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Eve ran her hand through the length of Cassandra's hair, feeling it catch on the knots within and doing her best not to pull them. It was soft and finally back to her preferred length after having to cut it short due to an incident with a baby salamander that mistook it for fire. It had taken a while though not as long as it could have thanks to an elixir that Jenkins had made for her.
Cassandra was sitting on a stool below the couch so that her head was at the appropriate height for Eve to reach her head. In front of them there was a movie playing that Eve had no idea about but was making Cassandra periodically laugh which was the only reason Even needed for it to be playing. She would have paid more attention to it another time, but that afternoon all of her focus was on Cassandra's hair.
They weren't going anywhere special, if at all. But it had been a rough week for them all and especially for Cassandra. More than anyone else. There had been three different missions that they had gone on with barely a moment to breathe between them. And two of the three had triggered major attacks of hallucinations for Cassandra. Her synesthesia, especially the visual component, had gotten so bad that they had nearly lost her.
Eve's stopped her hands from tightening just on the right side of too tight on Cassandra's hair. She couldn't think about how they had almost failed, and how she almost lost the love of her life to their job. She knew it was a risk but that did not make it any better for her. Every day she went out and had to keep them all safe. But something about it being Cassandra that was almost lost was way worse than when it was the others. That made Eve feel like more of a failure.
She pulled the strands of hair back again and picked up the brush that she had been given. The first stroke snagged on a tangle but easily worked through it. And each stroke after working through more and more of the tangles that had built up in Cassandra's hair.
Tangles that were one of the reasons Eve always made sure to wear her hair up. But Cassandra hated to do that and nothing Eve had ever said made her want to. So she got tangled hair after many missions. Or somehow when she was just doing things in the Library proper. Which never ceased to amaze Eve.
But the one upside to it was that when Cassandra had a really bad time, Eve got to do what she was doing then. Getting to brush and style her hair. It was a grounding activity for them both. It settled Cassandra back into her skin and for Eve it gave her a tangible proof that Cassandra was still alive. Still with her.
She got the last of the knots out of Cassandra's hair and set the brush down. Then leaned to kiss the top of Cassandra's head.