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It took a whole two weeks for Liy to get bored of their new predicament.
All three of their parents had done their best to heal Liy's eyes, but it had all come up short. A doctor had even been called, a proper doctor, but she only had to give Liy a quick once over to confirm that they had in fact been cursed and, given that the warlock had 'fled', their patron would likely never undo it.
Liy took the news with quiet acceptance. It was what they'd been expecting after the original attempts had failed.
But that didn't mean they liked it.
Two weeks of contantly getting freaked out when Sophia crawled into the lap before Mama could run over with a "no, no, Liy can't play right now", or the pity from Dorothy, who'd tried to spoon-feed Liy a couple times at dinner in a way Liy could only imagine was mocking, before Liy had snapped at her and stormed off. She'd stopped after that, but Liy could pratically feel her despondant eyes whenever she was in the same room as Liy.
Mama and Dama were no better, and Sire, used to a harsher kind of parenting, was obviously struggling in an attempt to accomodate for Liy as they were forced to feel their way around the cabin.
"To the left, dove, or you'll crash into Dama's French horn," Sire called gently from the other side of the room, and eugh. Gentleness sounded wrong in their mouth.
Liy had always had a healthy fear of Sire. That's just how they raised their kids. Really, it had been a shock to both Mama and Dama that they'd fallen for Sire, and vice versa.
But now Sire was kinder. Where they probably have just grabbed Liy to guide them before, they'd obviously noticed how Liy flinched every time an unannounced presence bumped into them now, and they'd been doing their best to make it easier for Liy.
It was stupid.
Liy grabbed at the French horn, tearing it from its mount, and let out a scream, raising the instrument above their head.
"Liy!" Sire snapped, finally phasing back into their typical demeanour to their kids, "Put that down!"
"I hate this!" Liy shouted back in return, "I hate this! I hate all of this! I was meant to be a musician, and now I can't even see my instruments!! I can't read my sheet music!! And you're being nice, and weird, and everyone's treating me like I'm made of glass and I hate it!!!"
In a fit, they screamed again as they tossed the French horn to the floor. But instead of a crash of smashing brass, instead there was Sire's grunt as they got hit instead. They'd moved closer during Liy's speech.
"And I can't even tell where you are?! I can't tell when someone's moving around me unless they're making lots of noise, and even then I manage to misjudge where they are! I can't do this," Liy wailed, grabbing at the mossy clumps growing as two buns hanging behind their ears, "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this!!"
There was a clatter as the French horn was placed down - incorrectly, no doubt, Sire cared little for music - then a warning of "I'm gonna hold your face, okay?" before Sire did just that, and Liy's tears were being wiped from their cheeks by calloused hands.
Sire was so discordant like that. Maintained picture perfect hair, makeup, and dress, but had rough hands and scarred knees from years of work that they wore with pride. In their attempt to be gentle, they still hadn't given Liy time to respond before acting upon their words. In years to come, Liy would understand them more and more, but in the moment, they flinched and pulled at their hair so tightly the moss was crushed and the buns were ripped from their head.
Liy screamed again.
Sire held tight to their face, definitely not helping and probably making things worse, but they stayed there until Liy was only snivelling.
"Right. Okay," Sire said in a clipped tone, "Okay. Let's try something else. Let's try something new, help to you calm down a little. Okay?"
"Okay..." Liy sniffed, and Sire let go of their face, taking the mossy clumps from their hands and guiding Liy into a different room.
No rugs, just hard wooden flooring. The parents bedroom.
"Come and sit on the floor," Sire instructed, sitting and tugging on Liy to join, "Okay, get in a comfortable position, we're going to try some meditation."
Liy groaned. Sire had tried to get them to meditate a few years ago for a few days, but Liy had been too restless to stay still for so long, and they'd given up a week in.
"I don't wanna meditate!"
"And I don't want to explain to your Dama that xer prize French horn was smashed into hundreds of pieces while xe were out trading because you got too angry before I could stop to catch you. We're meditating."
Liy huffed, but settled in a fetal position, chin resting on their knees.
"If you're gonna sit like that, plant your feet and hands on the floor. Get a good connection to the earth." Sire paused for Liy to follow their instructions, "And then, we're just going to take a deep breath in. We're earth genasis, we need to connect to the earth every once in a while to gain strength."
It was a spiel Liy had heard before. The words were daily affirmations for Sire, reconnecting to the earth was routine. Liy had never paid it much mind, but now, they decided to actually give it a go. If only to forget about everything else going on for a while.
When Sire said to focus on their heart, Liy consciously found their heartbeat and let it fill their limbs. When Sire said to pull the energy coursing from the centre of the world into themself, Liy imagined their hands and feet connecting them to the molten core far below them, and let the warmth flood their body. They felt the rest of the world fade away and it was just Liy, Sire, and the earth beneath them.
"Alright, we're going to start returning to the room now," Sire hummed, "Just start to take note of what's around us. The bed, the desk, the chair, and of course, the floor beneath our feet."
Liy breathed deeply, focusing on the ground and where it connected to their body. Maybe meditating wasn't so bad after all.
What else had Sire said? Right, the bed, the desk, the chair.
Letting what they knew about the room flood their mind, Liy tracked the pattern of the floor in their mind. The bed, tidily made. The desk, covered in maps. The chair, slightly askew.
And Sire, sat in front of Liy, legs folded neatly under them and hands cupped in their lap. Liy couldn't seem to recall their face, the image cut off just before their shoulders.
Taking another steadying breath, Liy focused, trying their best to find their Sire's face. If they'd started forgetting it already, what else would they forget?
But in their moment of concentration, the rest of the image filled their view. Sire, lithe and sharp, hair styled in their typical bob, and face serene from meditation. Their chest rose and sank gently with their breaths. Their mouth curled into a soft smile. Their eyelashes fluttered as they began to come back to themself.
Wait. Liy shouldn't have been able to see that. They shouldn't have been able to see anything.
"Ah!" They startled, eyelids flying open as if to capture the image, but it disappeared as their focus broke.
"What," Sire sounded displeased.
"I just saw! Something!" Liy cried, leaning forwards on their hands, "I saw you!"
"What?!" Suddenly, less displeased.
"Wait, let me," Liy reassumed their position from before, hands and feet planted on the floor. They breathed again, slower and with purpose, until a good few metres of room around them appeared in their mind again, including Sire, "Yes! Do something with your hands, something I would be able to see if I had eyes!"
Sire hesitated, then waved their hand slowly.
"You're waving! You're waving your left hand and bending your finger with Mama and Dama's rings on it!" Liy cried excitedly, "I can see you, I can see you!"
"Oh my gods..." Sire breathed, "You can see me?"
"I can!" Liy beamed, their hands leaving the ground.
Their view greatly lessened, but their feets' connection meant they could still see a metre or two. And not just in front of them. All around them. The door that had been left slightly ajar behind their back. The stack of books to their right. Liy didn't even need to turn their head to see them.
"I can't see too much, but if I really concentrate," Liy really concentrated, and a little more came into view, "I can see! Kinda. There's no colours, but I know where things are."
"This is... I've never heard of this happening before..." Sire crawled closer until they were right in front of Liy, their face fully in view, "I'll look over it in my textbooks, but, wow. Liy, this is amazing! You can see!!"
Liy laughed, the first laugh they'd meant in two weeks, and threw their arms around Sire. They jolted, but settled quickly and wrapped their arms around Liy after a second.
"Thank you Sire, I couldn't have done this without your silly meditation!"
"Not too silly, if it's just helped you see." Sire grumbled, but gave Liy a tight squeeze before releasing them and leaning back, "Right, lets do something to celebrate! How about we start with a haircut, eh?"
Liy reached up to their head, smoothing their hand through their hair and where it now fell in uneven clumps around their ears. It definitely needed neatening up.
"Plus, you're fringe is starting to get a little long, it's starting to fall over your eyes. We need to get that sorted."
Liy's hand strayed to their fringe. It was down to their nose, and it felt like it was thick enough to cover the top half of their face at this point.
"Actually, can I keep the front this length? If I work on this... sight thing, I won't need people to see my eyes," Liy said carefully, and they saw, saw, Sire consider, before nodding in slow agreement, "I've hated having people underestimate me for the last few weeks. I don't want new people to know about this either."
"Of course, dove," Sire kissed Liy's hair gently, "Let's get you a whole new look, then."
And as they walked to the bathroom, and Sire began to work on Liy's hair, Liy let themself relax again. Their view of the world disappeared as their focus alleviated, and for the first time in weeks, they let their guard down.
Oh, it was going to be okay. Finally, the stress that had pressed down on their back since their run in with the human dissipated, and it was over, just like Dama had assured.