The Sisters of the Woods Ch.4

“So, we haven’t met.”

Nic looked over at Adelaide where she hovered next to him on her broomstick. She somehow managed to daintily perch on it, her legs crossed and pose casual. She might as well be sitting on a plush reclining chair for all the difficulty she was having.

“Not that I know of,” Nic said, extending a hand. “Nicholas Greytower.”

Adelaide smiled, drifting over to shake the offered hand.

“Oh, I know who you are,” she said.

“You do?”

She nodded. “I was there that night you bopped Arthur in the nose.”

Nic looked away, feeling his cheeks flush at the memory. Good as things had turned out with that, it didn’t make it any less awkward to think about. Adelaide chuckled warmly at his reaction.

“Don’t worry, he’d had it coming for a while.”

“People keep telling me that,” Nic said, though he couldn’t help but smile.

“Probably because it’s true.”

The conversation lulled and Adelaide drifted away, leaving Nic alone with the surrounding woodland. Little had changed since their run in with the pixies, the trees remaining just as thick and wild as before. Though somehow things felt calmer, as if the forest had settled after realizing they weren’t a threat. Or something to that effect at least. Nic still was entirely out of his depth with this whole nature thing. Felt nice though, the dappled sunlight and whisper of wind making their journey quite pleasant.

Suddenly, the ridgeback gave a sharp hiss, turning its head to bare its teeth at something. Nic gave him an equally sharp chastisement, lightly snacking him on the neck, before turning to find Geniveve riding up towards them. The pegasus didn’t seem crazy about the idea, eyeing the gecko with mortal terror, but gentle urging from her rider convinced it to close the rest of the distance.

“Hey,” Nic said. “Sorry about that, I have no idea what this one’s problem is.”

The gecko gave a smaller, quieter hiss but kept moving without complaint. The pegasus came the rest of the way up, Geniveve casting a small smile as she drew level with him.

“It’s alright, not your fault,” she said. “He just does that sometimes for no reason.”

“Still though, weird,” Nic said

“Maybe a little.” She trailed off, fidgeting with the hem of her dress before mumbling something too quietly for Nic to make out.

“Sorry?” he asked.

“I, um, thank you.”

“Hm?” Nic asked. “For what?”

“For, for the shield? I mean, for using the shield. To stop the rocks. Back there at the trees. Or-”

She trailed off again, her hem apparently deeply fascinating. Nic shrugged.

“No problem,” he said.

The dreaded silence threatened to return, the weight of unspoken words sitting heavy between the two of them. Nic was just about to resort to drastic measures when Adelaide’s voice spared him the need.

“We’re here!”

Nic turned just as the trees suddenly thinned, parting like a curtain to reveal an enormous clearing beyond. It almost felt wrong, that dense forest should suddenly stop and be replaced by such a large open space. A feeling not at all helped by the house sitting right in the middle of it.

Though house seemed entirely the wrong word. Houses, plural, might be closer but that still implied a level of planning that this structure lacked. It was in most basic terms an artificial structure, clearly built and not at all part of the surrounding trees. Beyond that, describing the place largely depended on where you looked.

Straight on it was a relatively modest, though still grand, three level structure. Square, squat, all textured brick, and ancient timbers, dotted with many windows that sparkled in the mid-morning sun. Some might even call it a mansion and a nice one at that.

If, however, you were to look to the left, that illusion would be broken by the presence of a metal tower hanging off the side like a length of enormous pipe. Its roof was domed, a section of it sitting higher than the rest, almost like a hinge or brace. Nic had no idea what that could be for but made a note to ask.

To the right sat an even taller tower that rose straight up out of the roof, this one made of a different coloured brick to the house. No fewer than three chimneys poked up from its top, spewing wisps of blue, pink, and green smoke respectively. From beneath its eves stuck out a long straight platform marked up to form a runway. It was small by that standard, but still almost as long as the house it was attached to.

Strange enough on its own, made only stranger by the slide that ran from the runway’s middle all the way down to the front yard, taking the longest, most circuitous route possible. That terminated in what Nic could only describe as the mother of all playgrounds, a bright, rainbow coloured jungle of monkey bars, swing-sets, and a vast desert of a sandbox.

Beyond that lay gardens. Dozens of cultivated plots containing every kind of flower, bush, shrub, and vegetable imaginable. More even, Nic not having the slightest clue what some of the plants were, particularly the ones that moved. Doubly the ones that moved and were locked in cages. The implications there were many and Nic decided it best not to dwell on them.

It was all one giant mess, a clash of styles and functions that made no sense and yet, somehow, it worked. Whoever had built this place had taken care to make sure that even if they didn’t fit, they at least flowed, the madness shifting from one bit to the next without much friction. Cohesive chaos was the best way Nic had to describe it.

“Whoa,” Nic said, drinking in the sight. “You live here?”

Geniveve nodded. “Yeah, it’s a bit weird but, you know, it’s home.”

“Eh, normal is overrated anyway,” Nic said.

Geniveve went strangely quiet at that, Nic looking over to find she had taken a keen interest in her hands.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“No, no, um, it’s just…”

She trailed off, keeping her gaze intently focused anywhere but at Nic. He was about to press when Adelaide flew up on her broom.

“You two coming or what?” she asked, drifting lazily between them. As she passed Nic, the gecko turned to hiss at her. Nic went to scold it again, only for Adelaide to coo at the creature like a puppy.

“Daw, thank you,” she said. “Who’s a good boy? Is it you?”

The gecko hissed again, somehow suddenly sounding pleased with itself despite making the exact same sound. What helped was Adelaide reaching out to scratch under its chin, the gecko leaning into the contact as its fur shivered in reply.

“Uh, what?” Nic asked. “I thought it was mad at you?”

“What, this one?” Adelaide said, continuing to scritch. “He’s a big old suck-up. Wants to be everyone’s friend.”

“But- the hissing?”

“That’s how they show affection,” Adelaide said. “Trust me, you’d know if he was mad at you, and it wouldn’t sound like that.”

As if to prove her point, the gecko gave a strange rumbling sound, pulling away from Adelaide’s touch.

“No more?” Adelaide asked.

The gecko purred, before giving another little hiss, butting its head into Adelaide’s hand. She chuckled and resumed scratching his neck.

“Wait so, a hiss means he’s happy?” Nic pressed.

“M-hmm,” Adelaide said. “Didn’t Veve tell you?”

They both looked to Geniveve who seemed to be doing her level best to vanish into thin air. When such a thing did not spontaneously occur, she ever so marginally raised her chin, still refusing to look at them.

“I forgot,” she squeaked out.

“Really sis?” Adelaide said with a patient smile.

Geniveve blushed near incandescent, looking as if she were trying to will herself out of existence. Nic was tempted to speak up in her defense but realized he wouldn’t know how. Adelaide spared him the need by drifting over to her sister and patting her on the shoulder.

“It’s alright, we all forget stuff.”

Geniveve nodded, sitting up a little straighter in her seat. The gecko hissed at her again, making several laps of the pegasus. Despite the knowledge of its true meaning, both mount and rider still seemed uncomfortable with the gesture.

“Will you stop you overgrown lizard!?” Nic snapped at his mount. It didn’t seem to care but turned towards the house regardless.     

“Alright, come on you two,” Adelaide said, moving to do the same. “Everyone will be wondering where we got to.”

*

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