Music Choices: Amber by Koethe, Wolves by MISSIO
Eclipse
Chapter 35
The Lodge Part III
A heavy silence muffled the stale Lodge air. Raven and Qrow were sitting side by side on one of the infirmary beds. Across from them was Nwyfre, who looked genuinely worn out; perhaps even more exhausted than the two had ever seen her.
The Morrigan had been burning the midnight oil, trying to get the free folk organized and back in touch with the other Sanus tribes before she departed for Anima. This was the first time in literal days she'd been able to take a break for any amount of time save for sleep and the twins had decided it was now or never to tell her about Verdant. Raven genuinely felt a little guilty about it, actually; but they'd put it off long enough.
Nwyfre hadn't said much of anything yet, allowing them both to try to explain. They had trailed off earlier, having run out of things to say, and she was now glancing between the pair of them slowly. The look on her face was unfamiliar.
Qrow remained the most visibly vulnerable out of the two of them. He had started talking again earlier that morning, and had finally agreed that they should pass this information on to their parents; but he was still coping with his own unseen injuries and Raven was still very uncertain about how things would go from here.
After a long stretch of silence, or perhaps what felt like a long stretch, Nwyfre stood up and moved over to them on the bed. Qrow scooted over a smidge as she sat down between them, mindful of Raven's leg still and lay her arms over both of their shoulders. She smelled like Grimm smoke and spruce trees.
"Why…," Nwyfre started slowly, her voice low. "Were you afraid to tell me sooner?"
Raven glanced at her brother briefly, to see if he would answer.
"Because we...I thought you would run off and try to kill him or somethin," Qrow muttered, leaning against her shoulder. He was staring at the floor.
Raven's eyes widened a little and she looked away.
"And you don't want me to do that?" Nwyfre asked, her voice cool.
"No. Because I wanted kill him," Qrow grunted. "Or I thought I did."
"I see."
Raven counted the tiles on the floor, and when she finished, started counting the tiles on the ceiling.
"So, this...person," Nwyfre says, again with an astounding amount of calm. "Tracks you down. Nearly kills you both. And is apparently motivated to keep hunting you. And you keep this information from me, because you wanted revenge?"
There were apparently one hundred and fifty tiles on the ceiling.
"Kinda. Not exactly. I um," Qrow scratched the back of his head. "I haven't been...thinking straight, the past couple days."
"Do you ever think straight though?" Raven asked habitually.
"I mean, more often than you, probably," Qrow retorted, voice hoarse.
Raven squinted in thought, before nodding in acquiescence. He had her there.
"Kids, please," Nwyfre sighed. There was a briefly penitent pause. "No one in this family thinks straight, let's not fool ourselves here."
"Woooa," Qrow leaned forward, staring at Nwyfre's face. "Mom, are you feelin ok? You need some water or something?"
"No, I'm not fucking ok," Nwyfre gently swatted the back of his head. "Why the fuck would I be ok? You both almost died, again. It's like you're in a fucking competition or something. Who can sprint past the gates of Death first?"
Raven smirked a little.
I won...
"I dunno," he mumbled. "You never like to talk about your feelings."
Nwyfre shook her head slowly.
"We're not here to talk about my feelings and you're not my tiny therapist. But listen," Nwyfre gripped their shoulders a little tighter. "This is all extremely dangerous. You both know this."
It wasn't a question. They nodded sullenly.
"As you well know, I am not comfortable with either of you stay on this stupid continent," Nwyfre continued, her eyes squinting in a familiar expression. "Let alone go back to Beacon, even with Joan. Especially now. We barely scraped a victory here, and things could change for the worst in an instant. The fact that you now have the attention of the person who orchestrated all of this? Who has a personal vendetta against you both and who is probably out of his fucking mind? This has escalated things beyond any semblance of our control. We can't even pretend to have any kind of an advantage here."
Raven chewed on her bottom lip nervously.
"Mom-"
"No, I know," Nwyfre rolled her eyes. "I know you're going to stay, no matter what I say. I could make a fucking powerpoint, I could make a graph about how likely it is you're going to get killed - I know you aren't going to listen to me. Because you're both technically adults now, but you're still inexperienced. You have all the confidence, but none of the wisdom yet. All I can do is watch, apparently. And I am watching a fucking nightmare."
Raven and Qrow exchanged glances, uncertain how to respond to this.
"So...we are gonna talk about your feelings then?" Qrow prompted.
"No," Nwyfre snorted. "But I'll tell you what we are gonna do."
Qrow raised an eyebrow.
"We're gonna tell your mother," Nwyfre insisted, her tone brokering no nonsense. "And then she and I are going to take care of it. And your little butts are going to stay on Beacon grounds and stay out of sight, and out of mind."
"Look, hold on," Qrow started, twisting to look at them both. "Can we talk about this more? I really think we should have more input on this."
"Input such as?" Nwyfre asked tersely.
"Uh, literally anything?" Qrow cocked his head. "I'm not comfortable with you and Ciara 'taking care' of this alone either, you know? Like the motherfucker can turn into a werewolf apparently?"
Nwyfre chuckled darkly at the description. Raven suspected Nwyfre was not impressed by werewolves.
"We don't know what all he can do, but we know he can't take us all on," Qrow said. "That's why he came after us when we were alone, you know? That wasn't an accident. In fact, I don't think he was supposed to be doing it. Cause he didn't have any backup."
Raven let herself focus on that thread of thought. If Verdant wasn't supposed to be pursuing them, or if no one else knew they were biologically related, then he had a little agenda all his own. One he was hiding from the King. Potentially meaning he wouldn't be able to pursue them on an individual level with all the King's resources.
"A fair point, but that doesn't mean we're going to involve you two in this," Nwyfre replied, unwavering.
"Why not though!?" Qrow asked, frustrated. "We're not little kids anymore, we can handle this-"
"Sweetheart, no one can handle something like this well," Nwyfre insisted, her voice growing rougher with emotion.
Qrow paused, swallowing his distress. Raven blinked slowly and glanced away again.
"This? This is fucked up. All of it. No one, adult or not, can deal with something this messed up and still feel ok," Nwyfre said, pulling him into a half hug. Qrow let himself be hugged. "And I am so sorry that this happened to you two."
I could….
Raven kept the thought to herself, glancing down at the tiles.
I could do it and be just fine.
She felt the bandages on her leg, and the still tender twinges of the bone beneath.
Does that make me a bad person? Or just out of my mind?
She thought about what Tai had said before, and didn't let herself dwell on the darker thoughts that lay at the end of the track.
"I can't change what happened," Nwyfre said finally. "But I can get the fucker responsible. Because that is something I am very good at."
"I know, but that still puts both of you at risk, which in turn risks the whole tribe," Qrow groaned. "Like, why is that a better option? It's not."
"None of the options presented to us are good options-"
Or….I could do it.
Raven stared at her mother and brother, the thought taking root. Ciara and Nwyfre were both leaders with vital roles in the Branwen, and neither had successors lined up back at home, besides the two of them. If the worst happened, the Branwen would be without a spiritual elder and without a Morrigan, without heirs, and could quickly fall prey to the Settlements and Mistral without their guidance.
They were stretched thin enough as it was currently; and if something happened to them, the other skinchangers would all be in danger as well. It created a huge domino effect, just by risking Ciara and Nwyfre. It wasn't a logical decision to send them both trying to take out Verdant, who had not seemed interested in the Branwen at all, but in the twins themselves.
Raven's eyes widened.
I know how to get to him.
She observed her little family, listened to them debating and to the people outside the room; she thought about Summer and Taiyang. The Macmillan kids, and their recovering parents, who would get to reunite with their children soon. The several dozen people hiding in the Lodge, who had all been through various circles of hell.
Verdant had created a spider-web of harm that had impacted the lives of every person in this building, and radiated out to all the tribes on Sanus. And he would not stop. He would never stop, apparently. Maybe he couldn't.
The man may be a wolf, but he was apparently rabid. And in the end? There's only one way to deal with a rabid dog.
Raven glanced down at her leg one last time. And smiled.
End of Act I
