“If I could, I'd be your little spoon / And kiss your fingers forevermore / But, big spoon, you have so much to do / And I have nothing ahead of me”

One moment, Sybil was smiling, giving a brief, exhausted nod of relief, the next she was face down in the dirt. Madelyn’s grin disappeared nearly as immediately as it had formed upon their lips. Had anyone conscious and capable of human speech been around beside Madelyn, they would have described the sound as downright girlish, but Madelyn had more important things to worry—or more realistically, panic—about. Sybil had just saved their life and now all of a sudden she was apparently unconscious? It didn’t make sense; just what the fuck had happened to her? If Madelyn’s reckless insistence they keep that dinosaur thing alive despite the added risk had gotten Sybil killed, they’d never forgive themself. 

It was quite fortunate that the lumbering dragon which lay dead behind Madelyn really, truly was dead, as the smoldering corpse was completely forgotten, along with any lingering conflict or awkwardness they’d felt about Sybil lately. Madelyn moved with single-minded determination, scrambling up the short cliff face to Sybil’s vantage point, cresting the top and running forward to Sybil’s slumped-over form, only to skid to a sudden halt as a loud hissing noise raised each and every hair on their body. Wrapped protectively around Sybil’s form, head raised and glaring at Madelyn, was Lady Hissruuk. She didn’t seem particularly eager to allow Madelyn any closer.  The two remained still for several moments, Madelyn’s gaze sweeping between Sybil and the massive snake’s beady little eyes. They tentatively took a step forward, only for ‘Ruuk to lash forward, snapping her teeth at the empty air where the already dodging Madelyn had stood a fraction of a second before. 

Once again at a safe distance, Madelyn took a moment to assess the situation from afar. They couldn’t see any obvious damage on Sybil, it really didn’t make any sense at all why she’d collapsed as she had. They took a deep breath; something needed to be done about the snake. Madelyn once again returned ‘Ruuk’s gaze. With excruciatingly slow and deliberate movements, they began to open their posture, keeping arms outstretched and palms upward, and took the tiniest of steps forward. Another hiss ripped through the otherwise silent mountain trail, but Madelyn seemingly hadn’t taken a big enough step to provoke another bite attempt. 

“Listen to me,” they said slowly, calmly, the snake gazed on in silence. “She might be hurt; I need to find out what’s wrong with her so she can get better.” Madelyn felt foolish for even addressing their reptilian assailant, but despite the inherent foolishness of the situation, their words seemed to get a reaction from ‘Ruuk. Her head swung from Sybil’s motionless form, to Madelyn, then back and forth again a few times, then her coils seemed to loosen, but not let up. “Can you understand me?” they asked, trying to keep the bewilderment and wonder and overbearing stress from showing too strongly in their voice. “Sybil said you’re her familiar, which—I don’t really know what that entails for you or for her, but that at least implies that you’re magical to some extent, right? Does that make you more intelligent than a regular snake? You must be, I’ve seen how complex the commands Sybil has given you in the past are.” If any of that was understood, ‘Ruuk made no motion to indicate said understanding, she just kept her eyes fixed menacingly on Madelyn. Cautiously, they attempted another step, then immediately sprung backward to avoid the subsequent strike. 

“Hey! Stop it! I’m trying to help. She just saved my life, okay? We’ve been traveling together for days, don’t you think that if I meant her any harm I’d have done it by now? I—” Madelyn stopped short, breathing in slowly. They couldn’t believe they were about to confess this to a fucking snake, the whole situation was surreal to a ridiculous extent, “I care about her. A lot. Like, more than as a friend.” They cast their eyes down in embarrassment, as though there was any need to worry about social graces in front of a magic reptile. “This is stupid. Just please let me through, you and I want the same thing. So can we call a truce, for now?” An edge of frustration had crept into their voice, and, as much as they didn’t want to yell at ‘Ruuk—both because they didn’t want to pick a fight with Sybil’s pet apex predator, and because the entire situation was absolutely insane—it was difficult to keep it all down. 

Fortunately for Madelyn, something she said seemed to work, as, after several moments of ‘Ruuk making what Madelyn could only describe as a ‘thinking snake face,’ she uncoiled herself from Sybil, and made room for Madelyn to advance, flicking her tail toward them and bobbing her head in the direction of the unconscious witch. For a moment, Madelyn remained frozen in place, hardly believing their attempts to communicate had actually worked, but there were more important things to worry about, so they quickly snapped themself out of it and dashed forward, crouching before Sybil. “Sybil, hey! Wake up!” they shouted, gently shaking her to no avail. Gently, they pried open an eyelid and found that had little effect, though Sybil’s pupils weren’t dilated; that was a good thing, right? They proceeded to do their best to figure out what was wrong.

Regrettably, Madelyn had little in the way of medical training, but that wasn’t going to stop them from at least trying; first, they checked Sybil’s heart, which, to Madelyn’s relief, was steadily beating, then they ensured she still drew breath, once again everything on that front seemed fine.  Lastly, Madelyn did their best to examine Sybil for any sign of injury. Following a quick sweep covering all the most blatant, obvious possibilities, Madelyn did manage to find something, though it wasn’t really what they were expecting. 

After rolling up the sleeve of her cloak, Madelyn discovered that the winding, intricate tattoos which ran up and down her arms had lost their pale glow, instead looking completely mundane. That had to mean something, right? But what? Stupid magic, not making any damn sense. Madelyn huffed, falling back into a sitting position—with one foot planted firmly on the earth, or, rather, ground, knee rising upward, and the other foot tucked awkwardly under their butt—while panting in confusion and vexation. For a moment, they considered doing a more thorough investigation, then felt a burning sensation meet their cheeks, and dismissed the idea without second thought. Sybil seemed, at the very least, safe and stable, showing no signs of worsening. It would be best to try and calm down, then wrap their head around what they actually knew before delving further.

To better summarize and internalize, Madelyn spoke aloud to themself of everything they’d discovered in their brief examination. “Okay, so, no obvious cuts or burns, no bumps on her head, nothing seems broken or severely bruised. Her breathing and heartbeat are regular with no signs of slowing down. There’s just that weird tattoo thing. What does it even mean? Why the hell won’t she wake up?” A sliver of fear and despondency had slipped into their tone. “I just wish I knew jack shit about magic.” They leaned back to rub their temples, and, in the process found their gaze falling on ‘Ruuk. Feeling absolutely ridiculous once again, but out of options, Madelyn addressed the snake once more. “Do you know anything about how this is supposed to work?” They held up Sybil’s arm, indicating the tattoos. “Look, there’s no more light there; that has to mean something, right?”

‘Ruuk gazed on silently. 

“Of course you can’t help. God dammit, this is so stupid; I’m talking to a fucking snake.”

Hiss.

“Fine, I’m sorry, okay? This is just stressful. I know she seems okay right now, but I just, I can’t lose her like this. You’re connected to her magic somehow, there’s gotta be something you can do.” This time, at least, their pleading was met with something akin to a response, ‘Ruuk slithered to Sybil’s bag, and nudged it with her nose repeatedly, bobbing her head between Madelyn and the bag. “Alright, so there’s something in there?” For a second, they could have sworn she nodded. They reached out, stretching laboriously and grasped the bag, then brought it into their arms. For a moment, the thought that they shouldn’t be doing this crossed their mind, and they shot a guilty look toward their unconscious companion. “Sorry,” they whispered, then began rummaging through Sybil’s belongings, neatly setting aside anything which was obviously not helpful.

It wasn’t long before Madelyn found something of interest; within the bag was a small green crystal carving in the shape of a coiled snake that seemed to pulse faintly from within. And, as if literally everything about it didn’t scream ‘It’s this thing right here, this is where the magic is,’ ‘Ruuk hissed loudly—but not threateningly—as soon as it was removed from the bag. “Okay, right, yeah, got it,” they stammered defensively. “Come on, I’m not that oblivious. So, uh, do I just give it to her or...?” Feeling like they were making a complete mockery of themself for what must have been the dozenth time in the past several minutes, they awkwardly, uncertainly pressed the little carving into Sybil’s hands, clasping them together around it. 

In what felt like an absolutely miraculous stroke of luck given the nonsense they’d had to go through to get this far, it actually seemed to work. The little snake figurine began to glow brighter and brighter—to a somewhat ridiculous degree—then hum and vibrate at a low frequency just barely above audible. Just as the light was about to become unbearable, it suddenly and unceremoniously dimmed completely, losing even the slight glow it had possessed when initially plucked from Sybil’s pack. The first, and most obvious thing Madelyn noticed was that the tattoos on Sybil’s still exposed arm had regained their luster, glowing faintly in the afternoon sun. The second—and in hindsight, actually even more obvious—thing Madelyn noticed occurred only a moment later when Sybil’s eyes fluttered open and she lurched into a sitting position with a start. 

“Wha—Madelyn, I—” her desperate, wide eyed and open mouthed expression quickly split into a relieved smile. “You’re okay,” she breathed in relief. 

“Yeah. I’m okay. And you are too, at least, I think so anyway.” Madelyn returned that dopey smile with one of their own. Some voice in the back of their brain was telling them they weren’t supposed to let their feelings for Sybil show as they were right now, but frankly they didn’t give a shit about anything that voice had to say, at least for the moment. “Sybil—I—You saved my life.”

“‘Course I did. I didn’t want—I don’t want to lose you. You’re, uh, important,” she muttered, blushing and looking away. “You’d do the same for me anyway. And, well, I kinda need you. For the ingredients, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Madelyn replied in a breathy, relieved exhale that was somewhere between a whisper, a gasp and a chuckle. “Me too.” They made no attempt to specify just what they were referring to, but that was because it was all of it. They had a feeling Sybil understood by the way she blushed an even deeper shade of red. The two shared a comfortable silence for several moments, simply relieved to find that they were both still standing, or, more accurately, still sitting. Madelyn spoke once more, “I’m sorry I put you through that. With the lizard thing. Should have just done as you asked.”

“Wasn’t your fault, was mine. I fucked up; you trusted me and I—”

“Hey.” Madelyn hadn’t noticed when their hand had darted out to take Sybil’s, but neither party retracted. “Don’t do that to yourself. The sound woke it up, wasn’t your fault.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I have faith in you.” They flashed another smile, and, to their surprise, found Sybil breaking out into a light giggle. “What’s that about?”

“Sorry, you just—that lopsided grin of yours. You look so damn cocky, like the dreyth who caught the first tyrant fish.” 

“That meant literally nothing to me.” 

“Right, sorry. Need to watch myself with those local sayings.” She giggled again, a sound Madelyn was quickly growing to be absolutely addicted to. “I don’t know, you just look so damn sure of yourself. What’s the word, roguish? Is that a thing that made sense for you?”

“Ah, so I’ve got that classic Han Solo look going for me.” .

“That meant literally nothing to me.” 

“I know. I’ll take it as a compliment, though.” Madelyn did the grin again, exaggerating it to all hell for their audience.

“Asshole.” It must have taken full minutes before the laughter they shared finally died down. In the quiet that followed, Madelyn had discovered that the two had gradually inched closer and closer over the course of their conversation. Sybil leaned her head against their shoulder, closing their eyes for a moment.

“Hey, Sybil? Don’t scare me like that again.”

“I could ask the same of you.”

“Yeah. So what comes next?”

“One more ingredient and we’re done. Another dangerous one, but nothing we can’t handle. Then that’s it. We’re done. We go back home, I cast the spell, and then, well, and then...”

"Yeah."

SapphicSounds

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