Chapter Text
Eda looked up from from where she was knelt down, sweeping up wood shavings, turning a watchful gaze upon her sleeping kids. King was curled tightly around Francois, leg kicking idly and grunting a soft, nearly purr-like, snore while Luz was snuggled up close to him, one arm pulled in close to her chest clutching her yellow cat messenger (that, Eda had no-doubt, must hold a new extra-gushy message from Amity) while her other arm was draped loosely around the tiny sleeping titan.
Eda grimaced at the thought, reaching out to rest a hand on top of King's skull and gently scratching between the horns, enjoying the peaceful chitter he made; a titan of all things. Eda sighed wearily as she thought of how much further this news complicated things on top of putting her son in even more danger than he already was. Pushing herself to her feet with a muffled grunt, the aging witch grabbed the worn green blanket folded at the end of the bed and shook the dust out a few times before wrapping it around her sleeping kids, tucking them in nice and snug before leaning in and placing a soft kiss on each of their forheads. Giving once last satisfied glance at her work, Eda stepped back and made her way towards the table the rest of the CATs were gathered around, stretching as she went and cracking her spine loud enough that it drew the attention of the few witches still awake, resulting in a sympathetic glance from Raine and sickened gag from Amber.
"Oh eww, that sounded awful!! Are my joints gonna sound like that too when I get all old?!" Amber whined as Eda approached the table, earning her an admonishing 'shush! people are sleeping!' from Katya and an unimpressed glare from Raine, Darius, and Eda.
"Oi! Watch who you're calling old, kid!" Eda scolded with a frown. "Just because I've aged like a fine Appleblood Cider doesn't mean I'm any less powerful of a witch than I was in my glory days; and you can bet I've recently proven I can still tango with the best of them and come out on top!" she winked coyly as she rested her hip against the table, leaning over Raine's shoulder to stare at the map laid out in front of them and Darius. If she were being totally honest she knew the map inside and out by now and had no need to gaze at it, but if feigning an attempt at reading it served as a good excuse to be closer to her returned bard, then who was there to judge her for such an innocent act? Maybe Darius and the none too subtle eyeroll he was giving her, but he was easy enough to ignore and the payout of being near Raine was worth it.
"Whaddyah mean?" Amber questioned, a curious spark to her voice. "Who'd yah fight with?"
"Oh, y'know, just the renowned Warden Wrath" The Owl Lady cooed, flippantly waving her hand. "Had an unfortunate mix-up with a Blabber Serum I fed him at the Bonesborough Brawl a week or so ago, and he went all feral-monster on everyone, so Luz, the Blight daddy-daughter-duo, and I had to help cool him down till he broke out of it's effects." she smirked to herself as she caught the annoyed grimace Darius made at the Blight name, and the sharp glance Raine shot at her. Eda might have omitted some of her more daring escapades in their earlier conversation and was looking forward to discussing that particular one with them later, only slightly hopeful that there may be a bit of happy nostalgic talks of how the pair used to go on dates to watch those very duels.
"What were you giving him a Blabber Serum for?" Katya asked with interest, pulling out a notebook. "Before Raine and Darius broke us BATs out of the Conformatorium, the Warden liked to ramble on about all sorts of innane things that I took notes of in my fanfic journal just in case; maybe something he may have mentioned back then would still help now?"
Oh. Eda hadn't been expecting that one, and seeing as her goal had been getting information on what was going on with Raine, who she was acutely aware she was leaning much too close to all of a sudden, Eda roughly cleared her throat as she felt her face heat up.
"Oh, y'know - just hoping to figure out juicy insider info on Belos and the day if unity" Eda tried in an attempt at brushing the question off. "but with the potion fritzing like it did, and the fact that he had been demoted previously, it meant he didn't know anything useful"
"Hey, that's not what I heard!" chimed in a shrill coo and Eda felt herself fill with dread as Hooty slunk closer, avoiding jostling a sleeping Lilith curled around his transport birdhouse. "King said you were drugging your one ex to get information on your other ex that you're still in lo-"
"That's enough Hooty!" Eda yelped, jumping away from the table and, more importantly, the ex in question. "And titan damnit! How many times do I have to keep telling you two that the warden and I never dated?! He is not my Ex!" Eda was sure if he wasn't currently asleep, she'd be subject to both King's snide snickering along with Hooty's present shit-eating grin.
"Wait. Information on your Ex? Eda, please tell me he's not talking about me!" Raine turned an equally impressed and horrified stare on her. "You're telling me that despite all my efforts to keep you safe, you drugged and then fought the Head Ward of the conformatorium?!"
"Technically former head ward" Eda corrected them with a sheepish grin as Raine fixed her with an unimpressed frown. "What can I say, 'Storm? As far as I knew, your memories had been scrambled with and you were being held at the Emperor's coven, possibly against your will! What was I supposed to do? Just sit back as the Emperor and his lackeys did what they wanted with you?! Sure it's been years since our breakup, but you really believe I'd have been okay just leaving you in conditions like that?"
"I know, but-" Raine had begun but was cut off by a giddy squeal from Amber that was quickly hushed by the older witches with nervous glances at the sleeping kids and Lilith who all thankfully remained asleep.
"You two dated?!" Amber gushed in a quieter voice, exchanging excited glances with Katya and Derwin.
"I knew it!" Katya hissed, arm raising to punch the air excitedly. "I told you! I told you both that my headcannon was gonna be true!" and she turned a smug open-fanged grin on Derwin. "You owe me 10 snails!"
"What?! No I don't!" Derwin hissed back, clutching his chest indignantly. "Our bet was that they hooked up during the time of the BAT raids. Eda just said it's been years since they-"
"You made bets on if we slept together?!" Raine interrupted them with a hissed whisper, face quickly turning beet red. "For fuck's sake, why?!" Eda gave an impressed smirk at the more vulgar cuss word - apparently the Owl Lady wasn't the only who had grown more feisty with age.
"Technically we just made bets on if you two dated at the time, you're the one being all pervy with it!" Katya chortled with a snarky grin. "But obviously we had bets on it: we all ship it! Duh." she added with a casual shrug. "You two have mad chemistry going on between you and should definitely be together, anyone can see that."
"I... you..." Raine sputtered before burying their face in their hands with an exasperated groan. "I can't believe this..."
"And on that disgusting lovey-dovey note, I'm out for the night." Darius rose with a grimace. "At least one of us should be at the castle tonight to ensure no one starts suspecting anything is amiss, and you two-" he pointed between Raine and Eda with a disdainful frown. "-obviously need to have a damned conversation like grown witches!" Darius turned to leave, Eber chattering and scampering over to join him, before the abominatiom head paused for a moment, not turning as he spoke in a foreboding tone: "You'd do best to heed my earlier advice, Whispers - none of us have any guarantees on what's going to happen in a few days. The most sympathetic act we can give ourselves now, is to make sure we're walking into this shitshow with as few regrets as possible." and with that he waved his hand and a swirl of abmination goo engulfed both the beast coven head and himself as it transported them away.
Everyone sat in awkward silence for a few moments before Kayta suddenly stood with pointed looks at Derwin and Amber. "Okayyy, I think the three of us should be heading off to bed for the night! I'll still be awake for a bit doing sketches and such tho, so I can keep an eye on the little ones if you two wanted to - I dunno, take a moonlit stroll or something to get some fresh air before turning in for the night." she tugged the pair of younger bards to their feet and the three of them made their way to an empty set of bunk beds.
"Subtle." Eda snorted after her with a smirk. "Well Rainestorm, what d'yah say? The temperature is pretty nice tonight, and after all the insane energy of today, a relaxing walk before bed does actually sound really nice." she held out a hand to them with a grin.
Raine slid their hand in her's, rough calluses skimming her palm in a way that sent electricity streaking all the way up her arm and short-circuiting her brain. As both witches' fingers wrapped around eachother's wrist, it was almost like a warm hug had wrapped it's way around her soul, distracting Eda just enough that when she tugged Raine to their feet, she pulled just a little too forcefully causing them to stumble forward into her. Eda instinctually wrapped her free arm around their waist to help steady the head bard and keep them from falling.
"You- you okay?" she stuttered as a warmth spread up her neck and across her face.
"More than okay, I think" Raine hummed back, still as smooth as firebee honey. They took a casual step back out of Eda's unintentional embrace and loosened their grip on her wrist just enough to slide their hand down to thread both witches' fingers together, taking a step towards the door with a coaxing tug. "Shall we?" they cooed softly.
Eda, caught in a rare moment of stunned silence, just nodded as she fell into an easy walking pace at their side, both staying close enough that their shoulders gently brushed past one another with each step. As the pair approached the door, that was when Eda finally saw it: nailed right above the main door in a place of high honor, hung a perfectly dried and preserved stem of sunfire snapdragon blossoms.
"The same from our hill" Eda murmured just above a whisper, seeing Raine in her peripheral vision as they turned their head to follow her gaze, a sudden bright blush creeping onto their face as both witches turned to fully look at one another. "Rainestorm" Eda breathed out the old nickname fondly. "Are those... are they what I think they are?"
"The flowers from our spot?" Raine spoke softly, hand not holding Eda's coming up to rub nervously at the back of their neck. "Yeah. They're from there. it just felt... fitting, y'know? You were the one who inadvertently inspired me into the whole rebellion deal afterall, and we've all been working so hard to stop the whole unity day thing to protect all of the Boiling Isles, of course, but..." and they faltered, turning an even brighter shade of red. "wellllll, part of it may have been a little selfish of me and my hope to specifically protect you."
"But why me?" Eda stammered so small and quiet, as if fearful that the answer to that question might shatter her then and there.
"Let's take that walk and we'll see if you can accept my reasoning." Raine hummed gently, coaxing Eda to join them in taking a few steps forward, pushing open the door and allowing the pair to step out into the brisk evening air where they walked in comfortable silence under a thousand twinkling stars and moonlight that bathed the mossy valley in a soft comforting glow.