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Castorice shifted her weight as Phainon read her latest poem. She almost regretted having shown it to him. The look of concentration on his face looked a tad bit judgmental, and his lips pursed as he got to a line. She would have ripped the notebook from his hand if she could, but that was too dangerous.
Finally, when he reached the end of the poem, he let out an amused laugh. Castorice stopped fidgeting with her fingers, looking up at him nervously.
“How was it?” she asked timidly.
“You think Mydei and I are close?” Phainon said with mirth in his voice. He thought he and Mydei had done a better job at hiding their relationship. Not that they were keeping it a secret, but they weren’t public about it either.
Castorice felt herself relax, glad that he wasn’t offended. “I thought that you were,” she replied. “Considering…”
_____
Phainon was strolling down the market, lightly bantering with Mydei about their latest sparring session, when they spotted Castorice standing by the dromases. She had her hands crossed over her dress, a sombre expression on her face. It was not just her usual look of longing as she watched others pet the dromases. There was more weight to it. Phainon and Mydei looked at each other at the same time, a silent agreement passing through just their gazes.
They approached Castorice, making sure to keep their distance. If he were allowed to, Mydei would stand next to her, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. He knew that Phainon would also stand close to her if he could.
“Hi, Castorice,” Phainon said, a bright smile on his face.
She turned to them, smiling kindly, though there was still some sadness in her eyes. “Hello, Phainon. Hello, Lord Mydei.”
“Hello, Castorice.”
“How are you?” Phainon asked. “You seem a little down.”
Castorice’s mouth hung open slightly, and she quickly cast her gaze to the ground. So they noticed. She pressed her fingers together, a nervous habit of hers. “It’s nothing,” she said, not wanting to burden them.
“Castorice, if something is bothering you, you can tell us,” Mydei said, a gentle expression on his face.
Castorice looked back up at both of them. Phainon was still smiling, making Castorice feel warm inside. Mydei, although guarded with his arms crossed, didn’t look like the strong Kremnoan prince that people feared. He looked like any other person Castorice might consider her friend if she didn’t have this curse. He made her feel safe.
Castorice let out a shuddering sigh as she crossed her arms. “Well…” She could hear the screams of the souls she’d reaped fresh in her mind. They begged for mercy. Cursed her existence. But Castorice had a duty as an executioner. So even if her victims cried and pleaded, she’d always approach them, the fear growing in their eyes. Some even had hatred written on their faces in their last moments. She hated this curse. She just wanted to be normal.
“I dreamed of…uhmm…I saw them…” No, it’s all coming out wrong.
Phainon’s smile faltered as he saw how much Castorice was despairing. He instinctively took a step forward, but Mydei held his arm out, stopping Phainon from doing something that could make the situation worse. He looked at Mydei, urging him to go comfort her, but he only shook his head. What’s the point of an immortal body if it couldn’t be used to help a friend in need?
He tried to communicate this frustration to Mydei, but he only shook his head again. Yet Phainon saw the look of longing as Mydei turned back to look at Castorice. He wanted to comfort her just as much as he did. But Castorice had a no-touch policy, which also extended to Mydei.
“My victims…I saw them in my dreams,” Castorice finally got out, stroking a strand of hair, and Phainon couldn’t stop his smile from fading, replaced with worry.
He forced his arms to stay by his side, his nails digging painfully into his palms. Surely there was something he could do to relieve Castorice’s pain. There had to be. And even if there wasn’t, he’d find a way. He and Mydei.
He shared a look with Mydei, and he nodded this time. He began talking with Castorice as Phainon sent a message to Hyacine, asking if she could distract Castorice for the next few hours. Her reply came quickly, saying she’ll be there as soon as possible.
_____
They left Castorice with Hyacine, already discussing what their plan of action was going to be.
“I just want to give her a hug,” Phainon wailed, earning him a grunt of agreement from Mydei. “If I were immortal, I’d hug her every day.”
“She’s not going to appreciate that,” Mydei said, a memory from several years ago resurfacing.
They were on the battlefield, Mydei and Castorice being the last two to fend off the Titankins. He had told her to go flee with the others, but she stayed by his side, scythe in hand and Death’s aura emanating from her. She was nothing like that gentle girl who sewed plushies and wrote poems. The person beside him was a girl hardened by war and the Flame-Chase Journey.
They fought side by side. It wasn’t quite like fighting with Phainon, but he doubted he’d find anyone that will be as in sync with him as the blue-eyed man. Instead, Castorice took one side of the army while Mydei took the other. One protected by Death, the other by immortality. She fought carefully as any mortal would, but with her curse, the weaker ones were subdued, making it easier to kill them.
Meanwhile, Mydei let loose, ramming his knuckles into anyone close to him. Spears were thrown. Arrows were shot. Some missed him. Others impaled in his flesh, but he barely paid attention to his wounds. He was going to buy time for Phainon and Tribbie to rescue the innocent civilians and evacuate their army.
“Lord Mydei, watch out!” Castorice cried, and Mydei swerved out of the way of a spear. He grappled with the Titankin for the spear and used it to stab his enemy.
He spared a glance to make sure she was okay, finding to his horror a much stronger Titankin approaching her. He ran in her direction, barreling through enemies, almost yelling for Castorice to watch out, but she was already holding off three enemies. Distracting her could lead to her death.
He was still too far, and the Titankin was too close to her, so he ripped off the head of his closest enemy and threw it at the stronger Titankin. It paused in its advance, its sword held still over its head. Slowly, its head turned towards Mydei, and while it might have petrified a normal soldier, Mydei only felt relieved. He got the Titankin’s attention off of Castorice.
He used the blood-soaked ground to slide over to Castorice’s side, ducking under her scythe as she swung it, and with all his strength, he punched the Titankin in the stomach. The Titankin fell, and Mydei felt an arrow pierce his lung. He looked up and found Castorice dealing with the last of the Titankin.
He coughed up blood, falling to his knees. His adrenaline was slowly wearing off, and the pain of getting pierced and stabbed began to grow. He grunted in pain as he removed the arrow from his chest. This was going to be a painful death, he could tell that much. He wheezed as he sat down on the bloody ground, looking up as Castorice came to kneel in front of him.
“Lord Mydei,” she said.
“It’s fine,” Mydei coughed.
Her eyes widened, and she almost reached out before taking her hands back. She wanted to do something to help him. If she were a normal person, she’d hold him in her arms as he slowly died. If she were a normal person, she’d be able to offer so much comfort right now. But with her curse, she wasn’t sure that Mydei would come back from the dead, and she did not want to test it out.
“Castorice, please,” Mydei said, holding out a hand.
Castorice looked at his outstretched hand, breath quivering. She wanted to ease his pain so badly, but the risks…the risks were too great. Mydei winced in pain, but he still kept his hand out, waiting patiently to see if Castorice would take it.
“I…what if…” Castorice fumbled for words.
Mydei looked at her with such kind eyes. “I’ll come back, I promise.” He heaved in heavily, wincing as he did so.
Castorice felt tears prickling her eyes as she, with a very shaky hand, reached out to touch Mydei. When their hands made contact, she gasped in surprise as he brought her closer and wrapped his arms around her. She found herself weeping into his shoulder as she prayed that Thanatos wouldn’t take him forever.
Mydei felt his strength leave him as soon as Castorice touched him, but he held on as long as he could so that she could finally feel the embrace of someone without worrying about them dying permanently. Of course, there was a part of him that was a little scared he overestimated his immortality, but he wouldn’t have died with any regret. And so, when he couldn’t hold on any longer, he let her warmth numb his pain and silently told her to wait for him.
When he came back to the living, he noticed Castorice writing anxiously in her notebook. Dried tears marred her face, and she was covered in dried blood. The next thing Mydei noticed was that they were in an inn. He couldn’t imagine the strength it took Castorice to drag him here.
He sat up in his bed, and Castorice immediately looked up from her paper. “Lord Mydei,” she said in relief, her shoulders sagging, and her features rearranging themselves to the soft and gentle girl Mydei knew so well.
“I told you I’d come back,” he said.
She nodded, and then her expression turned serious. “Never do that again.” What if this was a fluke? What if the next time she touches him, he’d die? She couldn’t allow herself this small bit of comfort when everything she loves always ends up dying by her hands.
Mydei looked like he wanted to argue against her, but he begrudgingly nodded after a few minutes of contemplation. He’d respect Castorice’s wishes.
“And you never told me this story?” Phainon asked, incredulous once Mydei finished.
“Do you expect me to tell you every battle I fight, Deliverer?” Mydei asked, crossing his arms.
“Yes, because I worry about you,” he pouted. Something in Mydei’s heart swelled. He wasn’t used to being cared about like this before, especially from a man. But before he could reply, Phainon’s eyes lit up. That was a sign of either an amazing or terrible idea. “Let’s make it a competition to see who can make her smile.”
After the initial surprise wore off, Mydei smiled. “Prepare to lose, Deliverer.”
Phainon laughed, “Don’t be so confident, Mydei. I have something planned.”
He said a quick goodbye to Mydei as he headed in search of Aglaea. He was going to make the best gift for Castorice, but first, he really needed help from his mentor. After stumbling upon Trianne and getting directions, Phainon burst into Aglaea’s office, where she sat behind her desk with a stack of paperwork. She looked tired, but having been startled awake by Phainon barging in, she quickly got up.
“Phainon, is something wrong?”
“Aglaea, I need you to teach me how to sew,” he said at the same time as her.
They both looked at each other. Phainon only barely paid attention to what Aglaea had said, his head too wrapped up in his own thoughts, but the blind woman heard him loud and clear. Confusion etched her features, but her shoulders relaxed.
“I see,” she said, not quite getting at what Phainon wanted.
“I want to make something for Castorice. Something soft that she could hug when she’s feeling lonely,” Phainon explained. “Maybe a dromas plushie or–”
Aglaea cut him off. “Making a dromas is not beginner-friendly. How about a butterfly instead?”
Phainon thought about it for a moment. “Sure.” Castorice did love butterflies.
“Well then, let’s get started,” Aglaea said, guiding Phainon to another room where she grabbed things from different chests and drawers.
She instructed Phainon to sit at a table as she laid out the equipment. There were scraps of fabric, threads of different colours, scissors, and a variety of needles. Phainon looked at the needles. Some had holes on one end while others were full and had a bulbous end. He had no clue what any of these were for.
Aglaea sat opposite Phainon. She felt for a needle with a hole in one end. “This–” she held it up– “is your sewing needle.” She grabbed a spool of thread, measured it to be an arm's length, and cut it. “You’re going to thread your needle,” she explained, licking one end of the thread and slipping it through the hole.
Phainon tried to copy her, but he had a lot of trouble getting the thread through the needle. He felt like his fingers were too large for such a delicate activity. Every time he thought he had got the thread through, he found his needle empty.
Aglaea handed him a new device. “This might make things easier.” She demonstrated how to use it, and Phainon had a much easier time threading his needle. “Next, you will tie a knot.” Aglaea grabbed the longer end of the thread and tied a knot near the end.
This was a slightly easier step to do. Phainon struggled less, but there were like two inches of thread wasted since his knot was too low.
“Now we’ll just be practising, so grab whichever fabric you want,” Aglaea said, grabbing two scraps, one yellow and the other green. Phainon did the same, grabbing fabrics of red and blue. She then grabbed the bulbous needles. “These are pins and will keep the fabrics together as you sew.” She held up her fabrics and pushed a pin in, then out. Phainon copied her.
“I’ll teach you three stitches,” Aglaea continued. “The running stitch. The backward stitch. And the blanket stitch.” Aglaea was quiet for a moment. “And I’ll also teach you the ladder stitch. It’ll be used to attach the wings to the body.”
Phainon nodded, though he had no clue what she was talking about. She started by teaching him the running stitch, which was just threading the needle in and out of the two fabrics. Her stitches were nice and even, while Phainon’s varied in size and were a little wonky. He then learned how to tie another knot to keep the thread in place. Aglaea made him practice a few more times before he got to the next stitch, which was pretty much the same except when the needle poked on his end, he had to push it back at the end of the previous stitch. This one made it a little easier to keep the lines straight, and he was starting to get the hang of threading his needle.
After that, Aglaea taught him the third stitch, which was very different from the first two. This time, she grabbed some thick felt fabric, and he did the same. She then pushed her needle a little less than an inch under the top of the fabric, brought it up and around, and pushed it back in. Before the loop closed, she put the needle through it and pulled. Phainon followed, finding it to be a pretty easy stitch to do.
They took a small break to eat something, then Aglaea had Tribbie help him to design a pattern for the plushie. He wanted it to be big enough so that the wings could envelop her in a hug. Tribbie wanted to make it gigantic, as big as Castorice herself, and Phainon had to tell her no. He kept the pattern simple. A cylindrical body, a round head, and large wings. Tribbie added a simple pattern inside the wings, which made it look better. Meanwhile, Aglaea went in search of some fabrics.
“I’m sure she’ll love it, Snowy,” Tribbie said, swinging her feet as she sat on the table’s edge. Phainon must have some doubt showing on his face for Tribbie to say that.
“Yes, I am certain Cas will love it,” Aglaea said, returning with purple, white, and blue felts in her arms as well as some coal.
“What’s the coal for?” Phainon asked.
“Well, I was thinking, since you’re making it to comfort Castorice, we could sew pockets in the butterfly’s wings to store hot coal to mimic a warm hug.”
“Aglaea, you are a genius,” Phainon said, a big smile spreading on his face. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about that first.
Phainon got to work, cutting the template, then drawing the pattern onto the felt. Aglaea told him to leave a one-inch border to sew. He followed her instructions as he measured and drew the borders, cut out the shape, and began to sew. His stitches were still not perfect, even though he did take his time to carefully insert his needle.
In the meantime, Aglaea was cutting up the scrap fabric they used to practice to stuff the plush. She offered to do the pockets, but Phainon refused, saying that he wanted it to be made completely by himself. Aglaea didn’t press further, and from the corner of his eye, he swore he saw her smile.
Around dinner, Mydei told him to join him. He said he had finished preparing what he wanted for Castorice and that he wanted Phainon there too. Phainon, still needing to do a wing and the antennas, replied that they could eat before him. Mydei told him that they’d wait, and Phainon tried not to speed through the project.
Phainon felt his heartbeat as he flipped the second wing. He had to redo the body the first time he flipped it. The wing, thankfully, came out just fine, and he got to sewing the pocket. When an hour went by, Aglaea offered to connect the wings to the body while he finished the antennae. Phainon reluctantly agreed only because he was scared his stitchwork would be too weak, and he was already keeping Mydei and Castorice waiting.
Two hours after Mydei sent his text, Phainon completed the butterfly. He let out a sigh of relief and looked over at his handiwork. It wasn’t as pretty as something Castorice might have made, but for his first time, it was pretty good. Aglaea told him he did a good job and that Castorice would like it. He hoped she was right.
He grabbed the project and the coal and thanked Aglaea as he headed towards Mydei’s room. If he had things correct, Mydei was already waiting for him with Castorice. He tried not to run, but he also felt bad for making Castorice wait. Not Mydei, though. He’d make him wait just to annoy him.
When he knocked on Mydei’s door, he opened it with a, “You took your time, Deliverer.”
Phainon laughed, holding up his creation to Mydei. “I had to. By the way, can I heat these coals here while we eat?”
Mydei didn’t question Phainon much as he agreed to it. Phainon left the butterfly in the kitchen and went down to sit at the table with Castorice. She sat at the far end of it, and Phainon brought his chair as close to her as she would allow. Which is to say, right next to Mydei’s.
“Were you busy, Phainon?” Castorice asked.
“Yeah, but I finished. And I was not going to let you have Mydei for the whole evening,” he joked, and they both laughed.
Mydei came in with the dish, something unfamiliar to Phainon, but Castorice recognised it immediately.
“A popular dish from Aidonia,” Mydei said to Phainon, and he gasped. There was no way his gift could beat Mydei’s. He knew what it felt like to miss your home and want something familiar to taste. When he missed Aedes Elysiae, he would tell Mydei to cook him something, which would lead to a begrudging eye roll, but Mydei always made something in the end. “Tell me if there’s anything wrong with the taste,” he told Castorice.
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. There was a huge wave of emotions flowing through her upon seeing the dish. Most of it was nostalgia, but there was also the feeling that she was loved. It felt wrong to feel something like that. Someone cursed like her doesn’t deserve to feel love.
The others were waiting for her to take the first bite, so she did. As soon as the flavour hit her tongue, she wanted to cry. It tasted like home and something else too. One of the spices was different.
Mydei and Phainon shared a look as Castorice brought her hands to her face. “You don’t need to eat it,” Mydei said quickly, but Castorice shook her head and looked up at him, tears glistening in her eyes, a smile on her face.
“It’s perfect. Thank you, Lord Mydei.” She choked back a sob.
Mydei relaxed, and Phainon squeezed his hand under the table, giving him an encouraging smile.
“There was an ingredient I couldn’t find. I hope the substitute isn’t too bad,” he said.
“It’s fine,” she replied, taking another bite. "It's like a mix of Aidonia and Okhema."
Mydei nodded, and then he and Phainon began to dig in too. While Phainon was unfamiliar with the dish, he knew Mydei’s cooking, and this was nothing but amazing. Mydei began explaining how he was looking through the archives to see if there were any cookbooks on Aidonian cuisine. He chose one he thinks Castorice would like based on the dishes he’s seen her enjoy.
Phainon would have complemented Mydei’s observation skills, but instead, he teased him. “Aww, you’re just a big softie, Mydei.”
“Shut up, HKS,” Mydei warned, glaring at Phainon, who just laughed.
_____
When they finished eating, Phainon helped Mydei clear up so he’d have an excuse to go to the kitchen and prepare his gift for Castorice.
“You sly man,” Phainon nudged him playfully.
He grunted. “Anything to make her smile.”
Phainon nodded. It was one of the things they had always agreed on.
When he finished putting the last coal in the pocket, he was surprised by how pleasant the weight was. Though it was still on the heavy side, when he brought it close to his chest, he felt like someone was wrapping their arms around him.
“Ready?” Mydei asked, looking at Phainon.
“I hope she likes it.”
“She will.”
The two headed back to the dining area, where Castorice was helping by cleaning the table with a soaked cloth. Mydei told her she didn’t have to clean while Phainon kept his hands behind his back, waiting to surprise Castorice.
“Castorice, I made something for you,” Phainon started, showing her the butterfly plush. Her eyes lit up when she saw it. “I hope you like it.” He placed the plushie on the ground and took a few steps back so that Castorice could safely retrieve it.
“It’s heavy,” Castorice said, surprised as she grabbed it. She brought the butterfly close to her chest, and the wings folded around her in an embrace. Her mouth hung agape, but then she was smiling, smiling so brightly that Phainon couldn’t help his own smile from forming. “Thank you, Phainon. Thank you both. You’re too good to me.”
While her head was buried against the plushie, Phainon whispered to Mydei. “I’d say that was a success.” He kissed the spot behind Mydei’s ear, making him blush.
Mydei made an excuse about needing to do the dishes, and Phainon teased him as he left, causing Mydei to go even redder. He then settled himself on a chair, continuing the conversation with Castorice, telling her how he came to make it and that the heating feature was Aglaea’s idea.
_____
“Considering what?” Phainon asked, handing Castorice back the poem. He won’t tell her how spot on she was about them hanging out on the rooftop to escape everyone.
Castorice held it close to her. Phainon and Mydei, two people who couldn’t agree on much to everyone around them, both made her feel like a normal girl. They ignore the fact that she’s cursed with a deadly touch. They make little gifts to make her feel better. They lift her like the wings of a butterfly. People have hated her, scorned her, cursed her, but with Phainon and Mydei, she feels loved, cherished, and adored.
“Considering how well you both work together,” she finished.