Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was someone in the house.

This was odd because Aelwyn had gone 'to study' or whatever dumb excuse she had this time to go party until she stunk of alcohol and sex. Mother and Father never seeming to notice. 

Mother and Father had also left, a few dozen minutes ago. Rushing out of the house after a rather frantic sounding phone call.

They hadn't bothered telling Adaine what was going on, of course. No one ever bothered telling Adaine anything. 

But now Adaine could hear someone moving around outside her door, near Aelwyn's room, and a quick glance outside confirmed that neither her parents' nor Aelwyn's car was outside. Though there was a... flaming motorcycle.

Okay, so a lone biker decided to come and rob her house while it was empty? Or, since it was coming from her room, maybe one of Aelwyn's 'friends' had decided to come steal her underwear or something else disgusting. Either way it certainly wasn't Adaine's problem.

Unless the intruder broke something, made a mess. Adaine would certainly get blamed for it, any evidence of a break in dismissed.

...fuck.

Adaine threw her bedroom door open, a spell ready at her fingertips. "What the fuck are you doing in my house?"

The intruders, two of them, froze. They were two teenage boys, a half elf and a goblin. Adaine's face screwed up in disgust. Looked like her second theory was correct.

"I thought you said no one was home!" The half elf boy snapped at the goblin, his hand hovering over his sword handle, as if unsure if he should grab it or not. Aguefort students then, it had to be. 

"I didn't think anyone else lived here," the goblin defended himself. He was holding something, not Aelwyn's undergarments as Adaine would have guessed. Instead it was her spell book, open to a page that Adaine recognized as Aelwyn's attempts to engineer her own spells. This one was labeled Detect Maidens and right next to it was extensive notes on the Modify Memory spell.

Ew. What was Aelwyn doing with spells like that ?

Ignoring that for a moment Adaine snorted and raised her hand threateningly. "Yes, despite how much my parents would love it to not be true they do indeed have two daughters. Now what are you doing here?"

The boys glanced at each other for a beat before the half elf blurted out, "your sister's been arrested."

The magic in Adaine's hand snuffed out as her mind felt like it skipped a track. "W-what?"

"It's true." The goblin took a step forward, looking up at Adaine cautiously. "She's been kidnapping girls. Or helping someone kidnap girls. We caught her in the act today but came here to find more clues. We don't know where the rest are being kept."

The boys were tense, watching her wearily, obviously unsure if Adaine was about to turn on them for finding out one of her family member's secrets. Maybe she too was in on it for all they knew.

"Yes!" Adaine cried, pumping a fist in celebration. "Oh I knew it! I knew she was up to something, that bitch. No one ever believed me but she's been so suspicious lately. And now she's... HA! Take that you stupid golden child."

Both boys watched as Adaine jumped around in excitement, uncaring about her audience. 

"Well," the half-elf said with a chuckle, " not the reaction I was expecting."

"I hate her so much," Adaine told him with a beam, "her getting arrested is sweet poetic justice."

"Will you help us then?" The goblin asked, wide eyes eager as he took another step forward, holding out the spell book to her. "The girls would be in crystal palimpsests. If you've seen anything like that..."

Adaine's joy at finally finally having Aelwyn be in trouble for once dimmed slightly at the desperation in the boy's voice. "No, I haven't seen anything like that, though Aelwyn doesn't let me go in her room. And this..." She reached out and brushed a hand across the pages, brow furrowed at the spell and the lingering traces of her sister's magic around the ink. A sure sign Aelwyn had cast from it, and recently. "Whatever spell this was, it's already done. It would probably be good evidence for the police but no way to track who she used it on, unfortunately."

The goblin nodded, obviously disappointed, and Adaine genuinely felt bad she couldn't help him more. 

"Look," she started, chewing on her lip in thought, "take the spell book. And whatever else you need. I'll clean up after so it's like you were never here.”

”Why would you help us?” The half elf asked with a tilt of his head. “When your parents showed up to the crime scene they were trying everything in their power to stop your sister being arrested.”

Adaine snorted. “That’s because they’re the worst. They wouldn’t believe Aelwyn was kidnapping girls if they found one tied up in her closet.” Her ears perked straight up as the familiar sound of the car rolling into the driveway just barely reached them. Adaine shoved both boys back the way they came. “Go, Aelwyn’s window is the easiest place to slip out of. Trust me, she’s done it enough times.”

They stumbled back, the goblin clutching Aelwyn’s spell book to his chest as the two of them turned away. “O-okay, thank you again uh…”

”Adaine,” she said curtly, waving them off, “now shoo! They cannot find you in here.”

The front door slammed open on the floor below them, making Adaine flinch and the boys bolt.

”Adaine!” Her father bellowed, of all things . “Get down here now.”

Ah, yes, it would piss him off that Aelwyn actually got in trouble for something, wouldn’t it? 

Adaine took a deep breath and smoothed out her skirt. It would be worth it. Aelwyn was getting in trouble in a way her parents had to acknowledge. Finally things were going to be fair.

That would make it worth it. 

***

Adaine stared in horror through the window of a thick iron door.

On the other side was her sister that Adaine had not seen for over a month. 

Aelwyn was in a magic orb suspended in the middle of the room at the top of this accursed tower. The orb was ever spinning, forcing Aelwyn to crawl forward constantly. Instead of the traditional Fallinel garb that Adaine had been wearing since her parents had dragged her back to live in Fallinel a few weeks ago, Aelwyn was in the exact same outfit Adaine remembered her wearing when she was first arrested.

Which means for over a month Aelwyn had been in that orb. In constant motion.

Adaine had wanted to see her get in trouble, had wanted her punished, but not like this. 

“Adaine!” 

She hadn’t even realized she was reaching towards the door until her father grabbed her wrist and wrenched her away, making her stumble back to where her parents had been arguing. 

“Father, they’re torturing her,” Adaine cried, gesturing back towards the room Aelwyn was being kept in. She couldn’t see her anymore, from this angle. Did Aelwyn even know she was here? Adaine hadn’t been able to see her face clearly. “We have to get her out!”

The grip around Adaine’s wrist tightened painfully as her father glared. Her mother was standing a few feet away, looking impassively at them. They were the only ones in this hallway, somehow Angwyn had managed to get them a brief moment of privacy without the guards or whoever it was that operated this prison watching them. 

“What do you think we’re trying to do? We aren’t here on vacation, Adaine, stop being an idiot.” He shoved Adaine into the wall as he released her arm. “Now do not speak and do not touch anything for the rest of the time we are here, do you understand me?”

Normally Adaine would protest such an annoying order but… she did want to hear what their plan to help Aelwyn was, and as she rubbed her wrist with a wince she was sure it was going to bruise later.

Besides, her father had already turned away, dismissive.

“I have been trying to get back into good social standing with the Court of Stars,” Angwyn told Arianwen, looking more stressed than Adaine had ever seen him, “it has been slow with this… disappointment to the family name-” It was slightly surreal to hear those words not directed at Adaine. “-but it has been working. As evident in that we were even allowed this time at all.”

“We are never going to regain the social position we once had,” Arianwen said with a scoff. Adaine had also never seen her parents argue before. For all their flaws they were usually on the same vile side. “It took decades to climb the first time and that wasn’t with the-” A side glance towards Adaine. “-obstacles that we now have. Plus, there is the matter of pride.”

Angwyn’s brow furrowed, his lip twitching towards the beginning of a scowl though not quite getting there. “Do you not think I am also thinking of our pride? Our reputation has been tarnished and I am scrambling to try and repair it.”

Arianwen snorted, actually snorted, as she raised one brow above her glasses. “And then where will we be? Continuing to beg at the heels of those who’ve insulted us by stripping our titles? Do you think they’ll be kinder the next time some tiny fuck up happens?” At this she fully gestured to Adaine. Which felt completely uncalled for. “Do you really want to be beholden to their whims?”

Now Angwyn was scowling, though Adaine couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be directed at his wife or the point she was making. “These are allies and colleagues I have spent years cultivating. We are having a setback, yes, but that doesn’t mean we should flush everything we’ve achieved until now down the drain.”

“Do you not want more than this pathetic dance?” Arianwen snapped, “We could claw and climb for centuries more and barely make an inch. Or… we could work with someone much more powerful.”

“No,” Angwyn immediately shot down, “that… that’s too much of a risk. You can’t trust that feline, who knows if anything she’s said is the truth.”

Adaine… didn’t know what they were talking about. She had been following the conversation until now, even if she didn’t know the details about her family’s political dealings she at least understood it was happening. And that they were disgustingly concerned with it. 

But this… Adaine didn’t know what this was. What feline?

“I’m not a fool, Angwyn.” Arianwen’s eyes flashed with that familiar passion that was almost exclusively for her work. “Of course I’ve been doing my own research and what I’ve found has proven-” She stopped suddenly, looking around like someone was going to pop out of the wall to spy on them. Though they were in a Fallinel prison, it wasn’t unlikely there might be clairvoyance spells lingering around.

Adaine’s mother grabbed her father’s arm, pulling him in close and whispering in his ear.

Now that she couldn’t hear their conversation Adaine’s mind, and eyes, began to wonder. She turned back to the door that her sister was behind. Why were they even arguing this? They were all wizards, though in this family that mostly skewed towards academia and research. But certainly the three of them were powerful enough to rip Aelwyn out of there and run. They were hurting her, nothing else should matter but making that stop. 

But unfortunately, Adaine knew her parents. Knew that even Aelwyn’s life was not worth more to them than their reputation. 

Adaine peered through the window again, catching another glance at her battered and exhausted sister. Her fingers twitched around the message cantrip, ready to at the very least offer some words of comfort, if not to try and make the beginnings of an escape plan.

“ Fine. ”

Adaine jumped as her mother snapped and roughly grabbed her arm, dragging her down the hall and away from her sister and father. 

“When you get betrayed by your colleagues once again you are free to join me in finding a real solution,” Arianwen called back to her husband. Adaine glanced between her two parents as she stumbled after her mother, unsure how this development had happened.

Angwyn scoffed but did not follow after. Holding his ground with a high head, like he was trying to project an air of confidence. “And when this ridiculous scheme blows up in your face you’re welcome to come crawling back to sense. ”

“Uh, mother?” Adaine tried, attempting to ignore her mother’s nails digging into her arm as the two of them began to descend the tower. “W-what are we-”

“Not now, Adaine,” her mother hissed, not even glancing at her, “I’m going to need you to do exactly what I say and not ask any questions from now on. Understand?”

No. No, she didn’t understand. Why the fuck would Adaine do that? “But-”

Arianwen yanked on Adaine’s arm, almost causing her to stumble down the stairs. “Are you truely so selfish that you want to keep your sister here?”

“N-no, I just-”

“Then just follow along and let your mother fix this.”

And what other choice did Adaine have?

***

Being back in Elmville after months away was strange. 

Adaine’s mother had teleported both of them back to their old house very suddenly one day, the only explanation given that their ‘timeline’ had been moved up. Adaine still wasn’t aware of the details of her mother’s plan but had managed to piece together the broad strokes of it.

They were going to resurrect a dead god. To get revenge on the Fallinel government for embarrassing the family.

Jeeze, her mom was a sicko.

But Adaine helped, in any way her mother let her, because at the very least it was a plan that would stop getting Aelwyn tortured and that was better than what Adaine had. Maybe she could… steal the power from her mother at the last minute or something, free Aelwyn, not cause the collapse of an entire country over a petty grudge, disappear somewhere safe. 

Maybe.

Adaine would figure it out. 

But she really didn’t know what Aguefort Adventuring Academy had to do with any of it.

They were in the empty school hallways, trying to quietly break into what appeared to be the principal office. There was commotion, coming from what Adaine could only assume was the auditorium, but her mother was completely ignoring it in pursuit of breaking every ward on this office.

Adaine caught a glimpse of a half orcish face peeking behind a door before it was quickly pulled away.

Hmm, that probably wasn’t good. “Mother-”

“Quiet,” Arianwen scolded immediately, not looking up from her work. Fine, if she didn’t want to know then she didn’t have to. Let them be caught, see if Adaine cared. 

The final lock on the door clicked open and Arianwen slipped inside without a word, Adaine quickly following after. 

“Ah, there it is,” Arianwen said with a relieved sigh, “the intel was correct after all.”

What she was looking at was a pretty gnarly looking crown. Black and jagged with cracks running through it, looking to be ancient at the very youngest. Power radiated from the crown. Dark, corrupted power. 

Definitely cursed, though. So not really a viable option to save Aelwyn with.

“Alright,” Arianwen said, gesturing towards the crown, “Adaine, grab it.”

Adaine stared at her in dumbfounded confusion. “What?”

“That’s what we came for.” Arianwen nodded again to the crown, like somehow Adaine hadn’t spotted it yet. “Grab it and let us leave.”

Adaine scoffed and took a step back. “No. That thing is a radiating curse. I wouldn’t poke it with a stick, let alone carry it out of here.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Of course, of course that was the wrong thing to say. Why did Adaine keep thinking her parents were ever going to be reasonable? Why was she always so stupid?

Arianwen’s face hardened into that cool calculated look that Adaine knew meant she was furious. It was always more intimidating than Angwyn’s loud and hot anger.

Adaine took another step back as her mother approached, but there was no place to go in this small office. Her back hit the wall and her mother’s hand reached out to grip Adaine’s hair by the roots, yanking up and causing a sharp pain in Adaine’s head.

Adaine yelped and scrambled to grab at her mother’s hand, trying to ease the pressure even slightly.

“I have been a good mother,” Arianwen lied, her voice flat and her gaze cold as it felt like she was ripping the hair right out of Adaine’s head, “even through all of this I have kept you safe and cared for. I could have left you with your father. Would you have liked that? To be right where Aelwyn is?”

“N-no.” Adaine’s heart leapt into her throat as she squirmed in her mother's grip. Don’t cry. She couldn’t cry. That would certainly only make mother angrier if she threw one of her fits now. 

“I do not ask much of you,” Arianwen continued, still not even a change in inflection, “and yet somehow you manage to disappoint me everytime. If you do not do this one simple thing for me, this one thing Adaine, then I will have no choice but to conclude you are as simplistic as you act, a complete waste of time, and leave you here. Would you like to take the blame for this thievery for me? Because if you can’t even pick up a simple crown that seems to be the only thing you’re good for, you ungrateful child.”

Adaine bit the inside of her cheek to try and keep back the panic attack. A few tears fell from her eyes but that was fine as long as she didn’t start freaking out.

Not trusting herself to speak, Adaine shook her head as much as she could, swallowing back the terrified whimper that tried to rise in her throat. 

“Good.” Arianwen let go and Adaine had to catch herself on her wall to not crumple to her knees. “I’m glad you’re finally seeing reason. Now be quick about it, I’d like to get out of this accursed country as quickly as possible.”

She was doing this for Aelwyn. Adaine had to remember she was going along with this because Aelwyn was suffering and no one else was going to help her. She had to remember that. 

She had to remember that because the other option was admitting she had no idea what else to do. No other options.

Blinking the tears out of her eyes, Adaine approached the dark crown. It seemed like it was practically pulsing with malevolence, like an animal snarling to warn a step closer would bring out the teeth. 

Before she could completely lose her nerve, Adaine ignored the warning signs yelling at her and snatched the crown from its display.

Her mother must have cast Silence or some similar spell. There wasn’t any other way everyone in that school didn’t hear Adaine’s screams.

***

Adaine wasn’t particularly impressed by Leviathan. 

They had been in the pirate city for a while now and it was mostly just crowded and rowdy and unpleasant. Her mother obviously agreed as she had sent Adaine out to run any errands while she herself stayed comfortable in their rented room ‘researching’ or whatever. 

Adaine didn’t particularly enjoy being her mother’s pack mule but supposed it was preferable to the alternative of spending any more time than was necessary around the woman. 

Adaine’s parents had always been horrible, had always treated her poorly. But in the past that had manifested in neglect and dismissals, never bothering to care about Adaine in any way and trying to get her out of their sight as often as possible especially when she needed attention the most. That had hurt, certainly, had always made Adaine feel horrible and probably had messed her up psychologically even more than she already was.

But ever since Aelwyn had been arrested and their family name dragged through the dirt her mother had been much more… attentive in all the worst ways. Instead of being ignored Adaine was now corrected, instead of being excluded she was made to do the most agonizing of tasks.

Her now constantly gloved arms- the scars running up them too unsightly to be shown the light of day- were certainly a testament of that.

So, no, Adaine did not mind being away from her mother and her research for as long as possible. Honestly, she might have run away by now if that wouldn’t just get her gutted by a pirate or worse. 

Plus the chance, however small, that her mother would actually care that she had left and try to hunt her down was too much of a horror scenario to risk. 

Currently, Adaine was out gathering supplies for the next leg of their journey. Apparently they needed to head to some place called Arborly back in the mainland to complete a ritual of some sort. The details were still vague to Adaine.

She was weaving her way through the crowd of pirates, bag of holding full of resources, when something caught her attention and made her slow her steps.

Goblins were rare here on Leviathan- they were rare everywhere that wasn’t the mountain of chaos or, like, Bastian City- so seeing one at all was worthy of a second glance.

Then there was also the fact that Adaine was sure she recognized him.

She hadn’t seen that many goblins in her life, to be fair, but it was hard to forget the newsboy cap, pressed vest, and giant gun of that boy who had snuck into her house all those months ago. Adaine was fairly certain that was not standard goblin attire. 

He was surrounded by a group of other teenagers that were very obviously Solician by the way they were dressing and interacting with each other. Jeans and tee-shirts, a few red and gold sports jackets, and an incredible range of different weapons. A quintessential Aguefort Adventuring Party if Adaine had ever seen one.

An… Aguefort adventuring party… in Leviathan for some reason.

With someone Adaine knew had been poking into what Aelwyn had been doing to get arrested.

From Aguefort, the school where they had stolen the crown from. 

Adaine had been staring so long that the goblin boy had turned in her direction, their eyes briefly locking before he looked away. 

Only to do an immediate double take and focus wide eyes on her, recognition shining in his expression. 

Shit.

“Hey!”

Fuck. 

Adaine spun on her heel and took off directly away from the group of trained fighters. A commotion immediately started up behind her and she didn’t have to look to guess that the Solace kids had given chase. 

Adaine wove and duck through the crowd, trying to keep as many people between her and her new pursuers, ignoring the shouts and angry glares she got from pirates. Unfortunately, the crowd was rapidly thinning as she headed towards more of the housing area of Leviathan and she was almost certain at least one of those teens were going to be faster than her in a dead sprint.

A familiar prickle of divination magic tingled Adaine’s senses and without thought she dove to the side, falling into a messy roll as a net soared over her head and slammed into a few pirates, tangling them up instantly.

Adaine glanced over her shoulder, panting heavily, to see the goblin visibly hiss and start to reload his smoking gun. 

Oh this was very bad.

Scrambling back upright, Adaine continued to run but let magic flow out of her as her feet hit the ground. She cast Misty Step, jumping forward and around a corner into an alleyway where she continued to run without missing a step. They shouldn’t have been able to see where she went. She should have more of a head start now, should be able to lose them and circle back around to the Gold Gardens.

Where… she would have to tell her mother that she had drawn unwanted attention. That they probably had to leave immediately or risk getting caught. That Adaine hadn’t even been able to do something as simple as gathering supplies.

Adaine was fucking dead.

Okay, okay, don’t think about that now. Adaine was also dead if these adventurers caught her so get away from them first and figure out how to deal with mother after. Keep breathing, keep running, keep focused. 

Adaine was pulled out of her thoughts and her random ducking and turning in the twisting alleys by a steady thunk thunk thunk sound from behind growing increasingly louder.

Not slowly down, Adaine turned her head to gawk at the tiefling dressed like a wannabe rockstar that was skateboarding down the wooden planks of the Leviathan streets. The wheels bouncing wildly on the gaps and the tiefling somehow managing to not fall off. 

“Oh come on, ” Adaine bemoaned, more at the universe than the other girl, “that’s just not fair.”

The girl brought a cigarette to her lips, like that made her look cool. “Pull over.”

Adaine rolled her eyes and let more magic gather in her finger tips, ready to Misty Step onto a roof or throw a small cantrip and make this girl crash or something.

The tiefling saw the sparks starting to form and darted out her non cigarette holding hand to snag Adaine’s wrist.

In any other circumstance this would mean nothing. Adaine had more than enough movement still to make somatic components and Misty Step only needed verbal. 

But Adaine had been carrying around that accursed crown for weeks now and the damage the curse had done to her arms was drastic. They were sensitive, and even through the gloves the pressure of a hand around her wrist sent a sharp pain through Adaine’s body and she instinctively tried to physically wrench herself away.

The tiefling obviously was not expecting her target to stop running and just start flailing wildly. The skateboard shot out from under her feet and the resulting loss of balance caused both of them to crash to the floor, the bard dragging Adaine down with her.

Who made the unfortunate mistake of trying to catch herself with her hands.

Pain. Pain pain pain pain. Adaine took in a shuddering breath as she tried to make her brain stay focused. She was still in danger. The tiefling was groaning next to her but the rest of them certainly weren’t far behind. 

Adaine had just gotten her aching hands under her when something grabbed the hood of her robe and wrenched upwards. 

Adaine shrieked in surprise and fear as she was hauled to her feet and thrown into a nearby wall, just barely managing to catch herself from falling to the ground again. 

A raging half-orc glowered at her and Adaine had a vague sense of seeing him before though for the life of her she could not identify where.

Another half-orc was helping the tiefling to her feet much more gently as the rest of the adventuring party caught up with them. Surrounding Adaine, pinning her to this wall she was backed up against.

She bit back the terrified whimper rising in her throat. 

The goblin boy came to stand right in front of Adaine. He raised his gun again and pointed it directly at her head so she was staring down the depth of the barrel. “Talk.”

Adaine tried. She really really did. But the words caught in her throat along with her breath so all that came out was a wheezing gasp and choked sobs. No, not now. She had been holding it back all day and now was when her mind decided to break?

Instead of shooting her in the face for failing to comply with his demands, the goblin actually lowered the gun, his glare faltering and his voice softening. “Wha- hey, are you okay?”

Adaine certainly was not okay. Her hands moved to tug at her neckline, as if that would do anything. As if there was some real reason she was feeling this way. 

“Is she choking?” Someone asked, Adaine unable to tell who passed the sound of blood rushing through her ears. 

Movement, out of the corner of her eye, caused Adaine to hunch in on herself. Trying to shield her vulnerable parts, trying to make herself as small and easy to ignore as possible. 

A brunette human girl came into her field of vision, hand reaching out towards Adaine’s face.

Adaine braced herself, knowing what was to come next. What the punishment was for being so pathetic. 

But the strike never came. 

Instead, soft fingers gently touched Adaine’s throat, tracing the fingertip bruises that hadn’t healed from the last time she had thrown such a fit. 

Adaine swallowed instinctively, still unable to force more than a whistle of air into her lungs. She shuddered at the contact and screwed her eyes shut. Just get it over with. The sooner it was over the sooner she could get back to breathing. 

The hand left her neck and she vaguely heard the girl in front of her say, “she isn’t choking. I think… honestly, I think she’s having a panic attack.”

Ridiculous attention grabbing melodramatic idiot, her mother’s voice seemed to echo in her head . Adaine wasn’t doing it on purpose, she knew, but that didn’t make it any better. She was just too weak to stop it.

The adventuring students began to talk more among themselves but Adaine couldn’t catch a word anymore. She was too dizzy, in too much pain, too frightened and pathetic to do anything but wheeze and cry and try to stay standing as she slumped against the wall.

After perhaps forever but also probably just a few seconds, Adaine felt a hand lay over her head and carefully guild it until it was laying against something warm and soft instead of the wet wood of the alley wall.

“Hey, can you feel that?” 

Adaine’s eyes snapped open at the voice- not that it did much, her vision was already going dark around the edges- and she craned her head up to glimpse the face of the half-orc she currently had her face pressed against.

“My heartbeat,” he said, tone devoid of anger or disgust or contempt or or, “can you hear it? Try to breathe in time with it.”

She could hear his heartbeat. A steady drum that sounded miles away even with her ear pressed into his chest. It was there but it was impossible to focus on past her own wildly fluttering heart and the growing grayness to her vision.

“You’re okay,” the half-orc attempted to sooth as Adaine rapidly lost consciousness, “we aren’t going to hurt you.”

***

When Adaine awoke she had no idea where she was. 

It wasn’t even just the initial disorientation of waking up where one didn’t fall asleep. As Adaine blinked the sleep out of her eyes- actually sleep, because of course she couldn’t even rest right- she had literally no fucking clue where in the nine realms she could be. 

There were blankets above her and to the sides. Blankets and pillows piled up and draped around to make a sort of room and Adaine couldn’t even tell if there were actual walls behind them. But despite being a cozy little nook the area had a distinct smell of motor oil to it, like Adaine had somehow gotten into a car as well.

 There were no sounds that Adaine now associated with the Gold Gardens, though whispered conversation did drift towards her. As Adaine looked around and propped herself on her elbows she spotted the goblin boy and a half-elf quickly cut off their conversation.

Oh, it was the other boy from her house so long ago. He had gained an eyepatch in some time between then and now. 

“Good, you're awake,” he said, leaning back against a wall of blankets. His posture was relaxed, almost purposeful looking, but Adaine still tensed as she was acknowledged.

The goblin looked less relaxed, his tail twitching and his fingers drumming on a notebook. But still, when he spoke it was soft. ”How are you feeling?” And then after a beat. “Don’t worry, she can’t hear us in here.”

Adaine cleared her throat and cringed when her voice still came out hoarse and shaky. “F-fine. I’m not injured.” Who couldn’t hear them? Had her mother been spying her this whole time? 

“Do you need water?” The eyepatch kid asked, head tilting to better regard her.

Adaine quickly shook her head, staring down at her lap. Don’t be greedy. Especially not to people who had essentially just kidnapped her.

Out of the corner of her eye, the boys exchanged concerned glances.

”We’re not… we’re not going to hurt you, Adaine.”

Adaine’s head snapped up to gawk at the goblin. “You… you remember my name?”

He looked confused by that. “Yeah, of course. The last time we met you were pretty eager to help us arrest your sister.”

“Which was a mistake,” eye-patch kid huffed, getting a dreamy look on his face, “oh Aelwyn, how we will rescue you from whatever elven jail has hidden away your beauty.”

”What?” Adaine practically yelped, leaning forward in a desperate lunge. “You… you’re going to… you’re going to rescue Aelwyn?”

”We thought she might have some useful information,” the goblin answered carefully, “since we knew we’ve been chasing you and your mom this whole time.”

”And I’m in love with her!”

The goblin sighed. “Yeah, and Fabian’s in love with her.” He cleared his throat and sat up straighter, notebook poised in hand. “Why did you and your mom take the nightmare crown? What’s your plan?”

Adaine couldn’t help but laugh. Mostly because she was going to start sobbing if she didn’t. “I just want to save my sister. Please, I just… my mother has this whole take over the world plan but I- I need to help Aelwyn. She’s hurting and I’m… I’m too weak and useless and I can’t help her by myself. So I helped my mom get the crown and- and-“

“Whoa, whoa, hey, it’s okay,” the goblin said, holding his hands up passively though he made no move to touch her, “just breathe, alright?”

Adaine took in some shaky breaths, concentrating hard on not slipping fully into an attack again. When she had stabilized enough that she felt confident talking she gave both boys a wide pleading look. “I just want to save Aelwyn. If you save her I’ll tell you whatever you want, I’ll turn on my stupid mother in an instant. Please. ”

”Worry not,” Fabian said, flashing a grin, “that was already on the to-do list. Welcome to the team.

Chapter Text

Arianwen weaved through the pirate bar like the crowd was going to part around her. Pure confidence, not looking at anything that wasn't her target, ignoring the looks she got.

Adaine trailed behind her, keeping her head down and trying to go unnoticed. The bag on her back feeling unnaturally heavy with the weight of the Nightmare Crown nestled within it.

Arianwen approached a half-orc half-celestial being who was lounging at a dark corner booth with their shirt off, smoking a long pipe and gazing around the room with half lidded eyes.

"Are you Garthy O'Brien?" Arianwen said crisply, standing straight and firm directly in front of them. Adaine coming to a stop a little way behind her, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. "Owner of this establishment?"

"That would be me," Garthy said, smiling but not even making an effort to sit up, "what can I do for you, lovely?"

"I would like to rent a room for me and my daughter," Arianwen told them, "access to the Compass Point library, and I have heard you are a curse breaker."

"Well, the room is covered with just a few coin, the library is in the crow's nest and free, and as for the curse..." they tilted their head and slid over, offering up the booth space next to them, "let's see what we're working with and I'll see what I can do."

Arianwen glanced over her shoulder to snap her fingers at Adaine. "Sit down and show them your arms."

Adaine obediently slid into the booth and tugged her gloves off, Garthy watching her curiously as she did. Her arms were covered in lichtenberg-like scars up to her elbows. They no longer pulsed with that dark purple energy that had caused the injuries but were still painfully tender and ached every moment Adaine carried the stupid crown.

Garthy cooed sympathetically and very gently brushed their fingers over Adaine's skin. She shivered at the touch and resisted the urge to pull away. 

"This seems a might too ancient for my expertise," Garthy said after a few moments of examining the scars, "I don't know how you got yourself with a curse like this, lovely, but it'll be almost impossible to find someone who can break it for you." Their gaze glance briefly, pointedly, at Arianwen before settling back softly on Adaine. "I have some ointment that can easy the ache of a curse like this. Would you like that, lovely?"

Adaine could cry with relief and moved to nod eagerly when her mother interrupted.

"That won't be necessary, if you cannot break it then we will find someone who can." She placed a few coins on the table and turned away. "The room will be all, thank you. Adaine, put your gloves back on."

Adaine's heart sank and she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming at her mother as she carefully slid the long gloves back on.

Garthy put a hand on her shoulder, prompting Adaine to pause and turn back to them.

"Are you alright, lovely?" They asked, face pinched with gentle concern. "I really don't know how a child such as yourself would end up with something like... that. If you need anything you just ask, alright?"

They seemed so sincere that for a moment Adaine was frozen in the seat. "I-"

"Adaine!" Her mother snapped, turning around with a glare. "Do not fall behind."

"S-sorry, coming," Adaine called, scrambling to slide out of the booth and stand up. To Garthy she turned and bowed slightly. "Sorry, th-thank you for your help. Uh, sorry." And then she turned and quickly ran after her mother, falling in step behind her once again. 

Adaine steeled her nerves and sped up a little so she was walking more to her mother’s side than directly behind her.

”Mother… I’m sure the ointment does not cost much. What… what could be the harm of-“

“Adaine, do you need me to explain everything to you?” Arianwen said coldly, making Adaine instinctively shrink back, “a treatment like that only works if the curse is dormant, not actively inflicting you. As long as you continue to hold the crown the only thing trying to cure the symptom would do is cause you more pain. Is that what you want? Me to let you hurt yourself?”

”N-no, mother,” Adaine replied, ducking her head, “thank you for looking out for me.”

They made it to the room they had rented. A rather large space, all things considered, with a connected bathroom and spacious closet. An elegant wooden desk against one wall and a single twin sized bed against the other.

”There’s only one bed,” Adaine mumbled, more to herself than anything but Arianwen let out an annoyed sigh.

”We’re elves, Adaine. I know you’ve spent much of your life in Solace but please tell me you have not gotten so soft you have to have bedding to trance.”

She was probably going to trance in the bed, making only Adaine sit upright on the floor. 

In the effort of self preservation Adaine did not point out this hypocrisy- didn’t answer her mother at all- as she strode into the room. “May I put the bag down now?” That was all she really cared about anyway. The crown of the nightmare king ached to carry even without having to directly touch it. The curse embedded into it always making sure Adaine regretted moving the crown even an inch. 

“Wait until I set up the wards,” Arianwen instructed, setting out to do just that, drawing runes on the door frame for more powerful spell effects.

Adaine sighed and leaned against the wall as she watched her mother work. They did this every place they had traveled to, setting up wards before fully settling down. It was probably a smart call, seeing as the Fallinel government had labeled them traitors and all that. 

Hopefully Aelwyn wasn’t suffering more because of that. 

It took about twenty minutes to get all the wards in place, the backpack straps feeling as if they were digging gashes into Adaine's shoulders the whole time. But finally, finally, Arianwen finished the last spell with a satisfied nod. “Alright, put the crown on the desk.”

Adaine winced. Put the crown on the desk. Not the bag. That meant she had to touch the thing again. 

Part of her wanted to just dump the dumb crown out of the bag, flop on the bed, and go straight into a trance. 

But despite what her family insisted Adaine was not, in fact, stupid. Nor did she seek out getting in trouble. It had always just seemed more worth it to her to argue against the injustice her family presented and suffer the consequences then let them get away with every cruel decision.

Had was the key word. Her defiant spark had been thoroughly stomped on this past year and, while Adaine still pushed back whenever she could, the much steeper consequences she’d been suffering made her hesitate more to disobey or complain.

So Adaine just grit her teeth and slung her backpack off, flipping it open and grabbing the pulsing black crown from its folds.

The dull ache in her arms flared in intensity, like she had grabbed a burning pan, even through her gloves. Adaine did her best to ignore the pain as she quickly and carefully placed the crown in the center of the table, close enough her mother could examine it from the seat but not too close she may actually touch it. 

The moment she could, Adaine released the crown and stumbled away, shaking out her arms as her back hit the wall.

“Alright, done.” Adaine forced herself to stay standing, to not sink to the floor and curl in on herself. Not yet. She couldn't show fatigue until her mother dismissed her. 

Arianwen glanced over and gave one sharp nod, the most praise Adaine was going to get. “You have the bag of holding, yes?”

Adaine nodded and patted the satchel on her side. The crown couldn't go in a bag of holding, the magic reacting badly to it, but they couldn't hold their other supplies in a backpack so multiple bags it was. 

“Good,” Arianwen said, pulling scrolls from her own bag, the one Adaine was not allowed to touch, and placing them on the desk next to the crown, “head up to the Compass Point Library and gather any text you can on the Nightmare King, Forest, and the town of Arborly.”

Right, of course, more tasks. Can't rest yet. At least she wouldn’t have to carry the crown around for a few hours. Adaine pushed herself off the wall. “Yes Mother.”

“Stay out of trouble,” Arianwen said, her attention already being taken by her notes and research, “and be back before dark.”

***

The Compass Point Library was at the very top of Leviathan’s crows nest, taking a bit of time for Adaine to climb all the way up. 

But once there it was instantly Adaine’s favorite place she had been to all year. 

The library was grand, made of wood and golden towers with statues and carvings lining the walls. Pretty much every place in Leviathan had seemed like it was made for practicality first and design as a late after thought. 

Not here, though, this library felt like it was lovingly crafted to be as inviting to a studious mind as possible. Signs pointing towards rows detailing what certain books could be found within the shelves, tables and comfortable chairs spread out to give comfortable places to sit. It was a nerd’s heaven.

The only thing slightly off about it, however, was that there seemed to be no one utilizing the impressive archive of knowledge. The tables were empty, the shelves unbrowsed, and even the desk at the very front was unmanned.

Though, coming closer, Adaine spied a bell on the desk with a sign pointed to it. Ring for assistance.

Adaine rung the bell and stepped back.

She did not have to wait long before the beating of wings filled the air and a half phoenix, half human, woman landed directly in front of her.

No, not a woman, a teen. Maybe a year older than Adaine at the most. That revaluation eased the tension out of Adaine’s shoulders. Not an adult, she could handle fellow kids.

“Apologies,” the other teen said, fluffing her gorgeous firey wings before folding them against her back. She stared intently and Adaine found it hard to avoid eye contact. “Rawlins is out sick for the day. I am Ayda, head librarian, how may I assist you?”

“Hello, my name’s Adaine,” Adaine greeted back, dipping slightly into a bow before remembering she was not in Fallinel anymore and straightening, “I’m looking for some books about… history.” Best to keep it vague if she could. Mother wouldn’t want her giving away too much information.

“Wonderful. Do you have a library card?”

A twist of anxiety pulsed through Adaine that she tried not to let show. “No… is there a prerequisite for that or a cost…?” She didn’t have any money on her at the moment- that was kept in Arianwen’s bag- but if she couldn’t get the books… if she went back to her mother empty handed… 

“It is free and available to everyone,” Ayda said, rounding to the other side of the desk and pulling out a paper and pen, “I just need to sign you up.”

Adaine sighed in relief. “Oh, awesome, let’s do that then.”

Ayda nodded and began to write something down. She continued to speak to Adaine even as she worked. “You speak strangely.”

Adaine’s ears flattened in a mix of embarrassment and annoyance. “Well, you don’t have to be rude.”

The other girl blinked a few times before lifting her gaze fully away from her work. “I apologize, I did not intend that as an insult. You have a Fallinel accent and yet speak with Solician dialect. It’s interesting and I was attempting to make conversation.”

”Right,” Adaine said, feeling foolish for immediately assuming ill intent, “yes, I’m from Fallinel but spent most of my life in Solace. Until just recently, that is.”

Ayda nodded stiffly- obviously feeling just as awkward as Adaine- and handed her a shining card with a compass embedded in it. 

“Oh!” As Adaine took the card her eyes caught a tattoo on the back of Ayda’s hand. “That’s the divination eye, isn’t it?”

Ayda tilted her hand, as if needing to double check her own tattoo. “Yes, I am a divination wizard and I thought the symbol looked appealing.”

”You are? I’m a divination wizard too!” It was probably lame how quickly the awkwardness vanished from Adaine at the mention of divination. It was one thing she always just liked and was allowed to properly enjoy all her life. But now that she wasn’t in school it had become borderline impossible to even talk about her favorite magic subject, let alone practice it.

Ayda’s eyes went wide, though Adaine couldn’t discern the emotion in the literal fire of them. “Wonderful. I have met very few wizards- piracy does not lend itself easily to study- and never a fellow divination wizard. It is excellent that the moment has finally come.”

”I would love to talk divination with you,” Adaine practically gushed, before remembering why she was here in the first place and grimacing, “Oh, but I really do have to gather some books. Lots of research, you see.” 

“Of course,” Ayda easily agreed, which was just such a nice breath of fresh air, “I would never wish to distract one from their studies. Though may I propose an… exchange?”

Adaine tilted her head. “What sort of exchange?”

Ayda spread one of her wings out to gesture to the library as a whole. “I am the head librarian and have extensive knowledge of every book in the library. I can help you find what you were looking for, more than you might be able to find yourself, and in exchange you will tell me of the divination practices in Solace. Does this sound acceptable?”

She would get to ramble about divination and find more research to satisfy her mother? “Ayda, I would like absolutely nothing more.”

***

“And I know it’s the preferred form but I honestly think a crystal ball is one of the worst ways to divine. Even a bloody puddle of water can get the job done and it won’t be warped so strangely as to obscure important details.”

The amount of time the two wizards had spoken about the same topic without a single deviation could have been borderline embarrassing. Thankfully, Adaine was too hyped up on passion to notice. 

The two of them had eventually migrated to one of the many empty tables, an impressive stacks of books ready to check out placed upon it. They weren’t having much of a discussion, really, mostly just talking at each other.

It was the most fun Adaine had ever had. 

“My preferred conduct for divination has always been fire,” Ayda said, nodding thoughtfully, “it can miss some things but I find the images are more crisp and alive then anything else I’ve tried.”

”I’ve never tried fire,” Adaine admitted, leaning back in her chair, “my teachers at Hudol always said it was too dangerous. I’ve always wanted to- oh fuck! ” She jerked forward, eyes wide as she stared out the window. “Is the sun setting?”

Ayda turned in confusion, the fire of her hair having flared at Adaine’s cry. “Indeed it is. We seem to have burned the daylight hours in discussion.”

”Shit.” Adaine jumped to her feet and began gathering the books. “Sorry, sorry, I have to go.”

Ayda rose as well, brow furrowed. “I hope I have not done something to upset you.”

”No, no, no,” Adaine reassured her even as she hauled the stack of books into her arms and made a beeline to the front desk. “You were great. I just… I have a curfew. Can you check these out? Quickly?”

Thankfully, Ayda was swift and efficient in completing the transaction, though Adaine couldn’t help but keep glancing out the window, squirming nervously in place at every passing second.

”I very much enjoyed talking to you today,” Ayda said as Adaine shoved the books in her bag, “will I be seeing you again?”

”Probably not,” Adaine said breathlessly, “maybe when I return these. But we can- oh you don’t have a crystal. What am I talking about, I don’t have a crystal anymore. Uh, uh-“

”Do I have your permission to Send to you on occasion?” Ayda gently asked, “It does not leave much for conversation but we will be able to stay in touch.”

”Yes! That’s perfect,” Adaine easily agreed, “I’ll try to learn the spell too so you don’t have to burn all your spell slots. Okay, it was nice meeting you bye!”

She didn’t wait for Ayda to respond before rushing out the library and back towards the Gold Gardens.

Adaine full sprinted and burned a few spell slots misty stepping in an effort to beat the sunset. By the time she arrived outside the rented room she was gasping for breath, sweating hard even in the chilly sea air, and was still a few minutes late.

Maybe her mother wouldn’t notice. It was possible. Arianwen often got sucked into her work and wouldn’t look up from it for hours. If Adaine slipped in quietly she could pretend she had been there all along.

The door was cracked open and Arianwen’s voice drifted quietly out of it. It gave Adaine pause, mostly because it did not sound like her mother was mumbling theory under her breath like she was wont to do but instead having a conversation. 

With someone Adaine could not hear.

“I don’t know how you expect me to be helpful if you try to keep me in the dark…….. Yes, I understand the danger of open sharing but I will not be stopped from doing my own research…… May I remind you that we are partners in this and have been for a long while? I am not taking orders from anyone, especially not a dead god’s cat…… Thank you. I find that reasonable.”

It sounded like she was on a crystal call but that was impossible since they had thrown away all their crystals once they moved back to Fallinel and even if they hadn’t, there was no cell service in Leviathan.

So who could she be talking to? And what was she talking about? A dead god? A partner? Adaine was unaware they were working with anyone else, certain they had burned all their bridges by now. 

What was going on?

When had Arianwen stopped talking?

The door flew open, causing Adaine to squeak and jump back in shock. Her mother glared down at her from the doorframe, eyes flashing dangerously. 

”Adaine, what are you doing lurking in the hall? Get inside immediately.”

Adaine scrambled to comply, ducking past her mother and gazing around the room to see there really was no one else there. 

Arianwen shut the door the moment Adaine stepped inside, giving her a cold look. “Did you enjoy spying on me? It is not proper to eavesdrop on your own mother.”

Adaine literally had no idea what she was talking about. “I wasn’t! You weren’t even talking to anyone-“

“Give me your hand,” Arianwen ordered, holding out her own palm up.

With a wince she couldn’t suppress Adaine instinctively folded her gloved hands behind her and stepped back. “I didn’t want to be rude and interrupt if you were having a conversation. I wasn’t spying, I promise.”

Arianwen raised a pointed eyebrow and did not move. “Are you trying to weasel your way out of a punishment?”

Adaine bit her tongue to stop herself from whimpering and shook her head as she slowly, with every inch of willpower, lifted her right hand and laid it in her mother’s grip.

She tugged Adaine’s glove off, revealing the scarred skin underneath, and tightly gripped Adaine’s fingers. It ached, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it was about to.

”How many strikes do you think this transgression is worth?” Arianwen asked as she pulled out her wand from her belt.

Adaine hated this part. Hated the stupid test her mother made her take on top of the actual punishment. It was always so much worse if she guessed too low.

”Um…” Adaine said, shuffling her feet nervously but not daring to pull away, “th-three?”

She held her breath as her mother regarded her for a moment before Arianwen nodded in satisfaction. “That sounds reasonable.” 

The wand came down sharply on Adaine’s knuckles and it took every force of will in her body not to jump back at the electric like pain that shot up her arm. It was supposed to be degrading- her mother had told her- to be disciplined physically instead of with magic, but Adaine really couldn’t care less about that when her knees were buckling under the pain.

The wand struck twice more and while Adaine tried hard not to flinch she couldn’t stop the hot tears running down her face. Her mother kindly did not mention her crying.

Once it was over, Adaine was released and she drew her throbbing hand into her chest. The knuckles were quickly turning a dark purple, much more sensitive with the curse, bruises already forming. 

“What do we say?” Arianwen asked, not a hint of sympathy in her voice.

”Thank you for the correction, mother,” Adaine responded miserably, her ears drooping low.

Arianwen nodded and held out her hand once again. “The other one now.”

Adaine froze, blood running cold as she stared at her mother in bewilderment. 

“For trying to skirt your punishment,” Arianwen explained flatly, “I will not tolerate that sort of behavior, Adaine.”

Shit. Adaine didn’t even try to stop from whining as she reluctantly gave her mother her other hand, which also got stripped of its glove and held at the ready.

“How many?” Her mother asked again, causing Adaine to shudder.

“Two?” 

Arianwen paused, regarding her with an unreadable stare. “You think avoiding punishment is a lesser offense than lingering outside a door?”

Adaine really wished that at the very least her mother wasn’t always so confusing. “Yes?”

She knew she had messed up as her mother clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “We’ll do six.”

The crack of the wand made Adaine’s already fragile state almost fully shatter. She pressed her other hand over her mouth, trying to stop herself from full on sobbing or screaming. Making too much sound always just extended the process. 

On the final strike one of Adaine’s knuckles split open like a dried lip and she couldn’t but fold in on herself as much as she could standing up, gasping and shaking around the pain.

But Arianwen did not release her hand immediately. Instead, she gripped it tighter, prompting Adaine to look back up.

”Now, I trust you have a very good reason for arriving back late?”

Adaine gasped and nodded so rapidly her vision blurred as she frantically reached her free hand into her bag. “Y-yes! Yes, I was speaking to the librarian. She offered to help me find much more material for an exchange of information and the conversation ran long.”

“What sort of information did you give her?” Arianwen all but snapped, squeezing Adaine’s hand tighter. It might have even hurt if Adaine didn’t feel like her whole arm was on fire. 

“Nothing important!” Adaine tried to defend herself, holding out one of the books, “She’s a divination wizard as well and just wanted to hear about my school work in Solace.” She gulped and pressed onward in a quiet voice. “I thought… that’s such useless knowledge anyway… it would be worth it for everything she was giving. E-even if it took a little longer than intended.”

Arianwen grabbed the book Adaine was offering, regarding it thoughtfully while Adaine trembled as if she was in the middle of a blizzard. 

Eventually, thankfully, Arianwen released her and turned away to flipped through the pages and pull the rest of the research from Adaine’s bag. “It seems you managed to do something right. Very good, Adaine.”

Adaine let out a shuddering breath of relief. “Thank you, mother.”

As her mother began looking through the material Adaine collected herself, wiping the tears from her eyes and trying to will her body to stop shaking. Pulling a bandage out of the bag, Adaine began the process of wrapping her now bleeding hand. It wouldn’t help the sting much but at least it would stop her from getting blood on anything.

After a few moments, Arianwen spoke again, turning away with her nose already pressed in one of the books. “That will be all for tonight. Finish tending to yourself and eat a slice of waybread, you will be trancing in the closet tonight.”

Adaine looked up sharply from her wrapping. “ What ? Why?”

Arianwen only glanced over her shoulder, locking eyes with Adaine, and it was enough to make Adaine freeze, moving just enough to try and swallow the lump that formed in her throat. 

Thankfully, Arianwen did not deem that disruptive enough to punish further and continued speaking with an increasingly annoyed tone. “Because my work is sensitive and you have just proven how untrustworthy you can be. I want to guarantee you won't snoop on your own mother. Do you understand?”

Adaine could think of a million and one reasons that was idiotic reasoning. How they were arguably trying to accomplish the same thing so why keep secrets? How Adaine pausing outside a door a second too long was not like she was reading her mother's diary. How if her mother wanted privacy she could just book Adaine a fucking other room.

But Adaine's hands hurt and she was exhausted and so she just nodded in response, dropping her gaze back down. “Yes, mother.”

“Good, I expect you to settle yourself promptly.”

And with that Arianwen turned fully to her books and research, leaving Adaine to glare at the back of her head while finishing the bandaging and slipping her gloves back on.

Adaine grabbed a slice of waybread from the Bag of Holding- the largest meal she would have today- and marched into the closet like it had been her idea in the first place.

Honestly, this was fine. Almost preferred, really. Because Mother would want Adaine to trance with traditional posture- sitting back straight, legs folded, eyes open- but if she couldn't see her then Adaine could rest however she damn well pleased.

Adaine stuffed the waybread into her mouth and unclasped her thick cloak. Mother's cloak was already in here Adaine didn't dare touch it. Instead, she curled up on the floor, placing the bag of holding under her head and her own cloak over her shoulders, before closing her eyes tight.

It was stupid, acting like trancing slightly comfortably in a locked closet was a grand act of rebellion, but it was all Adaine had currently. Just a small act to trick herself into feeling like she had any form of control.

She thought about Aelwyn, who was not trancing at all, and was grateful she at least had this. 

Chapter Text

“Gone? What do you mean gone ?” Adaine asked Garthy O’Brien, aware that her voice had started to take on a shrill squeak but thoroughly unable to get it back under control.

She was in the Gold Gardens, the Aguefort adventuring party- they called themselves the Bad Kids- standing behind her, watching the interaction.

Adaine had promised that she would help get the Nightmare Crown for them. That she would lead them to her mother and let them capture and interrogate her like they had done Adaine. Promised that Adaine would be a complient captive so long as they helped her rescue Aelwyn from Fallinel. 

And now she was learning that her mother had left Leviathan. 

Garthy frowned sympathetically at her from where they were leaning against their bar. “Your mother cleared out her tab about an hour ago and headed off. I assumed you had already gone ahead, lovely, considering the ship headed for Arborly just left.”

Adaine’s breath grew ragged in her chest and she spun around to the adventuring party, hands up, in a desperate attempt to ebb some of their ire. “I didn’t tip her off! I swear I thought she would be here I don’t- I don’t know why she left. I didn’t…”

Her mother had left without her. Had she always been planning that? To dump Adaine at the earliest convenience and continue on without her?

No, that didn’t make any sense. Unless Arianwen had managed to crack the magic of the crown in the last few hours there was no way she would have subjected herself to the curse on a whim. No reason she would have spent so much aggressive effort trying to correct Adaine’s behavior if she was just going to ditch her at the first opportunity.

Right?

Yes, right. Adaine had been out gathering supplies for their trip to Arborly, still had them in her bag. Her mother would not have wasted money like that, would not have left unprepared unless something had forced her hand.

It really did seem like she had been tipped off. 

Which meant the Bad Kids were going to think Adaine had immediately turned on them. 

But none of the kids lunged for her or hit her or even yelled at her. They looked concerned, certainly, but not angry. Not at her.

“We’re sure the hangvan is secure?” The goblin, Riz, asked one of the humans.

”It should be,” the human, Tracker, responded, “I see what you’re thinking but the Shadowcat shouldn’t be able to spy on anything going on there.”

“Isn’t an hour ago way before she woke up anyway?” The tiefling, Fig, spoke up. She, Adaine had learned, had her parents here with her and that fact was constantly baffling considering… everything about how the tiefling dressed and acted. “Maybe her mom thought she was dead or something when she passed out.”

“Hey, um…”

Adaine flinched hard as a hand landed on her shoulder and looked up to see the nicer of the two half-orcs- the one who hadn’t thrown her into a wall- take his hand away as he frowned worriedly at her. 

“Please don’t pass out again? Do you know any, um, grounding exercises?”

Adaine stared in him in bewilderment for a moment before realizing that she had not been breathing for the past few seconds. She quickly sucked in a deep breath, trying so hard to force herself calm that she ended up coughing on air. 

This drew the rest of the kids’ attention away from their discussion and back to her, prompting Adaine to wheeze out a pathetic apology as she got her breath back. 

“Do you think the Shadowcat told your mom to leave without you?” Riz asked once Adaine had collected herself again. Still no one scolding her for causing a scene. 

“I don’t know what that is,” Adaine said, cringing at the admission. Even if they weren’t going to hurt her if she wasn’t useful they would certainly just leave her behind as well.  And Adaine was certain she would not survive alone in the pirate city for long. 

Riz frowned at her answer and reached into his pocket, causing panic to spike in Adaine again. But all he pulled out was a carefully folded photograph that he held out to her. “What do you see here?”

“A… guy who looks like you?” Adaine answered, before immediately backtracking, “though not exactly like you. Sorry, you’re the only goblin I’ve ever met I didn’t mean-“

“That’s my dad,” he interrupted her, giving a sort of half smile, “I hope I do look at least a little like him. But it seems like you're not infected. That's so weird, what's the connection?"

Before Adaine could ask what he meant by that Garthy cleared their throat behind her and Adaine suddenly realized she had been ignoring the celestial. "You're welcome to head up to the room and take a look around. Maybe your mother left you a note or something, yeah?" They paused for a moment before leaning down and more softly said, "and if your mum ain't around how about I get you that ointment, yeah?" 

 "Oh!" Adaine's ears perked up in interest before drooping again, "Oh, I don't have much money left. We could... barter?"

But Garthy waved her off. "Don't worry, lovely, call it an apology for letting your mother just walk off. Head up to the room and I'll go fetch that for you, yeah?"

"That's a good idea," Riz said, stepping up to Adaine's side, "she might have left clues, we should go poke around."

"I'll come with." Fig stepped to Adaine's other side, making her hunch her shoulders and feel very boxed in. "German Shepard Mode."

"The rest of us will stay down here," the half elf- Fabian- said, waving his hand lazily, "I'll buy everyone rooms and drinks and the like."

"Dude." The meaner half-orc grabbed the half-elf's shoulders and shook him in excitement. "Do you think they got dragon spice here? Like the good stuff?"

"And drugs!" Fabian added, to the cheers of his friends.

Not wanting to stick around to watch that, Adaine hurried up the stairs to where she and her mother had been staying, Fig and Riz right behind her.

They must not have thought Adaine much of a threat, having only two of them accompany her alone. She supposed it was fair, even though she was a wizard she'd only ever been trained in the theoretical aspects of magic. These kids had combat experience.

The room was tragically, yet unsurprisingly, completely bare. Not a speck of dust out of place, bed made to perfection, closet bare. The small part of Adaine that had been thinking this was some sort of trick, that her mother would never touch the Nightmare Crown herself, blew away at the sight.

Riz moved in and pulled out a magnifying glass, searching the area. "Do you think she would have left anything behind? She probably left in a rush, there's a chance she missed something."

"No," Adaine said miserably, though began to help him search, "my mother is very meticulous. She wouldn't..." Adaine growled in frustration and kicked the desk, knocking the drawer open slightly. "Well she left me behind so I suppose it isn't out of the realm of possibility.”

There was nothing in the desk drawer, of course there wasn’t. No clues, no left over research, and certainly no note for Adaine. Arianwen had left without a second thought.

“Why do you think she left?” Fig asked, rifling through the closet while Riz was crawling under the bed. “Like, even if she thought we killed you or something wouldn’t she come and try to, I dunno, avenge you?”

“Because she’s the absolute worst,” Adaine told her as she continued to rifle through empty drawers. She really didn’t think they were going to find anything but didn’t want to be the first to stop, that would make it seem like she was trying to hide something. “I’m sure she saw an opportunity to get rid of some dead weight.”

“Oh, yeesh,” Fig said, peering out of the closet to grimace at Adaine, “mommy issues? I get that. Me and my mom had a big fight last year. Got so bad I didn’t even go to her house for months before we made up.”

Adaine winced, sympathetic, and made a mental note to really avoid Fig’s mother. “I’m sorry, having parents that suck is the worst.”

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything,” Riz interrupted, climbing out from the other side of the bed. His nice suit now covered in dust. “Sorry about that, Adaine.”

Adaine had no idea why he was apologizing to her. “I didn’t think she would be spying on me or I would have suggested we try to cut her off at the docks.”

He frowned at that and Adaine watched his hands carefully, just in case he went for his gun again. But instead he only shook his head and made his way to the door. “It’s weird that she never told you about Kalina…”

Adaine followed after the two other kids silently, trying to piece together what they were talking about.

A shadowcat? Her mother had been saying something about cats when Adaine had caught her talking to herself. Was there some strange secret she had been hiding from Adaine?

Almost certainly. It had always been clear Arianwen was only keeping Adaine around for convenience. The details of the plot constantly kept from her.

Adaine was unsure if this new group she was roped in with would be more forthcoming.

Downstairs, Garthy intercepted them, handing Adaine a small jar. “Here you go, lovely, just rub this into your arms like a lotion. Should ease any aches.”

Adaine took the offering just shy of reverently and bowed as deeply as she could while standing. "Thank you! Seriously, I-I cannot thank you enough. If there's anything you need from me..."

But the half orc simply waved her off. "Don't bother yourself, yeah? It's a gift. Enjoy." Then Garthy turned their attention to the other two, smiling invitingly. “That goes for all of you. Please, enjoy all the Gold Gardens have to offer.”

They wandered off towards the bar, leaving Adaine clutching the jar tightly to her chest, like someone was going to snatch it from her.

Which… might not be a paranoid thought. Riz and Fig were eyeing her curiously.

“What’s that for?” Riz asked as they headed towards the rest of their party in the table area of the room. He didn’t seem… angry, per say, but there was some suspicion layered over just general curiosity.

“Oh, uh, medicine,” Adaine quickly explained. She should probably show it to them, prove that it wasn’t poison or a secret code from Mother or anything else she might be keeping hidden from them. But try as she might, Adaine could not make her fingers unclamp from around the little jar. Her hands hurt so much and just the promise of relief made her feel desperate. If one of them tried to take it away she- she would fucking bite them. “A balm for the crown’s curse. That’s all.”

Riz’s eyes widened with interest and Adaine cringed as they were close enough, and he spoke loudly enough, for the rest of his party to hear. “So you do know things about the crown! We barely know anything.” He reached into his briefcase and fished out a little notepad and pen that he clicked rapidly a few times. “Basically all we were able to find out about the curse is that there is one and it affects you when you touch it.”

He looked up at her, everyone was looking at her, and it took Adaine a moment to realize he was waiting for her to add on. “Oh, yes that’s- well, that’s not entirely accurate. The curse activates when you attempt to move it. Technically you could touch it without harm if you made sure not to bump it at all.”

“But you and your mom took it,” Kristen entered the conversation, “so you did get cursed?”

“I mean, technically just I took it,” Adaine grumbled under her breath. She hesitated before taking her gloves off, so aware of all the eyes on her. Her mother had made it clear that Adaine was to keep the gloves on at almost all times. Not only because her skin was horrifically sensitive to every stimulus but also because Arianwen declared the sight unseemly. But Arianwen wasn’t here, so Adaine didn’t have to do what she said anymore. “I got very cursed, yes.”

Even though she was expecting it, bracing for it, Adaine still shied away from the wide eyed gazes as she carefully tugged her gloves off. She still had full range of movement in  her hands, thankfully, but the scars that ran up to her elbow deformed her skin well beyond repair. The left one still had the knuckles wrapped from her mother’s last discipline and Adaine at least kept that on for now as she unscrewed the top of the ointment jar off.

Fabian whistled. “I have seen some scars in my day and those are some scars. ”

That almost sounded like praise. Somehow. 

“Fuck, that’s what happens if you move it?” Fig asked, leaning back in her chair with a dumbfounded expression. “And here my number one plan was to just grab it from your mom’s hands and book it.”

Adaine gave her a grimace. “Yes, I wouldn’t recommend that. This isn’t pleasant but the first time touching it was by far the worst. I almost fainted.” The ointment was a clear goop, almost like hair gel, that reeked of celestial magic even to Adaine’s naked senses. Cautiously, she dipped two fingers of her bandaged hand in and couldn’t stifle the moan of relief as joints were instantly soothed. Like putting a burn under cold water.

Rubbing the gel on her other hand- massaging it in and covering every inch of damaged flesh- almost made her start crying again. She hadn’t even comprehended how much constant agony she had been in until it was muted. 

“Is that the only thing that the curse does?” Riz asked. “Kinda… attacks you?”

The adventurers were all still staring at her but Adaine found she now did not care. Almost all of her attention was firmly on soothing her hands. “It hurts you, is the main thing. Every injury or ache you’d otherwise have is exasperated while moving it and healing magic backfires. Only initially does it cause any injuries itself.”

Someone put a hand on her shoulder and Adaine jumped so hard she almost knocked the ointment off the table. 

Kristen, the one who had touched her, didn’t seem to notice her startlement as she fixed Adaine with sympathetic eyes. “That sounds like it sucked. I’m sorry.”

Adaine had no idea how to react to that. She hardly earned pity in her life, let alone sympathy. 

She was saved by having to answer by one of the Solacien adults, the elven man, stumbling up to the table and laying a hand on the back of Fig’s chair. “Ah, daughter, I have managed to acquire us rooms for the night. Be warned that while in the process I did slip on a banana peel and crashed into a ladder, spilling a bucket of what I can only assume to be glue on my head. My hair is stuck like this now and I'm afraid to touch it.”

Fabian rolled his good eye. “Gilear, you are by far the most pathetic man in the world. It's a wonder you've survived this long.”

Adaine shot him a mortified look as her eyes bounced between the boy and the man, certain she was about to be in the middle of a destructive argument. 

But the adult did not react. None of the adults did. In fact the only one that seemed at all upset by the comment was Fig, who stuck her tongue out at Fabian before turning back to her father. 

“Thanks Gilear, you did great.”

“I did not, but your compliment is as welcomed as it is untrue.”

And then the interaction ended. Not even a single underhanded remark from the adult to the child. Adaine could have laughed. She had spent such a long time now interacting with only her mother that she had forgotten the way her parents acted was almost ridiculously far from normal. Even before everything went sideways and the problems gained a more… physical flavor the disdain Adaine’s parents seemed to hold for her wasn’t normal. 

She had to remember that. Had to cling to it. 

She still jumped at every movement from the adults around her. But that was also valid because it was obvious that Fig’s dad seemed to love her, but Adaine was literally someone who they’d been hunting down across multiple countries for who knew how long now. 

Adaine continued to rub the soothing ointment into her skin as she kept her head down. They were going to get Aelwyn. They were going to get Aelwyn and then Adaine and her sister could find a way to be safe. That was the plan.

It was going to work.

Chapter Text

The room Fig’s father- Gilear- had gotten had included a bed for Adaine. 

This, for some reason, had surprised her more than anything else. 

Not that she was expecting these Solace kids to be as needlessly cruel as her mother- that was probably impossible, her parents sucked so much- but Adaine was, technically, their prisoner. Not their daughter. 

Binding her hands and gagging her for the night would have been a safe move, in case she decided to flee or attack while everyone else was dead asleep. Trancing in the same bed as someone would have been less safe but still feasible as it was hard to cast spells without waking someone an inch from your face. Hell, being locked in their Hallowed van for the night would have made the most sense. At least it had magical protection and blankets.

But no. Adaine found herself on a comfy mattress in a room with half a dozen other comfy mattresses. Adaine even snagged one by the window and no one told her to move! It was like they weren’t even worried about her potentially betraying them or making a run for it. 

…not that Adaine was going to do that. She very much had no intentions of trying to do anything behind these people’s backs. Even if she succeeded, all that would get her was alone and no closer to helping Aelwyn. 

But they didn’t know that. So this was still a grotesquely large display of trust. 

Adaine wasn’t about to complain, though. She arranged herself carefully on her chosen mattress, legs crossed under her, and fished through her pack to take stock of what she still had.

It was honestly quite a bit. She had spent all the money her mother had given her on food, travel clothes, forged passports, parchment to draw protection runes on, and much more. None of this was needed to get to Arborly but Arianwen was certainly going to have a harder time of it now than she would have with Adaine’s help. Not even counting that she’d have to lug the stupid crown around herself.

The thought made Adaine feel slightly proud, that at least in some ways her presence would be missed, and so it was with something bordering on contentment that she fished a slice of lembas from the bag and nibbled on it as she surveyed the rest of the room. 

A few of the adventuring students had already passed out- having gotten too drunk in the bar down below. Tracker was curled up in a ball on her bed and Ragh was snoring loud enough to rattle the walls in his.

Fig was the only bad kid in the room and she was pacing back and forth, chewing on her nails and glancing at the door every so often.

Something was obviously distressing her, and Adaine kept her ears perked and back straight just in case whatever that something was turned into a larger problem she would need to act on.

After a few minutes the door burst open to permit Riz and Kristen spilling in. Fig rushed over to them and the three conversed with wild gestures and loud whispered voices that Adaine couldn’t make out distinct words to.

She didn’t start to worry, however, until Riz pointed at her and Fig began glancing Adaine’s way. When they eventually turned and marched towards her, Adaine shoved the rest of the bread in her mouth and tried very hard to look as if she hadn’t been trying to eavesdrop. 

Her hands felt better thanks to the ointment, but the ghost of her mother’s fury still made them tingle. 

“Hey, uh, you’re like… a wizard right?” Fig asked, sounding much more hesitant than she’d been this entire time. Earnest enthusiasm replaced with uncertain worry. “Would you be able to tell if someone was, like, magically roofied? Detect Magic or something?”

Adaine swallowed too soon, the food painful as she cleared her mouth. “Mmm, yes? I could probably pick up if someone was being compelled by a spell in any way.” She glanced between the three other kids. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“My mom’s in a ‘special room’ with that Garthy person,” Fig explained, making literal air quotes with her fingers, “Riz and Kristen tried to check it out but mom wouldn’t even see them and… well I’m worried, I guess. Kinda wanna go bang on her door and make sure she’s not being possessed or something.”

Adaine stared at her as the implications of what she was asking sunk in. “Your mother … is engaging in sexual activities with the owner of this establishment. And you want to interrupt them.” She looked to Kristen and Riz again. “ Again ?”

“Yeah,” Fig said, as if this was a very normal and rational course of action, “you in?”

“No?” Adaine instantly replied, baffled that they were even asking. It didn’t matter that she was technically these kids’ captive. Didn’t matter that they had guns and swords and were way more trained at combat than her. She would rather Fig smack her over the head with that guitar than even dream about interrupting an adult. Especially when said adults were fucking. “Look, you guys may be able to do something like that without consequence but I am literally a stranger and your prisoner. If there is any chance that they’re both consenting to this I’m going to get murdered trying to stop them.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Fig denied but before Adaine could scoff at the idea that she would know what her mother did in the bedroom, Fig continued, “murder you, I mean. She’s a jerk sometimes but she’s not that kind of jerk.”

“Yeah,” Kristen agreed, face pinched in a sort of sympathetic sadness, “like, she hates me but that doesn’t mean she’s ever blown up at me or anything.”

Fig turned to her, away from Adaine for at least a moment. “What? Mom doesn’t hate you.”

Kristen just returned an unconvinced look.

“Look,” Adaine interrupted, shaking her head, “I get that you’re worried about your mother but… can you honestly say that there’s no chance she would do… something like this? That she has to be under a spell? Because I really don’t want to go around throwing dispels in people’s faces unless I really really have to.”

Fig did not begin to gush about how great and incorruptible her mother was. Instead, she frowned at Adaine’s words, looking stricken, and stumbled back a few steps. “Yeah… I mean… yeah I could see Sandralynn doing something like this. Unfortunately. I- fuck. I’m going to… I’m going to take a walk, I think.”

She turned and stumbled out of the room in a sort of daze. Adaine grimaced sympathetically. Parents. Literally the worst.

“Why did you say you were our prisoner?”

Adaine glanced at Riz who was watching her with a furrowed brow. She mirrored his expression right back. “What? Am I not? You literally chased me down and plucked me off the street. That screams ‘prisoner’ to me.”

“But you agreed to help us!” Riz exclaimed, throwing his hands out in exasperation, “you are going to help us, right? Why would we be keeping you captive if we’re on the same side?” His brow furrowed even deeper as he crossed his arms over his chest once again. “We… are on the same side. Aren’t we?”

Panic shot through Adaine like a bullet as she frantically waved her hands in front of her face. “Yes! No, yes, I mean- I didn’t mean it like that. Of course we’re on the same side, I just meant-”

“Dude, lay off her,” Kristen said, placing a hand on Riz’s shoulder, “I think she’s maybe a little stressed out.”

“I just-” Adaine continued to babble, though she forced her tone softer, “I didn’t think you trusted me, at my word. I do mean what I say but I’m used to that… not being believed.”

Damn, she was fucking trembling again. Adaine placed her hands firmly in her lap in an effort to at least hide the shaking.

 Riz remained frowning- still suspicious and confused- but when Kristen frowned it was sad and sympathetic and she plopped herself onto the bed next to Adaine, folding her legs beneath her as she regarded the elf.

“You weren’t exaggerating, were you?” Kristen asked simply as Adaine tried to shy away from her without making it obvious that’s what she was doing. “You honestly think Fig’s mom would kill you if you went and pissed her off, huh?”

Adaine shrugged, uncomfortable both with the close proximity and the questioning. “Maybe not kill me but…  I- my own mother would certainly be furious at such a thing and I’m not a stranger who hours ago was the enemy. To her.”

Kristen hummed and Adaine didn’t know what that meant. Riz still just looked confused. “Why would your mom be mad if you were trying to save her from a potential mind control situation?”

“Don’t mind him,” Kristen whispered loudly, certainly loud enough for Riz to hear, “his mom’s the coolest. He doesn’t get this kinda stuff.”

For some reason Kristen’s presence calmed Adaine and despite herself she let out a snort of laughter as Riz huffed indignantly. 

Kristen chuckled as well but also gently reached out and grabbed one of Adaine’s hands in her own. 

Adaine’s breath stuttered for a moment at the gesture. Her hands were still bare, letting the ointment soak into her skin without risking it getting on the inside of her gloves, and it felt so strange to have someone softly touch her bare skin.

“Earlier you said that the curse only actually attacked you the first time. That it was painful but not damaging the rest of the time.” Kristen ran a thumb across the top of the bandages wrapped around Adaine’s knuckles. The white cloth had a small bit of red discoloration. “So how’d you start bleeding then?”

“I got in trouble,” Adaine confessed, unsure why they were talking about this but wanting to answer. She wanted to prove to them they could trust her. “It was stupid, I still barely understand what the big deal was but… well, Mother was angry.”

Kristen grimaced, still with pity and sympathy, and Riz’s eyes went wide with sudden horror. “Wait… wait what ? You’re saying you own mom… she made you… she…”

“Yes,” Adaine confirmed as she fiddled with the bandages. It gave her something to look at, at least, that wasn’t the other two kids. “I don’t… I’m not sure why or- well I know what changed, I suppose. Our entire lives got flipped on their heads. My parents always sucked but they weren’t cruel until… until Aelwyn got arrested, I guess. Since then it’s been… hard.”

“Oh,” Kristen said, frowning thoughtfully now. Riz still looked like he had just seen a ghost. “Are you thinking maybe when you rescue Aelwyn things will go back to normal for you?”

Adaine shrugged helplessly. “Maybe? I don’t know, even if mother gave the Crown back, me, her, and Aelwyn are all wanted criminals at this point. I’ll settle for both me and my sister not actively being tortured as a win at this point. And mother…” She squeezed her hand into a tight fist. It hurt, still, and it made anger boil in Adaine’s gut. “I wouldn’t mind never seeing her again.”

“I’m going to kill her.”

Adaine’s gaze jerked up to look at Riz. He was staring down at Adaine’s hand, his pupils thin slits and his eyes still wide open. At Adaine’s movement he blinked at her and his ears folded back against his head. 

“Sorry,” he said, biting his bottom lip, “it’s just… parents shouldn’t do that to their kids. And any parent that does should be in jail?”

“Or dead? ” Kristen asked him, raising one brow judgmentally.

“Or dead,” Riz agreed without a hint of remorse. And then he startled, eyes wrenching away from Adaine to fix on his friend. “Kristen, your parents never-”

“Nah,” she interrupted, waving her hand dismissively, “I mean, spankings sometimes but never anything like-” she nodded to Adaine’s bandaged hand- who suddenly felt self conscious and tucked it under her leg. “I met kids in those kind of situations though. Always really sad.”

“It’s fine,” Adaine protested with an embarrassed squeak. The pitying looks losing their novelty and becoming uncomfortable. “I mean, obviously not fine fine but it’s not really something you need to be concerned with.”

But Riz still looked concerned, staring deeply into Adaine’s eyes no matter how much she tried to glance away. “Do you want us to kill your mom?”

Adaine’s mouth instantly went dry as the question struck her like a psychic lance.

She was saved from having to actually answer by Kristen smacking her friend on the arm. “Riz! You can’t just ask people to let you kill their parents. Jeeze, man, out of pocket.”

Riz sputtered in protest, his arms waving around his face. “But she just said -”

“People have all sorts of complicated relationships with their parents,” Kristen lectured, holding one finger up to really cement the sentiment in, “never seeing them again is way different then wanting them dead.”

Riz huffed but in a defeated way as he ran his fingers through the hair beneath his hat. “Okay okay just-” He glanced back to Adaine with a grimace. “Know none of us are going to hurt you like that, okay? Especially not the adults.”

Adaine was still reeling from the seemingly genuine offer to murder her mother for her. Jerkily, she nodded her head, just wanting this conversation to be over. “Okay. Got it. Right.”

“Unless you completely betray us and try to kill everyone,” Kristen mused, “we’d probably have to at least beat you up for that.”

Riz glared at her. “ Now who’s saying things out of pocket?”

“May I request,” Adaine spoke up before the two could devolve into squabbling or even outright fighting, “leave to go to sleep? I- it’s been a very long day.”

Kristen instantly stood up. “Oh, gosh yeah sorry. We chased you down the street and you passed out from hyperventilating and then your mom abandoned you-”

“So it makes perfect sense that you’re tired!” Riz finished, practically dragging Kristen away. “You rest, we’ll go check on Fig.”

And then they left, just like that, and Adaine let the tension in her shoulders drop as she got herself ready for trance.

The situation was manageable. Sure, these kids were weird and… weird but they seemed decent enough. Adaine just needed to keep her head down until they could rescue Aelwyn and things would work out.

And she was going to get a full night of comfortable trancing. Things were honestly looking up without her mother. It was good that she had just abandoned Adaine.

Yeah. This was good.

Chapter Text

Adaine had not been able to trance comfortably through the night. Not the whole night, at least.

Oh the bed had been a comfort, of course, and Adaine had rested more soundly than she had in a long while. Only to get woken up a few hours in by a giant panicked commotion and seemingly everyone in the Gold Gardens running around in a tizzy. 

She hadn’t been able to figure out what was going on until everything had settled again but had managed to catch Gorgug’s attention to learn that Fabian had snuck out at some point and gotten into a fight. Now, besides recovering from almost fatal injuries, the half-elf was apparently  ‘acting off’.

Adaine had caught a glimpse of him before he slammed the door to the room he shared with his motorcycle- pale and shaky- and had quickly deduced that it was not her problem. Sometimes kids got pale and shaky, especially after fights , that didn’t seem like an issue she needed to be sticking her nose into. Especially when Riz followed right behind the other boy into the room.

Adaine was about to head back to her own bed and return to her much desired trancing when she was stopped in the hallway by Sandra Lynn Faeth.

Fig’s mother was a tall wood elf ranger with a bow almost permanently fixed to her back and creases in her face that suggested she furrowed her brow a lot. Adaine had been trying not to interact with her- as gaining an adult’s attention was almost always a negative thing for her- but had no choice now as the older elf laid a hand on her shoulder.

Adaine didn’t flinch, because flinching usually drew even more attention, but she did stiffen at the contact and stopped moving or breathing like one would when trying to hide from a hungry predator. 

“Hi, it’s Adaine right?” The woman said, a small smile plastered on her face even as her brows furrowed in their seemingly natural state. 

Adaine nodded jerkily and desperately avoided eye contact. “Yes ma’am. That’s me.”

“Oh you don’t need to-” Sandra Lynn started before pausing and switching directions, “look, sorry, I know you’ve had a rough day and this is all probably pretty overwhelming for you.”

She paused, like she expected Adaine to say something. As Adaine did not know what, exactly, that was she opted for repeating “yes ma’am” as she stared at the floor in a way that hopefully came across as respectful and not terrified. 

There were a few more seconds of uncomfortable silence before Sandra Lynn eventually realized that Adaine wasn’t going to say anything else and simply continued on. “Sorry to put more on you but we’ve been having… trouble with sleeping ever since we started this quest.” There was a pregnant pause, as if Sandra Lynn had just realized something. “You don’t know what that’s about, do you?”

The hint of accusation in her tone made Adaine’s gaze shoot up and her head shake rapidly. “No! I don’t- If that even is something of my mother’s doing she barely told me anything. I didn’t even know who you guys were, exactly, until I saw your party in the street and put together you were the ones chasing us. I didn’t-” She twisted her hands over one another, feeling the slight burn of irritating damaged skin, wanting to shrink away but unable to with the gentle grip on her shoulder. “I haven’t done anything to hurt any of you, I swear .”

“I believe you,” Sandra Lynn said in a softer tone, her whole face relaxing, “I didn’t mean to accuse you of sending us nightmares or anything. Just wondering if you might have some more information on it. We’re kinda flying blind here.”

Adaine shook her head again, slower this time as the fear that they would get rid of her for being useless sent a shiver down her back. “Sorry.”

“You’re okay,” Sandra Lynn said and she didn’t sound angry so maybe that was the truth, “that wasn’t even what I wanted to talk to you about in the first place. We found that sleeping in a protected area like the Golden Garden or our van staves off the worst effects, but with what just happened with Fabian disturbing everyone’s rest… I’m worried we’ll have some problems tonight. You trance, right?”

Adaine only nodded as the question was obviously rhetorical. They were both elves. Of course she tranced and the older women knew it.

“That’s good,” Sandra Lynn said, relief in her voice even as she kept her tone steady and firm. A ranger on a mission. “That means that we won’t have to worry about you having… these problems. Would you mind doing a favor for me then?”

There was no way in the Hells Adaine was actually allowed to say no to that question. But she played along with the dance of manners anyway. Adults tolerated kids with manners much easier. “Of course. Whatever you need.”

“Can you keep an eye out once you wake up?” Sandra Lynn asked and it sounded like an honest request, not a task intended to keep an irritating child busy, “I know you don’t actually know anyone here but… try to keep watch for any strange behavior. Spirits help us, hopefully it will be unnecessary but I don’t want to take any chances.”

Adaine nodded again, habitually, as the request sunk in. What kind of behavior was strange? To her this entire group was overwhelmingly strange. Did whatever had just happened with Fabian count? Whatever, hopefully she wouldn’t actually be required to do anything. Adventurers on watch rarely did even in the adventure books she used to read. “I’ll do my best, ma’am.”

Sandra Lynn gave her a lopsided grin. “Thank you. And there really is no need to call me ma’am. If we want to be really technical about it, I'm actually working as my daughter’s employee for this trip, believe it or not.”

Adaine could not believe it and blinked blankly at the older women in response.

Apparently sensing her incomprehension Sandra Lynn chuckled awkwardly before patting Adaine’s shoulder and taking a step back. “Er, never mind. Just know that you can relax around us, alright? No one will get mad if you stop being so formal. Spirits know Fig probably couldn’t act formally to save her life.”

The others had reassured Adaine that Sandra Lynn was not as cruel as the other adults Adaine had known- wasn’t cruel to her own children and wouldn’t be cruel to Adaine- but still, Adaine felt the unignorable annoyance crop up when a parent unjustly berated their kid. Small mercies that at least Fig wasn’t here to witness it. 

“Can I cast detect magic on you?” Adaine found her traitorous mouth saying in a tone that was probably too snippy and judgemental. At Sandra Lynn’s surprised expression she rushed to clarify. “Your daughter was worried about you earlier, is all. She thought that someone, magically, might have hurt you. I thought I’d… double check for her.”

Fuck, was she about to get herself and Fig in trouble? Why could she never keep her mouth shut?

But instead of getting angry Sandra Lynn just shook her head with a resigned sigh. “That girl… yeah, you can cast detect magic on me. If it will put Fig’s mind at ease. There won’t be anything there but better to confirm it, I suppose.”

Even though, like Sandra Lynn had said, it only made sense to double check whether there was something to find or not, Adaine had not been expecting agreement . Before she could lose her nerve she reached up and flicked the spell at the older woman, getting absolutely nothing back. She wasn’t even wearing magical gear.

“You’re clean,” Adaine told her, “sorry about that. She was just… Fig seemed really worried, was all.”

Sandra Lynn sucked on her teeth, looking borderline pained by this conversation, but shook her head again. “Yes, I believe that. I probably shouldn’t have… well, it’s too late to take it back now.”

Adaine had no idea what she was talking about but that was most likely fine as Sandra Lynn smiled at her again and took a step back. “Thanks for helping us, Adaine, honestly. You’re a good kid. Have a good rest of your night.”

Adaine’s throat tightened at the words. She knew that wasn’t true, that she wasn’t a good kid. Good kids didn’t let their sisters get tortured. Didn’t make their parents angry at every other moment. Didn't help their parents try to bring back undead gods for petty gains. Good kids didn’t get berated, didn’t get hit, didn’t get abandoned. 

“Y-you too,” Adaine squeaked out when she processed the last thing the adult had said. Sandra Lynn smiled at her again, a gentle smile without bite, and went off towards her room. 

Taking a deep breath to try to get her nerves in order, Adaine followed suit to the kids’ room. If nothing else she had to finish up her trance and get her spell slots back or she’d be more than useless tomorrow.

***

It was nice being the first to wake up.

Usually Adaine’s mother managed to always beat her in the race to consciousness and more often than not Adaine would get shaken awake so she could pick back up the horrible crown and the two of them could continue their journey. 

This morning, despite the commotion the night before, Adaine woke up naturally before dawn and was able to have some time to herself despite being in a room with half a dozen other kids. She took her sweet time prepping spells for the day, eating more waybread out of her pack, and doing some deep breathing to prepare her for the day ahead. 

It was all going remarkably smoothly, for a morning, until someone else woke up as well.

Adaine instinctively froze. Partially because the sudden movement fired off long developed habits and also partially because of who had moved.

Ragh had seemed to hate Adaine, even more than the others, when the bad kids had been chasing her down the other day. He had thrown her into a wall and seemed particularly pissed off at her existence, like she had done something to personally slight him. Now that they were on the same side he seemed much more forgiving, even apologetic about his previous behavior, but Adaine was still weary of him.

Because of this she planned to ignore him when he got up from bed, they didn’t need to talk or anything, but that plan flew out the window as the large boy immediately began to trudge from the room. He did not yawn or stretch, did not glance at anyone or anything that wasn’t the exit.

Damnit.

Adaine had promised Sandra Lynn to keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior, even if the idea of questioning the barbarian made her skin crawl. What was she scared more of? An angry orc who could probably punt her like a bloodrush ball, or an adult woman?

Adaine grit her teeth and did the only thing she could think of; stall.

"Uh, Ragh?" Adaine called out as politely as she was physically able, cringing as her voice squeaked at the end. "Where, ah, where are you heading off to?"

Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, Ragh seemed to hear her through whatever trance he was in. The half orc turned, blinking heavily like he could hardly see straight. “Wha?”

“Where are you… going?” Adaine repeated, cautiously, casually. Probably not as casually as she wanted. Her whole body was tense and braced like a spell matrix was powering up and about to go off. 

“Out,” Ragh grunted, his gaze still unfocused, “that a problem?”

“No, no,” Adaine instinctively backtracked, “maybe just… take someone with you? After what happened with Fabian it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?”

He stared at her and she was almost positive there was no light behind his black eyes. 

“No.” Ragh turned away and something in Adaine’s gut told her that if he left the room something very very bad would happen.

“Wait,” she cried, scrambling off the bed. Unsure how she’d stop him but determined to do something. “Wait, why don’t-”

She barely even saw him move before the large boy’s fist slammed into her gut. 

Adaine was a research wizard, she had never been in a fight before, had never been hurt like this before. 

The air was completely knocked out of her and she choked and gagged on the sensation as she dropped to her knees. Her lungs burned immediately, her side seared with pain, and even her vision grew dark spots from the sheer force of the impact.

Dropping had been the wrong move, she quickly realized, as that placed her in perfect position for Ragh to knee her in the face. Adaine’s head snapped back from the force, a loud cracking sound ringing out, and at least she got her breath back enough to scream as blood gushed from her nose.

Ragh roared in response to her cry and reached down to grab Adaine’s arm, hauling her bodily into the air by her bicep. She thrashed for half a moment, straining her arm, before logic finally got a word in above the panic and pain and Adaine remembered she had fucking spells. 

With a gasp she cast Misty Step and teleported herself to the furthest corner of the room and under a bed. Was that a stupid decision? Maybe. Was the barbarian strong enough to lift up the bed and probably beat her with it when he found her? Almost certainly. But Adaine couldn’t come up with a more solid plan past the ache in her gut that made her breath hitch and the throbbing of her face every time she did manage to get any air in. 

She curled into a ball, making herself as small as possible, and tried desperately to stifle her gasps as the sounds of fighting raged around her. 

Adaine had no idea how much time had passed- the horrible moments waiting to be hurt always felt like they stretched into eternity- but eventually she felt something touch her leg, foreign magic wash over her, and a voice called out her name.

Adaine screamed, wrenching her leg away and curling further into the corner, her still bleeding nose pressed up against the wall. 

No, not bleeding, not anymore. The blood was still caked to her face, some of it starting to dry and itch, but the horrible throbbing in her face had ebbed off and the ache in her gut had lessened as well. 

She sniffled a few times, testing that there really was no pain in her nose when she had been certain it was just broken, and the confused pause in panic was enough for her to be able to identify the voice when it called her name again.

“Adaine? Hey, can you hear me? Guys I seriously don’t know if she can hear me,” Kristen called, tone sounding strained but not rushed like there was a furious barbarian waging war behind her. 

In fact, all the sounds of fighting seemed to have stopped entirely.

“Should I crawl under there with her?” Riz said, sounding slightly further away and more muffled then Kristen, “I’m pretty sure I’m the only who can fit. Looks like a tight squeeze.”

”Dude, no way,” Fig’s voice, “you’re gonna freak her out more if you go scuttling under there. Go help out with Fabian.”

”I don’t skuttle, and… fine. I was going to ask if Adaine could… yeah I’ll go see what I can do.”

”Adaine?” Kristen called again as Riz’s light footsteps faded away. “Are you still hurt? You kinda pulled away from me when I was trying to heal you.”

Oh, that explained why her nose wasn’t broken anymore. The touch on her ankle hadn’t been Ragh trying to drag her out of the bed but instead Kristen’s healing.

Guess that was the confirmation that Garthy had been telling the truth about the curse. Healing magic once again worked fine now that Adaine wasn’t anywhere near that crown.

”What happened?” Adaine called back, pushing herself a little bit away from the wall. It was much too cramped under here for her to turn around or move too much at all. Fuck, that Misty Step had really wedged her in tight. Humiliating. “Is Ragh…”

”He’s calmed down,” Fig said, reassuring, “we think he got possessed or something. Mind controlled.”

Mind controlled. So he hadn’t just decided to kill her after all. Not that that would have surprised Adaine terribly but it was nice to hear that they hadn’t all changed their minds about her in the middle of the night. 

“Hey, uh,” Ragh’s voice came now and Adaine bit the inside of her cheek to stop the shiver that wanted to race down her body, “I am, like, super sorry for attacking you. I know we attacked you earlier and stuff but this time I totally didn’t mean to. Swear.”

Adaine tried to shove herself backwards and only succeeded in jamming her shoulder against the underside of the bed. It hurt, but not as much as being kneed in the face had been so Adaine just grunted and called back. “Are you sorry enough to get this off of me? I think I’m stuck.”

Almost immediately the bed lifted up like it had been a balloon the whole time and Adaine was bathed with the morning light coming through the window. A hand landed on her shoulder and she blinked up to find Fig offering her other one out. 

Adaine took it and let herself be hauled to her feet. A vast majority of the adventuring group was gathered around but not all of them. Riz was missing now, as well as Fabian and Cathilda. But everyone that was here looked stressed and frazzled. 

Especially Ragh. The large half orc was standing back after putting the bed down again, hunching into himself as if he could somehow hide fully behind Gorgug. Snot and tears intermingled and streamed down his face and overall he just looked like the most distraught boy in the world.

“Dude, I am so sorry,” Rahg repeated with a sniffle, “I did not mean to mess you up like that. After Sandra Lynn said to be gentle with you and everything, fucking hell.”

Adaine found it within herself to be slightly indigent at that. She was jumpy and polite, sure, who wouldn’t be in her position, but she wasn’t fragile. 

Er, emotionally that was. Her tender and newly healed nose certainly protested that compared to these adventurers she was physically the equivalent of glass. And her panic attacks probably weren’t helping her seem like she wasn’t going to shatter at the smallest touch.

In any case, Adaine was certainly not used to people apologizing to her. She shuffled awkwardly, glancing away from Ragh’s stricken face. “It’s… fine. I-”

“And my mom might be dead!” Ragh wailed with the force of a cork popping off of a bottle. He buried his face in his hands and Grogug reached out to give the taller boy a hug as he sobbed.

Bewildered, Adaine looked at Fig and Kristen. Kristen winced, biting her lip and twisting her staff anxiously in her hands. “Kalina, the shadow cat, apparently she came to Riz last night and figured out that Ragh told us some things so she… Ragh got a call that his mom… that Kalina killed his mom.”

Instantly, flags raised in Adaine’s mind at that description of events. “He got a call ? Like on his crystal?” At Fig and Kristen’s nods Adaine shook her head. “That’s impossible. We aren’t in Solace, we’re on Leviathan, there’s no cell service out here.” 

Kristen looked confused by that but Fig’s face lit up in understanding. “You’re saying it wasn’t real… that it was an illusion of a call . ”

“Something like that,” Adaine confirmed, “illusionary magic isn’t my field of study but it wouldn’t be hard to make someone think they heard a voice on the other end of a crystal.”

“W-wait,” Ragh sniffled, raising his head from Gorgug’s shoulder, “are you saying my mom… she’s not dead?”

“Uh,” Adaine hesitated, not keen on giving this obviously distressed boy false hope. Even if he had been trying to flatten her into a pancake a minute ago. “I… don’t know. It could be that illusions are just the easiest way for the shadowcat to contact you, since no one has cell service, but…”

Ragh’s face twisted once more into horror, though there was a new hesitant edge to it. “But… how do we find out for sure? I have to know if my mom’s alive dudes.”

“You’re a wizard, right?” Gorgug asked Adaine in what she hoped dearly was a rhetorical question. “Do you have Sending? Or Scrying or something to get a message out or check or…”

“I don’t have Sending,” Adaine admitted, but before faces could fall or potentially become enraged by her lack of value, she rushed to add, “but I know someone who does.”

Chapter Text

Adaine had never been more excited to go see someone in her life as she was going to see Ayda now.

She had never had any friends before- being a foreigner with the worst parents in the world and a mean older sister was very quickly and effectively isolating- and Adaine had certainly not been thrilled whenever her family’s friends had come over. Never had she known someone like Ayda, who was interested in the same things she was about furthermore seemed to actually like her. 

The Bad Kids- and the rest of their family and friends on this quest- were nicer than most people Adaine had met but she didn’t feel the instant connection with them as she had with Ayda. Though that might have just been the circumstances of which they met and were still slowly overcoming.

So Adaine was eager as she led the group up to the Crow’s Nest of Leviathan and towards the library, reassuring them all that Ayda definitely knew Sending and would most likely help them. 

Or, at least, would be available to hire for her services. Adaine wasn’t certain their one night of bonding would get her free favors, but surely she’d at least listen to their need.

Speaking of the Bad Kids they were not exactly doing well as they all crammed into the elevator to the library. 

Fabian, who had apparently gotten lost again at the same time Ragh had been trying to turn Adaine into a paste, had elected to stay behind with the van and adults. That was probably for the best as he had looked sick and miserable and Adaine genuinely wondered if he was going to give up and go home.

That… probably would be bad. He’d been the most in support of rescuing Aelwyn after all. Maybe when they were done talking to Ayda Adaine would check up on him. She didn’t know what she would say or how she could possibly help but certainly she could at least try to convince him to stay. 

Besides that Ragh still looked teary eyed and distressed while the other five kids were very clearly on edge, gripping their weapons and shuffling restlessly. 

Adaine tried not to think about how much damage those axes or that gun could do if turned on her. Again. 

Needless to say Adaine was beyond glad when the elevator doors opened and she was hit by the pleasant smell of ink and parchment that made up a library. 

Rushing to be the first one out, Adaine sped to the front desk and only slowed when she saw that it was neither empty nor occupied by a phoenix girl but, instead, stationed by a very very old man. 

“Um, excuse me?” Adaine called softly, nerves creeping back up her spine at having to deal with an unexpected adult. “Sorry to bother you, sir, but I’m looking for Ayda?”

The old man peered over his glasses at her, and then at the gaggle of fellow teens behind her. “Oh, you’re all looking for the librarian, are you? She’s a very busy young woman. I’m sure I’ll be able to assist in anything you might need.”

“No, that’s okay.” Adaine did not want to take up this man’s time, nor ask for any sort of favors from an adult she did not know. “I’ll just go look for her, if that’s alright?”

“Do you have a library card?” The man asked, “I’m afraid I can’t let such a big group go wandering around without library cards.”

“I have one,” Adaine said quickly, finishing around in her pocket before pulling out the shiny card. She glanced over her shoulder at the other kids and grimaced. “Can you all sign up? I’m sorry it’ll take a bit of time but it is free at least!”

Ragh shuffled uneasily on his feet. “Do we really have time for that, dude? I want to find out if my mom’s okay like now. ”

“I’m sorry,” the old man said in his creaky voice, “but if I let you through and you all make a mess without even having a library card-”

“Adaine,” came a familiar voice that instantly filled Adaine with a rush of relief. Ayda descended from the sky with a few majestic flaps of her lovely wings, blowing everyone’s hair back as she landed. “I thought I recognized your voice. You’ve returned. That pleases me greatly.”

“Oh my gosh,” Fig whispered much too loudly for anyone not to hear, “do you think this is the creature Aguefort made?”

Ayda’s fiery red eyes glanced in her direction briefly before turning back towards Adaine. Who now wanted a little bit to die of embarrassment. 

“Sorry, sorry about them,” Adaine squeaked, waving her hands in a way that probably made her look even more foolish but she couldn’t make herself stop, “these are, um, these are the Bad Kids. An adventuring party from Solace. I’m… working with them now.”

Ayda seemed to visibly digest this as she regarded the other kids. Gorgug waved. “Hmm. Interesting. Is there anything I can help you with? Maybe you would like to continue our previous conversation? Or did you simply come to return your books?”

“Yes! We really could use your-” Adaine abruptly snapped her jaw shut as the last sentence settled over her and her mouth went dry.

The books. The library books she had checked out. For her mother. Her mother who was no longer here. Her mother who had taken everything that Adaine hadn’t had on her, including the library books, and run off to who knew where.

Adaine did not have the books to return. She’d lost them. She’d lost a library book and would probably never get to return them. 

And now her new friend was going to hate her forever. 

Her breath caught in her chest and Adaine’s vision started to go blurry as terror and despair built. One of her first real friends was going to hate her because she couldn’t do anything right and was apparently so horrible and useless that her own mother had to abandon her on the side of the road like an unwanted puppy. 

And then, because Ayda was going to hate her for losing her books, she wouldn’t help them get a Sending Spell back to Solace. And if she won’t help them cast Sending then there would have been no reason for Adaine to drag the Bad Kids all the way up here to Compass Point. She’ll have wasted their time and they’ll be furious at her for that and then they’ll hate her and they’ll probably all work together in their hatred for her to throw her off the Crow’s Nest so they never have to deal with her again and then she’ll be the problem of some poor custodial worker who probably does not get paid enough to clean up disappointing smears off the wooden sidewalks.

“Uh, Adaine?” Someone called her name but Adaine couldn’t tell who through her panic induced haze. Everything felt like it was on the other side of a waterfall that was roaring in her ears and blurring her vision. “You okay, girl?”

She should answer. They’ll get even more mad if she doesn’t answer she should-

A hand landed on her shoulder and every instinct in Adaine screamed into overtime. Get away get away get away. Only leaving would bring safety, however brief. She couldn’t fight or convince anyone not to hurt her; she just had to run. 

Thankfully, Adaine was better at running than most anything else. 

The verbal component for Misty Step tumbled out of her lips like a prayer and then the next moment Adaine was no longer surrounded on all sides and felt a little bit like she could breathe again. 

Except then the sound of surprised and distressed shouting hit her ears and her throat closed up again. They would find her and they would hurt her. She needed to hide, to get safe. To be small and unimportant so that their cruelty would pass over her with disinterest. 

Adaine was in the middle of rows of shelves, somewhere deeper in the library. There were books cramming the shelves, old things that normally would have brought comfort but at this moment only reminded Adaine of her mistake. 

Not every shelf was full, however. This wasn’t like the Hudol library with every available space filled to the brim with tomes thicker than Adaine’s arm. No, there was room here, space where books had either been checked out or perhaps damaged and taken out of the public for repairs. Especially on the bottom shelf there was almost nothing so low down. 

There was certainly enough room for a small girl to hide. 

Adaine squeezed herself into the space, cramming in among the books and pressing herself into the corner of the shelf. She curled up into a ball, squeezing her legs to her chest as tightly as she could and burying her face into her knees to better muffle the sobs wracking her body. 

She knew, logically, that she could not hide forever. Eventually she would be found and the Bad Kids would probably assume her running was running away from them and then she would be in even more trouble than if she’d just stayed. It always happened like that, trying to avoid a punishment just made it worse in the long term. Adaine knew that. 

But right now, for a moment, she was safe and she let that comfort her enough to get her breathing back under enough control that she didn’t feel like she was about to pass out. 

Eventually, feeling exhausted and woozy from the overwhelming emotions that had just rushed through her, Adaine managed to lift her face from her knees and blink the tears out of her eyes. 

Gorgug and Fig were sitting against the bookshelf across from her, staring silently. 

Adaine yelped and tried to shove herself away but she was already as deep into this corner as she could get and so only managed to press her back harder against the shelf wall. 

Gorgug winced at her reaction even as Fig held up her hands like she was trying to calm down a spooked horse. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re all good.”

“I told you we shouldn’t have been staring at her,” Gorgug mumbled to his friend before giving Adaine an awkward, forced smile. 

“I’m sorry,” Adaine blurted out immediately, making sure to get ahead on that. It usually didn’t do much to lessen punishments but not saying it frequently made things worse. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Fig instantly insisted, causing Gorgug to wince again. 

“Um, though we do really want to know why you ran away?” Gorgug said, hesitantly, “Because if it was for a reason that you do need to apologize for I know I’ll forgive you if you tell us.”

“Gorgug!” Fig said in an almost offended tone. “Don’t be mean to her.”

“I’m not being mean,” Gorgug defended softly but with a furrowed brow of annoyance, “I don’t want to assume she freaked out for no reason. If something happened we should figure out what and fix it.” His black eyes flicked to Adaine’s face briefly before glancing down so he could pick at the fabric of his pants. “That’s what would make me feel better, at least. Instead of just trying to ignore the feelings.”

“I-” Adaine choked out because most of his words sounded almost nonsensical, said in a pattern the Hudol school counselor spoke in the one and only time Adaine had been permitted to visit him. But he did ask why she had run and so she made herself answer that question, shame almost strangling her voice. “I- took books. From the library. I lost them. Mother stole them.”

There was silence for a few seconds while Adaine held her breath and waited for the rage. Or at the very least the understanding. These kids had no stake in the library but surely they could see that the librarian would be furious with her. 

But instead of any of that the two kids just blinked at her, as if waiting for her to say something else.

When it became evident to all of them that Adaine was not going to continue, Fig cocked her head in bewilderment. “Is that all?”

Tears welled in Adaine’s eyes again, making Fig look panicked, and so Adaine covered her face with her hands to avoid seeing the reaction as she explained further. “I stole from the library. And this is a special library with really unique books so I can’t just buy new ones so Ayda’s going to hate me. And I thought she was starting to like me but no one likes me and it’s obvious why no one likes me because I keep messing up so bad. And now that I messed up this she won’t cast Sending for us so you guys are going to hate me too and it’s not- I’m- I’m just worthless and I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

She was hysterical now, the one rational side of her brain noted. Her words blurred together and got lost under hiccups and sobs. They probably thought she was so annoying, on top of being incompetent and evil. They were going to kill her, or leave her, or hurt her until she shut up. And she didn’t know which would be the worse option.

Something softly wrapped around her shoulders and pulled, trying to drag her out of the corner Adaine had attempted to wedge herself in. She tried to fight it but her movements were uncoordinated and she found herself overwhelmingly exhausted. Her emotions felt squeezed out of her chest and along with them went every scrap of energy she had left.

Gorgug- because she recognized now that it was Gorgug who was grabbing her- gently slid her out of the bookcase she had tried to hide in. He picked her up and Adaine resigned herself to whatever fate was in store for her, certain that if she tried to run the best that would come out of that was a bullet to the back of the head.

But to her great surprise Gorgug did not actually take her anywhere at all. Instead the half-orc only pulled her into his lap and squeezed her body gently in an enveloping embrace. 

Adaine blinked into his hoodie, confused enough to snap her out of her hysteria, and startled slightly when she felt a gentle hand on her head and glanced up to see Fig running her fingers through her hair. 

“That’s not good,” Gorgug mumbled so quietly Adaine wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or himself, “no one should feel like everything they do is wrong.”

“And no one who’s your friend should turn around and hate you over something dumb like this,” Fig declared, “if the librarian gets mad at you I’ll beat her ass. I promise.”

Adaine did not know if she was actually hearing correctly or if she had panicked so hard she’d looped around to going insane. Because what she was hearing, what was happening, was insane. Why was she being hugged and reassured and offered protection when she had so clearly messed up and was at fault? Sure, maybe assuming they’d attack her over this had been an over reaction but… 

“Why- why aren’t you upset?” Adaine choked out, her throat still thick with emotion even as most of the actual fear had been brushed aside to make way for pure bafflement. “I did something wrong.”

“No you didn’t,” Fig said with such a firm conviction for a moment Adaine almost believed her, “the only one who did something wrong is your stupid mom. You totally couldn’t have known that she’d run off and steal the books.”

“I'm really sorry that we chased you down and that Ragh beat you up later,” Gorgug said, still holding her close like he was worried she’d crumble apart if he let go, “I swear we don’t want to hurt you if you don’t want to hurt us.”

“I-” Adaine stuttered, “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

Fig made a very strange noise at that and then whispered to Gorgug in a way that Adaine was certain she wasn’t supposed to hear but when borderline impossible not to with how close they all were. “I thought I had mommy issues, dude.”

Gorgug snorted and the whole scene was so abused that it managed to snap Adaine into enough sense to wriggle out of his arms. He let her go without a fuss, leaning back and eventually climbing to her feet when Adaine sprang to hers. 

Adaine took a deep, steadying breath to collect herself and smoothed out her robe and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. “I am sorry.”

“You don’t-” Fig tried to protest again but Adaine cut her off with a head shake before she could get far. 

“No, I do need to apologize. I said I could get you a sending spell back to Solace and it turns out I couldn’t. I misled you, I apologize.”

Fig rolled her eyes and put her hand on her hip in a gesture that reminded Adaine strongly of Aelwyn. And she… didn’t know how to feel about that mental comparison. “It’s not really ‘misleading’ if you totally thought something was going to happen and then it just didn’t. It’s not like you lied to us or anything.”

“Also,” Gorgug added before Adaine could contest that point, stretching his back slightly as he shrugged his large awkward shoulders, “we only stuck around for a second but the librarian seemed really worried when you ran off. Maybe things will turn out better than you think?”

Adaine seriously doubted that but didn’t bother arguing as the three of them walked back to the front of the library, Adaine finding herself dropping back just enough to trail last as they came upon the scene she had bolted from.

The rest of the bad kids were already back- or perhaps they had never left- and were in a sort of awkward half circle around Ayda. Offering gentle comforts and reassurances. 

Because Ayda was crying. Fiery tears were rolling down her cheeks as she stared distantly over the other teens heads, not seeming to hear their reassurance at all. 

Why was she… why was she crying? Had Adaine made her cry ? Even though she was worried that Ayda now hated her she still didn’t want to make the other girl cry. Ayda was so nice, she didn’t deserve that. 

“Is she okay?” Adaine tried to whisper to Gorgug but was apparently not at all quiet enough because Ayda’s head snapped up to focus her sorrowful gaze directly onto Adaine. 

There was hatred in that gaze, which Adaine expected, but she was shocked to find the emotion did not seem directed at her. Adaine recognized the look well, the expression that gazed back at her every time she bit her tongue at injustice or failed to live up to her parents expectations. Self hatred. 

Ayda was mad at herself. 

“Ah, I am- glad to see you are unharmed,” Ayda said stiffly, clearing her throat even as more tears silently ran down her cheeks, “I apologize for whatever I did to upset you so greatly that you felt the need to flee from my presence. I’ve been told in the past that I am extremely difficult to interact with but this is the first time that has caused someone to run from me.”

“What?” Adaine asked, her own fear and self flagellating being shoved aside at Ayda’s implications that she had done something wrong. That she had been anything less than wonderful. “You’re not difficult to interact with, you’re the easiest person I’ve ever interacted with in my life.”

Everyone was looking at her now and Adaine felt like a bug under a microscope as Ayda stared her down in hurt confusion. 

“Then… why did you run away?” Ayda asked as well as the eyes of every other kid that wasn’t Fig or Gorgug. All silently wondering the same thing. 

Well, better to get it over with. “I… lost the books I had borrowed,” Adaine admitted, staring down at her boots and the wooden floor, “they were for my mother and she took them and now I don’t know where she is. I’m deeply sorry.” 

Adaine curled her arms around herself and resisted the urge to bow as she kept staring at the floor. She wasn’t in Fallinel, bowing wouldn’t be proper. And she wanted to be as proper as she could in this moment, Ayda deserved that. 

“Ah,” Ayda said after a moment of crushing silence, “that is… deeply unfortunate, yes. Every book in this library is incredibly valuable and difficult to come by since they only arrive in pirate loot.”

Adaine hunched in on herself, feeling sick.

“Hey, she apologized, didn't she?” Fig said, stepping in front of Adaine like she was going to physically fight the other girl off. “It wasn’t even her fault, it was her stupid mom’s fault for just getting up and ditching her, so lay off.”

Ayda stared at her, wings ruffling slightly but otherwise completely still. “Am I being too harsh? I am simply stating the facts of the matter. The books that have been misplaced is a great loss.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to get mad at her for something that isn’t her fault.”

“I am not mad at Adaine.”

Adaine’s head snapped up. “You’re not?”

Ayda huffed slightly, letting out a long gust of air and shaking her head. “I never said I was. Why would you assume I would be? It’s like your friend here has said, this isn’t your fault.” Ayda’s brow furrowed at the sight of Adaine’s wide eyes. “Is this why you ran? Because you thought I would be angry?”

“I- yes.” Adaine became aware of her body again- aware that they had an audience silently watching the interaction- and took a step back. “I don’t like people being angry at me…”

“A relatable discomfort,” Ayda said with an understanding nod, “but it seems neither of us are mad at the other?”

Adaine let a tiny smile creep onto her face. They weren’t mad. No one was mad. Everything was okay and Ayda still wanted to talk to her and even though Adaine had messed up things were fine. 

What a novel concept. 

“Hey guys I am like, so stoked that you’re still friends and stuff,” Ragh spoke up, alternating punching his hand into his fist in what seemed like a nervous habit, “but can we maybe get back to finding out if my mom is fucking dead or not?”

“Oh right!” Adaine practically yelped, giving Ayda an awkward smile. It felt weird asking for a favor now but, well, it wasn’t like Adaine had any other choice. “Uh… would you mind helping us out with a Sending Spell?”

Ayda didn’t reply immediately, her eyes wide and unfocused until she hesitantly nodded. “Yes. I would be willing to help… my friend.”

A warmth Adaine did not think she had ever felt before flowed through her and filled her up. She found herself grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Chapter Text

“Do you know anyone in Solace?” Adaine asked Ayda- her friend, her first real actual friend- while twisting her fingers together nervously. 

The gaggle of teenagers had migrated their way from the entryway and to the back of the library where tables and chairs were set up for independent study. There was no one else there, which was a shame it really was quite a nice space, reaffirming that a pirate island really didn’t have much in the way of literary interest.

Ayda had spread her spell book on the table, which was nice of her as it gave Adaine a shining view of the Sending spell the other wizard knew. She wasn’t sure if any of the other kids had any idea what they were looking at but they were also peering at it with curiosity and anticipation. 

Ayda frowned at the question but Adaine eased her racing heart with the assurance that it was probably a thoughtful frown, not an annoyed one. “I have never been there in this lifetime. I assumed you would have someone to contact after I taught you the correct spell.”

Adaine winced and shook her head, staring at the spell book to better ignore the fact that everyone was looking at her now. “I- I don’t. Not really. I’ve lived in Solace for year but I never had… friends. Or anything like that. Most of the people I know are Hudol professors who would be less than helpful, trust me.”

”Aw, man,” Ragh bemoaned, laying his chest on the table and running his hands through his hair in a clear sign of frustration, “so you can’t help at all? I’ll never know if my mom is okay?

Adaine’s mind raced as she tried to figure out a way to solve this mess. Why had she assumed that Ayda would have been able to contact anyone in Solace? Stupid, stupid, what was she going to do now? Teach one of them the spell?

“I could try something,” Ayda said, though she looked hesitant. Her bright eyes were furrowed slightly and her mouth twisted even as she kept up the same intense expression she always wore. “There is… someone that I know I have met. Not this me but a past me. But for the sake of the spell that should be enough of a connection.” 

“Who is it?” Fig asked, leaning forward and elbowing Ragh into sitting back up, “cause it does need to be someone who knows Ragh’s mom, right? That’s why we can’t use Adds’ contacts.”

Adds? Was that some sort of insult? No, this wasn’t really a moment for petty teasing. Weird.

Ayda grimaced but nodded in agreement with Fig. “Yes, it should be someone you all know. My father is Arthur Aguefort and, unless I am greatly mistaken, he is the principal of your school.”

That was an interesting connection and one Adaine hadn’t been anticipating. How did some principal in Solace have a half Phoenix daughter all the way in Leviathan? 

But while to Adaine this was a mildly interesting and hopefully helpful tidbit at best- she had never met the man after all- everyone else had an incredibly strong reaction to the news. 

Fig’s eyes grew wide and shinned with wonder, Kristen burst out laughing, Riz almost choked, Tracker sighed, and Gorgug groaned and tilted his head back in clear anguish. 

"Oh, jeeze, why does it always have to be him," Gorgug said to the ceiling, looking borderline pained.

Fig ignored him in favor of leaning even more forward, getting directly into Ayda's personal space. “So this means… you are the creature Aguefort made for me…”

Ayda stared at her for a good solid ten seconds before turning away and proceeding to act as if Fig had not even spoken. Which, honestly, probably the smart move. “As I said I have never met him in this life. I- I do not know why he has never contacted me before. It brings me great emotional distress to think about but for my friend- and your potentially dead mother- I am willing to give it a try.”

“ Please, ” Ragh begged, clasping his hands together in a pleading gesture, “you would literally be doing me such a solid. My dad totally walked out on my family too so, like, I totally get it but I need to know if my mom is alright so so bad. I will do literally anything.”

Adaine grimaced. Seemed like fathers abandoning their kids was a theme around here. Fucking Angwyn, Adaine bet he wasn’t even trying to help Aelwyn get out of prison and was just brown nosing and sipping wine all day.

Ayda lifted her hands and tucked her wings into her sides, obviously uncomfortable with how much they were all crowding her and saying such intense things at her. 

For some reason, it felt much more doable for Adaine to speak up now. “Okay, everyone back up. You have to give her space and let her work.”

Amazingly, they all did. Ragh got off the table with a sniffle and Fig held her arms up in surrender and backed off. None of them got angry at Adaine for speaking out of turn. They really were so much better than her parents. 

“Thank you,” Ayda said with a nod towards Adaine, before placing her palms flat down on the table and staring intently at her spell book, “I will do this for you and I hope it will help though most of you have a better understanding of who my father is than I do. Give me just a moment to craft my twenty five word message.”

She turned her attention fully to her book and Adaine, trying to help, made a shooing motion at the other teenagers until they all shuffled off to the side and gave Ayda at least a little bit of privacy.

"You really don't know anyone in Solace?"

Adaine didn't realize Kristen's question was being addressed to her until she caught the human staring at her with big sad eyes.

"Oh, uh, well, no, not really," Adaine said, awkwardly glancing away. She felt less scared now, less like these people were about to kill her or leave her stranded, but she'd also never gotten good at talking to people her own age even casually. "My parents are pretty controlling. I didn't really go anywhere besides school my whole life and no one at school really... liked me. They were scared of my mother or obsessed with my sister and never really had time for me."

"I get that," Gorgug said and Adaine was starting to really like Gorgug, "I mean, not about the parents and sibling things. But I didn't have any friends in school for a long time too. If my parents weren't still back in Solace... I don't know anyone I would be able to contact either."

Now Kristen looked at him with wide eyes. "Not neighbors or anything?"

Gorgug looked away uncomfortably. "I- sure, the Cubbys probably would pick up. Or any of your guy's parents. And... I do know Augefort personally. I was just trying to make Adaine feel better..."

Kristen, and Fig, awed as the half orc blushed dark green and ducked his head. Adaine felt surprisingly touched. People usually did not go out of their way to make her feel better and here these kids were, doing it time and time again. It was... nice. She thought she might even be starting to like this adventuring party.

And then a hole in space time ripped open in front of them and a human man's face with an incredibly long beard appeared in the air. 

"Ayda!" He said, facing the now frozen phoenix. The rest of them had to shuffle around to get a good proper view of the image. And it was an image, Adaine could see that now. The man was not actually here but instead projecting his likeness and voice from Solace.

That was... remarkably impressive magic. More detailed and powerful than Adaine could even fully comprehend. Who was this man? A principal and Ayda's father that could pull off such high level wizardry without more than a few minute's notice.

"How good it is to hear from you," Arthur Augefort continued, grinning wildly, "it has been... it has been a long while, hasn't it? How are you my dear?"

Ayda's mouth opened and closed a few times in clear uncertainty of how to proceed. "I am... well. Dad? You instantly recognized me so you have not forgotten me, despite remaining distant for longer than I can remember."

Arthur's smile dipped- though it was a bit hard to see around his beard. "Of course I recognize you. Dear... my dear girl I have only remained out of contact on your request." He squinted through his illusion. "Though a different version of you, I suppose. Did you not leave notes for yourself?"

The fire atop Ayda's head crackled and she was silent for a few long seconds as she thought about how to answer that particular question. It had clearly rocked her.

Too long. Ragh evidently got impatient with the father daughter reunion and shoved his way to the front of the group so he was standing directly in front of the active illusion. "Mr. Principal, dude, you gotta go check on my mom. We think something really bad has happened to her."

"Oh it definitely did," his principal said, switching back to a cheery demeanor in the blink of an eye. Which did not seem very appropriate for that sort of news. "Someone went and blew up her whole house. It was wild shit let me tell you."

Ragh's face went ashen gray and he sank to his knees. Riz put a hand on his shoulder- which he could now reach- as everyone else looked towards the magic projection in horror.

"So..." Ragh whispered, his voice hoarse. "So that's it. She's dead?"

"M-maybe," Fig jumped in, strained hope in her voice, "maybe she wasn't in the house!"

Arthur Aguefort laughed. Again, weirdly inappropriate in Adaine's opinion. "Now that is a psychological question for the ages, isn't it? Does it count as you being in a house if it was occupied by a clone version of you? Who's to say, really."

Tears were running down Ragh's face again but he apparently was still paying enough attention to blink at that and softly question. "What?"

There was an explanation about a devil in a gem in a chest- body type chest not box type- and probably some very illegal cloning that Adaine eventually tuned out in favor of going back over towards Ayda's side.

"Hey, um, are you okay?" Adaine asked and, goodness, she was so green at this friendship thing. Should she offer a hug? Space? Advice? Adaine tried to think of what she would want in this situation but she was still so fucking pissed at her own father she couldn't even imagine what Ayda must have been feeling.

"I am rocked," Ayda said simply, still staring at the floating image of her father, "I am very shaken. I have never met my father and now he is saying that a past version of myself told him to stay away. I- I- I do not have any documentation of that. But I do know I am missing some. Does he know what happened between us? Can he fill the gaps? It frightens me."

That, at least, Adaine could understand. She hated not knowing things, she couldn't imagine having multiple lifetimes of memories that she couldn't access. And she could understand being afraid.

Abruptly, Ayda turned fully towards her, wrenching her gaze away from her father to focus fully on her friend. "What of you? What is your relationship with your own father? Please tell me immediatly so we can stop speaking of mine."

"Oh, uh," Adaine stumbled, caught off guard by having the spotlight thrust upon her but genuinely wanting to help her friend, "it's not good. Not good at all. He sucked, a lot, growing up. Always pitted me against my sister and made me feel like I could never do anything right. I really never liked him. And then things got so much worse when my sister got arrested."

Ayda tilted her head. Her own panic and tense emotions about her family replaced by concerned curiosity. "Where is he now?"

So many people concerned for Adaine, not about her. It was almost dizzing. Or it would be if hot anger wasn't boiling her blood at thoughts of her cowardly and cruel father. "He's in Fallinel. Sucking up to the Court of Stars while my sister is being tortured by them. He doesn't even care that she's being hurt, he just cares about his pathetic reputation. He claims he's trying to help her but it's been almost a year of constant-"

She broke off, worried she'd start crying if she continued. The thought of what was happening to Aelwyn always overwhelmed her. Her sister had looked so small and hurt when she had last seen her and that was months ago. Who knew how Aelwyn was holding up now. Or if she even was. What if she was dead, or driven insane? What if Adaine was already too late to save her? 

“I am sorry,” Ayda said after a moment as Adaine wrestled to keep herself collected, “that sounds terrible. And I am very sorry to hear that your sister is in trouble. Are you two very close?”

Adaine barked out a laugh and shook her head, more exasperated with herself than anything else. “ No, not at all. We hated each other as children. Aelwyn was always my parents’ favorite while I got in trouble for even things that were her fault. It’s horribly ironic that I now seem to be the only one that cares about her.”

Ayda sucked in a deep breath that sounded almost wet, like she was just as emotional as Adaine was trying not to be in that moment. "That sounds truly terrible. Adaine, as my first, only, and best friend, I will help you if you require in rescuing your sister from where she is being held."

The sincerity of the gesture almost knocked Adaine over. "Wha- are- are you serious? We- we- we just met a couple days ago! And we're breaking her out of prison so this might be really dangerous. You don't have to do that."

"I feel as if I will be a bad friend if I do not," Ayda said firmly before faltering for half a moment, "is that not right? Am I imposing? I'm afraid I am inexperienced with friendship."

Adaine let out a breathy laugh at that, feeling like the air had been stolen from her lungs. But in a pleasant way, almost. "Don't worry, so am I. It... wouldn't be imposing, no. I'd actually love your help. That's just such a big favor and..." She swallowed thickly, a chastising voice ringing through her head and scolding her for being ungrateful. "Thank you, Ayda. That means a lot."

Ayda simply nodded. "Though it is painful, you have given me the courage to reach out to my father. That means much to me as well. I feel as if we are succeeding in friendship."

Adaine gave her a lopsided smile, the best she could do at the moment. "I'd certainly give us an A."

"Woo!" Came the very loud shout out of Ragh, all of his previous pain seemingly instantly cleared up. "Great news my guys, my mom is not dead."

The Solace kids had turned away from the projection of their principal now- though it still hovered there in the air- and Kristen gestured to Adaine. "There's also apparently this creepy pirate dude we have to go kill before he takes over the city. We thought Ayda might want to stay and talk to her dad while we all dealt with that."

Beside Adaine, Ayda sucked in a sharp breath. Acting on pure instincts, Adaine reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it in a way that she hoped was comforting. 

Ayda looked at her, looked down at where their hands were intertwined, and squeezed back. Adaine carefully bit back a grimace, making a mental note that maybe hand squeezes were nicer when said hands weren't still recovering from a curse. 

"You'll do great," Adaine tried to reassure Ayda while also subtly trying to tug her hand away. 

"Thank you," Ayda responded, fortunately releasing Adaine from her foolish decision and giving her her aching hand back, "call to me when you are in need and I will help you find your sister."

Adaine blinked and then flushed. "I still don't know how to cast Sending."

Ayda blinked back. "Ah. Well. Shit. One moment I think I have a scroll around here you can borrow in the meantime."