Noctivagant

[Thalia]

Oh dear. She felt the moment her will brushed another, and not the troubled dreamer for whom she had reached. Nimeda did not usually care to interfere in Mara’s feasts with her pets, but she was not sure what would happen if she just let go now – everything suddenly felt fit to burst, a powder keg. A moment later release tumbled a figure through, and she no longer thought about it then, because she recognised him immediately. Her eyes rounded wide, and she reached for him as he grabbed wildly for something stable. That being her.

“I have you, Noctua,” she assured, not sure how much of that he’d discern over the chortling waterfall (of course it was amused, it rarely saw people at all). But he’d called the water her home once, and maybe the sound of it would bring some comfort. Either way she expected residual fear, and was ready to soothe it, given whose company he’d fled. She loved Mara unconditionally, but she also understood that the girl was often… misunderstood. For all she knew her pets still hunted, but they were unlikely to push their fuzzy little bodies from the shadows while Nimeda was here.

“Don’t flail. It’s slippery.” Her own bare feet slid across the rocks, but since she had no intention of falling, she paid it no mind. The waterfall perch was not a great venue for balancing acts, but if she kept him from the edge he was not in immediate danger of falling. A safer place might have been preferable, but she was worried another shift now would startle him awake, and she couldn’t bear the risk – not when he had remained hidden from her for so long, and not before she was sure there was no damage that would seep through to his waking body. His eyelids slid low. He seemed the type inclined to faint.