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“I might’ve been a lot of things if my life was different.” Brand lifted Luna and set a kiss on her cheek, breathing her in. “Leave a light on in her room. She won’t like waking up in the dark alone.”
Araxis stared at him for a long moment, then accepted Luna into his arms and misted away. Brand forced himself to calm as he walked around the cottage, ignoring the panic trying to ignite in his veins. Araxis wouldn’t take her away and leave him here. He wouldn’t.
Brand found the garden behind another, smaller iron gate, little bells tinkling on the handle when he stepped over and bumped it—an absolutely stunning place to spend an evening.
As untamed as his little moon, teeming with wild, luminescent vines and blooms. Insects buzzed between them as he followed the glittering rock path to a swinging bench beneath the single window on this portion of the home. Beside it, glowing snails sipped water from a stone bird bath, night blooming jasmine doing its best to swallow everything whole.
Sweet Sisters, it was like she poured her soul right into the soil and it knew just what to do to honor such a gift.
He lifted the bench and set it aside, too afraid of sitting in it at his size. Next, he commanded the rock and earth to heed him. To respect the life around it even as it formed a cradle for his own weary body. Brand wouldn’t sleep, but he preferred to be comfortable. The snails could keep watch with him.
Lantern glow filled the circular window and Brand peered inside. Araxis pointed at Luna on the bed, resting on her side and facing away from him. The rest of the room…
Burning Solyrian. Brand couldn’t decide between weeping at the rightness of it or a gasp of pure outrage. Luna was the most haphazard, disorganized creature he ever met. It was nigh impossible to see her furniture for the sheer amount of clutter. The piles and piles of utter chaos. With a single glimpse, he was fairly certain she had more books than were being stored in Argoph’s archives.
Like the garden, it was her. Even as it shocked him, he bloody fucking loved it. Everywhere she went, Luna swept in like a summer storm and wreaked her havoc, and he wanted to bask in the downpour. In the warmth of her beautiful mess.
He’d happily sit and hang every one of those wrinkled dresses if it meant being near her. If it meant she could go about doing what she liked without having to worry over little things. In fact, it sounded like the perfect way to spend a few days while he sorted his mind. He just…needed to relax enough to release the rage first.
Araxis appeared beside him on a sweep of dark power. “Don’t be surprised if she doesn’t wake for a while. I’m told it’s not unheard of for some Keepers to sleep up to a week, but…” He shook his head. “She’s not like other Keepers, Brand. When I misted Cordelia back down to the Observation Deck, all the older Elders had to say was that they never felt anything like it, and they were there for previous Occurrences. Whether that means she’s out for a month, or handles it better and wakes in an hour is anyone’s guess. My bet is on the longer end, though.”
“Fuck.” Brand scrubbed a hand over his mouth, the feel of his short beard finally edging towards normal. “Maybe she and I are cursed. Should I bet the same gold that I’ll somehow be incapacitated again the second she wakes up?”
“You might lose. As Hedda dragged her drunk arse off the Deck, Fern was screeching, ‘Now we can finally move on to the other shite.’ She’s apparently convinced your troubles together are over.”
“I bloody fucking hope so.”
“My advice? The most stunning lake in all of Nachthelliae is about a mile directly north of here. Honestly, I can’t believe I never knew about it.”
“No, if I’m not here—”
“I left a note quite literally stuck to her face so she doesn’t lose her shite and mist away to find you.”
Brand huffed. “An excellent idea I hadn’t thought of, thank you.”
“Go have a dip and get clean.” Araxis gave his knee a squeeze. “Find some peace, so you can greet her properly.”
“Hmm.” Brand turned towards the north and the dense trees there, so different from the ones at home. “Perhaps tomorrow. Tonight, I think I’ll feel better if I’m close.”
“Fair enough. Do you need anything before I go?”
There was an old chunk of knotted roots leaning against the fence, looking right at him. “I don’t suppose you have a small blade? For some reason, I don’t have full control of my power and can’t summon my dagger.”
A nauseating discovery he made earlier and tried not to dwell on.
“That’s because it has pride of place on Lunara’s mantle in Straelon. She’s had it ever since the battle in the Horned City but refuses to take it anywhere for fear of losing it.”
Weeping shite. “Stay with her,” he’d said, but Brand never expected it to be so thoroughly obedient.
Araxis reached into the ether and produced a carving knife, the sly bastard. “I see you eyeing that hideous blob over there.”
Brand clicked his tongue. “No imagination.”
“Not recently, anyway,” Araxis said quietly. “Until next time.”
With that, he was gone.
Ambling over to the hideous blob, Brand pulled it from the dirt and took it back to his spot, settling in against the cottage wall. Maybe if he pictured himself at its center, he could whittle away bit by bit until he was free.
