Chapter Text
Taion was going insane. Or at least, that’s what he had been saying to himself for the past week. If he had told anyone about what he had been experiencing the past several days, their first reaction would be to tell him he needs to see a doctor. In their defense, they would not be in the wrong on that front, frustrating Taion even more as he tapped his finger against his notebook. He had been attempting to study in order to distract himself from his ordeal but had since given up. An image flashed through his mind, a memory that had been plaguing him day and night.
It wasn't anything particularly special, just a pair of off-white wings that he could only see in the corner of his eye but vanished any time he tried to look directly. The wings didn’t seem to belong to any birds or creatures he had ever seen, coupled with the fact that sometimes he’d catch a glimpse of honey toned hair just beneath. As if they were coming out of someone’s head. It was absurd, simply unheard of. What being has wings that grow out of their head? None that he’d ever heard of, but the wings still seemed familiar all the same. The sight of them made his heart feel warm but they also brought a sort of immense sadness. As if something terrible had happened to the owner of those wings.
To his shock, he had begun absentmindedly sketching them among his notes whilst studying. He began to wonder if he should speak to Isurd or Nimue about his visions, but decided against it for the time being. He picked up the pencil in his hand and began sketching once more, not allowing himself to think as the utensil glided across the paper. Perhaps he knew something subconsciously that his conscious mind could not reveal, as if it was being held back. A faint image played at the edges of his mind as a person’s face came into being among the neatly written notes he had written down.
A few minutes of absentminded doodling later, an incredibly messy sketch now marred the otherwise organized page. It was a woman with wings sprouting out of her head. Her features were fuzzy, but Taion could discern an expression on her face that could only be labeled as smug. It brought a smile to his own face as he traced his finger over the outline of the drawing. He had never met this person before in his life, never met anyone with wings on their head, but this figure, she was familiar. The sight of her made Taion feel comforted, it put him at ease. He wondered if he’d ever meet her, or if she was just a figment of his imagination.
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It had been a slow day, or as slow as it could be when you were the daughter of the Queen. Adopted daughter, but still family all the same. Eunie had been stuck in the library in the castle to “focus on her studies.” Her mother meant well, but studying was so boring when she could be in town spending time with Lanz, Noah, and Joran instead. A headache had begun to form, her brain aching from poring over numerous books all day long. Though the distraction was welcomed to a slight degree as Eunie had been seeing strange things whenever she had ventured into town during the past few days. Among the townspeople, she always seemed to spot the tail end of an obnoxiously orange scarf. At first she wanted to see who would make such an awful fashion statement but every time she tried to search for the scarf’s owner, it suddenly disappeared into thin air.
The scarf was garish of course, a true travesty and the wearer of it definitely needed to get their eyes checked. However, it seemed almost…familiar. Like she had seen it somewhere in the past, though she was confident she never had seen it before in her life. It was strange but she hadn’t brought it up to anyone in fear of being teased by her friends or causing her mother worry.
Eunie shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, deciding to make a cup of tea to calm her racing mind. She felt a tug in her gut as she glanced at the far end of the library to where a certain book stood still on the shelf. She made her way towards it and pulled it off the shelf, blowing off a layer of dust as she grimaced at the slightly worn cover. It had been in this library for goodness knows how long, Eunie having stumbled upon it one day when she was a child. It was a book on tea making, the instructions and lists of materials inside written neatly rather than typed and printed. After years of memorizing the text, she had learned the recipes by heart and yet, a gut feeling was telling her to use it now.
Leaving her studies behind, Eunie quickly walked towards the kitchen before she could be spotted by any of the guards. It had only taken a few moments to reach her destination as she slipped inside, relieved to see no one waiting for her. She opened the book and laid it flat on the countertop, reading the slightly smudged writing as she prepared a kettle of water to heat up on the stove. The tea recipe was a simple one, one that she had made when she had first discovered the book. Seeing it now brought a sense of fondness as she flipped through the pages, though a page in the back caught her eye.
It was the last page in the book, and all that was on it was a doodle of some kind. Eunie couldn’t quite decipher what it was at first but then looked closer, the shape now starting to become more familiar as she felt a memory prick at the edges of her consciousness. Of someone handing her a cup of tea around a campfire, her hands shaking as she took it from them. They had then sat beside her and had started talking to her. She couldn’t quite remember what they were saying, but their voice was…soothing. Eunie felt her face warm as she thumbed the drawing, remembering how the figure would stare down at the object depicted in their palm quite often.
It had taken a moment for Eunie to realize that the kettle was whistling, hurriedly taking it off the stove before the shrieking could alert the guards. She wondered where those memories had even come from, and what did that person mean to her? Only time would tell, she supposed.