Back to the Darkness
Indigo stood outside the Owl house… but nothing seemed right.
First off, none of those within would ever knowingly leave Indigo outside, not even Eda would do that to them.
Indigo then realises that they couldn't move, this was NOT a good feeling.
Indigo could look around, they just couldn't move anything but their head.
The sounds of wings fluttering made Indigo's head snap forward as the two Mimicidaes appeared again, sitting on a stump that seemed to just appear from nowhere.
Indigo tried to move but it was pointless.
One of the birds, the black one, opened its beak but rather than making some awful cawing sound, a voice came from it
"Be still little one, no need to fuss"
Indigo's mind froze, they knew that voice, well they didn't KNOW it but it was so very familiar.
"Ah sweetheart, I'm sure they'll calm soon, they are surely startled by the darkness, we must allow them to adjust"
Came the white ones mimicked voice
Indigo had the same feeling towards thay voice.
"Who are they?" Indigo tries to demand strongly, but their thoughts go nowhere
"Now, now Tolken, be gentle, don't peck the baby" the black one mimics
"You two Mollus, behave yourself" adds the white one.
"They must learn to trust you both… We won't be here for much longer" the black one continues, the voice was laden with sadness.
"They will take us away from our baby, but we can at least protect them here, no matter what they need, this cave will provide it for them, so long as our magic flows through it… maybe even someday it will show them why it is shrouded in darkness" the white adds, just as sadly.
Indigo no longer tries to interrupt, that feeling in their stomach gnaws uselessly at them but they are too focused to care.
All too soon Indigo's eyes actually open and they sit up on the couch in the Owl house.
A deep rooted feeling began growing out of the horrible one in the pit of their stomach.
-Amity-
After barely making it to curfew that night, all three Blight children had called it early, but Amity had a feeling Edric wasn't necessarily sleeping, given what the Bat Queen had said and how Indigo had been acting, no doubt her sensitive older brother was worried about them.
Amity had snuck out of their room to check on him, to find him apparently sleeping soundly, but on closer inspection, found it to be a simple illusion, Amity shook her head and left the room.
In the morning Edric had not yet returned, Amity began to worry, thankfully it wasn't a school day, but their parents would get suspicious if he wasn't there for dinner.
Emira hadn't known initially until Amity told her once she was sure their parents were out of earshot.
"I think maybe he went to check on Indigo, whatever happened yesterday was really freaking them out and you and I both know that our brother is kinda…."
"Smittens" Emira asks with a half smile.
"Ugh, either way, we better go and see if he is actually there" Amity continues.
Both girls made their way down the oh so familiar path to the Owl house, Hooty greets them and dashes up to the window above to inform Luz that they were there.
Luz opens the door after a moment.
"Oh hey guys, I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say yours is missing too right?" She asks with a sigh.
Amity and Emira glance at each other for a moment before looking at Luz
"Indigo is missing too then?" Emira asks.
"Well considering they don't actually live here, it's quite possible they just… went back to the cave, yesterday was hard on them.. maybe they wanted to go back?" Luz acknowledges.
-A long staff ride later-
The three girls landed in front of the Cave of Emotions, it still looked no different from before on the outside.
Luz walks forward and peeks through the void-like entrance, pulling her head back out after a moment.
"All the lights are still up too high to see anything, I don't think Indigo would make Edric sit in the dark" Luz says quietly.
"Well if they aren't here then where else could they both be?" Emira asks aloud.
An idea pops into Amity's mind.
"What if they went looking for those birds?" Amity asks "Maybe Indigo figured out what was up with them"
The other two looked at each other.
"That might be it" Emira says
-Yet another long staff ride later-
"Ugh, I swear if they aren't here I'm gonna break Ed's legs for making us fly all around the island after them" Emira complains as they finally dismount the staff when they land at Hexide.
The three split up after agreeing to search different parts of the ground.
Amity took the area around the grudgby field, Emira took the stables and Luz too around the back.
-Luz-
"Now if I were Edric and Indigo… where would I look for birds? In the trees!" Luz says and indicates the large forest in front of her excitedly.
"Buuuut I should be careful not to get lost myself" Luz says "So lets start around the perimeter first!" She concludes and begins walking around the trees, Amity had said Ed was away since last night, had the two been searching all night, or had Ed just snuck out that night and done something else first, either way if Luz spotted the birds she would most likely spot the two she was looking for.
After checking the entire length of the tree's edges, Luz concluded that she would have to try going in further, stepping into the forest with a few glyphs at the ready.
A noise and voices caught Luz's attention and at first she decided to hide behind a tree, just in case.
The next thing, Indigo and Edric came into the area, their arms seemed to be stuck together with some kind of webbing, the two looked tired.
"So we're lost in the forest, stuck together and we still haven't found the birds" Edric sumerizes glumly.
Indigo sits on the ground, sighing, one arm stuck awkwardly upwards attached to Esric's, till he sits down by them.
"Emira's gonna kill me again"
"Yeh probably" Indigo says quietly into their knees where their head sat.
"Hey!"
"Well yeh did sneak off again wi'out tellin' 'er…. Again"
"I came to check on you!"
"At midnigh'"
"... Yeah maybe not my smartest idea… but I didn't see you complaining for the company when you snuck out to find the birds"
"Go' meh there, ah don' think ah'da go' away from thah huge… whah was eh called again?" Indigo asks as they looked up from their knees for a moment.
"Maulantua" Edric says and gives another testing tug at the webbing on their arms.
"Yeh thah thing, ah'd be its dinneh by naw if yeh weren' there" Indigo gives him a nudge with their entangled arms.
Esric looks pleased for a moment before sighing "But now we are stuck in every sense of the word, haven't found the birds, cant find our way out of the forest and are literally stuck to each other, how are we gonna…." Esric pauses as Luz steps out nonchalauntly from the trees behind.
"Ah… Indie…"
Indigo lifts their head and looks up at Luz, who just has her hands on her hips, staring at them
"Uh… can weh go figh thah maulantula instead?" Indigo asks and points their free thumb behind them, both get up and turn, Luz moves forward, grabbing their shirts and begins dragging them backwards out of the forest.
-Amity-
Amity almost felt sorry for the two teens as Emira verbally tore into them for a good ten minutes, asking how they could be so irresponsible, how they hadn't learned their lesson already, they were still stuck together, both their spell hands were stuck so they basically had no real means of self defense.
"Okay Em, I think they have had enough of that" Amity says, stepping between her sister and the two dejected teens.
Emira opens her mouth but shuts it again as Amity turns to Luz "Could you try a glyph on this webbing? I'm sure they'd like to get their hands freed"
Luz nods and takes out a fire glyph.
Indigo looks fine as it is applied but Edric looks worried, as Luz touches it, the webbing catches fire and sizzles away pretty quickly, revealing the two were in fact holding hands quite tightly underneath the webbing, Edric quickly lets go in an attempt to hide it but it was clearly too late as his sisters start to snicker to themselves.
"So that's why you snuck out eh?"
"No! I was helping Indie"
"Indie?" The sisters ask with eyebrows raised.
Luz looks oblivious to what they were implicating.
Edrics ears go bright red "Sh-shut up!" He says and folds his arms.
Indigo looked completely out of the loop, flexing their hand to get back the feeling in it after it being stuck in one position for a while, completely ignoring the others for the moment.
After a moment relishing in the teasing, the two sisters relent.
"So, you snuck out, went to the owl house… and?" Amity asks.
Edric looked to the side at them "Indie was already outside, so I asked what was up, they said they needed to find the birds so… we came here cuz its the last place we saw them"
"At Midnight?" Luz asks in disbelief
The two glances at each other then back at Luz
"Well, we were both there, why not just go?" Edric asks with a shrug.
"Eh… made sense ah deh time" Indigo adds with a shrug.
"Alright, but how did you get lost?"
"Eh was dark…. Then deh maulantula showed up, weh ran, an' thahs abou' eh" Indigo says.
"And we still haven't found the birds," Edrix adds in frustration.
"So why were you looking for the birds anyways?" Emira asks "Yesterday you wouldn't get far enough away from them, now all of a sudden you want to find them?"
Indigo blinks and looks down "ah… don' know whah eh's called, when ah was sleepin' ah was… seein' stuff…"
"A dream!" Luz says "I saw your eyes moving behind your eyelids last night, people do that when they're dreaming"
Indigo blinks at Luz "okay so ah was dreamin then, ah saw the birds an' they were talkin… but Ah knew the voices…. Ah don' know wjo the' belong teh buh ah know em, they were talkin' abou' a baby, an' the cave…"
Indigo has to stop talking, they felt something on their face, it fell from their eyes rapidly, that gut wrenching feeling was back again, it didn't feel good at all, they were forced to double over and try desperately to stop their eyes from leaking, this had happened last night as well, when Indigo had tried to explain all this to Edric, who was now holding them in a tight hug, just as he had done that night.
Several more arms joined the hug and soon Indigo was cocooned in the soft feeling of empathy and caring, the feeling in their gut disappeared pretty quickly and they were able to move their arms to try and return the hug to each of those around them, hugging Ed and Amity with one are and Luz and Em with the other.
When Indigo's eyes finally stopped leaking, Ed called ot crying, they remembered Ed doing it before as well, though he had felt better after doing it, Indigo did not feel better for it, only the hugs had brought them calm, Indigo looks at the other four with their eyes before, rather unwillingly, putting their arms down to show they were now okay.
All four gently removed themselves from the hug.
"Ah don' think Ah understan' whah's goin on" Indigo admits to them all.
"It sounded like…" Emira starts and looks to Edric, who continues, guessing Emira wasn't sure how to word it, Edric hadn't said anything despite his own thoughts the previous night, Indigo had already cried despite not understanding it fully, he didn't want to imagine their reaction when they did, but now he had others to help him support them, if there was a right time, now was certainly the time to say it.
"It sounds like those two birds were your parent's palismens, from what you told me about what they said… it sounds like someone took them away from you…. they had to leave you in the cave, probably to leave those palismens with the bat queen, since it got cut off I'm guessing that's when they were… taken" Edrix says all of this slowly in case Indigo has something to say, they say absolutely nothing, once Edric stops speaking, the whole area is silent.
Indigo makes a small sound, like what a kicked puppy would make, it nearly broke the hearts of all four standing around them.
It took everything Indigo had not to get lost in their head of swirling emotions, it was like a vortex, so easy to get pulled in and lose themselves in the anger, denial, hurt, anguish, confusion and the two new emotions adding into it from before.
A hand takes Indigo's gently, they look to see Edric's hand holding theirs tightly, just as tightly as before, but there was no hesitation in his mind.
"We're gonna find those birds" he says with confidence and glances at the others, everyone nods in agreement.
Indigo gives a small smile, more for Edric and his willingness to help them even after being stuck in a forest together with them all night.
Edric gets to his feet, still holding Indigo's hand, Indigo gets up as well, looking at the others then at the sun
"We have time," Emira assures.
"But yah spen' all yer free day lookin' fer us" Indigo says quietly
"And we'd do it again tomorrow, now come on! We got some birds to find!" Luz says in her pumped up attitude.
Indigo feels a warmth in their chest, they reach out to ruffle Luz's hair, they know Luz enjoys it.
Luz gives a giggle at the head pats and gins when Indigo pulls back their hand.
"Well if yas 're sure" Indigo says and looks at the other two girls, who nod.
Indigo gives them another smile "Then le's find them birds"
-After an hour of searching-
The group had split up, Luz and Amity had taken the front of the school, Emira had taken one side and Indigo and Edric had taken the other.
The whole hour was spent scouring every single outdoor crevice of the school but to no avail, as the five met back up at the front, all giving their saddened looks of failure, Indigo simply waved it off.
"Ah'm sure they'll come back, don't worry none," they said encouragingly.
The group all smiled and nodded, as they all began heading back, Edric pulled a bit on Indigo's hand to get them to follow him, Indigo sent a quick message to Emira that they'd just be a minute.
Emira glances back to see the two disappear into the trees, but they didn't go far in, just enough to be out of hearing range.
-Indigo-
Indigo lets Edric lead them just inside the forest, not far enough for them to get lost again, but just far enough so the others couldn't hear them.
Once Edric stopped, he turned to face Indigo. Indigo didn't need their powers to see the poor boy was very nervous, but their powers told them anyways.
"I… uh" Edric clears his throat "I wanted to…. Tell you something… earlier, before the… maulantula attacked us"
Indigo tilts their head, remembering.
The two had just come into a small clearing, Edric had wanted to show them an amazing little creature that lit up the night with its body, he had called it a flare-fly, Indigo had adored the sight of the swarm of little creatures flying around them, before it all ended so quickly as they scattered after flashing their bodies several times, as if in alarm. That was when the maulantula appeared.
Indigo shivered at the thought of that horrible creature.
Indigo was brought back as Edric continued slowly.
"Uh… so, I know you're still…. New to everything out here so you probably don't…. Well, I wouldn't be upset if you didn't…" Edric was fumbling with his words, but despite this, Indigo knew the boy wanted to be able to say what he was feeling rather than just taking the easy way and letting Indigo just read him.
Indigo notices Edric squeezing their hand as he tries to speak again, they squeeze back in reassurance, which makes him fumble again for another minute.
"Alright, c'mon brain just think the words and say them!" Edric mutters to himself.
Indigo watches Edric sych himself for a few more seconds before he turns and tries to meet their eye again, Indigo couldn't help the little giggle they have as Edrics ears started to wiggle, this caused Edric to start giggling back, it became pretty clear this isn't going how Esric had planned but nevertheless, he was just glad Indigo wasn't sad anymore.
"I think… I'll try again another time" Esric says softly.
"Thah's fine bah meh" Indigo says and they give another forearm bump and begin heading back to the others.
The three had waited for them, when they arrived back, Emira was looking at Edric, but he merely shrugged a shoulder and she sighed.
-Amity-
Once home well before curfew, Amity and the twins headed upstairs to talk.
"So did you try to tell them?" Emira asks curiously.
"Yeah, tried being the key word there, I couldn't get the words out right, then we just started giggling, so I figured I'd just try again another time…" Edric admits.
Amity tilts her head "Why were you giggling?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Probably because of this" Edric says and wiggles his ears, causing Amity to snort
"Aww you were happy wiggling?" Amity coos and makes Edric grumble and tosses a pillow at her
"Hush, I've seen you do it when Luz hugs you" Edric retorts, Amity shrugs
"Can't deny it," she says with a blush.
Emira shakes her head at the two
"So they were cool with that?" She asks.
"Yeah, they said it was fine by them, I think I can do it better next time" Edric says with a little confidence.
Amity glances at Emirs "So you and Viney are hanging out tomorrow yeah?"
Emira nods "Yeah, she said we can go flying again, this time she'll actually be in control of Puddles, supposedly"
All three laugh at that.
"So Amity, you thought about telling Luz?" Edric asks, no teasing in his tone, he now knew how difficult it felt to say it aloud.
Amity went bright red "No, she has a lot on her plate after grom, I don't wanna bother her with all that…"
Edric tilts his head "Why not encourage her to share some of those troubles, I know I've felt better when me and Indigo talk about stuff that bugs us, maybe she'll open up to you"
Amity thought about it carefully "I'll try that"
-Luz-
"Sooo what were you and Ed talkin about~" Luz asks sweetly, looking at Indigo across the couch, for once they had not fallen asleep yet.
"He wan'ed teh tell meh somethin' buh he go' too nervous," Indigo says with a wave of their hand.
Luz squeals "Do you think he was gonna…" Luz stops as Indigo puts a hand over their mouth
"Ah don' know an Ah'm no' sposd teh" Indigo explains briefly.
Luz giggles and nods "Ah, okay then"
"Whah abou' you though?" Indigo asks "Anythin' yeh wanna say teh Amity?"
Luz's cheeks flush a bit "I dunno yet… I think she just sees us as good friends, I wouldn't wanna risk losing her over something like this, not after all we went through just to become friends"
Indigo could feel Luz's worry, they wished they could tell the poor girl exactly why she shouldn't worry, but it wouldn't be right to do that.
"Ah think yer overthinkin' things, ya know Ah can'noh tell yah how she feels but Ah can assure yeh at least thah she wouldn' jus' disappear on yeh, yer friendship means aloh teh her too"
Luz was smiling by the time Indigo finished speaking.
"Thanks Indigo, that helps a lot," Luz says but once she glances over, she sees Indigo's eyes starting to close.
"3, 2 and….. they're out" Luz says as Indigo slumps back against the couch.
-The next morning-
Indigo was up early that morning, Luz had guessed when she came down to find the blanket she had given them that night, neatly folded on the table and the taller teen nowhere in view.
Eda pops her head around when Luz appears
"They said they wanted to scout around for those birds again" she confirms and gpes back to what she is doing.
Luz nods, perhaps they had to be alone to encounter them properly, but Luz still felt anxious about their friend being out all alone.
-At the Blight Manor-
Edric groans as a soft sound of something hitting his window woke him up, he had slept well for once but now something wanted him awake, glancing at the clock he realised it was almost 10am, well that wasn't an unreasonable time to get up he supposed.
Edric sat up and looked at his window, before freezing, it was one of Indigo's birds, he scrambled up before realising it'd probably fly off if he approached too fast, so instead he nonchalauntly walked to the window and opened it.
Edric was expecting one of two things to happen, the bird would sit still and he could grab it, or it would fly off, what he did not expect was for it to hop into his room and sit on the window sill looking proud of itself, as if it had gotten whay it wanted, this one was the black one with the red eyes.
Edric raises a hand testingly, the bird just watches as he lifts a hand and pats its head, it coos softly for a moment before opening its wings and fluttering up onto his hand.
"I was… not expecting this" Edric admits before looking at his door "Hmm, tell you what, little thing, stay out there, I'm gonna come outside and you can come with me, kay?" He asks and lowers his hand to the outside of the window, the little bird hops off and coos, sitting and waiting as Edric closed the window and hurried to get dressed and head out the door.
After ensuring the others were occupied, Edric heads out the door silently, scooting to the side of the house with his bedroom window at it and waves a hand, the bird coos and flaps down and lands on Edrics hand, nestling in comfortably.
Edric smiles and carries the bird as he heads for the owl house, he wondered where the white one had gone, but as he headed down the path past a familiar clearing of boulders, he saw the bird perched on one of the boulders, fluffed up and comfortable looking.
Edric glances down at the one in his hand, finding it peacefully snoozing there, smiling before slowly making his way over to the boulder to attempt to retrieve the white one.
Once Edric got to the top of the boulder where he saw the bird, it had vanished, but someone else had been climbing the boulder on the other side, there sat Indigo, puffed and struggling to get up onto the boulder, Edric quickly got to the top and pulled them up so they didn't just topple down and hurt themselves.
Indigo looks up in surprise once they are safe.
"Whah yeh doin' all de wah ou' 'ere?" They ask in confusion before noticing the little black Mimicidae in his hands.
"Yeh caugh' one?" They said in disbelief.
Edric scratches his neck "More like it just kinda hopped into my hand" he explains briefly, the little black Mimicidae sat calmly in his palm, occasionally cooing when he pet it with a finger.
"Ah been chasin' thah white one for hours, eh won' stay still" Indigo says glumly.
Edric looks around and spots the bird on another boulder
"Want me to try?" He asks with a smile "Y'know, give you a chance to catch your breath?"
Indigo snorts "Ya don' have tah try teh spare meh feelin's Am no' as good as yeh are wi' animals"
Edric smiles down at them and looks at the little black bird in his hand before taking Indigo's hand palm up and gently encouraging it onto it, where it sat happily, cooing.
Indigo watches, Edric didn't know the current emotions they were feeling and his gesture was purely genuine, so all they could do was smile, ignoring the emotions in favour of the sweetness the boy before them radiated.
Edric leaves Indigo with the little bird and turns to the other one, carefully spinning a finger and focusing on going just a little away from it, vanishing and appearing within the birds line of sight, sitting already, watching its reaction to his presence, this one was more skittish it seemed, it opened one of its dark blue eyes and watched Edric's movements carefully.
Edric moves a hand down to place on the boulder, flat and still.
The white bird watches and tilts its head, it could see little biscuit crumbs on his hand, it got up, slowly, before hopping over to inspect the offering, pecking at one for a taste, finding them satisfactory, it hopped onto his hand and began eating slowly, once it was finished its offering, it plopped down onto the warm hand and snuggled in.
Edric looks over at the other boulder, where Indigo sat with the black Mimicidae, stroking it with a finger as it cooed in appreciation, once glancing down again Edric saw that the white one was gazing up at him carefully, its dark blue eyes seemed to peer into him like it could read him like a book, the next coo it gave seemed… recognisable.
Edric's eyes widened and he looked up at Indigo "Hey Indie? Can you… understand that bird's noises?" He asks uncertainty.
Indigo looks up from petting the little bird and blinks, looking down as the bird coos again in contentment.
"Ah lil' why?" They ask in confusion.
"Only a palismins owner can understand it," Edric says softly and looks back down at the white bird, who continues cooing softly at him.
"Is eh speakin teh yeh?" Indigo asks curiously, watching Edric's eyes as he listens to the bird.
"I think so, it's a little hard to understand but I think it's trying to tell me something…" Edric says as he looks up and meets Indigo's curious gaze, feeling his ears burn and looks back to the bird, who he swore was giving him a raised eyebrow.
Indigo had stood up and hopped over to Edric's spot to sit by him, still holding the bird delicately in their hand.
The white bird began observing Indigo as they sat by Edric, cooing at them after a while, Indigo lifts their head to look at the bird
"Yeh cheeky beggar" they murmur, Edric looks at them in confusion
"Eh says Ah was too slow to even offer eh a snack" Indigo murmurs and continues petting the black one, it coos at the white one and Edric snorts, Indigo raises a brow as Edric lifts his head
"That one says your hands are warmer anyways" Edric says as the white one seems to scoff and flutters over to check this information, scooting the other out of its spot, it simply flaps over to Edric's now free hand and snuggles in happily as the white one sits, almost testingly in Indigo's hand, before letting out a coo of contentment.
The black one coos back and Indigo didn't even need Edric to confirm its "I told you so" tone.
The two go back to silently petting their new companions for a moment before Edric looks up "So… we found the birds… how are you feeling now?"
Indigo gives a soft sigh "Am no' sure how teh feel righ' now, Am glad we found em though, thanks fer helpin' meh out Ed"
Ed's ears twitch happily as Indigo gives him that soft smile, he's about to speak when the two birds start to move again, climbing up the two teens arms to nestle into their necks, their eyes glow a soft golden color .
"Uh, I think we just got palismens" Edric says and lets the bird hop back into his hand.
Indigo chose to remain on their neck, watching Edric.
"Ah think yer righ'" Indigo says with a smile "Buh whah does thah mean?" They enquire in confusion.
"Well normally witches carve their own palismens, along with their staffs, or at least they did until the kind of wood used got super scarce, at least that's what our history teacher said, so nowadays no one really has one anymore, I guess these guys chose to let us be their owners… but without the staffs it's just like having a little buddy around I guess" Edric explains, despite his words, it was clear that it meant more to him specifically.
Indigo just smiles and looks at their little white bird.
"Does thah mean weh gotta name em? Ah thin' they migh' have names alreadeh" Indigo asks and looks back at Edric.
"In meh dream, ah heard the voices seh two names, Tolken and Mollus ah think"
The black bird chirps at the name Tolken while the white chirps at Mollus.
"Hah, there we go then, I have Tolken and you have Mollus" Edric says happily before looking at Indigo for a moment.
"Is that feeling still bothering you around them?" He asks softly.
Indigo looks up at him "Eh's still there buh… not as bad ef thah makes sense, like, Ah know a beh more about em and why they're here, an ah can tell they migh' know somethin' abou' them people's voices in meh dream… so… maybe thah's helpin'?"
Edric tilts his head in thought, careful not to lean to the side with his new friend so he didn't squish it.
"Hmmm, well, maybe we should think about what those people in your dream said some more, maybe we can get more clues!"
"Yeh could beh righ'... lemme think…" before Indigo can say anything else, the two birds flap down to sit before the two and begin repeating the dream words, word for word.
Edric looks over to Indigo as the birds speak in those new voices, Indigo initially looked surprised, but their emotion melted into an expression Edric didn't know, they just looked, almost lonely and sad at the same time, Edric moves a hand to rest on theirs and when they tear their eyes away from the bird to look at him, he's rewarded with a much calmer look of thanks.
Once the birds stopped repeating all the words again, Edric spoke up.
"They mentioned the cave, maybe we need to head back there with our palismens?" He asks.
Indigo nods their head "Thah makes sense, buh eh migh' be 'oo late en deh day for yeh teh come wi' meh, ah can go mehself so yeh don' miss yer curfew" Indigo says and stands, as if it was already decided.
Edric stands quickly "No!" He says abruptly, Indigo pauses, not totally surprised by his outburst but raising a brow anyway.
"I promised I'd help you go back, I won't go back on that for anything, not even my ridiculous parents" Edric speaks with conviction "I'm sick of them dictating all my decisions whether they're here or not, consequences be damned"
Edric takes a deep breath after his rant and realises that Indigo was looking at the boulder below them, they seemed conflicted, that was something Edric hadn't seen before, they normally knew exactly what they wanted to do.
"Ye'll ge' in a lo' oh trouble ef yeh come wi' meh" Indigo says as they look back up
"Heh, let them try, at least it's only me that'll get into trouble" Edric says
"They migh' stop yeh comin' ou' ah all"
"I'd like to see them try"
"Ed, yeh need teh think abou this"
"I have, I've made my decision and not even you can talk me out of it"
Edric folds his arms and gives a confident smirk.
Indigo looked down, they could feel the others' certainty in his decision and they knew there was no changing his mind now.
Indigo sighs "Alrigh' buh how weh gonna ge' there?"
"Hmmm…. We could walk, I've done it before, it's not fun but it's doable"
"Ah don' think thah's wise Ed"
Edric shrugs and continues to think.
Indigo looks up at the sky, it was nearly noon
"Maybe weh can go back teh Owl house for a while, don' wanna risk anyone comin' across us wi' these guys, yeh say they aren' common now'days, so le's no' risk eh" Indigo says and hops off the boulder.
Edric follows after them and they begin trekking back to the Owl house.
-Luz-
"Oh my gosh! They are so cuuute!" Lux squeals as she cuddles the little birds to her chest, after getting the explanation for their two guests.
Eda had been very interested once the two Palismens were by Lux and examining them.
"Hmm, they are indeed cute, but they are also a powerhouse, they seem to have been made as a pair rather than just bonding over their respective owners relationship, I haven't seen that kind of Palismen in a long time, the witches who made these were powerful and confident in their pairing" Eda says as she scratches the chin of the little black one Edric claimed was called Tolken.
"Wow, so you guys are heading back to the cave huh? I could probably fly you there!" Luz says and looks to Eda for permission.
"Mmm, well I haven't said no the last few times so it'd be pretty redundant to say it now huh?" Eda asks and ruffles Luz's hair as the young girl giggles and looks at the two.
Edric looked delighted at the offer, glancing at Indigo, who nods once
"Thank yeh Luz" they say softly.
"Plus, I have a ton more light glyphs! Oh, can we invite Amity? She always seems to happy to go"
Indigo tilts their head "Ah don' know if she'd geh back in time for 'er curfew"
Luz nods "Yeah, but wait what about you Ed?"
Edric looks at Lux and grins "I'm boycotting my curfew"
"Atta boy! Stick it to those…. Parents, I was gonna say parents" Eda says quickly and raises her hands as Lux gives her a look.
Edric looks even more pleased to have Eda's support on the matter.
"But if Mittens comes looking for me, I might need you to let her know I'm okay" he adds.
"Wait… you want me to leave you guys there?!" Luz asks in surprise.
"Well, we don't know how long it'll take to figure out what's happening… if we get the answers in a decent time then it won't be an issue at all" Edric explains.
Luz looks sceptical and glances at Eda.
"Hey, you told me that the cave takes care of people right? It'll keep them safe, besides, I think a day away from those claustrophobia inducing parents of his will do him some good" Eda encourages.
Lux glances at Indigo "Are you okay with this too?" She asks in concern.
Indigo looks at Lux and decides to use her mind for a moment.
"Edric is set on helping me figure this out, I tried to convince him otherwise but he is determined, nothing we say will change his mind, but if I can figure this out quickly then we won't have to worry" they think calmly.
Lux blinks "Alright, I guess that works"
Edric beams eagerly "Ready when you guys are!" He says excitedly.