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Her name is Veth Brenatto
She’s a halfling
She has a husband, Yeza Brenatto. He’s a brilliant alchemist.
She has a child, Luc. He’s five years old.
Was. Was five years old.
She doesn’t know how long it’s been out there
How long she’s been stuck here
In this world
In this body
The skinny, gangly limbs, the claws, the green skin, the teeth , all made her feel monstrous. She escaped the Goblin King months ago, and was now just wandering this strange new world. Trying to find a way back to her body and to her home.
She found herself by a lake, curling into herself and watching cautiously. Glowing yellow eyes looked back at her, large green ears framing her sharp, angular face. She could see all the things that were wrong with her new body, all the things that weren’t her .
She got pulled through a lake much like this. She still remembered that day, desperately holding onto her baby as he was being pulled down by spindly, pale and cold hands, screaming at the creature to let him go, let her son go, take her instead. The hands let go of Luc, and she immediately pulled him up, shoving him to safety on the shore as the cold hands gripped her wrist, pulling her down.
She remembered drowning, cold water flooding her lungs. The burning feeling as what little air she managed to hold onto escaped her, the pressure in her head, the way sound became muted under the water and the lack of oxygen.
She remembered gasping awake, retching and coughing up water, looking down at green, clawed hands that weren’t hers.
She escaped the creatures that took her, and wandered these strange new lands, almost mirrors to the world she came from, but more vibrant and colourful.
A noise cut through her reveries, branches breaking and laboured breaths. She hid, quiet and sneaky like she always was, like she grew better at being, this new form both allowing her to hide better and making her want so bad to disappear and never be seen again.
The noise gave way to a figure, heaving and retching and running, stumbling through the bright, vivid forest. His most defining feature was his hair, bright red and dancing like a flame as he stumbled, collapsing by the lake and reaching with shaky hands to wash his face in the clear water.
She snuck around, trying to take a better look at him, but the man (he looked so human, except he wasn’t ) looked almost blurry. His eyes remained the same vivid, unnatural sky blue, but his features… he was old and young, bearded and smooth faced, hair flickering between long and cropped to his skull, toned and emaciated. It was disorienting to watch him. Something approached him, something she didn’t previously notice, butting into his side gently. It was a cat, large and furry and amber coloured, with eyes just as blue as the man.
The man’s shaking slowly subsided, and he took a more stable form. He appeared to be in his early 30’s, stubbled and very exhausted as he cradled the cat ever so gently into his chest.
He was very different from the things that kidnapped her. He looked to be kinder, gentle almost. Afraid. But things weren’t always as they seemed. She climbed the tree silently, getting closer in the branches. Unseen. One good use to the unnaturally lush forests.
“It’s okay. I’m okay, Frumpkin.” He murmured, petting the cat that pushed on his chest with strong legs. He looked so tired, in a dirty brown coat and fingers still crusted with blood. The cat didn’t look amused, letting its displeasure be known.
That’s when it locked eyes with her, letting out a terrifying yowl. The man was on guard immediately, searching for the intruder frantically, his hands raised. The noise startled her so much she fell out of the tree.
What a sorry sight she must be right now, eyes blown wide in terror and skeletal limbs shaking as she scrambled to her feet, to pull out her dagger. A flame rose from his fingertips, cautious and ready to lash at her.
“What do you want?” He asked, voice going for commanding but missing the mark and landing at terrified. She’s just seen him go through a panic attack, so she could more easily read the terror and paranoia on his face.
“I-I was just sitting there when you ran in! I ran away cause I didn’t know what was going on! What do you want?” She asked, the hand brandishing the dagger shaky and unsure. She wasn’t a fighter. Without the element of surprise, she had about as good a chance with her claws as she did with her dagger. He slowly lowered his hand, cautious and quiet.
“… I’m sorry for intruding. I’ll leave.” He said quietly, scooping out the cat into his arms protectively. He seemed to shrink, exhaustion and fear taking a lot out of him, and she felt… sadness. Pity almost, for this creature that was decidedly not human but for some reason reminded her so much of her little Luc.
“You don’t have to.” She said, almost without thinking, and he looked at her with such a puzzled expression on his face that it softened her heart even more. “There’s enough space here. Are you running from someone? I’ve been running for a long time.” She said, feeling braver than before. He nodded mutely, sitting back down on the grass with a thud. “What’s your name?” She asked, sitting back down hesitantly.
“Caleb Widogast.” He said quietly, hands buried in the cat’s fur. “And what could I call you?” He asked, reminding her quickly that she wasn’t at home, in a world where telling someone your name was a trivial piece of information. She was among the fey now, and in this place names were power. The name he gave her was most likely fake.
“Nott.” She said the first thing that came to her mind. Because she was now everything she wasn’t. Not herself. She always said she was not, back as a kid. Not pretty, not smart, not good enough. Oh, what a cruel trick fate played on her.
“It’s nice to meet you, Nott.” He said quietly, glancing her direction briefly before returning his attention to the cat.
From then on, they travelled together. Met new people and grew and felt well and truly alive. She learned to know the pendulum of emotion that was Caleb Widogast, the kindly wizard and the lonely, broken boy with the bleeding arms both becoming equally dear to her. It took her a very long time to tell him, tell him who she is and where she’s from.
“My name is Nott, and I am a goblin girl. But that wasn’t always the case. Once upon a time, my name was Veth Brenatto, and I was a halfling.” She used the magic she learned from Caleb, the powerful shapeshifter fey who became her dear friend, to make an illusion of the face she once wore. She looked down at her arms and saw her old brown, plump, soft hands, the two black braids falling over her shoulders. But it was just an illusion, if she touched it she would go through, touch emaciated green arms with dark claws. “I had a husband, and a son, and… I want to go back to them. Caleb, I want to go back to them, I want to be me again. Do you think… can you help me? You’re so powerful, and I saw you change your shape as easy as breathing, could you- could you make me me again? Could you get me home?” She begged, pleading at the friend she made as this creature she never asked to be.
“Veth Brenatto.” He said ever so softly, and a wave of power streamed out of that greeting. She gave him her name, entrusting a piece of herself in the hands of a strange fey creature with unnaturally bright eyes, and oddly, she wasn’t afraid. “Veth the Brave.” His smile was sad, flickering like a candle flame. “My name now, well and truly, is Caleb Widogast. You made it so. You and the rest of our friends. But once upon a time, my name was Bren Aldric Ermendrud. I give both to you freely and honestly.” There was sincerity in those words, another wave of power, now centred around her, a spark in her chest she knew she could use to subjugate him, with the same certainty she knew she never would. “And I swear to you, on my old name and the new, that I will endeavour to change you back with all the power I have in my hands.” There was power to this oath, as he took her ugly, clawed hands with such gentleness and love she couldn’t help but tear up, leaning her forehead against his.
They worked in tandem, Caleb working so hard to give her back her life. They travelled to the starlit deserts of the Midnight Court, seeking audience with the Bright Queen’s shadowed arcanist, who Caleb apparently had previous dealings with. Something was going on between them, something heavy hanging over them that was too big to speak of.
They were also totally boning, though Caleb denied it.
In the end, with her demons defeated and all her friends gathered around her in Caduceus’s temple, Caleb took her hands gently once again.
“Are you ready?” He asked softly, and for a moment, she wasn’t sure. She was terrified, that she wouldn’t remember her friends once she turned. Remembering home was so hard as a goblin, after all.
“… will I be able to come back here?” She asked, hesitant. She didn’t know if she was ready to leave them all behind. They grew to be almost as much her family as Yeza and Luc were. Caleb nodded, showing her a cat crudely carved from wood.
“When you feel like it, this will guide you to my home. You can bring your husband and son to visit too. They will be welcome and loved here.” He swore, genuine and gentle. She nodded at him quietly.
“Alright. Then I’m ready.” She gathered her strength, and let her friends begin the ritual. They all carefully encased her with clay and gem dust, sculpting her a new-old body to call her own. Then Caleb began speaking, in the melodic language of the fey, and the clay got hotter, as if baked. She felt at home within that burning, trusting Caleb to keep her safe. He taught her magic, and friendship, and she trusted him with her life.
“Veth Brenatto.” He called her name, power streaming from it. He imagined her as she was, and sculpted the fabric of the world to make her so. Calling her true essence into her physical body. She felt the fire meld her body into something new, the warmth of the sun growing new things from her barren bones, until the clay shattered.
She didn’t dare look down at herself, didn’t dare even open her eyes at the gasps of awe from her friends, before she felt gentle hands on hers, feeling familiar yet different. She opened her eyes, looking at pale, scarred hands holding plump brown ones.
Her hands.
Her friends all followed her out of the fairy ring, walking home with her. They waited a few steps away as she nervously knocked on the door to the little home Yeza and her owned before. She didn’t know how long it had been there, how long she'd been missing.
The door opened to a nervous, timid halfling man, with messy brown curls and a soot stain on his brow.
“I-I’m sorry, how can I-“ he paused, looking at Veth in disbelief.
“Honey, I’m home.” She smiled tearfully, reaching a gentle hand forward to touch his cheek, so hesitant to touch him. Maybe he found someone else? Maybe he moved on? How could she intrude on whatever life he-
“Veth? Gods, is it really you? I can’t- I can’t believe it. Luc! Luc come over here, see who came back!” He leaned into her hand, tearing up and holding her hand to his cheek, before moving his other hand to hold her gently by the waist. As soon as he reciprocated, Veth pulled him into a burning kiss, one that breathed life into her perched lungs after so long without him. She could hear the hooting and hollering from her supportive friends in the background, but in this moment nothing else mattered. Nothing mattered outside of Yeza’s arms around her, Luc calling to her and wrapping around her waist, and the warmth that seeped into her bones.
In her body and in her world, she was home.