Fantasy Cursed Island

[Fangs9090]

Nidia headed out, passing Katsuo outside before finding a place to sit with her mirror and call home.

 

[Darkling0096]

The opposite end of the world was much later at night than Nidia was. Even the inn wasn't active at two in the morning, so Nidia was instead treated to an image of her parents drooling on the pillow asleep. Veo had taken to carrying the mirror everywhere, it seemed.

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia paused before she smiled. It was nice to see them, but she couldn't bear to wake them when they looked so peaceful.

Nearby, Katsuo had been checking out the exterior of one of the houses the party had been offered. One of the windows was just slightly opened, so he stopped to see if he could either close it or open it the rest of the way. The moment he touched it, the entire frame fell out, shattering the glass on the ground.

 

[Darkling0096]

Shattering glass was a loud, sharp sound that rang through the mirror.

As a pair of tavern owners, it was also a sound Emil and Veo had come to fear. Glassware wasn't cheap, and windows even less cheap than glassware. And of course, hearing your window break in the middle of night wasn't something anyone wanted to be woken to, home invasions and all. So when the pair almost jumped out of their skin, Veo reaching for the knife she kept under the pillow, a trick she'd picked up from living in the cursed ruins, it wasn't an unwarranted reaction.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil had invested in a bedside rapier as well, which was in his hand before he was fully upright.

Nidia flinched from the sound of the glass and her parents' reaction. "Ah... Hello?"

 

[Darkling0096]

Veo looked around at the voice, "Who's there?" She looked around until she spotted the mirror. "Nidia?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia gave an awkward smile. "Hey... I didn't wanna wake you, but uh..." She glanced over towards the building. "This old house decided to lose a window. ...Katsuo says he's sorry." She looked to the mirror again.

Emil looked over at the mirror and sighed before sheathing the rapier. "I thought someone was breaking in..."

 

[Darkling0096]

Veo groaned and put the knife away, settling back onto the bed and plucking at her nightshirt, "What time is it?", she squinted at the nightstand that had her timekeeping bracelet. Way too early. "Aww..." She sighed and looked at Emil, "Coffee?" She doubted she'd be able to get back to sleep in the couple hours before she'd have to get up to get the morning rush going.

She looked back at Nidia and smiled, "I'm sorry, sweetie, it's just really early."

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil nodded. “May as well, I suppose. We can close up early today.”

Nidia nodded. “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t realize it would be so early for you guys. I was just gonna call again later, but... yeah.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"It's okay, Nidia," Veo yawned and stretched her arms over her head, "I'm just gonna make some coffee, you two stay there." She smiled a bit at the joke and vanished from the mirror's view to put slippers on her hooves and make her way downstairs to make some wake-up juice.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil watched her go as he stretched himself before looking to the mirror. “It is good to hear from you again.”

Nidia smiled. “Sorry I haven’t been calling as often as I said I would. We’ve been pretty busy and I get distracted.”

“It’s fine. I know how those adventures can be.”

 

[Darkling0096]

On the floor below in the kitchen, Veo hummed as she ground coffee beans and poured boiling water to make coffee, adding sugar and such to what she knew was Emil's taste and her own, still humming quietly as she walked back up the stairs to deliver the steaming cup of caffeine juice to her husband, closing the door behind her.

"So," Veo said after a long draw from the mug, "What have you been up to?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil nodded his thanks and took a sip as well.

Nidia smiled. “Well, a lot. I don’t actually remember what was the last part I told you about.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Oh," Veo reached under the bed and fished out a journal, flipping to the ribbon. "The last time we talked was... about a week ago? We didn't really chat much, the inn was busy."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Um... Oh, yeah, we were at that bandit fort. Right. So, the prince himself actually showed up there and we got to walk into the city with him. They were really grateful that we cleared out the fort, so they let us stay in the castle. It was so nice. Have you ever seen a royal bath?"

 

[Darkling0096]

Veo giggled a bit and looked at Emil, "After a fashion..." The springs in the ruins outclassed any royal bathhouse, as far as she was concerned. And when they visited Jerry and Asta... well they maintained their hotsprings to an almost regal standard, in the minotaur's eyes.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil smiled and nodded his agreement as Nidia continued. "And the beds were amazing. I could live there forever, easy. But it was only a temporary setup before we had to switch to an inn. Which was nice, but nowhere near royal. Oh, and the royals did have one of the stones."

Emil raised an eyebrow. "Did?"

"Weeellllll... We have it now."

 

[Darkling0096]

Veo raised an eyebrow in turn, "And what did you give them for the stone?" Surely the royal family wouldn't just give up such an artifact.

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia paused before glancing away. "...a forgery." She looked at the mirror. "Let me explain. So, while we were trying to figure out how to get it without getting in trouble, a thief broke in and stole it during the night. So we tracked... Well, the others tracked down the thief, I was in quarantine." She glanced away again. "I kinda lost track of my heat cycle again...."

 

[Darkling0096]

Veo sighed and sat down on the bed on hearing that, "Nidia, did you do something stupid?" She paused, "Did you at least drink silphium?"

 

[Fangs9090]

“Well... I threw our first plan out the window, though that worked out because of the thief. And I embarrassed myself in front of Turac, but he knew why I was like that, at least. Um... What’s silphium again?”

 

[Darkling0096]

Veo palmed her face, "It's a flower, if you crush the seeds into a drink it's a contraceptive. It grows wild on the coast, at least over here." She sighed and looked up, "Nidia, please tell me you're not gonna come home with a litter."

 

[Fangs9090]

"I'm not! I'm not! ...notonaccident,atleast. BUT we found an apothecary and bought a powder that helps me, ah, 'cool down,' so I've got that under control. It's a good supply of it, too, but I'll see if I can identify the herbs in it and find more."

 

[Darkling0096]

"NIdia, I heard that!", Veo said, a bit louder than she wanted.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emil put his ears back for that reply. "Now now, it's alright for her to find someone special. So long as we get to meet him give our approval. But that has to come well before making a litter."

"Well, you've met Turac before, right?"