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They’d been waiting for Beau, Nott and Caleb to come back for a good while now.
As soon as the spell had released them, their resident monk had run off into the woods to follow the others. Molly wasn’t really sure what she was hoping to achieve, since Caleb hadn’t looked willing to be persuaded or talked down when he’d left, but they could relate to having to at least give helping a try.
Jester, for her part, had darted off into the house at a truly frightening speed. It would’ve made them smile, if they hadn’t seen just how miserable Fjord had been looking before they’d left for the flowers.
Molly had followed at a quick pace. Anything to soothe the girl’s anxieties, honestly; Jester seemed very sweet, but also very inexperienced. Not that Molly could offer much in the way of experience, per se, but having a second pair of hands certainly couldn’t hurt.
So now here they both were: waiting for their comrades to get back, watching over Fjord and waiting for the medicine to do its trick.
Jester had brewed the tea just as Nott had instructed her. But with that done, she seemed at a loss for what to do now. She was doing her best to sit still in her chair next to the head of the bed, but she kept wiggling and shifting. Whenever Molly’s gaze would wander over to check on Fjord, they could see her mutter to herself from the corner of their eye. With what little they knew of her, Molly assumed she was praying.
After another few minutes of this - the only sound in the room Fjord’s labored breathing - Jester jumped to her feet abruptly. “Do you think we should-“ She didn’t need to finish the sentence, it was all over her face; that need to do something. To that, they could certainly relate. Restlessness had always been Molly’s vice in situations just as this, where everything was tense and fraught with unspoken concern and leftover fear.
They tried to give her the best smile they could muster under the circumstances. “I think we’re already doing everything we can, I’m afraid.“
Her shoulders drooped and Molly really didn’t know if that was better than the tension that had been there before. They looked around the room for some sort of task for them to do, but came up empty. Cleaning up the room would have provided a distraction, for sure, but Jester didn’t seem the type to enjoy cleaning and besides, there weren’t any brooms or dusters around anyway. Looking out for Fjord’s fever wasn’t exactly a full-time job for two people and sorting out supplies seemed pointless to them at the moment, given that all of them had maybe four buttons, a hairband and eleven silver to their names.
Nothing to do then, but wait. But… Jester just simply looked so sad. Molly couldn’t stand it a minute longer. Truly, trying to cheer her up was for their benefit just as much as hers, if not more.
“Would you like a story, my dear?“ They were nothing if not a showman, after all. They watched with delight as Jester’s morose expression morphed into a huge smile in a matter of seconds.
“Yes! Yes, yes, yes; pretty please? I love stories, Molly! How did you know?“ Her enthusiasm was back and it felt like a small, but significant, victory after this hell of a day they’d all had.
“Well, it’s quite simple, really“ They could tell they had her full attention and it was truly adorable. She’d sunk back into her chair and was now excitedly rocking from side to side, “No one can resist a good story.“
Her smile was sunshine in a bottle and it made a sharp pain erupt in their chest; fondness mixing with a twisted version of homesickness and grief. They missed the carnival so much, already.
Well, time for that later. For now, they had a tiefling to entertain and an unconscious half-orc to guard. Anything bigger than that would have to wait for the dark of night where no one could hear them shatter into pieces.
“Well then! Can I interest you in the fabulous tale of how I single-handedly saved our opening number a few months back. Near that one town with the big belltower, I think it was…“
They continued their stories for quite a while. Jester perked up more and more with every recounted anecdote and bit of slightly embellished shenanigans and it made the pain of recalling their family almost entirely worth it. The sound of the door slamming open interrupted a rather inaccurate - not that they’d ever tell her that - re-telling of one of their first ever shows.
Jester’s questioning gaze snapped to the door, then to Fjord on the bed - looking better already, Molly was glad to note - and finally landed on Molly.
They gave her as reassuring a smile as they could and got up, stretching their stiff muscles as they did. “I’ll go look, you stay with him.“ She looked grateful, but still torn, so they added: “Don’t worry, Beau went after them pretty much immediately. They didn’t even have time to get into any more trouble.“
They highly doubted the validity of those words, but Molly was nothing if not an excellent liar. Jester gave them a nod and re-wet the rag on Fjord’s forehead with admirable, if a bit overeager, determination. Molly gave a real smile and went out the door.
Downstairs, they could hear Beau and Nott arguing quietly, if no less viciously for it.
“What the fuck happened out there?!“ Beau sounding pissed off was either a bad sign or her default tone of voice, Molly hadn’t known her long enough to tell yet.
“How the fuck should I know?“ Nott sounded angry, too, but there was more there that Molly could discern. Fear, maybe desperation. Caleb was probably not in the best state, then.
“You know him, don’t you? Why would he do something like that?“ Her voice got louder the closer Molly got.
“He’s got a good reason; I know he does“ Oh, but Nott sounded a tad unsure now. Still just as protective and fierce, but maybe not as in the know as they’d thought and she herself had hoped.
“He’ll share when he’s ready“, and her tone brooked no argument. Molly reached the bottom of the stairs, turned the corner and two pairs of eyes immediately landed on them. The third pair of eyes was shut.
Caleb was laying, limp like a doll, on Beau’s back. Molly was reluctantly impressed that she’d seemingly carried him all the way back here. Overshadowing that, however, was the concern for their wizard. Caleb looked like he’d narrowly escaped a house-fire. His face was covered in soot and dried tear tracks ran down his ash-stained cheeks. He was pale as a ghost and even in unconsciousness, he seemed to tremble faintly. Molly couldn’t tell if that was from exhaustion, terror or an overuse of magic, though. Maybe even all three. They resolutely ignored the gruesome scars on his arm, that were now exposed in the absence of his usual bandages.
Nott stepped in front of Beau and, probably more important to her at the moment, Caleb instinctively. She looked like she wanted to say something, but her mouth remained shut and her bright-yellow eyes simply glared at them suspiciously.
Beau was the one to break the awkward silence. “How’s Fjord?“
Molly suppressed a grin. Teasing her about caring was probably counterproductive in this instance. They tried for a small, but sincere, smile instead. “Better. The flowers seem to help, so thank you Nott.“
Nott still looked guarded, but her stance was loosening a bit and she gave a barely audible “You’re welcome“ back.
Molly’s gaze fell back on Caleb and Beau followed it immediately. They must have looked more worried than they’d intended, because Beau shrugged one shoulder and said: “He’s fine… I think. Passed out after using a shit-ton of magic, as far as I could tell.“ And with a glare at Nott, she added: “I have some questions for him, though.“
Nott’s eyes snapped back to her, full of protective rage and determination. “He needs sleep, not questions!“
Beau put her hands up as much as she could while maintaining her grip on Caleb’s thighs in a sort of surrendering gesture. “Chill out, man. We’re gonna get him to a bed, get some sleep ourselves and talk it all out in the morning.“ Molly couldn‘t help but agree with that idea. Sleep was probably gonna help everyones’ nerves more than anything else could and some answers to whatever the fuck had happened today sounded great.
Nott relaxed a fraction, but didn’t avert her gaze. “Fine“, she bit out after a tense few seconds and Beau let out a relieved breath. Molly thought she looked tired; bun half-undone from running and jumping and punching all day and eyes falling closed of their own volition. Today had been a long fucking day.
Maybe they could take over for a while, then. Give her a bit of a breather. “I checked the place out earlier when Jester and I were looking for extra blankets. I can take him to the other bedroom I found“, they offered while looking at Beau with their best ‘you look dead on your feet‘-expression they’d had to perfect to get Gustav to stop stressing and take a rest some evenings after particularly busy days at the circus.
Their chest felt heavy.
Beau looked reluctant, but undeniably tempted, so Molly offered up their hands for her to hand Caleb over. “Answers tomorrow, Beau. Right now, we all need to fucking sleep.“
Beau exhaled long and slow, then rolled her neck, grimacing at the stiffness. She looked them over one more time. And then they could see the exact moment the exhaustion won over. “Okay. Okay, yeah. I’m gonna go crash“, and with that she maneuvered Caleb off her back and deposited him - gently, Molly noted - into their waiting arms.
Nott, while she’d stayed quiet during the previous exchange, instantly jumped to assist in this endeavor by holding Caleb’s head up with infinite care and adjusting it against Molly’s shoulder so he was as comfortable as possible. Molly could only envy the fondness dripping from every swipe of Nott’s long fingers through Caleb’s shaggy hair.
While Beau made her way upstairs with one last concerned glance back at them, Molly - now with Caleb in his arms, who they decided was definitely too light - and Nott made their way to the bedroom they’d found tucked away on the ground level a few hours earlier. Nott’s hand was clutching onto one of Caleb’s coat sleeves and it didn’t seem like she was willing to let go any time soon, so Molly didn’t ask her to when they deposited Caleb carefully on the lumpy bed.
While they made quick work of getting the blanket out from under him and covering him with it - maybe it would help with the shivering - Nott had curled up in the space between Caleb’s arms and closed her eyes. It was the most peaceful she’d looked since Caleb had run off and Molly felt they could breathe easier, seeing them cuddled up like this, safe and warm and together.
For their part, while they very much felt the exhaustion in their fucking bones at this point, sleep seemed a distant dream, for lack of a better word. Too much had happened in the last fourty-eight hours for them to truly feel restful in sleep. The nightmares were waiting just around the corner, they could tell.
So, they checked up on the others upstairs one more time. Beau had fallen asleep instantly upon hitting the pillow, it seemed, and Jester was sleeping peacefully next to a recovering Fjord. That done with, they settled in for a night of solitary watch in Caleb and Nott’s room.
Keeping awake was a practiced task and they couldn’t help but be glad for that tonight. Because while Caleb certainly needed all the sleep he could get, his mind seemed determined to make that as difficult as possible for him on this particular occasion.
The trembling worsened more than once during the night and could only be calmed by Nott reaching out in her sleep and curling closer - how she could sense Caleb’s distress, Molly had no idea, but by the Moonweaver, were they glad she was here - or Molly taking both his hands and rubbing some warmth into them themselves. Caleb’s hands were ice-cold and the words ‘after-effects from shock‘ were floating around in Molly’s head for a disconcertingly long time.
Caleb also kept tossing and turning and mumbling in his sleep. Molly could only catch a word here and there - most of it wasn’t in Common anyway - and they swore to themselves they’d never repeat any of it to anyone on threat of death.
At some point, they didn’t know if the reassurances they kept up all through the night were more for Caleb’s or their own benefit. Molly hated nothing more than feeling helpless, after all. So, talking Caleb through it as best they could seemed like their best option here.
After every shallow breath: “It’s okay. You’re okay.“
After every pained twist of his face: “You’re safe here. I’m taking watch, you’re safe and Nott’s right here. You’re safe.“
After every aborted reach for a component pouch that Nott had taken for safe-keeping: “Shh, nothing’s happening. Just rest, everyone’s doing that right now, you can too. Yeah, exactly like that, good job.“
Through all of that, Caleb stayed dutifully asleep and Molly would be lying if they said they weren’t at least a litte proud of themselves when the morning sun started to peak though the broken windows and Caleb finally seemed settled and calm.
With a satisfied smile, they leaned back in their chair and let their eyes shut for just a moment. They’d have to get up in a short while anyway, but for now, the house was quiet and Caleb had his arm comfortably slung around Nott instead of searching desperately for spell components.
Yeah, Molly was pretty sure they could sleep now.