as she hit the ground running. 

“Ohh hey? Are you another new friend, hoot ho-OW!” 

Lilith pounded on the door, heart hammering in her chest. 

“Edalyn! Edalyn, are you there? Eda-” 

Her breathlessness caught up with her and she choked on a yell, lungs burning with a distinct copper tang. 

Still she kept knocking. 

“E-Edalyn!” 

Just as Lilith was contemplating breaking down the door, the handle began to jiggle. 

The door cracked open, a single golden eye visible on the other side. 

Lilith felt like her heart was in her throat. 

“Edalyn? I got your mess-” 

She was cut off by a sharp gasp. 

“Lily?” 

Lilith nodded rapidly. 

“Yes, it’s me. Are you-” 

“Lily!” 

The door flung open and Lilith stumbled backwards and nearly fell over as she was caught off-guard by her sister’s tight-almost painfully so-embrace. 

She went stiff, unsure what to do as her vision was obscured by bright red hair and strong arms wrapped in a soft oversized sweater enveloped her frame. 

“I missed you so much!” Eda shouted, and Lilith noted with a pang of discomfort that she was sniffling a bit. 

She squirmed and patted her back awkwardly. 

“I…missed you too, Edalyn,” she admitted. 

Eda gave her one last squeeze and took a step back, hands clasped on her older sister’s shoulders. 

Lilith blinked. 

Eda looked…different. 

Her face was rounder, her jaw a little less sharp, and similarly her frame was noticeably less bony. And while her fiery hair had always been thick, there was a different shine to it, making it look softer than the matted mess she usually let it turn into. 

Even her eyes looked brighter, molten aureate practically glowing as she beamed up at Lilith, and she very nearly felt the urge to squint. 

“You…look well,” Lilith said hesitantly. “I-I just returned from coven business a few hours ago. I got your messages. Edalyn, what happened?” 

Eda stiffened and averted her eyes. 

“Oh. Uh. Right.”

“Were you injured?” Lilith pressed. “Did you get sick? Did something happen with your curse?” 

Red flooded Eda’s face and she waved her hands frantically. 

“Uuuh, not the curse. I’m not…well I’m not technically sick-” 

“Technically?” Lilith screached, and Eda groaned. 

“Listen don’t freak out-”

“Oh sweet titan,” Lilith exclaimed with mounting horror. “What did you do?” 

“Definitely not whatever you’re thinking of,” Eda said automatically, before flustering again. 

“I mean-Gah! Look, nothing illegal- I mean in a general sense I’m always doing something-not the point! What I mean is, uuh, you know how sometimes, I…occasionally-No, no that’s not a good start. Shiiiit. Look. It’s not… bad news. I mean. Depending on what your personal views happen to be on the topic. I know plenty of people are absolutely revolted-I…geeze I am not selling this well-” 

“Eda, is everything alright?” 

Both sisters jumped and turned around towards the doorway. 

Standing with a hand on the frame with a smug-looking house demon beside them was a face Lilith had not seen in over a decade. 

“Whispers?” she asked incredulously. 

She looked back at her sister, who was staring at the ground with laser focus, face a blazing scarlet. 

Raine made a startled noise and turned nearly as red as Eda. 

“Oh! Lilith! Hi…em. Nice t-to see you?” 

 What. 

Something was…distinctly out of place. 

Whispers’ presence was a surprise, but Lilith had been more surprised that the break in their relationship had lasted as long as it had in the first place. 

Was their newest phase in their relationship fairly recent?

But that was hardly any cause for embarrassment. Lilith had born witness to many mortifying exchanges between these two. 

For titan’s sake, she’d gone through the torture of actually having to see them dance around each other all throughout their youth. 

So…why?..

Oh. 

Whispers was wearing sleep clothes. 

Distinctly borrowed looking sleep clothes. 

Honestly. 

Lilith groaned and rolled her eyes. 

“Oh, for fucks sake.” 

Raine made a wounded noise and covered their face with their hands, blush rising all the way to the tips of their ears. 

Eda blinked and coughed. 

“Oh, yeah. That too. That’s uuuh, kind of not… well-” 

“I’d certainly hope none of your calls had anything to do with them,” Lilith stated with a raised brow, staring down her old classmate with distinct purpose. “Considering how distressed you sounded at the time.”

Eda and Raine made odd noises at the back of their throats simultaneously. 

Lilith narrowed her eyes. 

Raine scratched the back of their head and lowered their eyes. 

Eda folded her arms over her chest, sighing. 

“Y’know what, screw it. I suck at this ‘bearing the news’ shit.” 

Raine’s eyes widened and they turned towards their girlfriend with a panicked expression. 

“Eda, wait-” 

“You’re gonna be an aunt. Congrats,” Eda said bluntly. 

Raine squeaked and stiffened. 

Lilith blinked. 

“What.” 

“I’m pregnant,” Eda stated. “You’re gonna be an aunt.” 

Edalyn was-

What. 

“What.” 

Eda grimaced. 

“Look, it’s kind of complicated-” 

Lilith held up a hand, cutting her off. 

She stared at the bard in the doorway. 

“You did this?”

It wasn’t a question. 

Raine swallowed thickly. 

“...Yes?” 

Lilith nodded.

“I see.” 

She summoned her staff. 

“I’m going to kill you.” 

Raine laughed nervously. 

“Lilith, look, I-” 

She raised her staff. 

They bolted. 

Lilith turned on her heel and took off after them. 

Eda squawked. 

“What the-LILITH!” 

Raine sprinted barefoot across the clearing, narrowly dodging a fireball. 

“LILITH I’M SORRY!” 

“YOU!” She growled, firing up another spell circle. “KNOCKED UP MY LITTLE SISTER?” 

“I CAN EXPLAIN-” 

They yelped and ducked as another fireball sailed over their head. 

“Not the face!” Eda screamed frantically. 

“ That’s what you’re worried about right now?” Raine cried as they ran past her. 

“I like your face! That’s a good thing!” She defended with her hands on her hips. 

“What about- ack -WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF ME?” 

Eda paused and winced. 

“Okay, yeah, good point!” 

She cupped her hands around her mouth and took a deep breath. 

“LILY! CUT IT OUT!” 

“NO!” She screamed, fury twisting her features as she dropped her staff entirely in favor of gaining speed on the stupid little spawn of a-

“OH COME ON,” Eda shot back exasperatedly. “ LILY, THIS IS A GOOD THING!” 

“WHAT?” she yelled back without taking her eyes off of her target. 

“Lily!” 

Eda’s tone was different now, and the change was enough to make her slow her pace. 

“Lily, I’m pregnant!” Eda cried, beaming widely. “You’re gonna be an aunt!” 

Lilith came to a sudden stop, staring at her sister in shock as the reality of her news set in. 

Oh. 

Oh. 

“Titan,” Lilith breathed. “You’re pregnant.” 

Eda nodded, and for the first time Lilith noticed that she was crying. 

Her hands rose into the air and shook unbidden as a new, much warmer feeling bloomed in her chest.  

Several yards away, Raine collapsed onto the grass, wheezing heavily. 

She ignored them. .

“Oooh, Edalyyyn!” She squealed, rushing over to her sister, taking her by the hands and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “You’re going to have a baby!” 

“I know!” Eda cried back. 

“Oh stars, this is so exciting,” She gushed. “How far along are you?” 

“Three months and some change,” Eda answered, still beaming widely. 

“F-fourteen weeks,” Raine chimed in with a wheeze as they stumbled to their feet. “Just- huff- just starting the second term.” 

They carefully approached the two women, edging around Lilith with wide eyes and coming to stand slightly behind their girlfriend, resting a hand on her shoulder while continuing to try and catch their breath. 

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you,” Lilith apologized profusely. 

“It’s okay,” Eda accepted, without much thought. “You were probably…ah geeze, Lils.” 

Lilith blinked. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Suddenly two pale hands were on either side of her face. 

Lilith yelped and stiffened. 

“Are you even skinnier than the last time I saw you?” Eda asked in a strained tone. “When was the last time you ate?” 

Lilith gaped, floundering for a response in the face of Eda’s sudden shift in mood. 

“I-I’m fine, Edalyn. It’s just been a lengthy few months.” 

Eda’s brow furrowed and her lower lip jutted out. 

“Are you sure?” 

Oh, no. 

Were those tears? 

Lilith…was fairly certain she was deathly allergic to tears. 

Raine gently pulled Eda back a few steps, forcing her to relinquish her grip on Lilith’s face. 

Gratitude sparked in her chest and she supposed she could forgive them for their current transgressions. 

…not that she was going to tell them that. 

It served a much greater benefit if the bard remained cautious of her. 

“How about this?” Raine proposed, leading Eda back into the house. “It’s as good a time as any to get started on breakfast. How about you join us, Lilith? Eda can fill you in on everything while I get started on…” 

They paused and hummed. 

“What are you in the mood for?” 

The question was clearly directed at Eda, and her eyes widened. 

“Curry! And peppers. And…uh, the red stuff, please?” 

Raine chuckled. 

“Curry it is.” 

They stood on their toes to give her a quick, chaste kiss and darted into the house, Eda trailing after them eagerly. 

Lilith paused outside the doorway, a sudden bout of nerves stalling her from following her sister. 

What was she doing? 

Did she…even deserve to-

“Hey, new friend!” 

Lilith screamed and punched the bird-tube- thing that poked its head out of the front window with little warning. 

“OW! Geeze, hoot! No one ever appreciates my friendly demeanor!” The bird complained. 

Eda stuck her head back out the door with a scowl. 

“Hooty! Stop screwin around with her! C’mon, Lils.” 

She made a summoning gesture with her hand and went back inside. 

Lilith took a deep breath. 

“Of course.” 

She walked inside and let the door close behind her with a firm click. 

Chapter Text

“-So this is what they look like so far. I still say they look like an ugly peanut, but Raine insists I’m being too mean.” 

“You are! You’re gonna hurt their feelings!” 

“They don’t even have ears yet!” 

“That’s not the point!” 

Eda passed the photo to Lilith who accepted it gingerly, squealing with a broad grin stretching her cheeks. 

“Oh Edalyn, it’s adorable!” 

“Great, you’re just as delusional as Raine,” Eda deadpanned, settling down on the couch next to her sister. 

Lilith gave her a glare entirely lacking in her usual scolding bite. 

“Oh come on, you must think it’s a little cute?” 

“I think I liked them better before I knew what the freeloader attacking my insides all the time actually looked like,” she shot back with a smirk at Lilith’s frustrated expression. 

“Don’t listen to a word she says, Lilith!” Raine called from the kitchen. 

Eda whipped her head around to glare at the kitchen doorway despite not being able to even see her partner from her current angle. 

“Raine!” she called warningly. 

They poked their head out into the living room, eyes twinkling mischievously. 

“When the healer projected the baby she cried. She absolutely thinks they’re cute.” 

“RAINE!” 

Eda grabbed the nearest pillow and chucked it at them, growling when they avoided it with little effort. 

Lilith leaned forward, looking absolutely delighted in a way that Eda knew from experience meant she wouldn’t know any peace for a good long while. 

“ Really, now?” 

“Yes,” Raine confirmed, grin widening. 

“Shut up! It was just my stupid hormones!” Eda protested, face blazing red. “The fuck is your excuse, huh?” 

“Oh course I cried,” they retorted shamelessly. “I got to get the first glimpse of an adorable baby, carried by my lovely girlfriend, who is taking very good care of them despite the high physical and emotional toll, which I admire and respect more than I have words for.” 

Eda’s blush spread to the tips of her ears and down her neck. 

“I-shut the fuck up,” she stammered. 

“Aw, that’s adorable,” Lilith cooed. 

“Can you go back to hating my partner and never talking to them, please?” 

“When it suits me,” Lilith replied with a cool smirk. 

“Wait, do you really hate me?” Raine yelped. 

“When I am handed information about my sister’s love life that I very well could have gone without? Yes.” 

They grimaced. 

“That’s fair.” 

She arched her brow. 

“Indeed.” 

“How much longer until breakfast?” Eda interrupted with a pout. 

“Just a little longer, sorry,” Raine said. “Actually I should probably check on the rice. I’ll let you two catch up.” 

As they turned back into the kitchen, Lilith returned her attention to Eda. 

“I’m surprised you let them cook. You’ve always been so defensive over your tools.” 

Eda shrugged. 

“I’m learning to live with it.” 

Lilith gave her a disbelieving look. 

“Really?” 

“They’re a good cook,” she defended, crossing her arms. “So long as they leave everything they use in the sink after, and don’t mess with my system, I guess I can live with them using my stuff.” 

“Aw, how domestic of you,” Lilith teased. 

Eda punched her on the shoulder. 

“Shut up.” 

“But it’s so cute! My little sister is so soft now!”

“Call me soft again and I’ll steal your teeth.” 

Lilith lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Eda in a restraining hug. 

Eda squawked and tried to shove her off. 

“Get off of me!” 

“But Edalyn, I love you, baby sister!” 

“I hate you! And I’m not a kid! GET OFF!” 

“Nope!” 

“LILITH!” 

“Edalyn!” 

Eda hissed and kicked her legs in a futile attempt to escape. 

“I hate you!” 

“I love you too!” 

“Get ooooofff!” 

“But E-OW! Did you just bite me?” 

In the kitchen, Raine turned up some music on their scroll. 

They hadn’t survived this long without learning a very important lesson: 

Never get caught in the middle of a squabble between the Clawthorne sisters. 

-------------------------

Eda frowned. 

Her reflection frowned back. 

She turned to the side. 

Smoothed a hand over her dress. 

Turned again. 

Picked at the loose red fabric, huffing under her breath as it did nothing to change the results. 

“Something wrong?” Raine asked from the other side of the room.

“I’m not gonna be able to wear pants soon,” she griped. 

Which was ridiculous. 

The last time she’d worn a pair was just during Lilith’s visit a couple weeks ago, and she’d still been plenty comfortable.  

Now however she found her skinnier pairs nearly impossible to squeeze into, and her baggier ones’ days were likely just as numbered. 

Most of her dresses were still fine at least…but how much longer until those betrayed her too? 

Raine glanced up from the maternity book they were pouring over. 

“Huh?” 

“My stomach,” she said, gesturing to her torso. “It’s all…out there and stuff now.” 

They nodded. 

“It’s not actually that noticeable from an outside perspective just yet, but yes, rapid growth is to be expected during the second trimester.” 

“It’s weird. I feel… bloated . Do I look bloated?” 

“You look like someone who has a person growing in their uterus.” 

She stepped away from the vanity mirror and rolled her eyes. 

“What, no consoling platitudes about how I’m just as pretty as before you knocked me up?” 

They raised a brow. 

“Is that what you want me to say? I was under the impression you preferred unfiltered honesty regardless of your hormone levels.” 

She considered their words for a moment before huffing and flopping down into the nest, pouting up at the ceiling. 

“No, you’re right. I just feel…weird.” 

Weird was an understatement. 

Annoying might be an even better word. 

Aches, pains, leg cramps, and exhaustion that made no logical sense considering how often she napped were just the light and fluffy end of how the last couple of weeks had been going. 

It was enough to wear her patience down to a thread at times, though she always felt a twinge of guilt if she ended up snapping at Raine, who had been taking her ongoing bad mood with damn near saintly levels of grace. 

There was also the ongoing issue with her magic. At first she’d tried not to let it bother her, but as the weeks ticked by, her new lack of confidence in casting easy household charms and basic levitation spells was starting to stress her out. 

Sometimes she felt fine. There were days where, for the most part, she could forget she was having any issues at all, and every spell she cast came out perfectly. 

Aaaand then there were the days when every single spell circle broke and she had to swallow her pride and have Hooty help her with chores and potion cleanup. 

She knew her magic wasn’t really gone, just directing itself inwards to help Roomie stay healthy in the coming months leading to Eviction Day, but it still left her feeling entirely too vulnerable, knowing any shield she cast, any hex or fireball, could very well fail when she needed it the mosts. 

Raine leaned down and brushed a stray lock of hair from her brow before giving her a soft peck. 

“For the record, I do, in fact, find you incredibly cute-” 

Heat rose to her cheeks and she pushed their face away with an embarrassed noise at the back of her throat. 

Raine grinned against the palm of her hand, taking her wrist delicately and very purposefully pressing a kiss there before pulling away just to shuffle down so that they were laying on their back next to her. 

“- But, it also happens to be factually correct that growing a tiny person in your body is changing the way you look.” 

She groaned. 

“I know that! It’s still weird.” 

“I can’t Imagine,” they agreed sympathetically. 

A familiar flutter made themselves known in her abdomen. 

Eda grimaced and rolled over onto her side. 

“Alright?” 

“Yeah,” she muttered. “Just Roomie trying to get my attention. They’re getting-” 

She winced at one of the harder kicks.

“They’re getting a lot better at it.” 

It wasn’t painful, per se, but having a living creature squirming around in her gut was already such an inherently alien sensation that the increased strength behind their movements was definitely bordering on legitimate discomfort. 

Raine frowned. 

“I’m sorry.”

Eda grunted and closed her eyes, drawing her knees in. 

“...Can…uh…” 

She opened a single. 

Raine looked flustered, face red. 

“D-do you mind-Is is alright if I try something?” 

She considered them for a moment, then shrugged. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

They gave her a shy grin and one last kiss before sitting up. 

Eda opened both her eyes, blinking in confusion as her partner shuffled down until their face was level with her stomach. 

“Uh, Raine?” 

“Do you want to know what I was reading about just now?” 

She narrowed her eyes. 

“I swear to titan if you tell me something gross-” 

They shook their head quickly. 

“No, no.” 

They place their hands over the swell of her stomach, palms warm and gentle. 

“I’ve been reading a lot about the stages of development. There’s all sorts of interesting things going on right now.” 

They rubbed gentle circles into her skin. 

“For instance, according my source material, at approximately sixteen weeks, the baby is gaining mobility.”

“I coulda told you that.” Eda rolled her eyes. 

They chuckled. 

“Not just kicking. They can wiggle their toes and thumbsuck now. They can also hiccup. And-” 

They held her gaze as they pressed a soft kiss to her stomach. 

“-Their auditory system is in development.” 

Raine shuffled a little closer, cheek pressed to her abdomen, and began to sing softly. 

Eda’s breath hitched, heat rising to her cheeks. 

It was a wordless tune, sung in hums and nonsensical vocals, and the melody was achingly familiar, though she’d only ever heard it under her own fingers, plucked across lute strings, heralding flowers drifting in a soft field. 

It was their rhapsody. 

Raine’s eyes were wide and adoring as they sang, they looked up at her sweetly and pressed another tingly kiss to her stomach, nuzzling against her fondly. 

Her throat felt tight and her breathing faltered once more as she felt the baby kick rapidly, as if startled. 

Gradually their movements began to slow. 

Heat stung the corners of her eyes and despite herself, Eda sniffled. 

Raine faltered, looking up at her worriedly. 

“Mm fine.” Her voice cracked. “D-don’t stop.” 

They relaxed and a smile broke out on their face that was so warm, fucking loving, that the strangled ache in Eda’s throat sharpened and she tried in vain to swallow it down. 

Hot, messy tears escaped her eyes and she sniffled again. 

She wiped at her face with the back of her hand. 

But she couldn’t stop. 

Stupid fucking hormones! 

Raine traced idle shapes over her stomach with the rough pads of their fingers, singing at a thick, syrupy pace, voice laced with just a hint of magic that had the air glowing golden and hazy. 

Eda had always liked Raine’s voice, loved the smooth softness of it. They could have been a siren in another life, and even knowing sharp rocks and boiling sea spray were all that awaited her, she would have tried to reach them anyways. 

She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears, under the hypnotic lull of her partner's voice, heavy and deep. 

Her eyelids drifted shut. 

Raine took a breath, curled protectively around Eda’s stomach, legs tangled in hers. 

They sang on.  

Chapter Text

‘Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt.’ 

“Mmph.” 

“I got- nng- I got it.” 

Eda pried her eyes open with a groan, rubbing a hand over her stomach as Roomie decided to give her separate, more personal wake up call than the irritating noises coming from the alarm clock on her partner’s side of the nest. 

Beside her, Raine was sitting up and yawning as they clumsily fumbled for the switch that would put the awful sound to rest. 

She peeled her eyes open, wincing at the muck and crust gluing her lids together.

The silhouette of her partner fumbling for the alarm came into focus and she yawned loudly, jaw popping from the force of it. 

“ Mornings, bleck,” she grumbled as she sat up slowly. 

“Yeah,” Raine agreed in a scratchy voice. “Urgh.” 

She leaned against them and whined. 

“Screw work, let’s go back to sleep.” 

Raine hummed, very nearly considering it as they clammered for their glasses and gazed around the room. 

Half empty boxes of their things were tucked against the walls, their possessions slowly finding a place amongst Eda’s own in the course of the few days. Though they still had yet to properly cancel their lease. This was just…a trial period of sorts.

After so long living on their own, it was strange living with and around another person. As they slowly went about trying to integrate themselves into Eda’s home, they felt surprisingly clumsy. There was already so much of Eda’s personality crowding the space, and it felt like any gaps were already filled up by the previous inhabitants, from the photos on the walls to the furniture. 

But considering Eda had gone out of her way to throw out her old coffee table to make room for theirs, and cleared out a drawer for them in the kitchen, of all places, they felt hopeful that slowly, but steadily, things would get easier. 

She’d even strong armed Lilith into helping her fit their mattress into the floor of her nest, and her determination to make the rectangular object fit into a round space made them torn between laughing and cooing at the impressive pout she’d sported when Lilith had finally lost it and gutted the corners off and stitched the resulting patches closed. 

Raine wondered how Eda felt about everything. She’d seemed happy enough when they first brought up the topic of merging their living arrangements, but how did it feel on her end, to be changing her schedule and her home to make room for them? 

They should ask her, one of these days, though they supposed they shouldn’t  worry so much. Eda always was the more flexible one, between the two of them, so much better at rolling with change. 

Current events alone could attest to that. 

Speaking of-

They glanced at their girlfriend knowingly as her nose wiggled and scrunched, tongue darting out to lick at her lips. 

Ah. 

They knew that look. 

“Hungry?” 

Eda huffed and slumped more of her weight onto them. 

“No. Yes. Doesn’t matter, I want sleep way more than I want eggs with peppers and hellfire sauce and…mmm, bacon…” 

She trailed off, neary visibly salivating.

Her stomach growled.

Raine chuckled and began to untangle themselves from Eda’s grip, earning an irritated hiss. 

“Noooo, sleep!” 

“You’ll feel more awake after you eat.” They pointed out with a note of amusement. 

“I don’t want to feel more awake. I want to stay right here.” 

Eda draped herself over their lap with a pout, effectively trapping them. 

Her eyes slipped back shut and they nudged her with an exasperated shake of their head. 

“Eda…” 

She hissed and pressed her head more firmly into their lap. 

They raised an eyebrow. 

“Come on Calamity, you need to eat.” 

Another hiss. 

“... both of you.” 

Eda’s pout intensified but she did begin to prop herself up. 

“...Fiiine. I guess the stubborn little shit’s gotta eat too.” 

“You’re so mean in the morning! Do you have to bully them like that?” 

“They bullied me first!” 

“Aw, I’m sure they don’t mean it. Do you, little one?” They cooed and planted a kiss over Eda’s navel. 

Eda grunted under her breath, signifying that she had suffered another kick to her insides, but to Raine’s disappointment they felt nothing under their hands when they rubbed her abdomen. 

It was still a little early, they had to remind themself. They’d get their turn to experience that special fraction of what Eda felt from the baby every day soon enough.

Raine clambered out of the nest first, and offered a hand to their disgruntled girlfriend to pull her out as well. 

Ever the night owl, Eda squinted in the morning light when they pulled back the curtains and she clung to them stubbornly all the way down to the living room, yawning widely. The gummy spot where her gold fang was normally screwed in showed and Raine fought not to point out how adorable she was like this, tired and sleep-warm and gripping onto them like a leach. 

The kitchen had a perpetually savory scent in the air from the herbs and roots hanging from the rafters. Something about it made the room feel…warmer, and Raine could sense Eda becoming more alert as she took a deep breath in the entryway and released them from her limpet hold to pull out a skillet and dig through the fridge.

Raine pulled a few peppers from the tangle of twine and a cutting board and set about chopping while Eda lit the stove. 

It took her two tries before enough fire would bloom in her palm to ignite it, they noticed, but refrained from commenting. 

Eda’s rapid decline of ability to use her magic as more and more of it went inwards to support the baby was a touchy subject for her. Though, Raine worried if they shouldn’t say something. Continuing to strain her magic could cause more fatigue at best and invite illness at worst. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to broach the subject, but, eventually…

They passed the peppers to Eda who was either tired enough or merciful enough not to comment on the uneven slices so different from her own precise methods and stole a quick kiss on the cheek before ducking back upstairs while the spicy omelets cooked to change into their uniform. 

Eda was piling hot sauce onto her plate to create a capsaicin loaded nightmare dish when they got back and they couldn’t help but chuckle when she finally relinquished the bottle long enough for them to take their turn drizzling a less generous amount in comparison onto their own eggs.  

“The beast keeping coven wants to borrow a couple bards to help keep a new manticore at the reserve sedated for its examinations, so I might be home a little late today,” they said between bites. 

“Ooh, manticore, huh? Any chance you love me enough to slip a few tufts of hair into your pocket if it sheds?” 

They chortled. 

“Eda!” 

“What? That shit gives a gorgeous kick to any brew boiled under a waning moon.”  

“You’re terrible…but I’ll think about it.” 

Which of course, the both of them knew meant Raine absolutely would steal manticore hair from the Lower Ribs animal reserve for their girlfriend if they saw the chance. 

Eda’s excited grin at their unspoken agreement was cute enough to make it worth it. 

“Might just be leftovers tonight then.” Eda scraped the dregs of hot sauce from her plate and piled it back onto her eggs with purpose “I’ve got a Viper’s Scream tonic I need to work on today and that’ll take…a while. Lotta steps to it.” 

Raine pursed their lips in disapproval. 

“Viper’s scream…that’s not one of your more dangerous ones, is it?” 

Eda gave them an exasperated look. 

“This again?” 

They raised their hands in a defensive manner. 

“I just worry. Your healer said-” 

“This is my job, Raine. I’m very good at it, believe it or not. I’m not gonna bail on work at four months and do, what, exactly? Sit around waiting for you to come home every day? Glue myself to the crystal ball while you do all the work?” 

They frowned. 

Eda sighed. 

“Look, I get it, and I’m trying to take it a little easier. I already switched to a mail order system for my deliveries, and I haven’t opened up a stand at the market in ages. But I need to be able to work, Raine. If I don’t at least have brewing to keep me busy, I’ll go insane, trust me.” 

Not for the first time, Raine felt a twinge of guilt as they realized that, yes, Eda’s opportunities to leave the house or do anything productive had become slimmer, especially in recent weeks. 

They couldn’t blame her for feeling frustrated, even if there was an ever present knot in their chest at the thought of Eda working with fire and volatile potion ingredients in a dark basement with only two points of ventilation and an exit point that would take time for her to ascend the stairs too in the coming months when she lost more mobility. 

For all that she had made great strides in being honest with them, Eda still considered herself fiercely independent and Raine wondered how much of Eda’s reluctance to let them help her more was out of real stubbornness and how much was habit from a decade of survival on her own. 

Raine shook their head. 

“Okay…I trust you. But this feels like something we should talk about more in the future.”

“Sure,” Eda agreed absently, scraping the last bits of egg off her plate and glancing at their half empty one with purpose. 

“Are you…?” 

Raine laughed and traded the rest of their plate for a warm kiss. 

“Go ahead. I should get going anyways.” 

They stole a second kiss, just because they could. 

“I love you,” they mumbled fondly. 

Eda grinned, a flush rising to her cheeks. 

“Uuuh, cool. I mean. Yeah. You too. Me. I mean. Wait-” 

Raine snorted. 

“See you later Calamity.” 

“Rainestorm, don’t you dare tell-” 

“Breakfast was amazing. I’ll see you tonight, bye!”

“ Raine!-”

They left through the back door with a click, still giggling a little under their breath. 

---------------

“They have a point, you know,” Hooty pointed out once Raine was gone. “Potion making is a dangerous trade, hoot!” 

Eda growled. 

“Oh, stuff it. I’m not helpless. I know how to work a cauldron like the back of my hand. It’s fine!” 

“They just want you to be careful, hoot! Raine cares about you a whole lot.” 

She softened. 

“Yeah. I know. I’ll make it up to them somehow. I just…there’s a lot of stuff I don’t wanna think about yet.” 

Hooty didn’t speak any further, and she waited for him to slither out the window before she stood with a sigh and set about cleaning the kitchen, grateful Raine hadn’t tried to offer to do the dishes again so she could meticulously put everything back in its right place. 

At least, she thought to herself, things were…better, than they were three months ago. Before she had reached out to Raine, her stress over how her condition was going to affect her work had come more from a place of paralyzing terror than anything else. 

Terror over how she was going to survive when her magic faded, over her ability to flee from coven guards, over the possibility of starving to death when she couldn’t keep anything she could afford down from the force of her morning sickness, and snails kept getting tighter. 

Now, at least, her only imminent fears were how quickly she was going to drive Raine up the wall when she finally did stop working and the lethal combination of boredom and hormones drove her to ridiculous actions. 

Yeah, there were worse things, she mused as she dropped some eggshells out the kitchen window into the herb garden below. 

Maybe she could pick up a hobby? Knitting was a Mom thing, wasn’t it? 

Eda paused. 

Mom. 

That…was still very much an alien concept to her. 

She rubbed a hand over the swell of her stomach and stared absently out the window. 

It was one thing to know that this rapidly expanding cluster of cells in her uterus was going to be a person some day. Another when she realized this little person was going to be a part of her and someone else. A part of Raine. 

Raine, she already knew, was going to be a great parent. They were soft and funny and empathetic and already loved the baby so much. 

Raine, she could see vividly as a parent, as this little life’s Baba or O’pa or whatever the sweet dork finally decided on. (She’d caught them going through a book on the subject, testing out names under their breath. It was adorable.)

But Eda? 

She felt like there was some kind of disconnect in her brain. 

Eda knew, logically, this was gonna be her kid too, obviously, duh. But…she couldn’t put the phrase ‘Mother’ to her own image. 

Edalyn Clawthorne, a mom. A Mother to this helpless child. This baby. 

Could she…do that, properly? 

She didn’t feel like the image of maternal instincts. Did she have any of the requirements for that kind of job? 

Eda wasn’t…mushy or patient or nurturing. 

What if she sucked at it? 

What if the baby cried and she never figured out how to understand what they need or she forgot to keep small objects out of reach or oh titan what if she forgot the whole baby and left them home alone or in a stroller out in public? 

Feathers sprouted along Eda’s arms and another pang of fear unrelated to the black tangle of thoughts in her head shot through her chest. 

Eda staggered away from the window and tore through the house, stumbling into the bathroom and nearly cracking the medicine cabinet in her haste to locate a round vial of weak, pale yellow modified elixir. 

She forced the stopper open and knocked the salty, bitter contents down with a disgusted cough, eyes watering as she fought to force herself to calm the fuck down. 

She needed to stop thinking. 

Fuck. 

Work, Eda forced herself to remember. 

She-She had work to do. Some very complicated multi-step work that required her full attention. 

Precise measurements and focus and calculations…

Eda let out a long, shuddery breath and tugged at her hair to pull her attention away from her own racing heart and the frenzied flutter in her stomach that signaled Roomie’s notice of her heightened emotions. 

Work. 

Work was something she could do. 

She tipped back the dregs from the elixir vial with a grimace, but was relieved that the feathers had stopped sprouting, though they didn’t immediately fall out as they did when she took her full-strength brew.

Eda scowled and grasped a handful of feathers on her arm and yanked. 

The sharp pain that followed made her eyes water and left angry red marks dotted with pinpricks of blood but it made her feel better all the same. 

Raine hated it when they caught her picking at her feathers like that, hated the blood and the pained hiss she’d release under her breath. But, she reminded herself, it held a practical function too. Summer was in full blast now,  and standing outside, the air was so hot it was nearly smothering. The last thing she needed was her stupid birdbrain’s idea of insulation making her sweat even more. 

She plucked out a few more stray pins and watched them float to the bathroom floor apathetically. 

…She’ll clean those up later. 

Eda wiped her eyes dry and cleared her throat, forcing a mantra of calm, calm, calm to replace the thoughts in her head and lead weight in her chest. 

Hooty, ever the vigilant house demon, did his usual job of barring her entrance down into the basement until she had a protective cloth secured around her face. Sometimes the reminder of his constant awareness of Eda and her exact location, everything she did within the house, could be unnerving or annoying. But she was finding it in herself to try to just be grateful instead, when it was little things like this, and she gave him a silent scratch on the head as she passed him down the stairs, in thanks. 

The air is colder in the dark of the basement, though a quick rap of her knuckles against the stone walls ignites the flame-less torches bracketed around the room. 

Normally, Eda could flit through her lab with practiced ease as she pulled down heavy tomes and tools and jars of ingredients but after bumping into the equipment table by her largest cauldron with a grunt she realized with a spark of irritation she was was going to need to move slowly if she was going to get anything done without knocking a jar over or worse. 

The familiarity of textured glass jars under her hands was soothing, and Eda quickly relaxed into the mindless haze of propping a well loved recipe book with yellowed pages into it’s pedestal at her work bench and hefting a cauldron onto a bunsen burner. A custom burner stand she had put together in her twenties, lowered into an adjustable pit beneath her work bench, so she could easily scrape cut ingredients into her cauldron without spilling a thing. 

The cast iron needed to be preheated for this brew, so Eda flicked on the heat and gathered nettle, eyes, scales and fangs, all in meticulously labeled jars. She’d never be as organized as Lily, but her lab system, she knew with no small amount of pride, would make any master potioneer worth their salt drool. 

She dragged her nails over the recipe, double checking the faded ink to match with everything she had already memorized, for the most part. Base of moonwater, pinch of snake oil, dissolved with cockatrice venom. 

The hiss when her liquid base hit the hot cast iron was one of the most satisfying parts, steam hitting her face as the lab warmed up from the fire and liquids rapidly reaching a boiling point. 

Stir counter-clockwise, grind the fangs, shake out her wrists and cut the nettle, stir again clockwise. 

For the next several hours, weak sunlight shifted in the narrow window near the ceiling across the room while Eda hunched over her work station, ignoring the ache in her legs and lower back in favor of the steady, methodical work she knew better than anything.

Charcoal turned to navy, and navy lightened into silver, all according to plan, Eda noted with that same small spark of satisfaction she got every time she made a perfect brew. 

It was almost time to leave the tonic to simmer for three to three and a half hours. In the meantime…her garden probably needed weeding…and debugging. 

Eda stirred through the thickening tonic and took a sniff, hoping that despite her altered senses she would still be able to gauge if the spark-viper fangs had set in yet-

A stifling plume of opaque vapor rose from the cauldron. 

It seeped through her mask and she leaned back, coughing. 

Her vision swam and Eda staggered at the unexpected dizzy spell, flinging an arm out to catch herself on the closest stable surface. 

Cold glass bumped against her hand and tipped over with a deceptively quiet clink. 

Eda’s heart dropped. 

“Shit!” 

A handful of blackroot nettle fell into the cauldron with a sizzle. 

The silvery tonic immediately bubbled and spat, turning a sickly, bruising yellow. 

“Oh fuck me!” 

Four hours of work fucking wasted. 

Fantastic. 

She spun her hand quickly to summon a shield around the cauldron and snuff out the oxygen build up. 

Gold light began to encompass the potion, only to waver and collapse into nothing. 

Eda cursed and tried to cast another circle, heart hammering in her chest. 

Nothing. 

Nothing. 

“No. Nononono shit, shit, shit!” 

 Intense heat rapidly expanded outward. It seared Eda’s skin upon contact, smothering the air in her lungs. 

She barely had the time to take a step back before angry sparks leapt from the cauldron and her ears popped at the angry scream it emitted. 

The sound abruptly collapsed into a single deafening bang. 

Eda hit the floor, her arms tucked protectively around her stomach before white hot pain erupted in her head and everything went black. 

Chapter Text

Raine had soothed beasts before. 

The ability to pacify is seen as a bard’s most, and in some cases, only useful skill. A nearly useless, frilly trade solely for entertainment or sedative.

Sometimes the assumption was enough to make a headache pound behind their eyes. At others, it was all they could do not to snort, to give up their preference for soft politeness in favor of a little cruel, wry humor, just this once. 

The potential for fire, lighting, pain , euphoria, all resting at the back of their throat, at the tips of their callused fingers, in their steady, perfectly timed footfall. 

Younger and brasher in years past, they would’ve screamed themselves hoarse for a little recognition for their abilities. For bard magic to finally be seen as anything other than the pretty, weaker cousin to illusions in the entertainment industry. 

Older, now, Raine could see the occasional benefits to being underestimated. 

After all, it was their perceived, soft approachability that had carried them far enough up the ladder to be standing here, viola aloft, hoping at the back of their mind that their sideways glances at the brittle black feathers drifting about in the breeze as the beast keepers wrestled to maneuver an irate manticore into an examination pen weren’t too obvious. 

Manticores were maybe half the size of a griffin, but infinitely more threatening. Its long, articulated stinger gleamed in the hot afternoon sunlight as the lithe beast tried once again to break free of its enchanted bonds. 

Sylvia, Raine’s coworker, winced and fingered her lyre nervously. 

“Scared?” They couldn’t help but tease. 

Sylvia was such a city witch, they recalled with amusement. Born and raised in the suburbs, she rarely ventured away from the office side of things and was perhaps a little too comfortable with the cushy relative safety that came with being located in the middle of Bonesburrough.  Still, she was a good coworker and reliable at her craft. They were glad she’d been the one to accompany them on this assignment as opposed to, titan forbid, Kevin. 

Ergh . 

Sylvia shuddered. 

“I don’t understand for the life of me why you’re moving out to the country,” she exclaimed, not taking her eyes off the aggressive beast they were meant to sedate the moment the keepers finally got it into the pen. “Please tell me you don’t see anything this terrifying out there.” 

Raine laughed. 

“Hardly. Although, I suppose the last time I tried to put away the dishes put me in a bit of a risky spot.” 

They chuckled fondly, recalling Eda’s disapproving pout. 

Ever the hopeless sucker for romance gossip, Sylvia perked up immediately. 

“Ooh, thing’s are still going steady with that girl of yours, then?” 

“Oh, fantastic,” they sighed happily. “She’s wonderful.” 

“Yeah?” 

They blushed a bit and glanced off to the side. 

“Yeah, I-” 

A loud roar drowned their words out as several ropes snapped free and the team of beast keepers struggled to keep the manticore in one place. 

Sylvia squeaked and clutched her lyre in front of her face like a shield while Raine’s grip tightened on the neck of their viola and they shifted into a defensive stance. 

The head beastkeeper of the reserve, a stout, tanned witch by the name of Maaya, barked orders in a firm tone to her fellow keepers and one witch further off to the left flashed a bright light that forced the manticore’s pupils to contract, stunning it while Maaya and three others pushed it the remaining three feet into the pen. 

Headkeeper Maaya slammed the bars of the pen down and grunted when the recoil nearly dislodged her grip. 

“Now!” She barked at the two bards on the sidelines. 

Without hesitation, Raine’s bow slid over the strings and Sylvia plucked out a clear, smooth tone. 

In her nervousness, Sylvia fell slightly off-beat, fingers trembling against her strings, and Raine played a little louder, feeling out the sound waves with their magic and taking over the combined melody so that it did not waver. She shot them a grateful look and they took an exaggerated breath for her benefit, causing the corners of her mouth to twitch up. 

The manticore howled again but ceased its clawing and fighting against the walls of the pen. 

Steady, and steadier, Raine kept the lead of the melody, sweat beading at the back of their neck as they maneuvered the spell like a thread in the wind around and away from the beast keepers, focusing in solely on the manticore. 

Their practiced control combined with Sylvia’s harmony boosting the spell, the manticore went down with only a little more struggle, reflective red eyes fogging behind horizontal, transparent eyelids. 

Headkeeper Maaya made a spell circle of her own and carefully ran it over the beast, causing a projection of its heartbeat to display in the air. 

“Hold the spell steady until it hits REM!” 

Raine nodded even though they knew she wasn’t looking at them, and kept the melody going steady. 

One of the keepers injected the manticore with a deep maroon liquid near its hind quarters that caused the beast’s scaly, articulated stinger to fall limp. 

Gradually, the pulse projected above the pen slowed, until Headkeeper Maaya finally gave an approving nod and signaled for the spell to cut off. 

Raine and Sylvia lowered their instruments and flexed their wrists out of habit. 

The tendons in their wrist popped and Raine pressed down on the sore spot while Maaya and two of her beast keepers approached the two bards. 

She gave them a gruff nod of respect while wiping the sweat from her face. 

“Whispers, Fairchild, good work today. We’re all grateful for the assistance here.” 

“We were happy to help, ma’am,” Sylvia said warmly. “Just be glad Whispers over here was free or this might have taken a lot longer.” 

She winked and Raine flustered. 

“Ah, I didn’t really do that much.” 

Sylvia scoffed. 

“Kids these days. Don’t listen to a word they say, Headkeeper. Raine over here is the only bard I know with the power and control to pull off some of the most ridiculous stunts I’ve ever seen. Redirecting that sedation spell so none of your keepers had to cover their ears? It’s actually a very rare skill in our trade that requires an insane amount of control. I've only ever seen it once or twice in all my time at the office, and the other caster was our coven head!” 

“You can stop talking now!” Raine squeaked, and to their mortification Maaya and her keepers all chuckled a bit at their visible embarrassment. 

“They’re also the shyest bard in existence,” Sylvia snickered, giving them one last playful glance before mercifully backing off. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna find out if any of those buff beast keepers are single.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Raine laughed as she darted across the field while straightening her salt and pepper curls and tucking her lyre away. 

“Feel free to take a break,” Maaya said, glancing back at her keepers who were quickly but efficiently running tests on the sleeping manticore. “All goes well, we won’t need much more assistance, but standby would be appreciated.” 

They nodded. 

“Of course.” 

Mutual gestures of respect were exchanged, and Maaya marched back over to the pen to aid in the manticore’s medical examinations. 

Raine cracked their neck and sighed, using their hand to block some of the blinding summer sun from their face as they loped across the field in search of some shade within sight of the medical pen. 

They settled down at the base of a nearby tree and snorted when they saw that Sylvia had already gained a small group of admirers that she was happily entertaining, giggling loudly and twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. 

Classic Sylvia…

They hoped she actually found a date this time. For all she never seemed short of interested parties, her actual dating history was spotty and unfortunate, a sad fate for such a hopeless romantic as herself. 

Above them, there was a loud snap and caw, and Raine startled, fingers halfway to their lips when they saw that it was a communication crow. 

It cawed again loudly and fluttered down to the ground. 

“Whispers?” It croaked. “Whispers, Raine Whispers?” 

“Er, yes?” 

It fluttered and perched onto their wrist and stiffened up. 

Unused to taking calls, Raine clamored for a moment before pressing the crow to their ear. 

“H-hello?” 

“Is this Raine Whispers?” 

“Yes?” 

“This is Healer Boidae. This call is to inform you that your presence is requested at the Bonesburough Medical Ward as Edalyn Clawthorne’s emergency contact.” 

Color drained from Raine’s face. 

“What? Wh-h-is she okay? What happened? What-” 

“I’m afraid we are unable to disclose any further information over a call.” 

Their heart pounded in their ears and they struggled to remember to breathe. 

“But-I-is she-please, I-” 

“Please come to the medical ward as soon as possible. Unless you would like to veto as miss Clawthorne’s emergency contact?” 

“No!” They cried instantly. “N-no that won’t be necessary. I’ll-of course I’ll be there.” 

“Thank you. The front desk will be informed.” 

The call disconnected and the communication crow fluttered out of their numb hands as Raine’s vision blurred. 

---------------------------

Pain. 

Hot wet copper sliding down her face-can’t breathe-hurts-hurtshurtshurts-

Lights

Eda cried out weakly and fought against the cold hands sliding across her face, her arms her- nononono! 

She screamed and struggled blindly, arms curled desperately around her stomach. 

She couldn’t see. 

She couldn’t think. 

Eda wanted to throw up in the face of the blinding levels of pain in her head, blurring her vision.

There was an acrid smell in her nose. She didn’t have any words for it, her thoughts were too loose, speech too far out of her reach. But she knew this smell and the feel of the magic around her and this kind of touch and she knew it meant pain and danger and Cut It Out Of Her If You Have To! 

Another snap of magic and Eda screached, writhing and fighting against whatever They were going prod her with next. 

“-her down!” 

“No sedatives! -Concussed-” 

“Safe for-” 

“-Ma’am!” 

Eda cried out again and tried to stumble away from the hands that tried to touch her again but she was tangled in something stiff and scratchy and she struggled against it as she bared her fangs against the faceless threats surrounding her. 

“-getting anywhere-” 

“-Proxy?” 

“-just-go to-leave it till then-” 

Her ears flattened at the harsh clicks and pounding of movement around her piercing her skull. 

She couldn’t sense anyone near her anymore, but cold sweat beaded on her forehead as she tried to force her eyes to focus against the blinding lights that made her want to tear off her skin if only the pain would go away. 

Eda clutched her head and moaned under her breath, knees pulled up to cover her stomach as she prepared to ride out the splitting pain in her head underneath the blinding white lights. 

--------------------

Raine’s heart was pounding in their chest when they finally reached the BMW. They rushed through the front doors and tried their best not to take their nerves out on the bored looking receptionist scrolling through something on a crystal ball at the front desk. 

The healer glanced up at them when they approached, giving them a quick once-over before turning back to her CB. 

“Here for visitation?” 

“I’m-” 

Their voice cracked and they took a moment to clear their throat. 

“I’m here for Eda Clawthorne?” 

The healer hummed and scrolled at far too leisurely a pace while Raine had only the hammering of their heart in their chest to count down the seconds until she finally glanced back up at them again. 

“Hall four, room two-oh-six.” 

Raine barely managed to bite out a half hearted thanks before tearing off in the appropriate direction. 

It was all they could do not to run as they skirted past busy healers with their faces buried in clipboards and other, similarly concerned visitors off to see their respective loved ones. 

They caught a flash of red hair in a room window and Raine’s heart skipped a beat as they came to a halt in front of it. 

Eda was curled up in a fetal position on the hospital bed, face hidden in her arms and were she not so stiff, and had the room lights not still been on, they might have thought she was resting. They entered the room quietly anyway, keeping their steps light. 

“Eda?” They asked, needing to hear her voice, to get some sort of sign that she was okay, or that she would be, soon. 

But she didn’t so much as twitch and Raine felt their ears press down as the worry and dread sitting heavy in their chest spiked. 

Carefully, Raine approached her, taking in the thick, acrid scent of smoke that was clinging to their girlfriend, and dark smudges staining her wrinkled clothes. 

There was something coppery in there, too, and Raine’s breath hitched when they noticed the dark streaks staining the tufts of hair that peaked out from Eda’s arms. 

“Eda,” They tried again, gently placing a hand on her arm. 

Eda jolted and whined, arms pulling away from her face to try and move away. 

Raine pulled their hand back sharply, alarmed. 

“Eda! Eda it’s me!” 

She flinched and Raine finally got a good look at the dark, dried blood caked onto Eda’s left temple. 

There was so much of it…

Concussion then, Raine concluded quickly. Eda had earned a few of those in the past, though they had never seen her react this way to one of them. 

But then, why in Titan’s name were the lights still on in Eda’s room? Surely a professional healer would have clocked a concussion just as fast as Raine had, if not faster. Why hadn’t she been treated at all? Had she even been seen to at all yet? How had Eda gotten to the hospital in the first place? What in titan’s name  happened?  

Raine forced themselves to push all of their questions off to the side and focussed on calming their incredibly distressed girlfriend down. 

“Eda, honey,” They said as softly as they could manage. “It’s me, Raine. Can you hear me?” 

Eda’s breath stuttered and they noticed with a twinge that her eyes were horribly mis-dilated under the bright hospital lights. 

Quickly, they drew a spell circle and the room dimmed, leaving only the light leaking in from the hallway to disrupt the darkness. 

Eda’s shoulders slumped heavily with relief. 

“There, that’s better,” They whispered gently. “Eda? Can you focus on my voice? It’s Raine, I’m here.” 

Eda blinked slowly, brow furrowing. 

“R-rrn?” 

They nodded, relieved that she at least seemed to be able to hear them. 

“Yeah. I’m here, Eda.”

“Ra-ain,” Eda croaked with a little more clarity. 

Then, tears welled up in her eyes and her shoulders began to shake. 

“Raine!” 

Instantly, they lurched forward and pulled her into their arms, shushing her gently as she buried her face into their chest and sobbed loudly, hiccups and hitching breaths making her entire frame shake as their shirt grew damp. 

Raine pulled her a little more securely into their lap and wrapping their arms around her shoulders, rocking slowly. 

Between heaving sobs, Eda tried to talk, but speaking seemed to take more focus than her concussed brain could handle at the moment, her words stuttering and scrambling on her tongue until Raine had to shush her again and quietly plead for her to save her energy. 

Still, she would mumble their name, frantically under her breath, and Raine’s heart broke at the fear laced in her tone, like she still hadn’t processed that whatever had happened to her was over now, and she wasn’t alone, no matter how many times they reassured her. 

Suddenly, the lights flicked back on and Eda jolted, a wounded noise escaping her throat as she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed even harder to Raine’s chest to hide from the brightness. 

“Oh, good. Look’s like you’ve managed to tame her.” 

Standing in the doorway with a hand still lingering on the lightswitch was a tall, narrowly built witch in a stiff white healer’s tunic with short, slicked back hair and a patronizing grin. 

Raine bristled. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Gave all the available healers in the wing quite a difficult time of it. Mussurana swears up and down she was bit! But it looks like you’ve managed to get a firm leash on the situation.” 

Irritation burned in the pit of Raine’s chest, dark and sharp. 

Eda didn’t need a leash, what the hell? She had medical trauma and a concussion! When the hospital had called Raine, they’d done so knowing who they were  in relation to her medical file and yet this smarmy witch was speaking as though no one had even taken a glance at it. 

The healer stepped further into the room and Raine’s arms tightened around Eda protectively. 

“I’m sorry, who are you? Eda’s primary healer already works in this building. That should have been in her file.” 

The healer laughed as though they’d said something particularly amusing. 

“My name is Healer Krait. I’m one of the primary healers for the emergency care ward. I am the one who will be seeing to miss Clawthorne’s needs. Not some…” He glanced down at his clipboard and his lip curled with distaste. “... pediatric healer.” 

Raine glared. 

“Contact Healer Markov immediately. I don’t know what your insistence on treating my partner is, but Eda will not feel comfortable being treated by anyone except her primary healer regardless. So I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline your services.” 

Krait frowned.  

“I understand that sentiment may be clouding your rational judgment at the moment. However-” 

“This is not negotiable.” Raine cut him off coldly. 

“Yes, child, you heard the bard. Such matters certainly are not.” 

An undignified yelp escaped Krait’s mouth upon hearing a gruff voice in the doorway, causing Eda to flinch at the loud sound. 

Standing in the hall with her arms crossed was Healer Markov, looking quite disgruntled while a mousy looking witch with large round ears wearing an apprenticeship badge stood partly behind her nervously. 

Healer Krait zeroed in on the short witch immediately. 

“Coronella?” He exclaimed, looking betrayed. “I thought I told you we didn’t need to contact anyone out of the patient’s file!” 

“I’m sorry, sir, b-but these protocols are in place for a reason!” she stammered, clutching her own pastel clipboard tightly to her chest. 

“That they are,” Markov snipped, pushing up her spectacles as she brushed past Krait with a cold look. 

“A word of advice, boy:  patients are not numbers on a neat little slip to fill your quota or feed your ego. Now get out and expect a write up by the end of the week.” 

Tail between his legs, the fuming young healer stormed out, his flustered apprentice trailing after him with a squeak. 

Markov sighed and shook her head. 

“Poor girl. I’ll have to see about getting her a better placement. Maybe something in the trauma ward. Seems like she’s got a good head on her shoulders.” 

“I’m so glad you’re here,” raine said, relieved. 

“Most people are,” Markov replied dryly, giving Eda a once over. “Concussion, I take it?” 

“From what I’ve gathered,” they confirmed. “I wasn’t actually present when she…” 

They trailed off and gestured helplessly to Eda’s current state. 

Markov shut the door and dimmed the lights. 

“This girl,” she griped under her breath, setting her clipboard down onto a desk in the corner of the room. “Typical Clawthornes.” 

“Now according to the ward logs,” Markov said briskly, but in a low voice, “Edalyn was taken in by emergency services approximately an hour ago. Seems her house demon called 666 after the incident in question occurred.” 

Thank Titan for Hooty, then. Raine would have to reward him, somehow. 

Markov flicked through a few papers. 

“Preliminary scans performed by the field healers confirm concussion, severe bruising on the left arm, and a dislocated shoulder that was healed on-site before she was moved but nothing more severe than that, it seems.” 

Raine heaved a loud, relieved sigh. 

“You’re sure?” 

Markov hummed. 

“Obviously I need to confirm myself, but field healers are generally fairly competent, and if anything were wrong with the fetus she’d have been put in a different ward entirely.” 

They let themselves relax a little more. 

“Mrcov?” Eda mumbled, eyes still squeezed shut. 

“Yes,” Markov replied. “Got yourself into trouble again, girl?” 

“Mmph.” 

“May I take a look at your head, now?” 

After a pause, Eda gave a tiny, careful nod and slowly lifted her head from against Raine’s chest, breaths shaky from the pain. 

Markov was quick to loop a spell circle over her head, humming at the results. 

“I can fix this up alright, but you’ll be in a bit of a state for the rest of the day.” 

She gave Raine a significant look. 

“Make sure she rests as soon as possible. Her best bet is to sleep the worst of this off once I’m done.” 

They nodded. 

“I’m familiar with concussion treatment.” 

“Good. May I treat you now, Edalyn?” 

Another minute nod. 

The spell circle turned a darker shade of blue and tightened around Eda’s head before dissolving. 

Eda’s shoulders slumped in relief and she gasped raggedly, falling back into Raine’s arms with a cough. 

“Thanks,” she croaked. 

“What in Titan’s name sort of chaos have you been getting into this time, Edalyn?” Markov asked in exasperation. 

Eda flinched and kept her eyes on the ground. 

“Work thing,” She mumbled. “Potion went wrong.” 

“I recall telling you such work was no longer safe in your condition.” Markov scolded. 

“I know.” 

Eda’s voice cracked and she seemed to shrink down even smaller.

“I’m sorry. I-I’m done. I’m done.” 

Raine’s heart broke at how shaken she sounded but when they tried to rub her back soothingly she flinched again and moved away, out of their lap despite her obvious exhaustion. 

“Good,” Markov said shortly, taking another quick scan. “I can confirm here that your pregnancy is still stable, by the way. Seems no damage was sustained to the fetus, though its activity levels may be affected by your stress.” 

Eda placed a hand over the swell of her stomach. 

“I can’t feel them,” she said quietly. 

Markov took another scan. 

“Everything looks normal,” She reassured. “Odds are, they’re just as tired as you. Go home. Sleep. Contact me directly if anything changes, or you still haven’t felt any activity sometime in the next twenty-four hours.” 

Eda nodded silently, eyes still on the floor. 

Markov clicked her pen and filled something out on her clipboard quickly. 

“I’ll sign you out, then. Feel free to take a moment before you leave.” 

She looked at Raine again, and they nodded briskly. 

They would look after Eda, of course they would. 

After Healer Markov was gone, they placed a hand on Eda’s shoulder, frowning in concern when she didn’t react. 

“Eda? Are you ready to go home?” 

There was a beat of silence. 

Then, she nodded and stood, wobbling slightly on her feet before Raine quickly wrapped an arm around her waist, determined to support her even if she likely did not want to be carried in public. 

With strong, careful hands, Raine led her out of the hospital. 

Still, Eda didn’t say a word. 

And she would not look at them. 

Chapter Text

Eda was quiet on the way home. 

Completely silent, actually. 

Raine’s heart ached for her. They couldn’t imagine how terrified she must have been, when the accident in her lab happened. How scared she must still be to cling to the back of their vest with trembling hands while they flew her home. 

They would never be as great a flier as their girlfriend, but Owlbert was patient and very clever and already incredibly understanding to even let another witch use them at all. 

It surprised them, how close the sun was looming downwards at the horizon. The last few hours felt like such a blur. 

When they finally landed outside the house, Eda tried to stand on weak legs, eyes still vacant as she tried to brace herself on Owlbert for purchase, and their self-control snapped. 

Eda made a surprised noise as they scooped her up in a bridal carry, tucking her arms over her chest. 

“Don’t strain yourself,” they said quietly. 

Hooty has extended from the door, unusually quiet save for the click of his beak as he peers intently at his keeper. 

Eda kept her head down, still silent.

“She’s gonna be okay,” Raine tells them quietly. “They both are, likely because of you. Eda just needs to rest now.” 

They don’t have a hand to spare to convey their gratitude towards the house demon through petting, as they generally preferred, but the look on their face must have been enough because he clicked his beak quietly and retreated, swinging the door open with a creak. 

The lamps all flickered on and Eda squeezed her eyes shut, now doubt still oversensitive as a side effect of her concussion. 

“Lights down, please.” They instructed Hooty and instantly the lamps dimmed, several sputtering out altogether. 

Raine carried Eda inside and made their way upstairs. 

They set her down on the edge of the nest and circled around to pull the curtains over the windows and cast just a few small light spells that drifted slowly around the room. 

“I’m gonna go get you some water, okay? Don’t fall asleep just yet.” 

As much as they wished to see Eda curled up and resting soundly, it was important to make sure she was at least hydrated first. 

On their way downstairs to get a glass, Raine spared Owlbert an affectionate rub to his fluffy little head at his perch on top of the couch. 

“Thanks for the help today, buddy,” they murmured, before turning to Hooty with a serious gaze. “And to you, again, Hooty. You have no-” 

They inhaled shakily and leaned against the wall. 

“...I…I was terrified when I got a call from the medical ward, saying Eda was there,” they admitted quietly. 

“I would do anything for Eda, hoot,” the house demon said seriously. 

They managed a weak grin. 

“You and me both.” 

----------------------

Raine rapped their knuckles lightly against the doorway as they re-entered the bedroom. 

“Eda? I have your…water…” 

Somehow, Eda had managed to doze off sitting up, arms wrapped around her stomach with her head tucked into her chest. 

They sighed and set the glass down next to the nest and shook her gently. 

“Eda, love, wake up.” 

Aureate eyes flickered open and Eda gasped, flinching away violently with whimper. 

“Hey, it’s okay!” They quickly attempted to reassure her. “It’s just me, honey. It’s okay.” 

“M’sorry,” Eda rasped, still leaning away. “I-I didn’t mean to-” 

Raine frowned. 

She must still be so on edge…they needed to get her settled, fast. 

“I know,” they said in a gentle voice. “I can’t imagine how tired you are, it’s understandable.” 

Eda ducked her head and tightened her arms around her stomach. 

Hesitantly, they picked up the glass and held it out. 

“Think you can drink a little for me?” 

Slowly, she nodded and accepted the water. 

Her hands were shaking. Rough patches of keratin pins raising on her skin like gooseflesh. 

The worry that had never truly settled only knotted further in Raine’s stomach. 

“I’ll go get you an elixir.” 

------------------------

Raine was quiet. 

All day, they’d only ever been so quiet. 

Raine, like any witch, was prone to raising their voice when angered. It was not something Eda had seen directed at her, not truly. Frustration, irritation, despair, all this she had seen. 

But anger? 

Fury? 

She had no idea what to expect. 

Only that she deserved it. 

Eda hadn’t expected them to wait so long to show their hand, however. 

In the past, when one of her partners was pissed at her, no time was wasted in lashing out. The screaming and fits of visceral rage were almost always immediate. 

She’d expected them to tear into her the moment they found out what she had done. 

What her stupidity had almost cost the both of them. 

Nausea settled firmly at the back of her throat. 

She still couldn’t feel the baby. 

Eda dug her nails into her arms and fought back a choked sob. 

This was all her fault. 

She was reckless, she’d been selfish and stupid and she almost lost the baby and now Raine was being quiet and Eda had no idea what to expect! 

That they were even still willing to touch her at the hospital was a miracle. She didn’t know how they could even stand to look at her. 

Then, when they still held off on yelling at her, or saying anything about how badly she’d fucked up at all, she’d been certain they had just decided they didn’t want to cause a scene in public. 

Being plucked off the ground and carried carefully into the house was a far cry from fury she’d anticipated upon arriving at the house. 

How long had they been home now? How much longer were they going to make her wait? 

Was this how they had decided to punish her? Leaving her in tense quiet, alone with her thoughts, with her guilt? 

Icy dread curled in her veins. 

Had Raine’s exit from the room been an excuse to go somewhere else? 

Were…they even still in the house? 

They wouldn’t leave her over this, would they? 

No, Raine would at least tell her to her face if this was the last straw. If they just couldn’t handle her bulshit anymore. 

…Right?

“Eda…” 

Eda startled and looked up, fingers tightening over the glass of water she recalled she was meant to be drinking. 

Raine was standing in the doorway, one of her elixirs in hand, along with a single, bloody feather. 

“Did…something else happen today?” They asked slowly. 

Panic clawed at Eda’s chest, overwhelming her with the pounding of her heart in her ears and the lump in her throat making it hard to breathe. 

Heat prickled her dry, swollen eyes. 

A high, kheening sob escaped against her will. 

Raine was at her side in an instant, kneeling at the edge of the nest. 

“I’m sorry!” she sobbed, rocking herself for comfort. “I- hic- I’m so-oh sorry!” 

“Eda, Eda, hey-” 

“I didn’t-I didn’t mean- please, please!” 

“ Eda-” 

“I-I’m-” 

Eda choked on a harsh sob that triggered a brief coughing fit, eyes stinging from burning tears wrung out of her swollen ducts. 

“‘M-sorry, m’ sorry, I swear, I-” 

“Eda!” 

Raine took the glass from her white-knuckled grip and pulled her close, wrapping strong arms around her shoulder. 

“Eda, it’s okay. Shh, you’re okay. Take a breath for me, honey, you’re okay.” 

Eda pressed her face into the crook of their neck, desperate for their heat and the contact as she managed a shaky breath interrupted by a hiccup that sent a sharp, unpleasant pang in her chest. 

“There we go, Calamity…in and out,” 

Raine cupped her cheek softly and rocked back and forth, just as they had comforted her in the hospital, urging her to let her pulse slow, shushing her when half-slurred apologies slipped out of her mouth. 

“Much better, sweetheart. No more tears, okay? Here,” 

Cool glass pressed to her lips and Eda took a small sip, wincing at the ache in her throat as she swallowed. 

At the first slide of water in her mouth, she realized just how parched she was, and she nearly choked to finish off the rest of the glass, even with Raine urging her quietly to take her time. 

“Better?” 

She nodded and slumped further against them. 

Deft fingers carded through her hair. 

“What’s got you so worked up, sweetheart?” 

The memory of heat and ash and a deafening bang made her shiver. 

“I fucked up,” she whispered. “I…you didn’t want me to work and Markov didn’t want me to work but I didn’t want to stop a-and now-” 

Her voice cracked and she couldn’t bring herself to continue. 

Raine’s fingers stilled. 

“Eda…” 

She hiccuped miserably and gripped the hem of their vest. 

“I can’t feel them, Raine!” 

A dry sob left her throat. 

“The baby’s okay,” they were quick to soothe her. “ You’re okay. Honey, it was an accident. You’re both safe now.” 

“Stop it!” She protested. “Stop. Why are you doing this?” 

“Doing what?” 

“Comforting me! You wanted me to stop working! You warned me so many times!” 

Her body trembled. 

“You should be pissed as all hell! I don’t understand why you’ve waited this long, but I can’t take it anymore! Yell at me, or say you’re leaving, but do something!” She cried, the way she clutched them tighter countering her hoarse words.

Raine stiffened, eyes growing wide. 

Eda flinched, bracing herself. 

And Raine- 

“Oh, Eda.” 

Held her tighter. 

Warm lips pressed to her forehead and they resumed their comforting rocking. 

“No, no, no, honey, no!” 

Another kiss landed on her temple, and again on her cheek. 

“No.” They said again, firmly, voice thick with the effort of holding back tears. 

“But, I-” 

“No.” 

Raine shook their head rapidly, jaw stiff. 

“Eda, I…I was so scared for you, when I heard you were hurt. Seeing you in the hospital like that…I never want to have to see you like that again.” 

They cupped her face gently, swiping their thumbs over her tear-stained cheeks. 

“More than that, I’m so relieved you’re okay. That you’re both going to be okay.” 

Eda closed her eyes and tried to shake her head but they wouldn’t have any of it. 

“No, please, listen to me. It was an accident,” they stressed their words firmly. “It’s going to be okay. I love you, and the only thing I want to do to you right now is see you resting, recovering, and safe.” 

Gently, Raine leaned in and pressed their forehead against hers, green eyes painfully soft and sincere. 

“Okay?” 

She swallowed thickly and for a moment they feared she would try to argue further, but instead she nodded silently and leaned into their touch. 

“Okay,” they repeated, relaxing a fraction. “Let’s get you settled, sweetheart.” 

Carefully, they scooped her up and tucked her into the nest. The twist and pull of the rough cork stopper of Eda’s elixir was unfamiliar to them, but they did their best not to spill any as they gave her the potion. 

They still needed to talk to her about the mess of blood-flecked feathers they’d found in the bathroom, but it could wait until tomorrow. 

 Eda’s exhaustion was evident, and it soothed them to finally pull the covers over her and smooth a hand over her hair as she let herself succumb to much-needed sleep. 

Raine settled in next to her, sitting with Eda’s face pressed against their thigh. 

They stroked her hair and only when her breath finally evened out and they were sure she was asleep did they submit to the overwhelming emotions in their chest and raging in their head and let themselves cry. 

Chapter Text

Eda slept for nearly twelve hours. 

It was a struggle not to hover as she rested. Raine fought the urge by cleaning, maybe a tad obsessively. 

The second floor, apart from the bathroom, was an area of the house Raine had barely paid any attention to. There were two rooms that Eda was currently using for storage, and in the back of their head, they wondered if it wasn’t too soon to consider asking her which one she would want to clear out, to make room for a bassinet and other baby-related essentials. 

Their mind turned to their mothers, and they frowned. 

Raine still hadn’t told them about the baby. 

Or that they were back in a relationship with Eda. 

They didn’t doubt that they would be happy, at least. Mama, in particular, had pursed her lips in a very particular sort of way when they’d first told them about their decision to break up with Eda. They had liked her so much when they were kids, first as Raine’s best and first ever close friend, and then as their girlfriend. 

“She’s a spunky one,” Mom had said with a laugh the first time they'd ever brought her to their house. “Funny, too. You don’t meet a kid like her too often.” 

The memory made them smile, but they winced at the reminder that the longer they waited, the longer the scolding was in their future when they finally broke the news. 

But what in titan’s name were they supposed to say? 

And of course, Eda still hadn’t said anything about who she was comfortable telling about her pregnancy. Lilith finding out was unplanned, for the most part, and Raine…could understand why she didn’t want her mother to know, based purely on past experiences with Gwendolyn. 

There were a lot of details about the future they hadn’t discussed yet.

Raine hoped it would be a testament to how much they both had grown if when they finally found the words to press, Eda would meet them halfway. 

It was nearly two in the afternoon when Raine finally decided that it was probably time to wake Eda. 

Fortunately, someone seemed to have beaten them to the punch. 

When they returned to the bedroom Eda was laying on her back, messy hair spread over the pillows. Though she still looked exhausted, she was undoubtedly awake. 

Owlbert was perched on her stomach, chirping quietly while Eda stroked the top of his head slowly. He twittered and hopped about over the swell of her bump  and whatever he said made her smile tiredly. 

They knocked quietly against the doorway to announce their presence and felt a flicker of worry when Eda flicked her eyes in their direction but said nothing. 

“Hey,” they said softly. “How are you feeling?” 

Her head fell back listlessly. 

“Sore,” she croaked. 

She tried to use her elbows to prop herself up a bit more but gave up quickly with an agonized wince. 

They furrowed their brow. 

“Is there anything I can do?”

She made a negative noise at the back of her throat. 

“No, I think…” She grunted and placed a hand over her stomach. “I think it's just going to be a bad day.” 

Raine frowned. 

“I'm sure it'll still be alright.” 

She snorted a tad wryly.

“Not what I meant, but thanks, Rainestorm.” 

They watched her trace a slow circle over her stomach. 

“Is the baby awake?” 

That got a more genuine smile out of her. 

“yeah…little brat’s makin up for lost time in here.” 

Owlbert chirped again and hopped about, ruffling his wings. 

She smiled again, eyes half lidded with exhaustion. 

“He’s excited,” she mumbled affectionately. 

Raine cooed at that and had to give owlbert a few head skritches of their own. 

Eda sagged against the pillows. Her entire body was tense, a strained crease in her brow. 

The worry returned. 

“Eda?” 

“It’s okay. I kinda expected this,” she croaked. 

They creased their brow. 

“What do you mean?” 

She sighed and ran her hand along over her stomach. 

“I just…have bad days sometimes. Back pain, joint pain, the works. It used to just be after a curse episode but now…it comes and goes. After everything that happened yesterday…” 

She trailed off and Raine leaned down to kiss her brow. 

“I’m sorry, honey. Is there anything I can do?” 

Eda hummed. 

“Heat helps. Mostly I just sleep though, on painful days. Or, I try to sleep, anyways.” 

That…was something, they supposed. Still, there had to be more that they could do for her. Raine wasn’t content to just leave Eda in pain like this, normal or not. The idea of her laying in bed all day just trying not to think about her own suffering made their stomach twist. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” They said slowly. “I think we have a few heating pads around here somewhere, and a hot water bottle. Do you want a hot drink, too? I could make you some tea.” 

She smiled and leaned into their touch, which they counted as a small victory. 

“Yeah, some tea sounds nice. Maybe some leftovers too, if you don’t mind playing courrier for me.” 

They chuckled and pressed a quick peck to her lips. 

“Not even a little bit.”

Reluctantly, they pulled away. 

“Go ahead and rest, Calamity. I’ll be back in a few.” 

--------------------

Eda ate her heated leftovers slowly, shifting her fork around in the tupperware lazily. 

Raine didn’t bother prompting her to eat anymore than she could handle, sympathetic to the fatigue draped over her weary frame. She was tucked into their side, a hot water bottle under her knees, and she had mumbled several times in varying degrees of fondness how warm they were. 

They merely smiled every time and continued to pet her hair. Running their fingers through thick locks, picking out tangles and strands of shed, twisting a few stray tendrils into small braids. 

“Does it do anything else to you?” 

Eda’s eyes fluttered tiredly. 

“Hmm?” 

“Your curse.” 

She opened her eyes fully. 

“Oh…I don’t really know.” 

“...Really?” 

She shrugged with one shoulder. 

“Never looked into it enough beyond trying to find a cure. I know some stuff I used to like I can’t eat anymore, stuff birds can’t eat. And I can’t taste spice, I told you about that one, and some other stuff, but I don’t actually know how…different I am now. Not entirely. Or what’s going to happen to me, beyond that I transform if I don’t take my elixirs.” 

“That must be scary.” 

“...I try not to think about it.” 

“Eda..” 

“I’m serious! It’s not about pushing anything down it’s just- I want to live, Rainey. I want to have this kid with you and go on adventures and happy and I don’t want to spend so much time worrying about my curse that I miss any of it.” 

They mulled over her words with a heavy chest.

“Are you sure-” 

“I want to live.” She repeated firmly. “Not just survive. I don’t never get scared about it, but…”

She rubbed small circles over her stomach. 

“At the moment, between my curse and everything else going on right now, the rude ass squirt I’m growing is actually the more intimidating one here.” 

Raine chuckled but it was short lived at the genuine waver to Eda’s own crooked grin. 

“Hey, what’s wrong? Just nervous, or-?” 

“I don’t know-” 

Eda cut herself off and took a deep breath, fiddling with a loose thread on the hem of Raine’s shirt. 

“I just…don’t know if I can be a mother. What if I’m not cut out for it and I screw the kid up?”

Raine frowned, incredulous. 

“Eda, you-” 

“Don’t,” She cut them off warily. “You’re sweet, Raine, but I don’t wanna hear any stupid platitudes about how I’m going to be some fantastic parent. I dunno if you’ve noticed, babe, but I come from some pretty fucked up genes there, as far as mothering goes.” 

Their frown deepened. 

“Eda Clawthorne,” they said seriously. “You are the brightest, most amazing, most fundamentally good and loving witch I have ever met.”

She scoffed weakly but her ears tinged a telltale pink. 

They cradled their hands around her own thin fingers, feeling the knobs of her knuckles and bringing one up to kiss sweetly. 

“I mean it. There’s no doubt in my mind that this kid is going to be so loved-” 

“Loving them doesn’t equate to knowing how to keep them alive!”  Eda argued helplessly. “I don’t know anything about babies, Rainestorm! I still forget to turn the burner off in my lab sometimes! How the hell am I going to-I don’t know, not drop the damn squirt like that griffin egg we were supposed to watch when we were in school. I’m not like you-” 

“Me?” Raine asked incredulously. “Eda, I’m going into this just as blind as you.” 

She faltered. 

“But, you have all those cousins…” 

They shook their head. 

“Who are all teenagers. Some of them older. I babysat a couple times, but the youngest kid I’ve ever looked after was five. I don’t know anything about babies.” 

“You don’t.” 

“No.” 

Eda blinked. 

“Neither of us knows anything about babies?” 

They nodded. 

Her eyes widened. 

“Oh, fuck. Neither of us knows anything about babies-” 

Raine cut her anxious spiral off with a chaste kiss. 

“There are books. There’s tons of resources online. We could even ask my moms, if your comfortable with me telling them about, well, everything that’s going on.” 

Eda sat up and gave them a look. 

“You haven’t told them yet?” 

“No? I thought you didn’t want to tell anyone yet.” 

“I don’t want to tell my mother. You can’t keep something like this from Sylvia and Donna, Raine! Oh, titan, your moms are going to kill me.” She groaned. 

Raine’s ears twitched, confused. 

“Logically, they’d be far more likely to kill me,” They pointed out dryly. 

Eda only snorted. 

“Don’t worry about it. Call your moms, babe. Titan knows they’re the only sane relatives this kid is gonna have.” 

“You’re sure it’s okay?” They pressed. “I know you value your privacy.” 

“I’m sure.” 

She gave them a quick peck. 

“They’re your family. And it’s your kid too.” 

“Alright…Later, though.” 

Raine looped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her closer, slinging their other arm loosely over her stomach, tracing small circles over the swell of it. 

“I want to stay like this for a bit.” 

Eda hummed contentedly and laid her head back on their chest. 

“And I meant what I said, by the way.” 

“Hm?” 

“That you’re going to be a wonderful mom.” 

They felt her frown. 

“Raine…” 

“I’m serious. We’re both going to make mistakes, but you have such a big heart and no matter what else happens, that’s enough . I can’t imagine any kid not being the luckiest witchlet in the world just to have Edalyn Clawthorne loving them.”

There was a moment of stillness in the room. 

Raine thought it would pass seamlessly into a quiet afternoon, before they noticed that Eda’s shoulders had begun to shake and heard a messy sniffle. 

“Eda?” 

She pulled away slightly to look at them, and they felt a pang in their heart. 

Eda’s face was red and blotchy, her eyes puffy as tears slid down her face. 

“What’s wrong?” 

She shook her head and took their face in her hands, pulling them in for a messy, tearstained kiss. 

“I love you so much!” She hiccuped. 

Raine kissed her back tenderly, rubbing the palm of their hand over her stomach. 

“I love you too,” They answered back, trying to convey the depth of their emotions with another kiss, deep and desperate. 

Eda sighed against their lips, still sniffling slightly, unable to stop crying but so, indescribably happy-

Until she felt a particularly strong kick within her stomach and she was forced to pull away with a surprised grunt. 

“Ow,” she complained lightly. “Sorry, I think Jellybean is trying to ruin the mood-” 

She attempted to lean back, but Raine’s hand remained pressed against her stomach, their entire arm was tense. 

“Raine?” 

She looked at them and paused. 

Raine’s eyes were wide, their mouth slightly agape. 

“Was-” 

Their voice cracked, awe saturating every syllable. 

“Was that…?” 

Another strong kick fluttered against the wall of her stomach and Raine choked, pressing their hand harder. 

Eda gasped. 

“You felt that?” 

Slowly, they nodded, eyes still glued to her stomach. 

Another kick. 

A single tear slid down Raine’s cheek. 

“Oh,” They croaked. “Hi.” 

As if encouraged by their new audience, the flutters and taps increased. 

Eda guided their hand further down as she felt the baby shift, silently allowing them to draw out this first introduction of sorts. 

“I think they like you already,” She joked softly, and Raine made a helpless, awe stricken noise. 

“I love you,” they repeated, finally looking back at her with tears running down their cheeks. 

Without taking their hand off of her stomach, they cradled her cheek and kissed her, and then kissed her again, until they were peppering kisses all over her face, drawing a few surprised giggles out of her. 

“I love you.”  Again, as if they were the only words they knew anymore. 

And oh, it threatened to make Eda cry all over again. 

A kiss on her temple. 

And then, 

“Thank you.” 

She leaned into their touch, too overwhelmed to speak.

But she slid her fingers over theirs. Squeezing them in comfort as they tracked energetic little taps against warm skin. 

Letting them love her.

Love both of them. 

Chapter Text

Something that should be known, for the records, was that Raine had an incredible amount of difficulty living in the same house as their girlfriend without one thought constantly ringing through their brain.

She was, without any doubt.

Really.

Fucking.

Adorable. 

They had successfully refrained from saying it thus far, because Eda had proven fairly temperamental at times about her appearance, and not typically for conventional reasons.

They were certain if they had the audacity to start going around calling her things like adorable , or, titan forbid, cute, she'd punch their arm and glare and refuse to speak for several hours, until she desperately needed their attention for a foot rub or more of their special curry. 

What a girlfriend they had, who delighted in blunt honesty when she was greasy from one day too long without a shower or the state of her ankles, but raged at acknowledgment of her softer qualities. 

Well, not raged exactly.

Pouted was a better word, but, allegedly, just as Eda Clawthorne was not cute, she also did not pout.

While Raine wisely refrained from any cutesy endearments, Raine did not have it in them to refrain from staring.

Eda was firmly in the middle of her second trimester, and the baby was clearly growing a little more by the hour. She had abandoned the mere concept of pants in their entirety after a tearful incident involving her former favorite jeans, which would sadly never recover. 

Instead she embraced late summer as sundress season and frequently padded around the house or in her garden in airy dresses that draped around her belly and complimented the curves she'd gained nicely.

 The baby was doing well, according to their latest appointment with Healer Markov, and Eda was finally at her weight goal for the second trimester, no longer worryingly bony or sharp around the edges.

She was healthy, she was glowing. 

It was definitely doing funny things to their head. 

Raine thought they'd been gone on her before, but they couldn't help but feel their brains leak out of their ears every time they turned a corner in the house and saw her just existing all glowy and beautiful and pregnant . 

She had them completely wrapped around her finger. When they weren't at work, they happily retreated home to their second job as a personal chef and carrier of anything heavier than two pounds, from stacks of books to laundry.

The pay was more than worth it. Long nights curled protectively around their girlfriend, singing to the baby to lull them into sleeping when their mama slept. Frequent kisses at all hours of the day, cuddling on the couch while Eda shouted abuse at the crystal ball. Watching Eda weed the garden in large floppy sunhats…there were no greater benefits in the world. 

If they could, they’d quit their day job altogether, but unfortunately, there was the pesky matter of money getting in the way. 

And of course, plans for the future that held greater importance to them now more than ever. Overthrowing the government wasn’t just about nameless wild witches and strangers who went missing from coven ledgers at the first sign of trouble. Not anymore. 

It was about Eda and their future child who they wanted more than anything to gift with a world where all the magic of the isles were at their fingertips, just as it was for their mother, without being persecuted and hunted down and turned to stone. 

But! That was all in the future, and Raine knew that mulling over such dark, serious matters was time wasted when the present was so much more important. 

“Where the hell did all of our wraith chips go?” 

Raine smirked. 

Eda's cravings for spicy food only got worse as she left her morning sickness behind and instead faced constant hunger every five minutes or so. 

“You ate them, Calamity. Do you want me to get more from the store?”

“Not today,” Eda sighed regretfully. “Too much work to do, still. What time did your moms say they were visiting again? I still need to get the dishes done and sweep all the floors.” 

Raine frowned.

“You don't need to clean. The house looks fine, and I'd rather you rest. Titan knows Ma is probably gonna run us both ragged when she takes the house by storm.”

Eda narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. 

Despite sensing they'd made some sort of mistake, a larger part of their brain was distracted by how cute Eda looked when she was angry now that pregnancy had rounded out her face. Any displeased sort of expression she made came off as more of a pout than anything else. 

Eda closed her eyes for several seconds and Owlbert, sensing entertainment, poked his head out from Eda’s hair and trilled, only adding to the endearing picture she made. 

Owlbert clung to her wherever she went, sometimes nestling into her hair now that it had begun to grow out, or simply tucking himself into her neck, constantly demanding her attention.

“He's gonna be sooo jealous when the baby gets here,” Eda had laughed to them quietly one night. “He's used to being the only baby in my life.” 

“We'll get him extra treats,” they'd replied sagely.

In all honesty, they had half an inkling that Owlbert clung so tightly to Eda, not just because she was his witch and his mama, but to reap the benefits of Raine's efforts to spoil Eda. More than once was he guilty of pushing his head under their hand whenever they did Eda’s hair and stealing bites of her peppers and curry.

And of course, they didn't doubt  the little guy got no shortage of entertainment from Eda’s antics. Particularly now that she was housebound and a tad stir-crazy. 

Such as now. 

Eda rolled her eyes and huffed at them.

“Raine. Your mothers are coming to visit.”

They nodded.

“I know. I'm the one who had to suffer through the raven call.” 

Needless to say, their moms weren't happy with their only child for neglecting to inform them not only of their renewed relationship with Eda, but also her pregnancy. 

At first, Raine thought the situation might be salvageable. 

Their moms were upset of course, that they hadn't informed them sooner, any mother would be. 

But, when Mama started coaxing Ma down from her shouting by saying it was understandable that Raine hadn't said anything yet because they'd probably needed a couple days or maybe a week or two to process everything. 

Then, naturally, she'd turned her attention directly to her precious first and only born child whom she loved and trusted so much.

“This must be so exciting for you, Rainedrop! Tell us, how far along is Eda? One month? Two? I hope she's not too sick, poor thing.”

A chill had run up their spine. Their hands had gone a bit clammy as they cleared their throat.

“She's, ah. Almost six  months now.” 

There had been a very, extremely, loaded pause.

“...Six months?”

“...Yeah…”

“I see.”

Three hours later, Raine's ears were ringing and a visit had been scheduled. Donna and Sylvia Whispers would be visiting the owl house. 

The news had sent Eda into a complete tailspin, which led them to where they were standing now. 

In a living smelling more strongly of cleaning supplies than it probably ever had under the current ownership, across from one very adorable, very irate girlfriend.

Eda gave them a disbelieving look and threw a hand into the air.

“Raine. Your mothers. Are coming here. To my house.” 

They nodded again, polite confusion coloring their expression. 

“It's been mentioned.” 

Eda hissed and jabbed a finger at them.

“Don't get fresh with me, Whispers! I am on thin enough ice with Donna and Sylvia as it is! I do not need you and your smart mouth getting in the way of sparing them from thinking I'm keeping you hostage in an imp stye! 

Raine shook their head, bewildered.

“If either of us is on thin ice it's me, Calamity,” they refuted dryly. “You're carrying their grandchild. I'm the one who forgot to tell them about said impending grandchild.” 

Eda grit her teeth. 

“You wouldn't understand,” she muttered. 

Raine…had no idea what that was about. Their moms adored Eda, even after the breakup, that hadn't really changed, though of course there'd been a mourning period. 

Eda would see soon enough that she didn't have to worry, they thought. No one was better at making someone feel loved than their moms. 

“Our house is fine, Sweetheart.” They disagreed “It's not that bad. Skip the deep clean and there will be plenty of time for a run to the store.”

Eda's glare did not waver. 

They decided to try for a different angle. A hungry Eda was more of a crisis, in their opinion, than a panicked-about-cleaning Eda.

“I'm sure my moms won't mind a little mess. I mean, you saw how our house looked on a good day when I was a kid-”

“Raine,” Eda said sweetly, “Move the couch for me so I can mop the floor or I will personally ensure that you will never procreate again.” 

Her upper lip curled and-yep! There was the angry pout.

Adorable.

They melted a little on the inside and obediently rolled up their sleeves.

“Okay, okay,” they soothed her gently. “Move over, honey, I'll get the couch.”

--------------------------

“Okay. What do you think?”

Eda re-draped her favorite heavy knit throw blanket over the couch for the tenth time, a fraction of a centimeter away from the last spot she'd draped it.

“I think it looks just as fine 

Eda had been in a cleaning frenzy for the better part of an hour now. A total hurricane they knew better than to get in the way of. It was impressive, actually, considering they hadn't actually known Eda knew *how* to deep clean before today. 

Maybe it was those nesting instincts they'd read about in the maternity books. Hormones making her want to clean more often. 

They decided to keep the theory to themselves. It was hard to tell sometimes when Eda was or wasn't in the mood to hear any bird related language, even if it wasn't an intentional pun directed at her. 

They looked around a bit more, stepping furth into the house with their peace offering of sorts half hidden behind their leg. 

“The house looks great, love,” they told her honestly. 

“I still have stuff I need to do,” Eda dismissed, noticeably a bit out of breath as set her broom down. “I'm not done yet.”

“Why don't you give me a list and I'll see what I can do?” They suggested. “You should rest for a bit.”

Eda tried to shake her head. 

“We don't have much time left. I need to-”

Raine lifted the bag they'd been hiding and held it up so Eda could catch the spicy scent wafting from it.

Her eyes widened and she immediately stopped in her tracks.

“When did you-”

They grinned.

“I figured I had some time between the bleach massacre and the frantic dusting to make a mad dash for the store. Especially since you're doing things manually now.”

Eda hummed, but for once didn't seem to take the mention of her magic having officially fizzled out at the tail end of her fifth month with any note of bitterness or stress. 

Instead, she was entirely focused on the groceries in their hand, eyes sparking and nose twitching adorably. 

They passed the bag over to her with a small chuckle and tilted their head to give her a quick peck. 

When they tried to pull back, she curled a hand around their collar and pulled them back in for a longer kiss. 

“Thank you,” she mumbled, clearly pleased and coming down from her stress-cleaning high.

They cupped her belly while they kissed her and lifted up slightly, taking the weight of the baby in their hands and off her back.

“Anytime, Calamity.” 

Eda sighed against their lips.

“I love it when you do that,” she mumbled. 

“I love doing it for you.” 

“Few more minutes like this?”

They smiled softly and adjusted their hold.

Under their palms the baby kicked and squirmed.  

Raine kissed her again. 

“As long as you need.”