Chapter 8 - Let Sleeping Phoenixes Lie

As Lilly landed near the entrance of the house, she tried to remain quiet. She figured it would be best, just in case Mia and Beak had managed to fall asleep.

‘I hope they didn’t remain as distant as they seemed when I left, at least…’

The streets were sparsely populated now, only having a few old roamers walking around. The guards, now a usual sight outside Eolande’s house, nodded quietly to Lilly as she entered the door.

The house was quiet, and few lights had been lit, making Lilly think everything had gone smoothly. She snuck up the stairs from the old shopping area to the living room while cursing every creak in the old wood.

‘Surely there has to be a silencing spell Elly can teach me. Unless those boots do everything for her.’

The living room was empty and dark, so Lilly continued to their bedroom. On the way, she found a heap of soot and cloth, which forced her to stop a chuckle. The image she got in her mind of Mia throwing off burned clothes in frustration on her way to the bedroom was quite entertaining.

She gently opened the door and noticed the room was completely dark. A very quiet ‘hush’ from the bed made Lilly realize Mia was still awake, and that Beak had fallen asleep.

Once her vision had adapted a bit better, she could see that Mia was sitting on her side of the bed, while one of the blankets had been balled up to a nest-looking thing on her own side. A slight outline of a bird was visible in the middle, lying on its side.

Mia gently got up from the bed and quietly walked to Lilly, who kept the door open and let her out. She then closed the door behind her, taking as much care as she could to ensure it was silent.

Mia looked at her and whispered, “He calmed down from your scent, I think, so I finally managed to get him to sleep. Did you find anything useful?”

Lilly nodded and whispered back, “Nothing very important, but some of it was nice to know. He won’t get his memory back before a few months have passed, and he prefers warm places to sleep. And cooked meat works well, although I don’t know if I have to chew it first.”

Mia smiled lightly. “At least we haven’t done anything wrong then. We might need to make a nest of your blanket tomorrow so he can sleep in our room, but what do we do tonight?”

Lilly pondered it for a moment. “I guess we could take Elly’s bed, but I think I’ll have to stay with him in case he wakes up. You go sleep in Elly’s room, and I’ll handle the rest.”

Mia seemed grateful as she started walking to the door slightly further down the hall. Unfortunately, Lilly couldn’t help but add a comment about her appearance before letting her go: “That look suits you, dear.”

Mia’s disheveled appearance was clearer in the hallway than it had been in the dark room. Her body was covered in soot, and little else.

“You’re very funny, my love,” Mia replied monotonously without turning around. She entered Eolande’s room and gently closed the door behind her.

Lilly felt a pang of guilt for spending more time than necessary in the library. ‘I’ll have to make it up to her tomorrow,’ she thought.

She opened the door to the room again, quietly got undressed, and laid down next to Beak on Mia’s side of the bed, ready to sleep.

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‘Let’s hope tomorrow has fewer surprises than today…’

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The morning had barely begun when Lilly was bothered awake by a beak pecking on her ear. She nearly brushed her hand up to get whatever was bothering her away but realized just in time that it was Beak trying to wake her.

“Mmhm, morning, Beaky-boy… Let me guess, you want food?” Lilly mumbled, still keeping her eyes closed. She gently swung her hand up to her ear, trying to pet the little guy, but was instead greeted by a light bite.

“Hmh. You'll have to learn some manners. You don’t bite the hand that feeds. But fine, I’ll get up.”

Lilly yawned as she sat up in the bed, stretching and rubbing her eyes. It felt a bit weird not to have Mia on the other side, but she could manage one night without her. Two might be a challenge.

As she got dressed, Lilly looked at Beak, who was still sitting on her pillow. She was impressed that he had managed to get there from the nest on the other side of the bed, considering his slow progress yesterday.

‘I guess he does grow fast. And I don’t know how long he was trying, of course…’

That last part made her feel bad, so she hurried to pick him up and bring him to the kitchen on her shoulder. She opened the magically cooled cabinet and presented the different types of meat Silver had prepared yesterday.

“You’ll have all the meat you want, little one. Take your pick, and I’ll cook it up good.”

Beak was simply sitting on her shoulder and started pecking on her top, not in the mood to be choosing, it seemed. “Tenderloin it is, then!” Lilly decided, bringing the pound of meat to the counter and taking out a sharp knife.

After slicing off a nice piece, she put the rest back in the cabinet and got ready to cook. Looking at the meat, she briefly wondered if Beak would prefer the meat well done or if medium rare was good enough.

‘... Am I being selfish if I only make it to my taste? It only said he preferred cooked, not how cooked. Let’s try medium rare first.’

Lilly selfishly cooked the meat in her hand with less intensity than yesterday, and the smell of it made her mouth water.

The technique of cooking meat with the flame wasn’t as simple as one might think. The flame had a tendency to gather in the middle of the meat, cooking it more than the rest.

She had to focus on keeping the flame on the outer parts so that the moisture was kept inside, while also taking care not to overcook the outer parts. With her abundant flame, it was hard to control.

‘I should have used the staff for this fine control… I’m sure Myndia wouldn’t mind it being used to cook food,’ she thought, smiling fiendishly.

Lilly enjoyed these small insults towards Myndia, even though it was all in her head. It didn’t make her feel any better, but it put some levity on top of the hurt, at least.

Once she felt satisfied, she put the meat in her mouth and started chewing. She hadn’t managed the ‘rare’ part very well, but it was still quite tasty. She retrieved a plate from the cupboard and held it under her mouth before spitting the meat back out.

‘Ugh, this feels so nasty… Should I try giving him unchewed next time, to see what he does?’

She studied the plate in disgust for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and setting it on the counter. Then she picked Beak from her shoulder and put him on the clean side of the plate.

He immediately shuffled toward the meat excitedly, starting to dig in as soon as it was within reach. He took no breaks between mouthfuls, just shoveling the meat into his belly as fast as he could.

Lilly looked on with a skeptical smile. She found it charming in a way, but also somewhat revolting. ‘Oh, right. He probably needs water,’ she thought.

She took another plate, filled it with shallow water, and put it next to Beak as he finished the last parts of the meat. He cheerfully shuffled toward the plate of water and jumped straight in.

Lilly felt slightly worried, seeing him jump into the water like that, but she figured he would be fine since the water was so shallow.

‘Do phoenixes know how to swim from birth?’ she wondered, looking at him tussle in the plate while trying to drink some of its contents.

“Ah, you’re such a ball of challenges, Beak. I wonder if you’ll leave again once your memory returns, like you did with Myndia. But I’m a much better mother, right?”

“What the hell has happened here?” A voice sounded from the kitchen's entrance, prompting Lilly to turn around in a hurry.

“Elly!”