Work Text:
Thrasir awoke to a ta-ta-tap at her window. The morning light was wan, not yet warm.
Her mind itched with a presence not her own, and she made out words as she became alert: gift for you.
She recognized the particular thought-presence as a messenger bat, and she made her way to her window. A large Eastern Longnose tucked the wing they were using to tap on the window as she approached.
from embla-chosen, for birthing-day. we send happiness.
Thrasir did not recognize this bat as any stationed in Askr as go-betweens from the Order of Heroes and Veronica's inner circle, which meant that Veronica must have recruited an Emblian messenger for such a delivery. She opened the window, watching as the bat eased itself from their perch to the windowsill. A small parcel was tied onto their body, and they kept still as she untied it to set it aside.
"Thank you, and please send my thanks to the other Embla-chosen," Thrasir said. She considered the creature's size and the chill Askran weather. "Are you tired?"
small thirst, the bat said.
There was a small saucer from an evening tea on her bedside table, which was a perfect vessel for a little bit of water. The messenger crawled towards it eagerly as Thrasir brought it upon a stool.
The parcel was firmly stuffed, though not especially weighty. Within the parcel were several hand towels, and bundled inside those towels was a small plush toy of a dozy rabbit with its paws close to its face. The rabbit's face and ears were dark compared to the rest of its pale fur, as if it was wearing a mask...
It was a charming little thing. Thrasir knew that Veronica must have made it herself, and the thought of her younger self setting aside time to make and send her little pieces of art gave her pause.
A rustling sound made her look up. The messenger bat had finished their water and was getting ready to leave.
"You should go to the aviary to rest," Thrasir said. "The Askran owls will give you space."
The bat's head swung from side to side as it searched for said aviary.
"I have a message to deliver for when you return home," she added. The messenger's ears tilted towards her. "...I wish the other Embla-chosen a happy birthing-day."
understood. I sleep, I deliver, the bat said, and with that, they gave a mighty push off of the sill and soared away.
The plush rabbit was small enough to carry around, and it was sweet enough for her to want to show someone, especially since she didn't want to continue considering it by herself. She cupped it in her hands as she made her way out of her room.
The door to Líf's room was closed, and the energy she could feel on the other side was dormant. She didn't want to wake him at the moment, but she wanted to spend time with him once he was up and about. She passed his door and made her way to the Summoner's chambers. It was early enough in the day that she knew they would still be inside, finishing up a morning drink. It had been a long time since she had come to see them at their room, and she was sure that they would be delighted to see what she had gotten.
"Come in," Shine said after she'd knocked.
Thrasir knew the Summoner's room to be a mess, though when she crossed into it, something about it was...different than she had remembered. The arrangement of furniture had changed, for sure - more desks and surfaces, every single one covered in maps and ledgers and notes. Shine sat at one such table, their cup nestled in a small cleared space.
"Good morning and happy birthday, Thrasir! What have you got there?"
"My younger self makes such wonderful little things," Thrasir said. "Look at this."
"Oh, how adorable!" Shine said, leaning forward to have a closer look. She laid the rabbit on top of an open tome so they could both admire it. "It's like a little desk friend! Or -- wait, let me try something," they pushed the rabbit to the edge of the tome and lifted it. "Ha, check this out...it can even hang off the edge of a book while you read!"
Indeed, the paws were curled and sturdy, letting the plush cling to the back cover. The sight of it brought a smile to her face. "I like that...a book friend."
"Might be a little too big for a bookmark, but it can keep you company!" Shine put the tome back down and placed the plush toy between the two of them. "And is this a birthday gift?"
"Indeed it is."
"Princess Veronica's become very good at these little things. Her sense of what's cute is very good, as well."
"I agree..." Thrasir's eyes fell to the plush. "I am not sure how she is able to make these sorts of things. She has gotten better in such a short time...I recall visiting her when she was barely able to stitch a circle together, and here this is..."
"She's had years of practice by now!"
Thrasir had to hold that thought for a moment. It was...it had been years. Years meant months, meant many days where a young princess could squirrel away a little hour or two to work on a project. Every project would build skill and confidence...
She noted the delicately stitched paws and wondered what she had done with those same hours, weeks, years. Had she built up a skill, changed in any way? Without putting a significant amount of thought to it, all she could come up with was that she had learned to play a card game with the other regulars at the Aether Resort. She'd also made a promise to her partner-now-fiancé, but that was not really something she had accomplished, really.
"Are you unhappy with the gift?" Shine asked, breaking up her thoughts.
"The gift is fine. I appreciate it...I can tell that this was made for me," Thrasir said. "...But making it must have been such an effort, and I can't stop thinking about it."
They considered the plush, their head tipping in thought. After a moment, they asked, "Do you think you're undeserving of the effort of making you something as a gift?"
She ran the pads of her thumbs against the fabric of the rabbit. Even through her gloves, she could tell it was soft.
"I am not undeserving," she said. They straightened at that. "...But this is one of a few gifts I have gotten that was made, and...that is special, and I can't return that thoughtfulness."
"You can't return it because you don't know how to sew?"
Thrasir shook her head.
"Do you want to learn how to sew?"
The thought of going through the growing pains of learning, of tripping through an amateur's efforts in the attempt to catch up to her younger self with years' worth of a head start, made fell energy inside of her swirl uncomfortably.
"It doesn't have to be sewing, maybe!" Shine offered. "There's other things you can learn, like knitting or crochet...maybe collaging with paper, or making mosaics. Expression comes in a lot of forms!"
She cast a look around while contemplating those possibilities. The disarray around her was a kind she understood deeply - when she was a young Emperor in the dying Embla, her drawing room was much like this. There was simply no other way to keep everything necessary on hand, no matter what maids or advisors might say. However...she noted that the things she used to associate with a particularly Shine-esque sort of clutter - yarn, colorful scraps, and drawings - were absent. Even this deep into the room, near the bed, not a single little fabric triangle she used to see so often or half-finished scarf was to be found.
"What happened to your crafts, Shine?"
They had, intentionally or not, decided to take a sip of their drink as she had asked the question and took their time with it.
"I put them away," they said, unbothered by the question.
"For how long? Since when?"
Shine shrugged, though the movement was not completely casual. "I took a long break from them. Things just got so busy, as I'm sure you know," they said. "...I had to turn even this space into a working area. It's everywhere, now."
Thrasir drew a breath in and out, fully ready to get angry on behalf of her friend. "Surely you can find room to carve out some amusement. Surely the Order of Heroes can afford to give you that room."
"I didn't have to give everything up...or, perhaps, I didn't give up a lot under duress. I just don't really draw or knit much anymore. But...I do have a little something," they said, reaching into a drawer on the table. They laid a small white object near her. "I've been needle felting. It's kinda new to me, and it's nice to sculpt stuff!"
Thrasir picked up the white object. It was rather firm, but didn't seem to be made of fabric or stuffed in the way the rabbit was. It seemed to be a...bear? tail-less cat? whatever it was, it had a simple, mouthless expression that was charming but bordered on perplexed.
"This is...done with a needle, correct?" she asked. Shine was already in the process of pulling out more tools, and there was a selection of needles with tiny notches laid out in short order. "I've seen Princess Veronica use this technique...once, I believe."
"You ball up a pile of fiber and you start poking," they said, pushing a tangled mass of wool in front of themselves. "Eventually you can shape it into whatever you like, then add colors or other details!"
Thrasir did not know what to think of the creature she held, other than it seemed very in-character for Shine to create something like it. She laid it back down on the table. "Do you have anything else?"
Shine got up to pull out a wool-wrapped armature from a drawer. It seemed like it could easily become a dragon, given more work. "Nothing done, but a couple of different things in progress...it's tough to find time to work on these. People tend not to like it when I'm staring at something in meetings and stabbing it repeatedly."
She hummed, taking the armature into her hands when they brought it to her. She didn't know enough about their plans for it or about the craft to know what it might look like when it was finished, but it seemed like a good start.
"I wouldn't recommend starting with a project like this, but if you like, I could show you how to make a little ball!" Shine said, bustling around the room to bring out different colored wools - blacks, greys, browns, and even lively shades of blue and red. It was a bit of a relief to know that the Summoner's mess hadn't completely disappeared - it was just out of sight, ready for them to take it back out.
"If you like," Thrasir said. "...Though I hardly think anyone would want to be gifted a ball."
"The humble ball can be the start of many things. But also! You would be surprised by who might be charmed by a soft, colorful ball...especially if you string them together!"
She wasn't totally convinced, but she knew she had to learn and begin somewhere, and if nothing else, it was a nice feeling to share something she knew her friend enjoyed. She picked up a needle and, after being shown how tightly to wrap the wool and what sort of sound to listen for, fell into a rhythm of poking, rotating, and poking some more.
They had made a handful of balls between the two of them when the door to the Summoner's room opened. Líf stood in the doorway, peering inside.
"Good morning. Shine, you are wanted in the library, though I've been told it is not urgent," he said. "Are you occupied?"
"A bit, but I should also take a break," they said, shaking their hands out.
"You seem like you've been busy," he said, arriving at the side of the table in a few strides. "What have we here?"
Thrasir looked up to give her partner a light smile. "Princess Veronica sent me a present," she said, handing the plush rabbit to him. He admired it carefully before giving it back to her. "And Shine has been teaching me how to needle felt these little balls. Perhaps in time I can make my own rabbit to send to my other self."
"I think she would like that very much," he said.
Shine finished the rest of their drink and set their cup aside. "Would you like the balls, Thrasir?"
"I am not sure what I would do with them," she admitted.
Líf held one between his fingers, bringing it close to his nose as he considered it. "This is wool?"
"Indeed it is, even the colored ones!"
"There are cats that prowl the castle gates," he said. "This sort of thing could amuse them, especially if it still smells like a sheep."
"Oh, yeah, some of them have a bit of lanolin still...I'll bet they'll love to chase something that makes them think of an animal!"
"Even if it is nothing more than a ball?"
"Cats love to ball," Shine said with a confidence that Thrasir could not doubt. "Roll one on the ground in front of them, and if they're not interested, you can always just pick it up again."
Thrasir gathered the plush rabbit and the felted balls into her hands. "In that case, I'll take them all. Perhaps the cats will play with them."
"Let me know if they do! And if you want some needles of your own, Thrasir, I can get you those too."
The colored balls provided a soft bed for the plush rabbit to rest in - if it was later on in the year, she would have thought it appropriate for the silly spring festivals Askr loved to put on, full of industrious rabbits surrounded by painted eggs.
"I would like that, I think. It needn't be for today, but I would like to work on this sort of things again."
"A late birthday present, then!" Shine said. They led the two revenants out of their room. "You two have a good day - talk again soon, I hope?"
"If it pleases you," Líf said. The Summoner smiled, gave them both a wave, and made for the library.
"I would like to put the rabbit somewhere safe," Thrasir said. "And then we can find some cats."
"Of course. Whatever you like today," he said. He offered her his arm, and the two of them made their way down the halls.