Chapter Text
It was a rare thing for Lellavia to be still, to not fly above him, but here, in the cursed Forest of Thristas, she was still for once. She perched on Beldaruit's shoulder, her long tail feathers teasing his hair, and she looked up at sky, then glanced at the darkness of the dead forest all around them.
"I don't like it here, Bel. I really don't." she whispered, beak clicking softly.
"I know. But if we can find the Brimmed Caps..." Beldaruit murmured, brushing his knuckle down her throat.
She said nothing, but he knew she knew this was necessary. The Forest was unnerving and the rain was pouring down, though a spell kept them dry as his sealchair transversed the terrain. He could hear Vinanna's voice and the whimpers and whispers of the various daemons, but Vinanna and Naxalor were as resilient as ever. The dark of the forest pressed down at them and Lellavia nervously preened the hair behind his ear. The forest seemed to effect daemons more than humans, and Beldaruit could feel her unease and fear, though she could not exactly explain to him what it was. Even with the bond between them, there were some things a human simply couldn't understand about their daemon, and it was the other way around as well.
The Knights Moralis were looking for traces to follow and Beldaruit knew in this weather, that would be hard to find and if there was any, it would quickly be washed away. The Knights were hunting in a darkness even the lanterns they held couldn't effect that much, daemons looking as well, and Beldaruit could hear Vinanna wondering why the Brimmed Caps would be here, of all places.
"This is the forest of shadow- of death." he reminded her, the spell he had cast banishing the rain over Vinanna's head.
She thanked him for coming and he nodded, Lellavia finally leaving her perch to flutter down to Naxalor. The jay preened the owl cat's feathers, the two of them conversing quietly together, and Beldaruit ignored the rest of the Knights Moralis as they whispered, too. They didn't like him much, he knew, but he didn't particularly care. Especially now, when the Brimmed Caps were within their grasp and there was no time to waste.
"Can you see if there is anything your eyes might spot, my darling?" Beladruit asked Lellavia as she returned to him, beginning to help with the search.
"...Yes." she said, taking reluctant flight again.
They spread out, staying close enough that they could aid the others in case something happened and that nothing would be missed, but far enough apart that they wouldn't be on top of each other. The sticky darkness of the forest bothered Beldaruit's eyes, teasing him that the light here was precious and seemed likely to be swallowed, and the trees themselves were unnerving. They were nothing like the Argentgard of the Great Hall, whose trees were huge and alive, glittering silver with lush leaves. They were gnarled and black, seeming to suck in the light rather than glitter in it, and he wasn't sure if it was Lellavia's uneasiness trickling into him, or his own at this point. He was wary, listening, trying to hear over the patter of the rain beyond his spell, trying to spot anything that might be lurking in the shadows. His fingers were tight on the armrest of his sealchair, his notebook and pen at the ready, the spell ensuring they wouldn't get wet.
"Bel! Here!" Lellavia called, fluttering back up to him, her blue feathers slick with rain.
She flew off through the rain and he hurried after her, seeing the mouth of a tunnel, or perhaps the entrance of a building, in a small rise of earth crowned in the skeletons of trees.
"Is there anyone in there?" he asked, lingering outside for a moment.
He was not about to be ambushed by a Brimmed Cap, though he wasn't exactly beng stealthy, his hand reaching for his pen and notebook already.
"No. It's a tunnel." Lellavia replied, resuming her perch.
He ventured in, eyes adjusting, as the darkness wasn't so greedy in here, and his eyes traveled over the stones. It seemed an odd place for a tunnel, and it really wasn't more than that. It was old, clearly, likely from before the time the forest had been killed, and the stones were spattered with... Something. Liquid, judging by the faint light catching it. Frowning slightly, the back of his neck prickling, Lellavia's tail feathers flicking nervously, Beldaruit leaned forward, touching it with his fingers. It was wet and certainly not rain, his fingertips shining red, Lellavia letting out a warbling trill.
"Bel..." she said, fluffing up.
"Have you found something?" Vinanna asked, ducking into the tunnel behind him.
Her pennant's spear banged against the stone and Naxalor came forward, rearing back at the blood Beldaruit was examining.
He hissed, feathers and fur fluffing up, eyes seeming to glow as his claws scraped across the stones. They all knew it could mean several things, and none of them good.
Beldaruit showed her, answering with words in case she couldn't see it- He could barely make it out, and it was on his fingers. Vinanna gasped and called for a guidance orb, Beldaruit collecting the blood as Lellavia fluffed her feathers nervously. It was fresh, not even tacky, and that meant they were hot on the heels of the Brimmed Caps. They followed the orb through the forest, the sucking darkness seeming more ominous than ever, every thicker shadow and gnarled tree trunk seeming to secret a Brim from their eyes. They followed the orb to the base of a tree, and it was clear the blood was pointing at the earth beneath it.
Unease shifted through their group and daemons chittered or called, and though the roots did not appear disturbed, that didn't mean anything. Beldaruit drew a breath, voicing what they were all thinking: Was there a corpse beneath the roots?
He bade the Knights to stand back and opened the earth beneath the tree, clearing it away as the rain poured down harder than ever, and gasps rippled through the air.
"Mercy on us all..." Beldaruit whispered, staring.
A coffin. Muddy, yes, soaked, yes, but clearly new, freshly buried beneath the earth. He took a deep breath, but no stench of rot overcame the scent of fresh earth and rain... Which could have drowned it out. He began to fear of a trap or merely a distraction when Lellavia's talons ripped into his hand, drawing speckles of blood before she dove into his chest. All the other daemons were having similar reactions, pressing close to their witches and crying out in fear.
"No. No, no, no, no. Bel, don't open, it please. It's not right, it's not right. Something isn't right." Lellavia moaned as his hands cupped her instinctively.
He could practically taste her fear and Naxalor was hissing, puffed up, bending Vinanna beneath his weight as he stood on her shoulders. The daemons were all crying out, their pleas and demands and orders sounding over the rain, all of them saying that it wasn't right, pleading to keep the casket closed.
"What isn't right?" Beldaruit asked, holding Lellavia to his heart.
Her own beat rapidly beneath his fingers, pulsing against his flesh, and he had never seen her like this before. A bit of fear that was entirely his own crept into him, but he swallowed it down.
"It's not right. Please, just leave it. Just leave it." Lellavia repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Open it!" Vinanna ordered, grunting as Naxalor beat his wings in protest.
"Vin, no!"
"Pennants ready!" Vinanna ordered and two Knights, both with smaller daemons that couldn't physically hold them back, stepped forward.
They opened the lid, the water pouring off it, and gasps ripped through the air again, Beladruit lurching forward.
A child.
A child, bloody, injured, laying limply in the water pooling on the bottom of the coffin. His hair was white, his clothes no more than ragged shift stained with blood and mud, the hem torn to pieces. His fingers were bloody as well, the water around his head staining darker than the rest, and Beldaruit's heart lurched in his chest.
"A child! Quickly! Is he alive?!" Beldaruit shouted, no one else moving.
"He has no daemon." Lellavia whispered, shivering against him.
She was right, he realized. There was no place for a daemon to hid in that box, and even if it was tucked away in the sad remains of his clothing, they were so wet the shape would have been obvious. There was no daemon, but Beldaruit shook his head. They had been right behind the Brimmed Caps, the blood was fresh, they couldn't have been too late-
"He has no daemon, Beldaruit, he can't-" Vinanna told him as one of the Knights tore off his cloak.
He touched the boy and he stirred, Beldaruit's breath catching in his throat. The Knight jerked, shocked, but then he wrapped the boy in his cloak, lifting him from the coffin, Beldaruit's mouth working faster than his mind.
Asking the boy if he was all right, if he could hear him, to give him to him... Surely he wasn't all right, he had been buried alive, he was injured, his daemon was gone, and yet he lived... He might have been no more than a shell...
"...Took it. Took her."
The boy's voice was barely audible above the rain, above the hissing and whimpers of the daemons, but Beldaruit heard him, and Lellavia took flight as he reached for the boy.
"Bel, no, it's not right, he has no daemon... It's so wrong, it's wrong..."
As the Knight passed the boy to Beldaruit, he saw the extent of the injures, the source of the blood. His right eye was gone, nothing more than a bloody hole in his skull, blood flowing thick and freely from it, tears streaming from the other.
"The witch... He took them from me..." the boy whispered as Beldaruit gathered him in his lap, beneath the protection of his spell.
He was shivering and cold, his skin chalky, and Lellavia perched atop Vinanna's pennant, as far as away from Beldaruit as she was willing to go. None of the daemons were willing to come close.
It was so wrong, for this boy not to have a daemon pressed into him, offering comfort or trying to speak for them, but Beldaruit pushed that aside. This was the Brimmed Caps' work. They had taken his daemon. His very soul. He drew his overrobe around them both, cradling the boy close, trying to keep him warm, and rubbed his arms the best he could while cradling him.
"We need to get him to the Healing Spire." Beldaruit said, knowing now they weren't going to find the Brimmed Caps.
And honestly, that paled in comparison to this boy's need. Perhaps that was what the Brimmed Caps had intended. None of the Knights moved, but Beldaruit was already turning his sealchair around, heading back the way he had come, heading for the portable window way that had brought them. Lellavia, still afraid, pulled tight against their bond, making a pain wrench through his chest and stopping him in his tracks.
"Lellavia!" he cried, rounding to look at her.
She was shaking her head and he could feel her fear, which was so unusual for her that it disturbed him.
"Bel-"
"No! He is a child and his is injured, and he needs help! I do not care if you are afraid! I do not care if this is... Is wrong. We can not let him die!" Beldaruit shouted, losing his composure.
They stared at each other, Lellavia's tail feathers flicking up and down, and the boy shivered against him; Beldaruit feared he was not far from shock, if not already in it. There was nothing he could do for the boy than to keep him warm and get him help.
"It might be kinder if we do." Lellavia said softly and he gaped at her.
Then, without another word, Beldaruit kept moving. It was agony, to strain against Lellavia like that, made it feel like something was gouging into him, but he pushed through it. He understood her caution, her fear, but that was no reason to let a child die. Maybe he was already half-gone, but Beldaruit refused to just sit here and hold him until he slipped away. He strained against the bond, his breathing going ragged, an ache spreading deep in him that wasn't physcial. But he pressed it and Lellavia was gaping at him, until, finally, she came. She flew over to him and perched on his shoulder, Beldaruit moving as fast as he could.
Vinanna and Naxalor came with them, racing through the forest, escorting them, it seemed, just in case there were any Brimmed Caps lurking. Beldaruit doubted it; they were long gone now, and this boy had provided an excellent means of their escape. He drew a spell, somewhat sloppily, to keep the boy warm, and he was still mumbling, still crying, still bleeding. He arched his back when Beldaruit tried to apply pressure to his empty eye socket, crying out in pain, and Beldaruit cringed. But he did his best to stop the blood flow and muttered soothing words, the window way seeming further away than it had been. For a moment, he feared the Brimmed Caps had managed to use it to get into the Greathall. But no, there it was, still guarded by two Knights Moralis and their daemons, and they looked shocked at the sight of Beldaruit rushing toward them with Vinanna on his heels.
He had to slow, though, or he wouldn't make it through the window way, navigating the window carefully, ducking his head and getting the chair through. Then he was off again, Vinanna still with him, flying now that they were out of the forest.
"We can't let him go without a Knight. He might have sigils tattooed on him." Vinanna said and Beldaruit glanced down at the boy.
He didn't see anything, but they could have beneath his clothes, and he felt a rush of deep pity and fear. It would have been too cruel, on top of everything else. He said nothing, just rushed to the Healing Spire as fast as he could. He turned the boy over to the doctors and they allowed Vinanna and Naxalor to follow without question, though Beldaruit got a glare when he did.
"I'm not leaving him." he said firmly; he could tell even the doctors' daemons were fearful.
Even these people who were supposed to tend to the sick and the injured were being wary and hesitating because of the lack of daemon, and Beldaruit wanted to shout again. The only reason he didn't was because he did not want to be driven away.
So he held his tongue and waited, and he stayed as close as they allowed him. Vinanna stayed as well, holding her penant, waiting to be cleared to check for ink, and Lellavia preened Beldaruit's hair, sensing his worry. He was afraid this child would have ink somewhere on his body and then... Well...
He refused to believe the possibility. His filthy, soaked shift was removed and his body examined, but there was no ink. They even checked for ink made with blushing bride scales, for invisibility, but there was none. The boy was clean.
Beldaruit let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and Vinanna, despite having cleared the boy, stayed as well. Naxalor clicked his beak softly, Lellavia still on edge.
"Poor lad... It might be kinder if he had gone with his daemon. He spoke, yes, but we don't know the full of it... He might only have a half-life." Naxalor said softly, his fear gone.
No, despite the unease he clearly still had, he was obviously sad, and there was pity in his voice and gaze.
Beldaruit said nothing, and stayed. He stayed while they put the boy to sleep; he was weak but he was coming back to himself more, and he fought against the doctors. The raw scream that ripped from him when the doctors pinned him down made Beldaruit almost send his sealchair over, but he stayed out of the way, and soon the boy was still and silent, sleeping.
Technically speaking, he and Vinanna weren't entirely supposed to be here, but both of them refused to leave for various reasons. It took some time, but, evetually, the boy was clean and treated. His head was swathed in bandages, his hands wrapped up delicately, a bandage here and there wrapped around some injury that had broken his skin. A clean shirt swallowed his thin form, and the doctors had piled blankets on him, but he was still shivering. Beldaruit left Lellavia perching somewhere else and went to the bed, looking at the boy, who was sound asleep.
"A Knight will be posted for when he wakes. If he knows anything, he's the best lead we have one the Brimmed Caps." Vinanna said and Beldaruit knew that was true.
He didn't like the thought of the Knights Moralis descending on the boy and interrogating him, though, not when he would be in pain, scared, and confused. Provided that the Brimmed Caps hadn't wiped his memory. That, they knew, was a real concern. It would cover their tracks, and they likely wouldn't have been so wreckless as to bury him alive and hope he died before the Knights Moralis discovered him and could get his secrets. But maybe, just maybe, a Brimmed Cap who was foolish enough to bury such a good lead alive rather than just killing him would have been foolish enough to leave his memories intact.
Beldaruit gently stroked the boy's hair, which was clean and soft now, and the lack of daemon broke his heart. He knew very well it could mean terrible things, but he was not ready to say that it would be better if the boy had died or better if he did. Not until they knew everything. It was entirely possible, using forbidden spells, the Brimmed Caps had cut it away somehow. Perhaps, even now, they had his daemon.
After all, there were endless possibilities to forbidden magic, some they didn't even know any longer, and the boy was still alive. That pointed to his daemon still being out there, somewhere. Why this had been done, Beldaruit couldn't even begin to guess. Perhaps, when he woke, the boy would be able to give them answers, but he still very much doubted that.
Vinanna left to discuss things with the doctors and to assign another Knight to the watch, likely intent on rejoining the group they had left behind. Beldaruit likely should have done the same, but he knew the Brimmed Caps were long gone by now. The boy was all they had, and he didn't deserve to be left alone with only a cold Knight waiting to interrogate him when he woke. He continued to stroke the boy's hair, humming softly, hoping to offer him some comfort, but he knew whatever comfort he could offer would be pale and weak in some areas.
Beldaruit couldn't even imagine someone cutting Lellavia away from him, whether she was gone forever or just very far away from him. It was like imagining cutting his arm from his body.
"Please don't get your hopes up. He still might die. If he really doesn't have a daemon... Those words and that fight in him could have been all that was left." Lellavia warned, still perched as far as she could get.
"He won't harm you, Lellavia." Beldaruit said, not glancing at her.
"It's... It's unnatural. He's all wrong, Beldaruit. I know you feel the same way, it's not right... And the Brimmed Caps could have broken him in ways we can't see yet." Lellavia said, shuddering.
"That doesn't mean he should be denied comfort and kindness. If he is going to die, I would hate for the last thing he knows of the world to be fear and pain." Beldaruit said and she was silent.
He knew Lellavia agreed with that, was thinking of the last thing they both knew being fear and pain, and Beldaruit continued his watch over the boy. Eventually, Lellavia flew back to his shoulder, eyeing the child, clicking her beat.
"I think he's the saddest thing I've ever seen." she whispered, nuzzling against him.
Beldaruit raised his hand to gently stroke her feathers, feeling better now that she was closer. Because the boy did unsettle him, he had to admit. It was unnatural, for someone to be without a daemon, but that did not mean the boy was dangerous, nor did it mean he deserved to be rejected and treated differently. Lellavia was a small comfort in the face of this thing that was as wrong as a body with its head removed, and it was painful to know this boy would not have the comfort of daemon pressed against him when he woke.
"Do you think he is an outsider? Or one of their own?" Lellavia asked after a long while.
"Part of me hopes for an outsider. If he is a Brimmed Cap child... That will be far worse." Beldaruit said, though an outsider wouldn't be much better.
Somehow, though, it was easier to accept that the Brimmed Caps had kidnapped a random child than the idea of them selecting one that belonged to someone in their ranks, for them to have sacrificed a child to experimentation who had trusted at least some of them. Beldaruit couldn't imagine handing over your own child or watching their name be drawn or something of the sort for whatever the Brimmed Caps had been doing.
"He still might got to Adanlee." Lellavia said and Beldaruit shook his head.
That thought was cruel as well. To send a child to the Isle of Oblivion, for circumstances beyond his control, so young and daemon-less... The thought set his teeth on edge more than the lack of daemon. He did not always agree with everything in their society, he had to admit, but he knew most of it was the best of the people, not the individual. But what would there to be gained by abandoning a lost child like this, no matter his origin? To cast him away when he had already been thrown aside to die?
"Bel..." Lellavia said and Beldaruit snorted.
"I am seeing a different side of you today, Lellavia."
"I could say the same thing." Lellavia said and fluffed her feathers.
"I'm not saying I want him to die or be sent away because I'm afraid, or because this is just wrong. You and I both know it could be kinder for him to die if his daemon truly is gone, that he might not really be in there any longer. That it be excruiating for him. And I'm just warning you... Getting attached could make what comes later harder. If they do want to send him to Adanlee, to toss him out to be an outsider, or worse." she continued, sighing.
"If he is going to die, there is nothing you or I can do but offer him some comfort. And if he lives, someone needs to fight for him." Beldaruit said decisively.
He knew, even without ink marring his skin, things would be hard for this boy. But he would not allow him to be cast aside when the Knights Moralis were done with him. If he lived, he deserved a chance, rather than just being sent away and forgotten. Rarely did they had to send a child to the Isle of Oblivion and while Beldaruit did understand why it was done when it was, but it was much different when he was facing the child himself. And even if he was an outside, well, it wasn't the first time an outsider child had been brought among them. It was merely something that happened very rarely, and was almost never talked about when it did.
He and Lellavia stayed and, eventually, a new Knight came, and the doctors flitted in and out. Beldaruit kept watch, adjusting the boy's blankets, gently rubbing his back or shoulder to get some warmth back into him, because that was biggest danger now. It all might have just been too much for him, and even if he had had a daemon, his body could have given out from the cold, the blood loss, the trauma of what had happened to him. But the boy kept breathing and twitched and mumbled in his sleep, Beldaruit murmuring to him or humming a lullaby until he settled again. Lellavia calmed down and Beldaruit appreciated that, knowing the forest had set her on edge in addition to the boy.
Night fell outside, but Beldaruit hardly noticed, and it was late in the night when the boy finally woke. He was dozing in his sealchair, Lellavia on his shoulder, drowsing as well, when a voice spoke. Beldaruit was roused and he blinked, not realizing who had spoken for a second.
"Where... Where is she...?" the voice said, repeating what had said before, he realized
His gaze focused on the boy and found him staring up from beneath the blankets, his eye focused dimly on Beldaruit, glazed with pain.
And, quite honestly, Beldaruit didn't know how to answer. Because he didn't know the answer. He was fairly certain the boy was asking about his daemon, though he could have been asking about any number of people or things with 'she', and he swallowed.
"Where is who?" he asked, the only thing he could think to ask.
"Her..." the boy said, struggling to sit up.
Beldaruit's hand shot out and stilled him and Lellavia flew to the door, alerting the Knight who was waiting outside it.
"You're all right, child, it's all right. You're safe here." Beldaruit soothed as the boy struggled.
The boy flinched from his touch and Beldaruit immediately retracted his hand, not wanting to scare him.
"What is your name?" Beldaruit asked softly, trying to distract him.
The boy stared at him blankly, eyes fixing on Lellavia as she returned to Beldaruit's shoulder. His mouth opened but no sound came out, his expression turning blank once again, his eye fixed on Beldaruit, as if Beldaruit might be able to answer the question he had just asked. His mouth opened again, but then he jerked when doctors and the Knight who had been standing guard came in, a look of fear entering his eye. Beldaruit was forced from the room and he could hear the boy's voice, though he couldn't make out what he was saying, if he was saying anything at all. He was forced to leave, but he waited, wanting to know what would happen to this boy when the Knights were done. Lellavia hopped down into his hand and Beldaruit held her to his heart again, basking in the comfort, holding her close.
Because the daemonless boy had shaken him too, and despite being determined to fight for him, Beldaruit was unsettled. He knew, perhaps, Lellavia and Naxalor were right, no matter how much he wanted to deny it. Depending on what had happened to this boy's daemon... It really might be kinder for him if he died. But if he lived- and he seemed to have the will to live already- Beldaruit was going to fight for him, and he knew, despite her misgivings, Lellavia would, too.
000000
The boy was no lead at all. He had no memories. No daemon. And it seemed despite it all, they did want to wipe his memories once again and send him to Adanlee, to then become an outsider. He was healed now, as he healed as he was going to be, and they would send him away soon because he no longer needed care in the Medical Spire.
Beldaruit wouldn't have any of it.
He fought, he argued, and Lellavia added her voice, but he made it clear he was going to keep this poor boy. It wasn't the first time an outsider had joined the ranks of the witches, after all, and while this boy might have been outsider or might have been born a witch by virtue of being a Brimmed Cap's offspring, that didn't matter to Beldaruit. The boy's origins were no fault of his own, no more than the state the Brimmed Caps had left him in. Beldaruit was determined not to have this boy thrown away like he already had been. This boy, nameless, daemonless, shunned, would be his apprentice.
As soon as he wore down those in charge, he went straight to the boy. They were keeping him in an empty room, guarded by a Knight, and on this day, it was Vinanna. When he explained to her why he had come, Vinanna gaped at him in shock.
"Are you mad, Beldaruit?" she exclaimed.
The boy was visible through the open archway behind her, huddled against the wall head bowed, looking like he wanted nothing more than to disappear.
"I assure you, I am most earnest." Beldaruit said firmly.
"I'm not sure if I believe the rumors about him, but he keeps trying to touch people's daemons, Beldaruit. He tried grabbing Naxalor's wing, for one, and unnerved three of the doctors doing that they refused to treat him any longer." Vinanna said, glancing down at the owl cat.
"It is worrying, that he is heedless of the taboo." Naxalor agreed, shifting his wings.
"And do you think having his memories taken again and sent to the Isle of Oblivion is going to make that change?" Beldaruit challenged.
"No one ever has to be taught it, Beldaruit, so I doubt the memory was taken from him. He's just... He doesn't care about it." Vinanna said, glancing over her shoulder.
"He is lost, and afraid. A daemon is a comfort he doesn't have, and he is a child, Vinanna. A child who has gone through the most terrible of things. Give him some grace. You don't know if he actually would have touched Naxalor. There have been plenty of times when we have nearly touched each other's daemons but never have. And many times when touches have happened." Beldaruit said, arching an eyebrow at his friend.
She sighed, but not protesting made it clear she thought he had a point.
"Go on, then, if you want him that badly." she said, moving out of the doorway with Naxalor.
"Thank you." Beldaruit said, guiding his sealchair into the room.
The boy's head snapped up, his pale blue eye fixing on him, and he looked frightened. Beldaruit hadn't seen him since he had been forced from the hospital room, but that didn't change his decision. This boy would be his apprentice, and he would protect him. If witches were behaving this way toward him because of his lack of a daemon alone, Beladruit couldn't imagine what turning him loose among the outsiders, who wouldn't even have a vague understanding of what had happened to him, would do.
Beldaruit approached and lowered the sealchair so he wasn't towering over the boy, who was regarding him warily now. Still no one had given him a name, and that enraged Beldaruit. They had left him in all this time they had interrogated him and he had been healing nameless and afraid, and people acting afraid of him. That was no way to treat a child.
The boy's eye then went to Lellavia, who was perched by Beldaruit's hand, and he curled, crawling forward and stretching out a hand. She trilled and took flight, her weight shifting Beldaruit's hat as she settled on the point, nearly knocking it off.
"You need to ask permission first, child. Never touch a daemon without permission." Beldaruit said gently, Lellavia fluttering down to his shoulder.
"Lellavia, could you...?" he asked, not finishing it.
But she knew what he wanted. There was a taboo against touching someone else's daemon, but that did not prohibit all touch. There were times when a baby might touch a parent's daemon as they explored the world, or a parent needed to move an infant daemon as well. So long as permission was granted, it wasn't bad, but aside from an infant daemon being handled by a human's parent, permission was needed. He could feel Lellavia's hesitation, and he didn't blame her. Because of his illness, there had been times when she had been touched by accident and it had made them both ill, and despite the physical affection between them, Lellavia had grown wary of touching others.
But she only hesitated a moment and then fluttered down cautiously, ready to fly away if the need arose. Beldaruit watched as the boy stretched out his hand and he expected him to mercilessly grab at Lellavia, but he did not. Instead, he delicately cupped his hands around her and the touch was not hands-scraping-against-the-insides-and-ripping-them-out as it was when touch was received without permission. It was mildly uncomfortable for them both, but the boy was gentle, and it was something that could easily be ignored, like an ill-fitting shirt or something similar.
The boy curled back up and pressed Lellavia to his heart, rocking slightly, and something in him relaxed a little. Lellavia relaxed too, and nudged the boy with her beak, an intense feeling of sorrow pulsing through them both. The boy wasn't malicious, he was lonely and desperate, seeking the feel of a daemon everyone was born with and never went a day without. He held Lellavia tenderly and gently, still rocking, and something broke a little further in Beldaruit's heart.
"You're not her." the boy said quietly, still holding Lellavia.
"No." Lellavia agreed and the boy sniffed, swallowing hard.
"We'll held you find your daemon. She may still be out there, lost, waiting for you, too." Beldaruit said gently, because he was almost certain the Brimmed Caps had this boy's daemon.
The boy looked up, his eye wide, tears hovering on his lower lid.
"Really?" he asked, a fearful, desperate hope in his voice.
Beldaruit winced a little, as he did not want to give the boy false hope, but he wasn't going to lie and tell him that it wasn't possible to get his daemon back. Until they knew for certain what had happened, however, Beldaruit wasn't going to crush his hopes. Not when there was still a chance.
"As long as there is a chance that she is still out there, I will do everything within my power to help you find her." Beldaruit promised, and Lellavia chirped her agreement.
The boy still held her, but Lellavia did not pull away, and it was clear he was comforted and calmed by her presence. And the touch wasn't as uncomfortable as others' might have been, strangely different than even the tolerable ones they had experienced before, so Beldaruit felt safe in assuming that Lellavia would be open to doing this again, if the need arose. He certainly wouldn't mind if she was open to it, and he could feel that she was just as sad for this boy as he was.
The boy still stared at him and Beldaruit extended his hand in offering, offering a gentle smile.
"Come, boy. Take my hand. You shall study the ways of the witch with me. We'll find out what happened to your daemon, and to you." he said gently.
The boy stared at him and then, tentatively, still holding Lellavia to his heart, he reached out, and took Beldaruit's hand.