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Chapter Text

Rune grasped at the other side of his bed and found it empty of his fiance; judging by the temperature of the bed, Addam had been absent for a while. He opened his eyes, grumbling, to a room too dim to give him any indication of what time of morning it was. Definitely morning, though, or at least one member of his family would already have been in to roust him out of bed. Blackout curtains are a fucking terrible idea, Brand had said, but Rune had yet to find anything terrible about not having the sun shooting lasers into your eyes as soon as you opened them.

He propped himself up on one elbow and reached for his phone on the nightstand to see what time it actually was. Then paused. There was something missing, wasn't there? His nightstand was in a state of chaos, as usual, but something familiar that was always there, wasn't. Ah. It was a sigil; he kept two on the nightstand, even though they had an armory now, for sentimental reasons. The ankh was still there. The other, which had been pushed to the back of the nightstand, to hide behind other, more child-appropriate bits of the mess, was missing.

Well. Possibly it had just been knocked off. Brand and Addam would make fun of him for days if he asked for help looking and it turned out to have been on the floor the whole time. He rolled out of bed and aimed the phone's flashlight to the floor under the nightstand. He had moved on to searching under the bed when Brand spoke from the doorway. "The fuck has you so annoyed? The answer better not be 'waking up', 'cause it's almost noon."

Rune sighed. He should have been paying more attention to the emotions going through his companion bond. "Looking for a sigil," He answered, not bothering to bring his head out from under the bed. "Disappeared from my nightstand."

"You'll never guess what I have to say about that."

"I know exactly where it was. 'S how I noticed it was missing." Rune backed up enough so he could see Brand to glare at him. "You planning to help, or did you come to mock my bedroom organization?"

"Organization, my ass." Brand joined him in peering under the bed. After a second he added, "Okay, I'll admit there is a remarkable lack of your belongings under here. Which I give Addam sole credit for. Definitely no sigils."

Rune sat up. "I already looked under the nightstand. Where else could it have gone, though?"

"Kids might have decided to prank you," Brand suggested.

"They know better than to take a sigil," Rune started, then paused. "Though, I hadn't pointed that particular one out to them."

Brand stared at him for only a second before he started laughing. "Oh, shut up." Rune smacked his arm. "I'm going to get dressed and eat breakfast, and then I'll find out if anyone else has seen it."

Max and Quinn were still in the kitchen when Rune got there. "Queenie made cinnamon rolls," Max announced.

"We saved you one," Quinn added.

"Under duress," Queenie said, coming in from the pantry. She gave the boys a stern look. "Now they're hanging about like vultures, hoping you won't want it." She flapped her hands at them. "Go on."

"No, wait," Rune said, though he also picked up the cinnamon roll and took a big bite to emphasize that it was not for the vultures. "I need to ask them something."

Queenie pointedly handed him a mug of coffee and a plate with scrambled eggs, so Rune plopped the cinnamon roll on the plate and took both to the kitchen table to finish eating before he continued.

"I'm missing a sigil from my nightstand, and Brand and I already looked pretty thoroughly in the bedroom. Brand thinks maybe someone who didn't realize it's a sigil thought it would be funny to hide it and see how long it would take for me to notice. So. Have you seen--" Rune paused, and ended up going with the vaguest possible description. "A ring about this big, on a leather strap?"

"I knew it was a sigil," Max said. He leaned towards Quinn and stage-whispered. "It's a cock ring."

"That's-- I mean--"

Quinn interrupted Rune's spluttering with a roll of his eyes. "Come on, I'm sure you knew what a cock ring is when you were our age." Which, alright, but it was still a little weird that they knew about this one specifically. Quinn continued, scrunching his face up in disgust, "So I wouldn't touch it. I don't want to think about where it's been."

"It's been on my nightstand," Rune informed him. He sighed. "I guess I'll have to ask Anna and Corbie. And no one is uttering the words 'cock ring' around them, understand?"

This time Max and Quinn shared an eyeroll. "Duh."

Corbie had enlisted Addam as assistant in his current favorite game, which as far as Rune could ascertain consisted of seeing how tall a tower they could build before it came crashing down. Corbie tended to increase the difficulty of the game by insisting on the addition of non-building toys. Currently his hoarse little voice was demanding that a stuffed triceratops be placed on the tower's precariously narrow top.

"This building is not rated for dinosaurs," Addam told him gravely. "But look, I think he can wait for you on the ground floor." He slid the plushie between the supports at the bottom of the tower.

"Nooo," Corbie protested. "He wants to go to the top to see the view."

"That might endanger him." Addam looked up to find Rune watching them, and stood to greet him. Then he added, "Here, you can ask what Rune thinks."

"Rune thinks Triceratops needs a bigger building," Rune said, perhaps unwisely, because Corbie interpreted this to mean that he should jump up and add another block to the top of the tower, which caused immediate collapse.

"Okay," Corbie said, with apparent satisfaction. "Now we can build the bigger building."

"You get started," Rune said. He lowered his voice. "Addam, have you seen my sigil recently? The-- the round one from the nightstand."

Addam's brow crinkled in thought. "I don't remember the last time I saw it. Shall I come help you look?"

"Brand and I already searched the bedroom pretty thoroughly. Max and Quinn say they haven't seen it, but they're searching the other bedrooms and the bathrooms. Brand went to ask Anna and Corinne, but you know he won't be able to resist training with them before they start searching." Rune shook his head. "Doesn't matter. It's not an urgent search, just keep an eye out for it."

Addam tsked and wrapped his arm firmly around Rune's shoulders. "Don't try to act like it isn't important to you. Of course we can look for it now. Corbitant! Do you want to play a search game?"

Corbie looked up at them skeptically. "I heard you. Looking for a thing you lost isn't a game."

"We can make it a game," Addam said brightly. "If you are the one to find the sigil, you get--"

"To help Queenie make any kind of cookie you want," Rune interrupted hurriedly, before Addam could promise a more extravagant reward.

"Okay." Corbie sighed dramatically and flopped down on his belly next to an armchair. "I'll look under furniture, since I'm littlest."

"Great plan," Rune agreed.

They were searching a third room without success when Rune felt someone watching him and pulled his head out of an unused closet to find Corbie staring patiently. He asked solemnly, "Is your ring shiny?"

"I suppose it's a little shiny? Why--" But Corbie had already dashed away.

He had enough of a head start that Rune and Addam had to run to catch up with him just before he slowed down to enter the ballroom. Corbie strode purposefully to the large fireplace in the center of one wall and walked inside; the fireplace was plenty tall enough for a Corbie.

It was not tall enough for a Rune, and he didn't particularly want to crawl into the fireplace, which retained traces of soot despite years of disuse. He waited until Corbie emerged from a corner of the fireplace, surprisingly unsooty apart from his hands and forearms. He held not one, but two rings out triumphantly. One appeared to be nothing more than a piece of keyring, but the other was the missing sigil.

"Thank you, Corbie." Rune took his sigil. "You can keep that one, if you want. Now, would you like to explain how you knew it was there?"

"Remus likes shiny things," Corbie explained, confident that this was as clear to Rune as it was to him.

"Okaaay. And so he takes them...?"

Corbie nodded emphatically and pointed to the fireplace. "He keeps his things in there."

"Hmm," Rune said. "You know, I don't recall Remus owning any things. What else is in there?"

Corbie gave one of his put-upon sighs, but he returned to the fireplace and came out a minute later with a small armful of items and a good deal more soot. As he had claimed, Remus seemed to show a preference for shiny objects. Most of them were similar to the keyring -- paperclips, safety pins, bits of aluminum foil -- but there were also something electronic that might be important and a glittery hairclip Anna had been looking for.

Rune picked out the last two and handed the electronic thing to Addam. "Is this important?"

"Rune," Addam said patiently, "how do you not know what a USB drive is?"

"Sounds unimportant," Rune said. "Corbie, Remus can keep the rest of this, but we need to find him so he can atone for his crimes."

"Maybe he went outside," Corbie said shiftily.

"Maybe he is in your room," Addam suggested, apparently interpreting Corbie's shiftiness correctly, because he went barreling down the hall and up the stairs, with Rune and Addam right behind him.

"Leave him alone," Corbie wailed when they followed him into the room. "He wasn't trying to steal anything."

"No," Addam observed dryly, "he was succeeding."

"I'm not going to do anything to him," Rune reassured Corbie, "but I think it's time for him to go home. He lives with Lady Death, remember?"

"Yes," Corbie sulked. "But maybe my prize can be that Remus stays here?"

Rune said firmly, "Your prize is cookies."

"Can Remus--"

"Remus may not have cookies."

"Well, can I put chocolate chips and M&Ms and skittles and gummy worms and--"

Corbie paused for breath and Rune interjected, "You can go discuss your cookie plans with Queenie."

"Little Brother." Zurah sounded faintly amused when she answered his video call. "Is there an emergency?"

"Only a very minor one." Rune held Remus up in front of the phone screen by the scruff of his neck and shook him gently. "We have an unrepentant thief in the house."

"I was wondering when someone would find his stash."

"I think Corbie found it ages ago--" Rune realized her implication and broke off. "You could have warned me!"

"But I'm sure Corbie enjoyed discovering it for himself," Zurah said. "I'll send someone over to fetch him."

Chapter Text

Anna squinted as she approached the gates of Sun Court. Something was moving right along the gate, almost pressed up against it. That meant it wasn't a threat -- it wasn't big enough for that, anyway -- but the wards should still make touching the gate unpleasant. It could be just a piece of trash blowing along, but there didn't seem to be enough wind for that. Besides, it was moving with too much purpose.

As she got closer it became apparent that the "something" was a kitten, black except for its white front paws. It wasn't wearing a collar. Anna crouched down next to it and heard...purring? It was rubbing its head against a warded gatepost with every appearance of enjoyment. That was strange, wasn't it? For humans, the ward would repel strangers -- it wouldn't hurt them unless someone activated the ward, just make it feel vaguely uncomfortable to get too near -- until one of the residents allowed them in. Anna didn't know how it worked for animals. Maybe it didn't work on them, in which case it was probably a security flaw the adults would want to know about. Maybe the kitten had followed someone in at one point without them noticing, and now the wards recognized it as friendly. Would that mean the wards would let a friendly animal crawl through the gate? Anna imagined Remus slithering in under the gate to wreak havoc, and chuckled quietly to herself at the thought of Rune's reaction.

The kitten looked up at the sound. It stood with its tail held tall and stiff, and quivered a little. "Shh," Anna whispered, trying to hold very still so the kitten wouldn't bolt away. "I don't want to hurt you. You don't look like you have a home. Would you like to come in?"

It leaned against the gatepost again and seemed to relax a little. Slowly, slowly, Anna reached a hand towards it. It sniffed at her fingertips, so Anna kept moving her hand slowly until she could touch the top of the kitten's head and gently scratch it. The kitten stiffened at first, then suddenly pushed its head up against her fingers.

"There you go," Anna whispered. "That's better than the gate, isn't it? If you let me pick you up we can go inside and find you something to eat." She slowly moved her other hand to rest lightly on the kitten's back; it didn't protest, too preoccupied with the head scratches.

There would probably only be one chance to pick up the kitten, since it would run away if it didn't like what was happening to it. Anna had heard somewhere that you were supposed to carry kittens by the scruff of their neck, like a mother cat, but she was afraid she would drop it that way. Besides, she wasn't even sure that was right. In the end she put one hand under its stomach and one on its back. It flailed and managed to scratch her arm with its back paws, but once she was holding it against her chest it let out one pitiful howl before giving up the struggle.

She was met in the front hall by Corinne, who said "Where have you been? I had just started wondering if I should go looking for you-- what is that?"

"What does it look like?" Anna snapped, annoyed by the implication that she needed looked after that closely. She couldn't have been at the gate more than fifteen minutes. "It was right outside the gate. I think it was trying to get in."

Corinne frowned at her. "Another pet is the last thing we need here."

"Not the last thing," Anna pointed out, but decided it was better not to actually list the worse things. "Anyway, the only pet we have is Flynn. Since Remus left."

"And Flynn is the size of approximately ten thousand kittens. He is plenty of pet all by himself."

Anna persisted. "But look at it! It's just a baby. It needs someone to take care of it."

Corinne was starting to give in, Anna could tell. "And that someone is going to be you? You're going to buy it food and clean its litter box and take it to the vet?"

"I might need a car for the last one," Anna said. "But I'll do everything else, I promise. And..."

"And?" Corinne asked. "Is there another kitten in your backpack?"

"No. I was just wondering if the gate wards work on animals."

Corinne's gaze sharpened. "Why? Was that cat inside the gate? The wards are supposed to keep Flynn inside, but I'll believe that when I see it."

"It was outside," Anna said, "but it was rubbing up against the gatepost. It seemed like it liked it."

"Cats like to rub on things," Corinne said. "As long as it can't go through it, the ward should be good. I'll have Rune check it, though."

"Then I'm going to go find it something to eat."

Corbie was in the kitchen, apparently by himself. He yelled joyfully when he noticed the kitten, which caused it to start struggling again. "Shush," Anna said. "You're scaring it. It needs something to eat. Can you look in the fridge and tell me what we have that it might like?"

"Cats like milk," Corbie said confidently. "I can't reach it, though."

"I don't think you're supposed to give cats milk," Quinn said, coming in to the kitchen to swipe a cookie from the plate on the counter. "I think it's bad for them. Why are we talking about cats-- oh. Hello, kitty." He reached a hand out to the kitten, which deigned to sniff him before hiding its face in Anna's arm.

"Corinne said it could stay," Anna told him. "What do you think the cat should eat?"

"Meat," Quinn answered promptly. "Cats are carnivores. But it probably needs something soft, since it's so little. Maybe canned tuna would be ok."

Quinn found the tuna, and as soon as Anna set the kitten in front of the dish it started eating. "It acts like it was starving," Corbie said, careful to keep his voice down this time.

"It was very hungry," Anna agreed.

Most of the family managed to wander into the kitchen in the time it took the kitten to eat and drink. "Are we keeping that?" Rune asked, but he looked resigned to the answer before Anna said it.

"It's an elegant creature that will keep your home free of mice," Addam said. He held his hand out to the kitten. It ignored the offered hand and moved a few steps over to rub its head against Addam's metal hand. "Fascinating choice," he said to it. "The other hand is warmer, kitty."

"Maybe sigils feel warm to it," Anna mused. "It was doing the same thing to the wards outside."

"Oh, excellent," Rune said sarcastically. "I can't wait to find out what sort of magic it manifests."

"What's its name?" Max asked.

"It doesn't have one yet."

"Name it after your fire dragon," Corbie suggested.

"My dragon doesn't have a name," Anna said. "Unless you gave it one." Corbie shook his head.

"Name it after another dragon," Quinn said. "Smaug."

Anna put her hand protectively over the kitten. "That's mean!"

Max offered, "Name it after a nice dragon. Falkor."

"It can be a luck dragon," Anna said. "I like that."

Somehow Brand ended up being the adult designated to drive Anna to the pet store for kitten necessities. He stopped just inside the door and scanned the aisles with a calculating look Anna had come to know well. "If you're about to open your mouth and ask me for a tactical analysis of this store, think again," she told him. "We're here for the kitten. Tactically decide what kind of food to get it."

"Fine," Brand said. "It should be quick, right? Just food, food dishes, and a litter box or whatever. A kitten can't need that much."

"And a collar. And a bed, a carrier, a brush, treats, toys, a scratching post..." Anna looked up from the article she was reading about "Essential Supplies for your New Kitten". "Maybe more than one scratching post. This says 'place a scratching post near any piece of furniture your cat might try to sharpen its claws on so it has an appropriate place to scratch.'"

"Jesus. That thing is more high maintenance than I am."

"We can get you a scratching post too, if you want."

"Fine," Brand said a little while later. They were in the toy aisle, and Brand had found something like a tiny fishing pole with a fuzzy worm at the end that he was swinging around at high speed. "I can see how the cat toys are fun."

Anna tore her eyes away from her own perusal of the toys. "I don't think that's how you use that. The cat's supposed to be able to catch it."

"I'll win the game, then," Brand said. He squinted at the metal cylinder in Anna's hand. "What is that?"

"A laser pointer. Cats like to chase them."

"No. Absolutely not. That is a fucking weapon. Imagine if Corbie got a hold of it."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I don't think they're selling a laser strong enough to seriously hurt you in the pet store."

"We can revisit the laser another day," Brand said firmly. "You have plenty of other options. More than plenty. Are you ready to go?"

"Sure." They left the store with everything on Anna's list, including half a dozen toys.

Rune woke to someone pounding on the bedroom door. "It's not morning!" he yelled at Brand.

Or not Brand. "Get your ass out of bed," Corinne called through the door. "Both of you. Addam, bring your healing sigils."

That brought both of them out of bed and pulling on pants as fast as they could. "What is it?" Rune asked as soon as he opened the door.

"Anna's fever," Corinne said. Anna had been sick for a couple days, but it had been a normal case of the flu so far. "It got so high I thought the thermometer must be broken, and then-- I think it's triggering her Aspect, or something. Come see."

Max popped his head out just as they were passing his door. "Is there an emergency?" He said through a yawn. "I heard screaming."

"See if you can get a hold of Layne," Brand ordered. "Anna might need them."

"On it." Max disappeared into his room.

"I should have thought of that," Corinne said. "I hope we'll figure it out before he has time to get here, but..."

When they reached Anna's room the problem was immediately apparent. Fire flickered in her eyes, and her face was flushed and sweaty from the fever. Her eyes immediately went to Rune. "I'm trying to control it," she said weakly. "It keeps getting away."

Rune put his hand on her arm. "I know. We're going to figure it out."

"Perhaps we just need to bring the fever down," Addam suggested. He placed his metal hand gently on Anna's forehead to release a healing spell. Then the glow of magic disappeared far more abruptly than usual, and Addam jerked his hand away.

"What?" Rune demanded.

"It's--" Addam shook his head. "I doubt this is plausible, but it felt like her aspect was pulling the sigil magic to itself. You saw how fast the magic was drained. Did it help?" He asked Anna.

"I feel a little better. And my Aspect's not, like, trying to get away now."

"Let me check your temperature again," Corinne said.

Max came dashing in while they waited for the thermometer reading. "I have Layne on speaker," he said. "What's happening?"

Rune explained briefly for Layne.

"It probably is the fever triggering her Aspect," Layne said thoughtfully. "There are a few case studies of Arcana -- very few, though, because the Aspect has to be something related to illness somehow in the first place. Like, if your Aspect was icy hypothermia could trigger it. It seems to be a feedback loop. So we want to bring down the fever and release the Aspect magic at the same time. We're on the way as soon as Ciaran's ready, but keep trying with healing spells."

"Is Anna cognizant?" Ciaran's voice put in. On hearing the affirmative he said, "Anna, try pushing your Aspect magic to an empty sigil while the healing spell works, if you have the energy."

"I'm not sure what that means," Anna said after they hung up. "I don't think I can meditate right now, and what if the magic gets away from me?"

"I'll contain it," Rune promised.

"Your fever went down less than two degrees. It's still dangerous," Corinne said. "I think we should try to bring it down before Layne gets here, honey."

"Okay," Anna mumbled. "Okay. I'll try."

"Tell me when you're ready," Addam said.

Just as they began. Falkor the kitten came trotting into the room. Corinne tried to shoo her away without distracting Anna, but Falkor continued determinedly to the bed and jumped up on it. She curled up right between Anna's head and shoulder and started purring.

"Oh," Anna said.

"Is that a good 'oh'?" Addam asked. "I do not think my healing spell lasted any longer than last time."

"No," Anna said. "But I can feel my Aspect sort of, draining off that way...?" She moved her hand to indicate, and brushed Falkor. The kitten curled into a tighter ball. "Falkor? Are you...?"

"We can figure that out later," Corinne said. She put her hand on Anna's forehead and looked at Addam. "We still need to bring the fever down."

By the time Layne and Ciaran arrived Anna's temperature was almost back to normal. Layne examined Anna with practiced eyes. "You're better," they observed.

"Yeah," Anna said. "We think--" She was cut off by Layne bending over the bed to give her an awkward hug. Falkor yowled in protest as their arm hit her.

Layne straightened up. "The cat is new."

"That's Falkor. I was saying, we think she absorbed my magic somehow."

Layne put their hand on the kitten's head. "I don't think she should be that warm."

"She seems to be enjoying it," Addam said.

Rune asked, "Are you telling me we have another animal familiar here?"

"I don't...think so?" Anna said.

"We can talk about it later," Corinne said, "after Anna sleeps more. Everyone out."

Chapter Text

"Flynn wants a birthday party," Corbie announced at the dinner table.

Brand responded before Rune had a chance to concede that a birthday party was a plausible and reasonable thing for a paleolithic rhinoceros to want. "Flynn wants a birthday party, or Corbie wants a birthday party?"

"Both," Corbie answered nonchalantly. He carried on eating as if this was all the information that could possibly be needed.

"We don't know when Flynn's birthday is," Anna pointed out.

"Tomorrow," Corbie said around a mouthful of mashed potato. "He told me."

"How convenient," Brand said.

"I hope he wants a low key party," Rune put in. "He didn't leave us much time for party prep."

Corbie put down his fork, all business now that his goal was in sight. "Yes. We should grill burgers and have his favorite cake. And Layne should come, and Ciaran, and Lady Death."

Rune sighed. "I don't know if they'll all be able to come tomorrow, but otherwise that sounds reasonable. What is Flynn's favorite cake?"

"Chocolate with chocolate frosting and sprinkles on top."

Anna said, "That's your favorite cake."

Brand had been sent to the store (again), which was fine, except Corbie had insisted on coming too, in case he had forgotten anything that "Flynn" needed. "Stay close," Brand said, brandishing the reusable shopping bag, "Or I'll stuff you in this bag and carry you around until we get back to the car."

Corbie considered. "Can I try riding in the bag?"

"No. You can hold my hand, if you want-- why is your hand sticky?"

"Found a candy cane in your car."

"Gross," Brand said. "That must have been there for months. Maybe years."

Corbie was unconcerned. "Mmhmm. Can we go down the chip aisle?"

Brand agreed, which was a mistake, because he had checked the pantry before they left and literally the only things they needed were burgers and buns. Fine, and those weird dill pickle potato chips Max and Quinn were obsessed with. He spent approximately two-thirds of the trip replacing things Corbie took off the shelves. When they were finally headed for the checkout Corbie said suddenly, "We gotta get peanut butter cookies."

Brand groaned. "Did Flynn change his mind about dessert?"

"No, Layne doesn't like chocolate cake very much. Those are their favorite."

"Fine."

They dragged the picnic tables out grill out next to Flynn's enclosure, since the party was ostensibly for him. He had come up to stand next to the fence, at least. Corbie ran around giving orders, which were either followed if they were things being done anyway, or ignored if they were absurd ("Give Flynn his own picnic table to sit at!") Queenie had decided they needed chocolate chip cookies in addition to cake, although it seemed likely that half the cookies would disappear into Rune's mouth while he grilled burgers.

"Flynn gets the first the first burger because it's his birthday," Corbie announced.

Anna corralled him away from the grill. "Flynn doesn't want a burger. Rhinos are herbivores."

"What's that?"

"It means they eat plants. Not meat."

"Maybe he wants potato chips," Max suggested. He held a chip out over the fence, and Flynn promptly crunched it down. A few chips later, Flynn got impatient with the chip-by-chip feeding and shoved his enormous head against the fence, trying to reach the chip bag through the slats.

"Hey," Max protested. "We're sharing."

"Flynn still gets most of the bag if we're distributing them according to size," Quinn observed.

"Really? You want to give him all our chips?"

"Too late," Quinn said, as Flynn managed to stick his tongue through the fence and into the bag. "Now they're covered in rhino slobber."

"Ew."

"Layne's here," Corbie yelled, and went running towards the house. He was almost halfway there before Layne actually appeared around the corner.

"The hell was that?" Brand muttered to Rune. "I must be out of practice. No way Corbie noticed them getting here before I did."

Rune flipped a burger and shrugged. "Maybe Flynn told him they were here."

"That's not how it works," Brand said. "Is it?"

"Who knows." Rune shoved half a cookie into his mouth. "Makef af much sense as any'fing else around here."

"Thanks, I hate it. I can already picture the chaos."