Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nott’s hand was fisted in the hem of his coat, fabric twisted around her knuckles with the rest of her bandages and wrappings. Molly let her tug him along, allowing a bit of pull about his waist, making him lead with his left leg rather than his dominant. Nott was hunched over, scuttling at her usual rapid speed. Molly had to all but abandon his stubborn tendencies if he didn’t want her to tear off with half his coat in hand.

“Slow down, maybe?” he tried, giving Nott’s back an audible grin. Nott stopped with a huff, spinning on him as he skidded to a stop, narrowing avoiding flipping ass over teakettle.

She rounded on him, teeth bared and a finger pointed accusatorily. Molly put his hands up, maintaining the same grin, albeit a bit more confused with his eyebrows in his hair.

“C’mon now, what’s this about?” he drawled. “Bit far in the woods for a ‘talk.’” A more suspicious member of the Mighty Nein--Beauregard, probably, or Nott herself--would’ve seen a threat in the way Nott had grabbed him and darted into the trees beside their campside, throwing a frantic ‘I need to talk to you!’ in their wake. Molly generally made an effort to assume the best of people, but he was also smarter than most gave him credit for. But while he was a little suspicious, he also knew that Nott was smarter than to kill him now after such an obvious display. If she wanted him dead, she would do it in the night without waking a soul.

Nott advanced, poking him in the soft of his stomach with a crooked claw, eyes narrowed as she glared up at him.

“What are your intentions with Caleb?” she demanded. Molly blinked at her for a moment before repressing a snort. Nott bared her teeth back at him.

“Sorry, sorry- You didn’t drag me all the way out here for that, I hope?” She poked him again, unstrapping her crossbow from her back. Molly took the chance to stumble back, woah-ing at her like he would a horse and re-evaluating his conviction that Nott wouldn’t kill him here and now.

“Alright, alright- my intentions?” Molly tried, meeting her gaze.

“Spill,” she said, tipping her head closer. The crossbow was aimed up at the underside of Molly’s chin, but the string was lax, no bolt loaded.

“My only intentions with Caleb are his good health and well-being,” Molly said primly, expression as serious as he could school it in such a ridiculous situation. Nott squinted at him. “His happiness is part of that- Is it a crime to try and make him smile?”

“Maybe!” Nott hissed defensively. Molly raised an eyebrow at her, nonplussed. Nott growled, aiming her crossbow at his forehead.

“Nott-”

“Admit it! You’re trying to- to-”

“To..?”

To make moves on him! Making digs at him-”

“That’s not what that means-”

“Schmoozing on him! Canoodling!”

“Nobody is canoodling!” Molly stressed, grabbing Nott’s crossbow and yanking it out of her hands, holding it above her head. “And Caleb is a grown man- It’s his own business if he canoodles with me or anybody else!”

“You don’t understand!” Nott snapped, eyes flicking around like she was evaluating if it was worth it to climb or tackle Molly to get her crossbow back.

“Then explain,” Molly challenged, dodging out of the way as she lunged. “You said that he was like a son to you- is that what this is about?”

“Obviously!” she cried, shoulders slumping in defeat. “Caleb he’s- he’s fragile, and not just in battle. It’s my job to protect him.” She sighed, body going limp for a moment.

Then she lunged at him again, her feet leaving the ground as she collided with his chest. Molly stumbled but didn’t fall, catching her instead and holding her with one arm as she scratched, reaching for her crossbow.

“Get-” he managed, shoving her off and onto the ground, “-off!” Nott landed on her rear, wheezing out an ‘oomph’ as she made contact. Molly tossed the crossbow down into her arms.

“If Caleb says he’s ready to start a relationship, with me or anyone else, that’s his choice, you hear? It’s up to him when he’s ready. Not-” Molly stressed, “you or me.”

“I just don’t want him to get his heart broken!” Nott retaliated, tone somewhere between angry and desperate.

“Well I have no intention of doing so,” Molly said, adjusting his coat where Nott had knocked it off kilter. There were muddy footprints down the front of it from where she’d scrabbed for purchase in his ribcage. “And no intention of ‘canoodling’ with Caleb before he’s ready.” He gave Nott a pointed look, eyebrows raised, before offering her a hand up. She looked at it, standing up without taking it and brushing herself off.

“Parents are supposed to be overprotective,” she said smugly, frowning at him.

“Do you have a lot of experience in the area?” Molly asked, chin as high as it could be when he looked down at her.

“What are you implying?” Nott said shoulders tucked in defensively, eyes squinted and ears slumping in. Molly shrugged, picking his claws innocently.

“I’m just noticing that you’re protective of Caleb in the way of someone who’s lost before.”

Nott scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course not,” Molly agreed easily, not looking at her. There was a brief pause.

“If you break my Caleb’s heart I’ll break you,” Nott warned.

“Understood,” Molly replied, chipper and smiling again.

Chapter Text

Essek wasn’t accustomed to people knocking at his tower door. His brother, on the rare occasion Verin was in Rosohna for a day. Messengers from his mother on the rare occasion she deemed it urgent enough to get his response immediately. More often lately it was messengers from The Bright Queen or Quana Kryn regarding the war.

Whoever this was had already knocked twice, which meant they certainly weren’t sent by the Queen or his mother. Those messengers were usually briefed on his towers, on the time it would take for Essek to descend from his lab. And you didn’t become a messenger for the Queen by being impatient.

So when Essek opened the door to see one of the Mighty Nein, it all made much more sense, whittling Essek’s list of questions down to one.

“Nott,” he said bluntly, eyebrows rising up his forehead. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

The Mighty Nein’s rogue scuttled around him, removing her hood and facing Essek. Essek, in the meantime, was frantically adjusting all the wards to prevent one of the “Heroes of the Dynasty” from being vaporized where she stood.

“We need to talk,” Nott demanded the moment she had Essek’s gaze trapped in hers, open door still resting in his palm. Nott;s eyes were narrowed, expression set and shoulders squared. His heart leapt up his throat, his next words estranged as he choked them out around it.

“Is this… sensitive information? Why-”

The door ripped from his hands, cloning with a polite snap under the control of Nott’s mage hand. He’d never heard of a wizard casting an invisible mage hand before, but Nott wasn’t quite a wizard from what he’d seen of her. He’d assumed Caleb to be her teacher, but maybe he’d misunderstood-

“Very sensitive,” Nott insisted, her casting hand going slack and disappearing back under her cloak as her mage hand was dispelled. Essek’s heart grew legs, skittering impossibly further up his throat, scratching at his skin like his mouth was full of spiders. What had Nott found out? If any of the Mighty Nein were to find him out, he’d assumed it would be Beauregard, given her distrustful nature and nosey proclivities. But Nott was small, sneaky--had she been somewhere without his knowledge? What had he said when he didn’t know she was in earshot?

Nott pointed an accusatory finger at him. “What are your intentions with Caleb?”

Essek paused, his current line of thinking dropping off the path.

“Excuse me?”

Nott crept closer, poking at Essek, succeeding only in ruffling the folds of his cloak.

“You heard me,” she growled, face a snarl.

“I- did, but I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Essek answered slowly. Nott narrowed her eyes further, black pupils catlike in the lamp-light yellow.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Caleb,” Nott tried, severity somewhat mellowed by Essek’s confusion.

“Moreso than the rest of you, yes,” Essek agreed, realization gradually dawning on him as blinding and painful as the sun. Naturally he looked away, turning his back on that impossibility.

“Caleb is very interested in studying with you more,” Nott continued, dragging her words out as if speaking to a child.

“I’m… flattered to hear it,” Essek replied, dropping back into the affect and tone he usually took in Den meetings and other formal affairs. Nott growled, frustrated.

“Are you leading him on?” she screeched, face in her hands. “Are you trying to seduce him?” Essek’s face felt hot, sunburnt in seconds.

“Most certainly not,” he spluttered, drifting a step back. “My interest in Caleb- that is, our shared interests-”

“I don’t care what your ‘shared’ interests are!” Nott cut in, “It’s none of my business what you two get up to!” She gave him a seething side eye that begged to differ. “Caleb is my boy, and it’s my job to make sure he doesn’t get hurt-”

A mighty task, given the Mighty Nein’s daily activities.

“-And I know you’re a powerful wizard or whatever,” Nott continued, poking his robes again. She bared her teeth, jagged points like a mouth full of broken glass. “But if I find out you’ve been using him, playing with his emotions for some evil wizard end goal…”

“Is this a threat, Nott?” Essek cut in, frown deepening.

“Nott smiled, all fangs. “It’s a promise.”

She was out the door and gone before Essek even processed it opening. He blinked, catching the swaying door before it slammed and shutting it with a click.