“I know that!” Addie stood up out of her seat and put her hands on the table. “That’s Black Cloak’s bonded! I know for sure!”
“I presume this ‘Black Cloak’ is the suspected culprit we have trapped in the dome?” Mr. Owlcharge attempted to clarify.
“I already said that,” Addie said while wrinkling her nose. “You don’t have to repeat it.”
This Mr. Owlcharge really did seem weird to Addie. Based on the feelings she was getting over the soulbond, Squishy agreed full-heartedly. Though, Mr. Owlcharge didn’t seem like a bad guy, and he did have some cool magic—not to mention Arlie! Addie would have to ask him more about his bonded snake Arlie sometime.
After Addie’s quip, Mr. Owlcharge awkwardly rubbed at the back of his head again with a fake smile.
“I thought the ghostly flames of the white-headed bird matched our culprit, but I’m glad to have confirmation. Addie, when did you see the ghost flame bird?” Auntie asked. Then, Auntie gestured for Addie to sit back down in her chair, which she did.
“I saw the birdie coming right out of Black Cloak’s chest, like some kind of mole! It was disgusting and I bet that birdie loves to scare people. It goes ‘caw’ at the top of the roof and all the other children run away like ‘ahhh!’” Addie got very animated with her explanations. It made perfect sense to Addie, but the adults seemed to have confused faces.
“Regardless of what the ghost bird does or does not do, I believe this is a case of...” Mr. Owlcharge looked at Auntie, who nodded her head in understanding. The two nodded at each other with some hidden communication.
“A case of what?” The adults ignored Addie for a moment longer, “A case of what?” Addie repeated.
“Addie, if you ever see a situation where a bonded can go inside of a human, you are looking directly at the result of a cascade. Stay away from anyone like that, since they are a danger to everyone.” Auntie explained.
Addie opened her eyes wide in understanding. She let out a small, ‘Oh,’ and then crossed her arms in thought.
So this was what a cascade looked like? Addie thought the bonded and the human would smash together into some kind of hybrid creature, but it seemed like it was a lot different than that.
“Either way, I think it’s time we started to explain our current ideas to Addie. Normally, we wouldn’t ever let someone so young help us defeat a cascade.” Mr. Owlcharge gestured to Addie.
Addie stood up out of her seat once again. She felt her face going flush as indignation rushed up into her head, “You promised I could help!” She accused. This was important to her: important to make things right for Nettal.
Then, Auntie waved at Addie to sit down while she said, “Don’t worry, Addie. We already promised to include you this time.” Auntie explained.
“In fact, our plan relies on you completely. I don’t think we could defeat this ‘Black Cloak’ as you call him without your magic.” Mr. Owlcharge picked up where Auntie left off.
“Mom?” Nettal poked her head around the hallway entrance.
Addie nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise, not expecting someone from behind her to speak up. Looking back, Christena stood tall right behind Nettal, her hands held gently in front of her.
“My apologies, I told Nettal to try and rest in bed, but, well as you can see...” Christena trailed off, gesturing toward Nettal.
Nettal had changed out of the nightgown she had been wearing for days on end, now wearing proper brown exploring pants and a similar close-fitting green long-sleeved shirt. Her normally loose brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. Addie couldn’t help but stare into Nettal’s green eyes. They used to be brown but had changed to green after bonding with the fawn. Seeing the same person now with a different eye color was weird.
“Nettal!” Auntie stood up from her seat, causing it to scrape against the floor with a jarring sound. “Sweetie, I thought you needed some rest?”
Auntie walked over to Nettal, bent down, and gently cupped her hand around Nettal’s face.
The fawn walked out from behind Nettal, and bumped his head up into Nettal’s hand, propping it up from underneath. His nubs glowed for a moment and then stopped.
“I don’t need to rest, Mom. I’ve done enough resting already.” Nettal’s words came out slightly mumbled due to Auntie’s hand on her face.
Nettal’s words caused Auntie to flinch for a moment. Nettal had been resting for a long time, so, honestly, Addie agreed with her.
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For a second, Addie almost shouted out to Nettal, ‘Let’s go outside and play!’ But thought better of it after a few moments. They were talking about finding Black Cloak. Addie couldn’t get distracted from that.
Still, it was nice to see Nettal feeling better. Addie hopped out of her chair at the dining table and pattered over to Nettal. She reached her arms out for a hug and Auntie stepped out of the way. Nettal walked a step over to Addie and they shared a hug.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Addie blurted out, her voice catching as she stepped forward. The words felt small, barely good enough for the torrent of emotions she felt. She reached out, her small arms pulling Nettal into a hug.
“That’s ok. I don’t really remember what happened too well.” Nettal whispered back, her voice muffled against Addie’s shoulder. Her arms tightened around Addie, strong yet trembling.
After a few moments, Addie couldn’t help herself and started crying.
"We're okay," Auntie murmured, her voice thick with emotion. "We're all okay now."
Addie’s tears were of guilt, relief, and fear— all pouring out at once. Addie’s crying seemed to set off a cascade of emotions within everyone, as Nettal started crying, her body trembling. Then Auntie’s shoulders began to shake, and though she was quiet, Addie knew she was crying too.
Everyone embraced each other tighter, squeezing one another as a confirmation that things were going to be ok. Addie wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. It felt like it could have been twenty minutes, as Addie and Nettal held onto each other through their hot ugly tears and trembled, sobbing.
Finally, the tears began to slow down, and the hug became more relaxed. The relief and comforting warmth of the hug finally broke past the sadness. Addie had to hold herself up to keep herself from bonelessly flopping and dragging the group hug down to the floor.
Nettal sniffled and nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Addie mirrored her, feeling a mix of embarrassment and comfort from everyone’s presence. It was a moment that seemed to mend something broken inside her. Nettal started laughing, just a bit, which spread infectiously to Addie and even Auntie.
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Now everyone sat at the table, including Christena. However, Addie could still see the red tear streaks down Auntie and Nettal’s faces. Addie's eyes also felt puffy and her face slightly dry from rubbing so many tears away. Despite all that, Addie felt good. The crying released all of her tension and fear, and now the only thing left behind was a sort of satisfying relief.
Mr. Owlcharge had remained quiet throughout the entire spectacle, but each time Addie tried to make eye contact with him, he turned his head away slightly with a bit of an awkward smile. Addie honestly had no idea what was going on in his head.
Addie looked over to her left, where Auntie was sitting down in the chair next to her. Right on Auntie’s lap, Nettal was sitting down with a happy smile. Christena and Mr. Owlcharge were directly across from Addie on the other side of the table.
The emotions from today were far too much to handle alone, so Addie reached down underneath the table once again and scooped her best friend in the whole world up with one hand, and placed him on her lap. His black scaly, cat-like paws dangled off the sides of her legs. Addie idly played with his triangular ears, causing him to flick his ears away in agitation from time to time. It was a fun game, and he wasn’t complaining so she thought it was fine. Probably. He was a patient Squishy.
“Ser Fourths a lot the Fifth thinks we can help in town,” Nettal said.
Everyone looked over to Nettal, and at the very least, Addie was confused.
“Who?” Auntie asked from right above Nettal.
“Well, I’m not really sure what’s been going on, but Lotty thinks we can help heal everyone.”
“Before that,” Christena started, “Who are you talking about?”
Nettal smiled and pointed down a bit to the left, where the fawn lay down with his hooves folded up underneath himself. “His name is Ser Fourths a lot the Fifth because he’s a knight in shining armor who comes to the rescue of all children. That’s too long of a name though so he goes by ‘Lotty’ but you have to call him ‘Ser Lotty’ since that’s respectful.” Nettal explained.
“I’m going to call him ‘Lotty’, too.” Addie decided.
“I guess that’s ok,” Nettal said with a slight frown and shuffling her hands.
“Is someone other than me hurt?” Nettal asked, “Lotty says there are lots of children who need help.”
Nettal’s words brightened up the room, as a long-standing problem seemed to finally have a solution. Mr. Owlcharge, in particular, had the first genuine smile on his face that Addie had seen all day.
“Can you heal them even if they don’t have any of their own magic?” Christena asked.
Nettal looked down at Lotty, and they shared a moment of silent communication. “He says probably, but he’ll have to try first to find out.”
“A caste one bonded. Amazing.” Mr. Owlcharge said. “I think this upcoming generation is going to astound us with their magic.”
Auntie nodded her head along, as if to say, ‘Of course’.
“We want to help in town, but I feel like all my magic has been used up. But, we haven’t used up any of the magic from our bond ignition! I was kind of frustrated when I realized that.” Nettal complained.
“Where did the magic go?” Christena wondered aloud, “When Fluffy and I bonded, our magic went wild with shining light and banging sounds.”
“When Squishy and I bonded, I had control over the ignition, but it still wanted to burst out of me and it was hard to control,” Addie said.
“It seems you still have much to learn, daughter, despite being a teacher yourself.” Mr. Owlcharge nodded his head smugly.
In retaliation, Christena smacked his arm a bit.
“Ow!” He rubbed at his arm while frowning at Christena. After a moment, he regained his posture and cleared his throat, “Obviously, the dragon used her bond ignition as fuel to heal Nettal’s soul.”
Everyone around the table nodded. That made sense.
“The children in town are not as hurt as Nettal was, so there is still some time.” Mr. Owlcharge began. Then, his face turned completely serious, all hints of awkwardness vanishing without a trace, “Nettal, may I ask that you come to the rescue of the children in my town? That you aid them, heal them, and help bring the worries of my people to rest?” His words reminded Addie of a priest of Aggan asking for a vow.
“I promise,” Nettal said. “Can I rest some more first? Lotty and I need to build up more magic.”
“Of course, you can rest,” Auntie said gently and smiled. Then she patted Nettal’s head. “I’m proud of you.”